Nutella Heart Shape Pies and White Chocolate Hot Cocoa with Shay Cochrane Photography

Hello friends! First post of 2015, here we go! I don’t believe in having resolutions (I feel like I’m setting myself up for failure with those), but I do believe in keeping goals that will always ground me (my faith, family, health, friends, and business). Never easy sometimes, but I’ve learned to appreciate the times with my family so much more than I did in the past. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, (haha…and wiser) but this past year I’ve really challenged myself to carve out more, intentional time for my family, my husband, which as silly as it does sound, feeds my soul and in turn, I find that my work is better, more focused and everything just flows. Wow, didn’t think I was going to take it there to start out 2015, but I guess it is natural for all of us to take this time, especially January, to reflect.

One of our final shoots to wrap up 2014 was in partnership with Southern Weddings, a publication and blog I hold near and dear to my heart. They were working on a Holiday Dessert Round Up, and they wanted me to share some of my favorite recipes. I thought this would be hard for me–I mean, I love to bake, but to come up with two recipes I thought readers would connect with, was not as hard as I thought.

Thankfully Shay Cochrane from Shay Cochrane Photography, is an amazing commercial photographer, that I’ve had the pleasure working with on more than one occasion and has an uncanny ability to take my vision, props and work her usual magic. Shay, if you are reading this–thank you–you are an artist!

So on that note, recipes below. Feel free to tweek to your liking. Southern Weddings also has this posted on their blog as well, along with a printer-friendly version of our recipes.

Happy 2015 friends! I hope it’s a great one!

Southern Newlywed Series: Dessert Feature

Heart Shape Strawberry-Nutella Filled “Mini-Pies”

These pies are delicious and once you get a good feel for the recipe, there are endless variations to it, which is really fun (hellloooo–Valentine’s ideas!). The prep time may seem a bit long, but this is one recipe that never “feels” long since the steps are fairly easy. This particular recipe has been tweeked a bit between me and my mom. The two of us love to work on this one, together! We don’t get to spend as much time as we like, together so this time is especially sacred between us.

Serves: 12. Prep time: 40 minutes. Cook time: 23-25 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pie crust dough (feel free to use store bought or if you have time, from scratch. There are some really, easy pie crust recipes out there!).

2 cups of strawberries, cut very small

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of strawberry jam

1 ½ teaspoons of Nutella

Flour (for the dough)

2 egg whites, lightly beaten, with a splash of water.

Heart cookie cutter, recommend 2 ½ to 3 inch size

Candy coated wafers, for dipping. Optional. *See RECIPE NOTES

Sprinkles, optional. *See RECIPE NOTES

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Take a large, baking sheet and cover with parchment paper, with a very light coat of non-stick cooking spray.
2. While oven is pre heating, start rolling out your dough (with flour) until it is nice and smooth (approximately ¼ thick). When your dough is ready, begin to use your cookie cutter—in this case, you should be able to get out at least 18-20 hearts. I always take scraps, and recombine them to squeeze out a few more if I can.
3. Now in a bowl, take your strawberries (diced very small), sugar, strawberry jam and Nutella, and combine all together. The jam is great in this case because it cuts the tartness of the strawberries for a more balanced flavor.
4. Once you have all your ingredients combined, take teaspoon and put a dollop of filling in the center of half of your hearts (the other half will be reserved for the top of the heart!). The first time I went through this part I was very worried about putting too much filling, or too little, or that they wouldn’t look totally perfect. Do not worry! The beauty of this recipe, and pies, is that they don’t have to look perfect—just think if it as (cough, cough), more “rustic looking!”
5. When you’ve put your filling on top of your hearts, lightly beat your egg wash and with your finger or a small brush and slightly brush the heart border which will act like a glue for the heart topper.
6. Then take the reserved, half of hearts and place on top, carefully. Use a fork to pinch the edges together and make them look all pretty.
7. After placing all your hearts on your baking sheet, I will brush all of them lightly with the egg wash—this gives them that golden, crusty “I should work for Better Crocker” look to them.
8. Before placing in oven, I quickly take my fork and puncture them right in the middle, to act as a vent when they start baking.
9. These will then back anywhere from 23 to 25 minutes, until they look nice and golden. I usually will set my timer to check them out at the 20^th mark and then adjust my time from there, depending on how they look.

RECIPE NOTES:

1. Don’t have strawberries? Don’t worry! Just eliminate the strawberries and substitute with one of your favorite jams that you may have on hand in your pantry.
2. Pie on a stick? At “Step 4,” after you have put the filling on half of hearts, gently place a lollipop stick at the bottom of the heart—be careful when pushing the stick so it doesn’t come through. Anything on a stick always creates that “oohhh…ahhh” factor!
3. There is nothing I love more than chocolate and strawberries. After your mini pies have cooled, I take one (1) bag of white, candy coated wafers, melt as directed and half dip my pies, then add sprinkles. I recommend, Merckens white candy melts. For sprinkles you can use holiday inspired (as shown), Valentine’s Day mix, or your own special mix.

White Chocolate Hot Cocoa

Serves: 12 cups. Prep time: 10 minutes. Cook time: 2 hours

Can you think of anything better than pies and white chocolate hot cocoa? Nope. I couldn’t either. During the holidays, when it’s late at night, my family isn’t much into drinking coffee so we started making this recipe and it’s always a great hit.  This also gives me a great reason to take out my crock pot/slow cooker which receives no love from me, for most of the year.

Ingredients:

1. 16 ounces of white chocolate (if you can, try to go with a premium brand)
2. 4 cups of whole milk
3. 4 cups of heavy cream
4. 2 tablespoon of pure vanilla
5. ¼ teaspoon of nutmeg
6. 2-3 cinnamon sticks
7. Garnish ideas: whip cream, crushed peppermints, white chocolate chips, nutmeg, caramel sauce and Pirouettes (Pepperidge Farm is my favorite). *See RECIPE NOTES

Steps:

1. Place your white chocolate in the slow cooker along with all the other ingredients. I keep my slow cooker at the “hot setting” and once the chocolate starts to melt, I drop down the “warm setting.”
2. Cover and simmer for at least two hours, stirring every 20-25 minutes, or so. There will be skin that will form at the top of your hot cocoa, just take a whisk, stir and it will go away.
3. This can stay warm for up to several hours.
4. I’ve been asked this before, but you can substitute the whole milk with a low fat version if you wanted to lighten it up a bit.

RECIPE NOTES:

1. When serving, I will take my garnishes and put them in small bowls and guests can help themselves. I love this part!
2. If you would like to spike your hot chocolate, I recommend going with a nuttier flavor like a good Amaretto, Bailey’s or Brandy. They have very fancy vodka’s now, but with this recipe I find that the nuttier base goes lovely with the hot chocolate.

Hello my friends…it’s been awhile….

Hello my friends! The beginning of MAY. How did that happen??? Although in my mind I’ve intended to blog more, sometimes things just don’t pan out as I would like and that is A-OK with me! One of my more personal goals, is to be really present with my family, with my boys, their unending energy and the biggest lesson of all has been to define was true success means to me.  Not so long ago, I was spent…exhausted…and feeling like if I wasn’t that crazy-busy, I wasn’t really making it.

Now that I’ve gone through my big rebrand not that long ago, made changes to my business structure and to our core, I’ve learned to recite a phrase often my head…

I’m busy enough for me.

I’m busy enough to keep my head afloat and my heart happy. Busy enough to still take that 1-2 days off work, and hang out with Preston or volunteer at my boys’ school. Busy enough that when my husband comes home I can carry a conversation without being distracted about work…the million things I still have on my every growing to-do list. And don’t get me wrong. Not every day is perfect and there may be some periods where I let myself sink into the old habits again, but then I go back to what really matters to me and it’s always the big wake up call I need.

So before I take this blog post all over the place, I would love to share part one, of our Spring season which is winding down for us. From weddings to snippets of corporate events, we did it all! Thanks as always to my husband Steve (always the man-behind-the-scenes), and to Karina, my assistant designer, we were non stop! Enjoy my friends! And I hope 2014 has started off great for all of you!

Bridal Showcase: Perfect Wedding Guide. We only do a sprinkle of bridal shows a year, and Perfect Wedding Guide is one of them! I always use the shows as my excuse to do whatever my sweet ole’ heart desires. Ha!

 Gold and Black Vintage Dessert Table: This was our first wedding of the season. Carolyn our bride, is an amazing person and client. I was sort of obsessed with the venue, our first time at the Casa Monica in St. Augustine. And I loved the fact that Carolyn made sure to connect her vintage style and the color palette to the room and it really worked it so well. Also thanks to my cupcake girl, Crystal the owner of Cuppy Cakes for always bringing it with her delicious cupcakes which were a hit.

Photography Credit: Melissa Enid Photography

PS–Um…could Carolyn be more stunning?

And one picture from me…

Ashley Brooke Designs/West Elm Pop Up Shop Event: And one of my favorite partnerships from this Spring, we partnered up with Ashley Brooke Designs and their pop up shop at the West Elm in Orlando. Ashley is a force to be reckon with, with impeccable sense of style that translates through her design work. If you are looking for any unique gifts, stationary…she is your girl.

Neiman Marcus Spring Trends Event: One of my favorite corporate clients, Neiman Marcus. We’ve worked with them for a few years and we love to provide our tables as a way to launch their Spring season. Hmmm…can you guess what color trends are happening this year???

I’m going to wrap up our Spring season round up in two blog posts, so stay tuned next week for a few more updates and pictures.

And….before I forget, Mother’s Day is right around the corner!!! If you are looking for any last minute ideas, we have some great options in our online shop! Shop link on our home page. Have a great week friends!!!

Wrapping my Head Around 2013…

Hello everyone!!! How is your 2014 starting off? This is my first week back to work, after spending some much needed time with Steve and my boys. This past fall wedding season was unbelievable and the best so far for Chic Sweets which always leaves my heart in awe of how much we’ve grown these past few years. One of my biggest words for this year is: PRESENT. Chic Sweets can definitely soak up a lot of time from me, which is why when I’m home with the boys, work urgent matters handled, I’m trying to be PRESENT. Don’t get me wrong…it’s very hard at times. I’m tired…maybe cranky…I find myself glancing at my Facebook or Instagram feed more times than I’m willing to admit, but I’m trying and it’s something I’m constantly working on. And so these past few months I’ve found myself blogging less than ever before. I used to beat myself up about it because I really do enjoy writing and putting my thoughts on “virtual paper”, but taking the pressure off has helped me breathe a bit, focus, and finally, excited to blog..when I’m able to.

So I do have a mega-post I plan on sharing of things that worked/didn’t work for me in 2013, basically my way of looking back at the year and what I need to do personally, and professionally to continue making what matters happen. BUT before I do that, I’ve been dying to share so many glimpses into the past few months–a few of our dessert tables, candy projects and some behind the scenes outtakes. I typically hold off on posting these pictures to my site’s gallery because they are from my I-phone and sometimes taken when I’ve lacked quite a few hours of sleep. HAHA! So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, and take a peek at what we’ve been up to!

Happy New Year everyone!

Chevron inspired dessert table with Julie Perez from Chic Designs and Fabulous Events. It was a “surprise gift” for the bride and groom, courtesy of Julie. Love this!

LOVED the branded candy boxes we did for our Chic Sweets (online shop). One of my favorite parts of this year.

And speaking the our Chic Sweets’ shop, we have big plans to add cake pops this month, something that I’ve held off for sometime. Thanks to Shay Cochrane for the fab photos!

Halloween time and at Tech Data over in Clearwater they kept us busy! From over 300 candy filled pumpkins to cauldrons…our hands were cramping! 🙂

Road trip to Chapel Hill…why not? One of my favorite tables we’ve EVER sponsored for the ladies of Southern Weddings. I’m hoping to share a bit more about this soon!

Moroccan inspired dessert table with Brooke Palmer of RSBP Events. Camel included. Seriously. I can’t make this stuff up.

Gold glitter dusted cake pops for NACE Tampa Holiday Party at the Floridan in downtown Tampa. Great times with my cohorts. And one of our last big orders before we took off for the holidays.

And finally, words can’t describe how much I love this picture. More the thought that all my Dad wanted to do was help and I can’t help but wonder what Steve is thinking here….hmmmmmm….

Vera’s Adorable Ombre Balloon Birthday Party and a Little Update

Hello everyone! Hope all of you are doing great! It’s been a bit radio silence as I’ve been feeling a bit inundated with life and for awhile there it felt like I needed a big restart button. Gearing up for our Chic Sweets’ shop launch, the boys, and not too long ago, Sasha (our Husky of almost 14 years) passed away. Sasha not in our lives has been a big adjustment for our family and I guess the only thing that will really heal is time…but I can’t lie…we (especially me and Steve) are feeling a bit wounded.

On the flip side (and there is no easy transition from that), we just got back on a BIG, six day trip from Colombia, where both of my parents were born and grew up. I have so many fond memories of going there during when I was little and it’s always felt like my second home. With Sasha’s passing, the timing was also a much needed escape that all of us needed. The trip was more amazing than I could have ever imagined (minus the airplane hike with a toddler and two boys which I’m trying to erase from my memory) and it was more special to see the boys totally surrounded in the Colombian culture–the food, the views, our family–we hit the boys full force. And even better, it was Steve’s (the boss man) first time in Colombia as well!!! Wooohoo! I’m sitting here still surround by suitcases that I will hopefully get to some time this year.

And below is a little glimpse into our view–the grass on the mountains looked like carpet it was so perfect.

Now, enough about me, and onto a birthday party I’m thrilled to share. As you can read through my blog, Shay Cochrane is an amazing product photographer that I’ve been lucky enough to work with for some time. She’s also responsible for all the beautiful images in our last blog post. Not too ago we did Shay’s daughter (the gorgeous Vera) birthday party. I’m always giddy when it comes to designing a table for a girl’s birthday parties or baby showers especially since I live in boy world 24-7 so where I can throw myself in pink and corals, I’m so game!

For this table, I wanted to play around with much smaller balloons and create a wall-backdrop of sorts. We always work with larger balloons, but like anything, we’ve been using them so much lately, I wanted to do something different and I was really happy with the way it came out!

So enjoy everyone and I’m crossing my fingers to have some shop information for everyone by next week. It’s taken way longer than I thought it would, but sadly, I inherited this perfectionist gene and I want it to be peeerrrrrfeect. HA!

PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT: SHAY COCHRANE PHOTOGRAPHY

Baby Shower/Welcome Party with Kismis Ink Photography

Hello everyone! Hope all of you are having a great week. These last few weeks have been a bit busy on the family end–boys have finally finished school, Kindergarten graduation, Preschool graduation, cap n gowns, end of year field trips, summer camp planning, all the while I constantly wonder how on earth did my mom do this and make it look so easy? I will figure it out, I keep telling myself….one day….

Today I’m so happy to a dessert table for wedding planner Julie Perez’s son and daughter in law, Saray’s welcome-baby shower. It’s amazing how things come full circle, since were lucky enough to a table for Julie when she renewed her vows at the Don Cesar a few years ago and then here we are working together on such a special table. The great part about working with Julie is that she has a very detailed vision (vintage touches, fun, whimsical) and then she allowed us to run with it. Hehehe…thank you Julie!

Mariana and Khaled from Kismis Ink Photography were the photographers and we were are oh-so-happy when the images popped up in our inbox and I was blown away with all the detail shots. Thank you Mariana and Khaled!

Enjoy! And be on the lookout for another Daytime segment coming next week. I’ll be sharing a few summer popsicle ideas that are YUMMY! Seriously, I’m hooked.

PHOTOGRAPHER CREDIT: KISMIS INK PHOTOGRAPHY

OTHER VENDOR CREDITS
Venue: The Regent; Floral: FH Weddings & Events; Chairs: Signature Events by Design

Yippee! Here it is! Mother’s Day Segment from Daytime!

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hope everyone is having a great day! Happy to share the Mother’s Day segment that aired on Daytime. This is a link to  our You Tube channel that also has all of our Daytime segments.  I could critique myself to no end but then I stopped and saw Baby P look at the television and yell out “Mama!” “Mama!” Thank you, Baby P, for always reminding me to NEVER to take life too seriously!

Enjoy everyone and have a wonderful Happy Mother’s Day. And don’t forget to visit our previous post with a freebie printable!

Mother’s Day Segment on Daytime and a Little Freebie!

Hello everyone! Hope all of you are having a great week!!! I’ve been a busy bee prepping away for a Mother’s Day Table for the Daytime show, which airs on NBC and is hosted by Cyndi Edawards and Jerry Penacoli. Cyndi has not only a big supporter of our work, but she’s someone I consider a very dear friend with one of the biggest hearts EVER. I reached out to her in the very early stages of Chic Sweets, and from the get-go she believed in me and always told me it was going to work out…crazy, right?

The segment will air on Monday and I’ll be sure to share a link to the video when I have available.

Also in honor of Mother’s Day and all the Daytime viewers out there, a little, tiny gift from me to you. Below is the link for the printables that were used for the segment which I hope you will be able to use for your own Mother’s Day table.

Jar Labels-Mother’s Day-Chic Sweets

This is the first time I’ve shared the printables we create on our blog, so hopefully none of you have any trouble opening up the link. Any questions, just send us an email!

Thanks and be on the lookout for the segment…coming soon.

Natalie

March through April-A Little Glimpse into our World….

Hello everyone! Wow! Am I the only one that ever sits back and wonder how quickly this year is slipping by?? I seriously still remember 2012 New Year’s! Okay, so today I decided to give a little glimpse into our world and then next week, I’d love to give everyone a longer update on my 2013 goal progress. Always inspired by the Making Things Happen movement and sharing a bit of where I am these days.

But for today, a look back at the tables we’ve done. I’ll be sure to share follow up details shots when I receive, but for now, I figured why not?

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

ANGRY BIRD BOYS BIRTHDAY PARTY: Event Planner (and mommy) Monica Varner, owner of Elan Events Studio

Bridal Show: Perfect Wedding Guide. Tampa. We do a handful of bridal shows a year, and these are by far one of our favorites!

Neiman Marcus: This spring season, Neiman’s is diving into cool blues and they wanted to treat all their fellow shoppers to one of our tables. We LOVE Neiman’s!

Gender Reveal Cake Pops for my girl Zoe at Botanica. LOVE Zoe and her party was darling….

March Madness anyone??? 300 of these babies for Tech Data Corporation. Wow. Let’s just say I needed a break from seeing orange for a bit.

Happy Birthday Graham! A birthday table for one of my favorite people in the universe, Shay Cochrane (her husband’s 30th). LOVE Shay. Period.

And cannot wait to share an adorable baby shower for event planner, Julie Perez from Chic Designs and Fabulous Events. Photography by Mariana of Kismis Ink Photography. We received so many great images from this one which I LOVE. Thanks Mariana!

And finally, for no reason at all. Baby P.

I mean really, does there ever have to be a reason to see this boy in a boy tie, given by his Auntie Amanda. I think not!

How To Valentine’s Dessert Table on the Daytime Morning Show

Happy February everyone!!! I’m SO happy to share a segment we did for the Daytime Show (WFLA), a lifestyle morning show, syndicated in the Southeast. The Daytime family has been always supportive of me, Chic Sweets and our growth. My first segment with host, Cyndi Edwards (one of the most amazing people I know) was a few years ago, when I first started and I still find it hard to believe they gave me a chance and the platform to share our work.

Enjoy everyone and a much longer post coming….SOON! Happy day!

Conceptbait Beach Bash by Limelight Photography

Hello everyone! Hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, my all-time favorite holiday! Seriously. This year we hosted Thanksgiving which probably wasn’t the brightest idea considering we are still in wedding season, but when you see everyone you love under one roof, it was definitely worth it!

So onto an event I’ve been holding out on featuring–Conceptbait’s Beach Bash! This was a great event, celebrating Conceptbait’s 10th birthday and a massive celebration with their awesome partners (cough, cough), event industry leaders and clients. If you know Frank and Lynn, you know that this duo was not going to throw just any celebration but a real, experience that I was oh, so happy to be a part of–there was truly no detail left uncovered.

Enjoy the pictures, from my dear friends over at Limelight and for a complete list of partners involved in making this celebration happen in a really BIG way, please scroll down below.

Hope all of you have a great week!

PS–and as a sidebar, thank you so much for all of the well wishes from my ealier post about Sasha. So many of you reached out via email and facebook and it really helped. Sasha is still hanging in there and doing ok.

IMAGE CREDIT: LIMELIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Wow…I look like I’m concentrating real hard on this one 🙂

Event Partners: