Fridays: Sweet as can be

I promise I'm not one of those people who starts a blog and then just dumps it.  Handwritten diaries - yes.  I frequently start and then drop a diary at the turn of a dime.  The problem at hand is that I tend to forget to take before and after shots, which kind of makes this not as fun. 

Also - the other big thing is that I don't own a sewing machine, which means I do everything by hand!!!  As my friend's mom, more or less, said:  "You're crazy!"  Yes.  I'm insane.  I'm well aware, but I've moved at least 6 times in the last 3 years, which means an apartment retention rate of ~6 months.  There's a valid reason behind this.  I work on 4 month rotations, which occasionally calls for me to live outside of the city.  It's not because my apartments have [always] been shady.

ANYWAY, the long and short of it is, I don't think a proper sewing machine would be able to handle all that packing and unpacking, especially when I'm generally living in confined spaces.  Plus - poor college student budget?  A Pfaff would not fit anywhere into that.  Hence.  Hand-stitching 'til my fingers bleed, because screw thimbles.

I thought I'd take this entry in a slightly different, yet still crafty, direction.  Aside from the sewing thing, I really enjoy cooking.  Having a giant sweet tooth, I love making anything involving sugar.  Today's treat of the day?  Fondant, of course.

I loved playing with clay as a kid and always wanted to try a hand at marzipan.  The problem was, I disliked the flavor of almonds, and still kind of do.  Browsing through AllRecipes.com, I stumbled across something new and fun - marshmallow fondant.  And here is the easiest recipe I found.  Ever:

- One 14oz jar of Marshmallow Fluff
- Copious quantities of confectioner's sugar (usually about a half to 3/4 of a 1 lb bag...)
- Food coloring (optional)

...That's it.  Mix it all together until it's stiff to your liking, and you've got a pretty cheap, decent fondant.  Granted, it doesn't taste nearly as good as fondant from scratch, but it does the same job:

This was the first fondant cake I ever made.  The little flower bits are made from a petit fours mold that I stuffed with excess cake and some frosting :)  Super yum. 

This one was a bit more recent.  It was a welcome home gift for Dillon, who loves lemony sweets.  So, I made a lemon cake from a Duncan Hines mix (I tend to cut corners when it comes to baking, just because it doesn't always mean I'm skimping on flavor, and I don't have a lot of time to make things completely from scratch).  The dragonfly was done on a whim, so didn't turn out as well as I would've liked.  I was quite proud of the lotus, though.

Easy as pie, and just as tasty, too.

Next up:  How to candy just about anything.