Strawberry Yummies and my Scone Recipe

Such yummie strawberry treats were enjoyed at Mary Kate's first birthday party!  We started with strawberry scones.  I picked this recipe up when we were on vacation in Destin, FL one summer.  I make it all the time and it is one of my family's favorites!  See below for the recipe.

I also found several great recipes on pinterest that I added to my Strawberry First Birthday Party board.  The Strawberry Tea is officially my new "drink of summer"!  The Jack bread sticks and Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Lime Dressing were soooo easy!  We added a little seasoned chicken breast on top of our salad and they were the main entree.  Of course I knew salad wasn't going to be a huge hit with the two B's, so macaroni was also in order!

For the cupcakes and Kate's "mini-cake" I used a recipe I discovered on the blog I mentioned yesterday called  This Inspired Me. The recipe is  called Strawberry Dream Frosting...all I need to say here folks is THREE CUPS OF BUTTER...oh yes...a dream.  We added some sparkly white sugar. 

 For the little cake, I used a jumbo muffin tin and filled just three of the cups (I put water in the unfilled ones so that the pan wouldn't burn).  When they came out of the oven I sliced the "muffin tops" off, leaving three little mini-cake layers...I assembled these as you normally would a layer cake and....Viola!  Mini Cake.

Fresh strawberries

3 cups of self-rising flour

¼ cup fruit

½ cup sugar

1 stick of butter

½ cup of buttermilk

*      Note:  I use more buttermilk than the recipe calls for…I don’t really measure it…sorry!  I just add a little bit at a time until the consistency is that of slightly sticky dough.

Prepare the fruit by slicing and sprinkling with a little sugar. Set aside.

Combine flour and sugar.  Cut butter into flour and sugar mixture until it resembles a course meal.  Add buttermilk * see note above, then fruit.

Stir until all ingredients are moistened and form a soft ball.  Turn out on a generously floured surface and knead until it can be patted out ½ inch think.  Cut with a biscuit cutter.  Bake in a preheated oven at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

 Glaze:

Strawberries

1 cup powdered sugar

A few drops of milk or whipping cream

Puree a small amount of strawberries.  Stir in the powdered sugar and a few drops of milk to make a glaze.  Adjust liquid to make a consistency for brushing top of scones with a pastry brush (I just spoon it on).  Brush tops of scones and watch the glaze disappear…or if you’re like me you put a lot of glaze on and can still very much see it as you sneak two of these little delights before calling the job “done”… :).

A Very Sweet 1st Birthday

 Welcome to Mary Kate’s Strawberry Patch!  This party was so much fun to plan!  I can’t remember how I originally got stuck on the strawberry idea; maybe because Mary Kate's birthday is in May which is the beginning of Strawberry season? I loved the idea of a vintage Strawberry theme.

 I started her outfit almost three months ago, I knew with it being the end-of-a-school-year, time would be very limited to work on it.  I used the Tie Die Diva Pretty Pantaloons and Butterfly Top pattern…I love this company's patterns!  You can’t see them so well in my pictures, but the little pantaloons were just adorable!  I ran across the fabric at Hobby Lobby and thought the colors were just perfect for our strawberry theme…plus I can never pass up a beautiful shabby-chic looking floral!  I added the cream eyelet detail on the sleeves and the front bodice…thought it looked a little more “strawberry” girl that way.  Since our sweet lil’ half pint has no hair, the bonnet worked perfectly! 

On the front door folded paper fans welcome guests to “the farm”.  These are so simple to make and tutorials are floating around on Pintrest.

We hosted the party in the backyard on our patio.  Festive red paper lanterns hung from our Cedar trees.  I love the pop of red against the dark tree.  These were such a great find…only a dollar a piece at the Everything’s A Dollar store…plus they really light up with little battery powered lights!  I love a good deal!

The invitations I ordered from a wonderful little ETSY company called The Homespun Hostess .   Sara was wonderful to work with and even helped me adjust the date since we had to reschedule the party. * The scones you see in the background I will post the recipe for tomorrow J…they were a big hit!

The adorable party hats were so much fun to make…and so simple!  I got the wonderful tutorial from one of the blogs I follow Girl. Inspired.  Stef’s blog This Inspire Me is just amazing!  Click here to check out her party hats and see her wonderful work! 

The little girls at the party received souvenirs baskets filled with strawberry goodies, and the boys take-me-home gift was a monogrammed brown craft paper circle, zigzag stitched, with strawberry and sour apple jelly-belly’s hiding inside.

We had a very happy Birthday Girl!  What a great pleasure it was to plan this party!  That’s it for today…tomorrow I’ll share some of the yummy treats and a few of my favorite recipes from the party!

Sneak Peek at a Strawberry Birthday

Someone had a birthday this weekend!  Can you guess from my pinboard which fun details made the cut? Check out my board Pintrest Strawberry Birthday 

 Anxious to share all the details, recipes and pics with you this week!  Happy Monday everyone!