Pepper Design Blog

An Ice Cream Social with Breyers

A couple of months ago Breyers reached out to me regarding their new line of ice cream sundae toppings. Would we like to test some out during their big debut of eight flavors? What a delicious offer. And a perfect excuse to throw a little spring ice cream social for Liv and her friends.

We picked a Saturday in late May and planned a get together around the arrival of this box (how fun is that packaging) which housed the various ice cream toppings:

On the day of the party, I pulled out my favorite fabric flags that I keep around for birthday parties and baby showers and made a couple of wooden block stands (a la this trick) for a festive and simple display.

It’s peony season, my favorite flower season.

When the kids arrived, we used mini patterned paper cups (left over from Liv’s 2nd birthday) to pass around scoops of vanilla ice cream. Then we popped open our tester toppings and tried them all out.

The new line includes strawberry, cherry and mixed berry fruit toppings, and caramel, chocolate and hot fudge (my favorite) sauces. Plus chocolate and rainbow sprinkles (Liv’s favorite).

We added a few healthy ice cream toppings such as strawberries, peaches and granola for the kiddies as well.

Still the sugar rush was a superb one!!

Made for an awesome ice cream social though! And we parents helped to make up the ice cream difference.

The parents agreed that the new squeeze pouches for the chocolate and caramel sauces were very genius. No sticky jars or sticky fingers. None of the toppings include high fructose corn syrup and the fruit purees are made with the real deal.

Using Oh Happy Day’s paper hat tutorial, some of the kids decorated little party hats for the ice cream social as well.

Since our crowd was mostly 2-3 year olds, the hats were near finished before the party with the exception of polka dots for the kids to add on their own.

They wore them for maybe a few minutes, but a cute little art project nonetheless.

I attempted waffle cone bowls the night before using this recipe but ended up with cookies (which were much easier to form from the delicious buttery dough) instead. Since I didn’t have the right waffle cone tools on hand, I used our pancake griddle and grill press for the process.

A small roll of dough, a press on one side until brown, flip and repeat. They were yummy!

All in all, I would say it was an ice cream success.

Thanks, Breyers for a great reason to throw a party! PS you can read more about their toppings (and find a coupon for an in store purchase) here.

Bring on the summer sun! I’m ready for lots of outdoor parties and reasons to get together with friends. Maybe by a pool or at the beach next time? I’m definitely looking forward to my maternity leave .

Handmade Ombre Placemats (It’s Picnic Season!)

It’s perfect weather for an outdoor picnic, no? Hopefully you’re experiencing this beautiful sunshine wherever you are, too! Eating outdoors is the best (especially on a big grassy lawn at some fun park) and now that the Outdoor Eating season is approaching here in Southern California, I think more picnics need to happen in our house. Or, outside our house. Maybe on the new outdoor table.

Liv and I were experimenting with painting (her new very favorite-ist thing to do in the whole wide world), and while Liv took to the bright colors, I played around with updating simple rattan chargers from Ikea with white paint.

Turned out pretty cool! I really dig the look with that blend of the soft rattan and the stark white finish. Actually, this is just dawning on me – they kind of remind me of these.

The application process was more than basic. I actually tried spray paint first thinking that that might be fast and easy, but couldn’t achieve that gradiated effect I was picturing, so went over the work with acrylic and a paint brush.

Brush, brush, blot, blot…

Lots of blotting later…

And finished!

Navy and maroon might be a new favorite color combination – kind of perfect for July 4th, no?

These placemats were so simple to create and at a couple of bucks a pop, a great housewarming gift idea as a pack of four or six, or perhaps as something special for a special lady/friend/mother in your life? Or even better, package up in a picnic basket with a fun outdoor blanket and a bottle of wine as a wedding gift (it’s that season, too).

Sorry, enough photos. The lighting was perfect and I went a leeetle overboard.

More handmade gift ideas found right here.

Good Eats: Chocolate Dipped Coffee Spoons

Remember when I made these guys a couple of weeks ago? Well I ended up overdoing it on the amount of deliciously melted chocolate in my double boiler and wanted to find an easy way to scoop up the remaining goodness, lest it be wasted or eaten in an entire sitting by myself.

The easy solution was dipped spoons! I’ve actually made these before with plastic spoons for a hot chocolate bar at a friend’s nesting baby shower, but it’s been a couple of years so I thought I’d revisit and share how easy, yummy and practical (can’t let that last bit of chocolate go to waste!) this is. These dipped coffee spoons would also would make great gifts if sealed up in a little cellophane and ribbon.

So easy and so quick, and they look so pretty when set out with coffee, hot chocolate, chai… you name it.

They could be covered in any pretty sprinkle or sugar for a customized look for a shower theme or party, or swagger with alternative chocolate colors (white over the dark, for example) for a fancier design.

The left over spoons went onto the coffee shelf in my kitchen – so tempting!

They won’t last longer than a couple of weeks before the chocolate begins to crack, but I really haven’t had to worry about an ‘extended stay’ problem .

Making them is easy peasy, see this post for a better overview but the basics are: chocolate chips, double boiler, spoons (if using plastic as favors or gifts, make sure your chocolate isn’t hot hot hot or the spoons will melt during the dipping process), toppings.

 Yum.

PS More recipes and good eats can be found right here.