Our Floorplan

Our Floorplan
900 sq ft

About Me

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Call us crazy, nuts or temporary loss of senses. That's what they said....this is about the quiet quest to simplify our life! The process of eliminating the clutter and stress and taking back our freedom. Like many small business owners….we were hit hard due to the economy. We found ourselves rethinking the direction we were heading. Should we gamble and keep the big house and "stuff" because that's what everyone does or do we reexamine what is truly important in our lives? 9 Hundred Square feet is an open-ended journey in living “Smaller, Simpler and Stress-Free” lives!
Showing posts with label goodies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label goodies. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Gotta LOVE Salted Caramels


New product I will be adding to my Urban Hobo line…”Salted Caramels”. Yum Yum! I have to tell you….this was NOT an easy task for me. Being new to candy-making…I was trying to master the “soft ball and hard ball” stages. Like I said… not an easy task.

First time I made it, was too hard. However, Juan (my master taste tester) LOVED them. Reminded him of a See’s Sucker…I wanted them to be soft and chewy, not hard that would break your teeth. I tried a second time and was so nervous about the candy getting to hard I took it off the heat too soon and now way too soft. (I know it sounds like Goldilocks and the Three Bears) Again, Juan loved the texture and taste with the bit of sea salt it really topped it off.

I tried again and again… a little nervous as my candy thermometer I began to have no faith in and started doing it more traditional or old school….getting a small dish of water and testing for hardness of mixture.

It was better; however still not keeping a form (cut into small squares) so it needed to go longer. HOWEVER, Juan did come up with a great idea…”Dipping Sauce”


Of course we tried it by reheating the mixture and slicing some apples and dipped into the warm caramel goodness. You know what??? It was awesome. A great sauce to heat up fondue style or top your favorite ice cream dessert.

Alas, SUCCESS! I got the soft ball stage perfect AND I was able to cut into squares and wrap with wax paper. They look great, kinda “old school” style candy.

My "friends" like it

So now…I will have caramel suckers, caramel chews and delectable sauce ready to order in the very near future. I’m so excited to have mastered the caramel chews as I hate to lose at something …. And each day I would gather the ingredients and explain to Juan that “This is it!...I am getting it today” Well, I attempted many times and FINALLY won! 

 
To be continued…

Thursday, February 2, 2012

A great day...

Well...I'm happy to report that I had a great "Pre-Valentine's Event" selling our De-lish (sorry I made it up) Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Cookies on Wednesday.

People enjoyed the sampling and LOVED the bundle packs in the pretty pink and red hues. They also loved the hammered heart shaped tag with a cute sentiment such as "I Love You" or "Run Away With Me"

I was with a group of ladies and discussing the tags and personalizing them. I showed the example of the heart with the saying "Run Away With Me" and one gal said "How about just run away?" another gal piped up and said "How about drop dead?" the gals and I started laughing and I responded that I am happy to add any sentiment you'd like. Next thing I know we are creating crass poems with the start "Roses are red, violets are blue, I saw you cheating and now we're through!".

More chucking and giggling...however, any comments and thoughts from the customers are always appreciated.

Anyway...I received a lot of orders and excited to get started on my tags. THEN next weekend, I'll be busy baking away.

I was able to get some corporate orders for their clients/customers. Several Realtors and and Insurance Group.

If anyone is interested in purchasing a bindle pack for your Valentine and add a heart shaped tag...I'm happy to take orders. If you are seeking corporate gifts, happy to chat too.

Shawn
Shawn@urban-hobo.com


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

My First Urban Hobo Cookie Event!

Urban Hobo-First "Small" Event!


In my last post…I was filling you in about the Valentine’s treats we are creating for that special someone in your life! (wink wink smiley face) Well, we are doing a small venue at our office complex. We have been very pleased at the response so far as many people know how much I LOVE creating fun and “kitchy” stuff being art or artful treats!


We are creating some cute heart tags along with our “Urban Hobo” ones with a loving sentiment.
To my Realtor friends…these are great gifts for your clients. We can create another “heart shaped” tag that reads “Unpack Your Home” Or “Unpack Welcome Home”. With the great packaging and the cost of $15.00 for two dozen cookies…it’s a special way to say thank you and not break the bank in doing so.

Hopefully it will be a great success...I’ll keep you posted on the results and let you know how I did. In the meantime, I am still taking orders to be shipped across the US…just send me an email
shawn@urban-hobo.com or call 480-215-2329…I am happy to take your order and get it out to you pronto! (quickly)