How to Make Your Own Personalized T-Shirt

I enjoy the occasional crafty project but don't really have the time to do it. I also enjoy saving money, and try my best to find time to do that. So if I can save money AND get my crafty on? I am so there!

Back when the kids' birthday was coming up, I really, really, REALLY wanted personalized shirts for them. The way I saw it, since the kids had mostly been kept at home, people might mix them up. Personalized shirts would be helpful...and well, just plain cute!

But when I searched for personalized shirts, I just couldn't find any in our budget range. The cheapest I could find were about $15 each. If I had a singleton, I would have bought one and been done with it. But with four kids, $60 on shirts they would quickly grow out of was just too expensive.

So I went another route. I decided to see how hard it would be to make my own. It wasn't too hard and the shirts turned out so cute!

The Babies' Birthday Shirts (Sorry there is a glare!)

Front                                                   Back

When their cousin Aly's birthday was coming up, I decided that she needed a personalized shirt too! And I decided since it was inexpensive, cute, and pretty special for the recipient, I would share it with you!

What you need:

• A shirt (I know, surprise, right?)
• Freezer Paper (Walmart sells it. Check by the foil and ziplock bags.)
• Cardboard Pieces
• Templates
• Tape
• Razor Knife
• Tweezers
• Paintbrush (I use a round stencil brush.)
• Fabric Paint (There are several types of fabric paint. I have used the puffy paint and the flat paint. Puffy paint can be cute with it's glittery tint, but the final ironing flattens it out so that the edges aren't crisp. The flat paint looks like you had it professionally screen printed on. In my opinion, even though the flat paint is about $1 more per bottle, it is worth it for a nicer finished product.)

Ready? :-)

First, wash and dry your shirt to make sure it has done all of the shrinking it's going to do. Then iron the shirt (or at least the part that you want to paint) to make sure that you have a smooth surface to work with.

Next, pick out the template that you want to put on your shirt. For this shirt, I did two templates. I typed out "Alyvia" in Microsoft Word and then played around until I found a font I liked. I settled on the "First Grader" font because it looked like fun kid lettering. I also found a butterfly that I really liked. I copied that twice on my copier so that I had a template I could cut. Alternately, you can Google for images that might look good on your shirt. Try: bug, flower, train, etc. (You can see the template I ended up with in the above photo.)

Once you have your templates, tape them to the pieces of cardboard. Keep the tape away from the template lines. Now tape a piece of freezer paper on top. You want to tape the freezer paper shiny side down. Again, keep the tape away from the template lines. You should be able to see the template coming through the freezer paper so that you can see where to cut.

Now take your razor knife, and get cutting! Be careful to only cut on the lines. Any extra cuts will allow the paint to seep through.

Once the freezer paper is cut, carefully remove it from the original template and cardboard. Save any pieces that are needed for the inside of your stencil, such as the inside of letters. Trim around your new stencil so that it fits on the shirt. Make sure you leave a decent edge around the stencil for when you are painting.

Now iron your stencil on your shirt.

Position the freezer paper shiny side down. Once you have everything where you want it, iron the stencil on the cotton setting WITHOUT steam. In other words, dump all of the water out of your iron before you start.

It should be well stuck to the shirt at this point. Make sure that you have all of the edges firmly affixed to the shirt paying special attention to little pieces.

Now add back in any extra pieces. Below you can see that I've added back in the middle of my "A's." Again, make sure that you are ironing these pieces shiny side down!

Now take a second piece of freezer paper that is big enough to cover the entire area that you are painting. Slide it inside the shirt, shiny side up, and iron again. That second piece of freezer paper will protect the paint from bleeding through to the other side.

Once your template is ironed on, then you are ready to paint!

Take a paper plate and squirt a little of the color you want to use on it. Use the paint brush in an up-and-down motion to apply the paint to your shirt. Do not swipe it side-to-side as that will push paint under the edges of your stencil. The first coat will take the most paint, but you don't want to glob it on. It's better to do several thinner coats than one thick coat. For this t-shirt, I did 3 or 4 coats over two or three days. For the black t-shirts that I made for the kids' birthday, it took about 10 coats over a week. Those dark t-shirts are hard to cover! Make sure you start this project at least a week before you need them (or longer if you are going with dark t-shirts).

At this point, I kind of forgot that I was documenting the shirt making process. Oops! I also had the privilege of making Aly's first birthday cake and cupcakes for her party, so I was a little distracted. :-)

But then I remembered!

This is what your shirt should look like once all of the paint is applied. (Ignore the part where I already removed the stencil around her name.) You can see that I've used different colors but been careful to keep the paint on the stencil. Make sure your paint has dried for at least 12-24 hours before removing the stencil.

Use your fingers and tweezers to very, very gently remove the stencil from the t-shirt. It should easily peel off of the shirt, but you may have to coax it a little bit in narrow areas such as between letters. I also occasionally use a cuticle stick along with the tweezers if I get a particularly stubborn spot.

Don't forget to carefully remove the center of the letters as well!

Oh, by the way, this is a one-time use stencil, so don't worry about ripping it.

 So cute! About now, you should be very proud of your work! Your shirt looks adorable! :-)

Now we are going to set the paint. Go back to your iron that is on the cotton setting without steam. Take a fresh piece of freezer paper and place it shiny side down on top of your newly painted design. Iron it on.

You should be able to see your design pressed up against the freezer paper once it's adhered. It really doesn't take all that long.

Once the paper is cool, peel it back off your design. Your colors should be a little more vivid and your design a little flatter than it was before!

This is the finished project with the skirt that I bought to go with it. Adorable and professional looking, and more than that, something special that the birthday girl wouldn't be able to find anywhere else!

One last thing, these t-shirts hold up surprisingly well in the washer! Just make sure that you wash your shirt inside out with cold water. I let mine air dry but I have thrown them in the dryer in a pinch. If I have to dry them, then I leave them inside out and dry them for a limited amount of time on low.

Ready to try your hand at a Homemade Personalized T-Shirt? :)

I linked up to:

I enjoy the occasional crafty project but don't really have the time to do it. I also enjoy saving money, and try my best to find time to do that. So if I can save money AND get my crafty on? I am so there!

Back when the kids' birthday was coming up, I really, really, REALLY wanted personalized shirts for them. The way I saw it, since the kids had mostly been kept at home, people might mix them up. Personalized shirts would be helpful...and well, just plain cute!

But when I searched for personalized shirts, I just couldn't find any in our budget range. The cheapest I could find were about $15 each. If I had a singleton, I would have bought one and been done with it. But with four kids, $60 on shirts they would quickly grow out of was just too expensive.

So I went another route. I decided to see how hard it would be to make my own. It wasn't too hard and the shirts turned out so cute!

The Babies' Birthday Shirts (Sorry there is a glare!)

Front                                                   Back

When their cousin Aly's birthday was coming up, I decided that she needed a personalized shirt too! And I decided since it was inexpensive, cute, and pretty special for the recipient, I would share it with you!

What you need:

• A shirt (I know, surprise, right?)
• Freezer Paper (Walmart sells it. Check by the foil and ziplock bags.)
• Cardboard Pieces
• Templates
• Tape
• Razor Knife
• Tweezers
• Paintbrush (I use a round stencil brush.)
• Fabric Paint (There are several types of fabric paint. I have used the puffy paint and the flat paint. Puffy paint can be cute with it's glittery tint, but the final ironing flattens it out so that the edges aren't crisp. The flat paint looks like you had it professionally screen printed on. In my opinion, even though the flat paint is about $1 more per bottle, it is worth it for a nicer finished product.)

Ready? :-)

First, wash and dry your shirt to make sure it has done all of the shrinking it's going to do. Then iron the shirt (or at least the part that you want to paint) to make sure that you have a smooth surface to work with.

Next, pick out the template that you want to put on your shirt. For this shirt, I did two templates. I typed out "Alyvia" in Microsoft Word and then played around until I found a font I liked. I settled on the "First Grader" font because it looked like fun kid lettering. I also found a butterfly that I really liked. I copied that twice on my copier so that I had a template I could cut. Alternately, you can Google for images that might look good on your shirt. Try: bug, flower, train, etc. (You can see the template I ended up with in the above photo.)

Once you have your templates, tape them to the pieces of cardboard. Keep the tape away from the template lines. Now tape a piece of freezer paper on top. You want to tape the freezer paper shiny side down. Again, keep the tape away from the template lines. You should be able to see the template coming through the freezer paper so that you can see where to cut.

Now take your razor knife, and get cutting! Be careful to only cut on the lines. Any extra cuts will allow the paint to seep through.

Once the freezer paper is cut, carefully remove it from the original template and cardboard. Save any pieces that are needed for the inside of your stencil, such as the inside of letters. Trim around your new stencil so that it fits on the shirt. Make sure you leave a decent edge around the stencil for when you are painting.

Now iron your stencil on your shirt.

Position the freezer paper shiny side down. Once you have everything where you want it, iron the stencil on the cotton setting WITHOUT steam. In other words, dump all of the water out of your iron before you start.

It should be well stuck to the shirt at this point. Make sure that you have all of the edges firmly affixed to the shirt paying special attention to little pieces.

Now add back in any extra pieces. Below you can see that I've added back in the middle of my "A's." Again, make sure that you are ironing these pieces shiny side down!

Now take a second piece of freezer paper that is big enough to cover the entire area that you are painting. Slide it inside the shirt, shiny side up, and iron again. That second piece of freezer paper will protect the paint from bleeding through to the other side.

Once your template is ironed on, then you are ready to paint!

Take a paper plate and squirt a little of the color you want to use on it. Use the paint brush in an up-and-down motion to apply the paint to your shirt. Do not swipe it side-to-side as that will push paint under the edges of your stencil. The first coat will take the most paint, but you don't want to glob it on. It's better to do several thinner coats than one thick coat. For this t-shirt, I did 3 or 4 coats over two or three days. For the black t-shirts that I made for the kids' birthday, it took about 10 coats over a week. Those dark t-shirts are hard to cover! Make sure you start this project at least a week before you need them (or longer if you are going with dark t-shirts).

At this point, I kind of forgot that I was documenting the shirt making process. Oops! I also had the privilege of making Aly's first birthday cake and cupcakes for her party, so I was a little distracted. :-)

But then I remembered!

This is what your shirt should look like once all of the paint is applied. (Ignore the part where I already removed the stencil around her name.) You can see that I've used different colors but been careful to keep the paint on the stencil. Make sure your paint has dried for at least 12-24 hours before removing the stencil.

Use your fingers and tweezers to very, very gently remove the stencil from the t-shirt. It should easily peel off of the shirt, but you may have to coax it a little bit in narrow areas such as between letters. I also occasionally use a cuticle stick along with the tweezers if I get a particularly stubborn spot.

Don't forget to carefully remove the center of the letters as well!

Oh, by the way, this is a one-time use stencil, so don't worry about ripping it.

 So cute! About now, you should be very proud of your work! Your shirt looks adorable! :-)

Now we are going to set the paint. Go back to your iron that is on the cotton setting without steam. Take a fresh piece of freezer paper and place it shiny side down on top of your newly painted design. Iron it on.

You should be able to see your design pressed up against the freezer paper once it's adhered. It really doesn't take all that long.

Once the paper is cool, peel it back off your design. Your colors should be a little more vivid and your design a little flatter than it was before!

This is the finished project with the skirt that I bought to go with it. Adorable and professional looking, and more than that, something special that the birthday girl wouldn't be able to find anywhere else!

One last thing, these t-shirts hold up surprisingly well in the washer! Just make sure that you wash your shirt inside out with cold water. I let mine air dry but I have thrown them in the dryer in a pinch. If I have to dry them, then I leave them inside out and dry them for a limited amount of time on low.

Ready to try your hand at a Homemade Personalized T-Shirt? :)

I linked up to:

Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels (with Bonus Homemade Asiago Bagels!)

I have had SO many people ask about my homemade bagel recipe. I keep typing out the directions and emailing them to people and finally I realized that there was an easier way to do this! Tutorial time!

I originally started looking into making homemade bagels when my husband discovered the amazing chocolate chip bagel at Panera. As an occasional splurge item, it's okay; but on a regular basis, they are pretty pricey! So I set out to figure out how to make them on my own.

I've read through lots of bagel recipes, bagel forming techniques, bagel baking tips, and watched a few bagel YouTube videos. Through a bit of trial and error, I've figured out the best way (at least for me) to make them! It's pretty easy, although a bit of a process, so pick a day when you will home to try them.

Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagel Recipe

(with Bonus Homemade Asiago Bagel Tips!)

Makes 8 Bagels

Inspired by many recipes, but mainly from Little House Living's Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagel Recipe

1 1/3 Cup Warm Water

1 Tbsp Oil (I use vegetable oil)

4 Cups Bread Flour

4 tsp Sugar

2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Yeast

Throw everything in your mixer. 

Knead it well. This particular time, I put everything in the mixer and then cleaned the remnants of lunch off of my kids' faces. It was probably 6-7 minutes. If you are using your Kitchen Aid, use the "stir" setting. You don't want to run it at a higher speed than that while kneading dough or you run the risk of burning out the motor.

Look how pretty that ball of dough is! See how it's completely cleaned the sides of the bowl and there is nothing left on the dough hook once I took the dough off? It won't be too sticky, but it will definitely keep together. 

Let it rise for 45 minutes under a towel and in a warm spot . You won't hurt it if it goes longer. I like to turn my microwave on for 2 minutes to heat it up, and then pop the bowl in there once it dings. (Btw, make sure you don't microwave your metal bowls!!)

After 45 minutes, put it back on the mixer and knead it down again for a few minutes. Yep, this is the same photo from above, because it's the same step again. :)

Then, let it rise for another 45 minutes. Like I said, it's a bit of a process. 

After the second rise, go ahead and pull the dough out to sit on the counter. This is when you start to customize it.

Look how puffy it is now! 

For this batch, I've decided to do 8 Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels and 4 Homemade Asiago Bagels. I never make less than 16 bagels at a time, but I only had enough bread flour to make the recipe 1 1/2 times. So one full recipe will become chocolate chip bagels and the half a recipe will become asiago bagels.

At this point, divide your dough into sections based on your flavors. Below, you see 2/3 of my dough (8 bagels worth) with a pile of chocolate chips on it. In the background, you can see the 1/3 of the dough (4 bagels worth) waiting for it's cheese.

There is no measurement for the chocolate chips. Go wild! Remember to add a few extra so that as the bagels rise and increase in size, you won't run the risk of bites of bagel with no chocolate chips! That would be a travesty! 

Knead the chocolate chips (or other ingredients) into the dough until they are evenly dispersed. Then, cut the dough into equal lumps of dough. I now have 4 lumps of plain dough and 8 lumps of chocolate chip dough (and 1 pile of chocolate chips dedicated to quality control. I promise not to eat them all.)

Roll each lump of dough into a ball making the top as smooth as possible. Flatten it out slightly and poke a hole in the middle with your fingers. Widen the hole a little more than you think will work. It will close a bit as the bagels rise. Put them on greased pans to rise...again! (This is the last rise, promise!)

Cover with a towel and come back in about 45 minutes or so. I have found that rising times are very flexible with the recipe (thanks, children!), but at least 45 minutes is needed for optimal rising. 

Now you have grown-up bagels! At this point in the process, make sure you either turn on an exciting show for the kids, or put them down for a nap. This next part will require you to work fairly quickly and doesn't turn out well if there are interruptions.

Pop your pans of bagels in the oven one at a time under the broil setting. Broil about 2 minutes, flip your bagels over, and broil another 2 minutes. Watch them very carefully. All you are trying to do is create a bit of a crust to help them hold up to the boiling. Do not let them brown. In my oven, I know where the hot spots are and also that 1 1/2 minutes is plenty on each side, or I end up with brown bagels. Check often and adjust your time accordingly.

Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and add 1/4 cup of sugar to it.

Also make sure that your bagel station is fully set up before you start the boiling process. The rack is to drain boiled bagels, the first bowl is corn meal, the second bowl is asiago cheese, and then I have a slotted spatula and tongs to move the bagels around.

First, let's finish the Homemade Asiago Bagels:

Working with a few bagels at a time, drop them into the boiling water. Boil each side for 1 minute, using the tongs to flip them over (2 minutes total).

 Use the slotted spatula to remove the bagels from the pot and place them on the rack. After about 30 seconds, most of the water should have drained away or evaporated. 

Use the tongs to place the bagels, one at a time, into the Asiago cheese. A light layer on the bottom is perfect. Use the tongs to set the bagel back on the pan (which has been sprayed again to keep from sticking). Use your fingers to grab more cheese from the bowl and pile a nice little mound on top of the bagel.

Keep going until all of the Asiago bagels have been coated in cheese! Yum!

Now let's finish up the Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels:

Boil the chocolate chip bagels just as you did the Asiago ones. Boil each for 1 minute per side. Note that I did the other bagels first because these end up turning the water chocolately. Not a bad thing, just not very pretty on a cheese bagel.

Drain them for 30 seconds on the rack and then using the tongs, gently dip the bottoms of each one in the cornmeal so that they pick up a light layer. Why? Because I read somewhere in my research that it's the cornmeal and boiling that make the bagels taste like real New York bagels. Since I've never been to New York, I don't have much to compare it too, but I do it anyway.

Once all of the bagels have been broiled, boiled, coated, and/or dunked, they should all be back on the pans. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Let cool. And then bask in the glory that is Homemade Chocolate Chip or Homemade Asiago Bagels. 

One with natural lighting....

And one more so all bagels can be viewed equally....Yummy!

They freeze extremely well, so don't be afraid to make a large batch!

The top two flavors that I make are Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels and Homemade Asiago Bagels.

I've also made Homemade Blueberry Bagels with fresh blueberries. Although Sean was a big fan of those, they are maddeningly difficult to get to turn out right. The blueberries burst when they are kneaded into the dough which puts way too much moisture into it. Then you have to add more bread flour to balance out the moisture. And then you realize that not all the blueberries popped the first time around as more suddenly start oozing, so then the dough is still too wet....it's a delicious yet vicious cycle. If you want to try a batch with fresh fruit, make sure you make a batch or two with dry ingredients first so that you know how the dough should feel. All that to say, the next time Sean asks for Homemade Blueberry Bagels, I'm going to try them with frozen blueberries. Hopefully that helps!

I also want to try Homemade Orange Cranberry Almond Bagels sometimes! I'll use orange juice in place of water, dried cranberries, and toasted almonds....Mmmmm!

Do you have any favorite bagels combinations? I'd love to hear them so that I can give them a whirl!

I have had SO many people ask about my homemade bagel recipe. I keep typing out the directions and emailing them to people and finally I realized that there was an easier way to do this! Tutorial time!

I originally started looking into making homemade bagels when my husband discovered the amazing chocolate chip bagel at Panera. As an occasional splurge item, it's okay; but on a regular basis, they are pretty pricey! So I set out to figure out how to make them on my own.

I've read through lots of bagel recipes, bagel forming techniques, bagel baking tips, and watched a few bagel YouTube videos. Through a bit of trial and error, I've figured out the best way (at least for me) to make them! It's pretty easy, although a bit of a process, so pick a day when you will home to try them.

Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagel Recipe

(with Bonus Homemade Asiago Bagel Tips!)

Makes 8 Bagels

Inspired by many recipes, but mainly from Little House Living's Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagel Recipe

1 1/3 Cup Warm Water

1 Tbsp Oil (I use vegetable oil)

4 Cups Bread Flour

4 tsp Sugar

2 tsp Salt

1 Tbsp Yeast

Throw everything in your mixer. 

Knead it well. This particular time, I put everything in the mixer and then cleaned the remnants of lunch off of my kids' faces. It was probably 6-7 minutes. If you are using your Kitchen Aid, use the "stir" setting. You don't want to run it at a higher speed than that while kneading dough or you run the risk of burning out the motor.

Look how pretty that ball of dough is! See how it's completely cleaned the sides of the bowl and there is nothing left on the dough hook once I took the dough off? It won't be too sticky, but it will definitely keep together. 

Let it rise for 45 minutes under a towel and in a warm spot . You won't hurt it if it goes longer. I like to turn my microwave on for 2 minutes to heat it up, and then pop the bowl in there once it dings. (Btw, make sure you don't microwave your metal bowls!!)

After 45 minutes, put it back on the mixer and knead it down again for a few minutes. Yep, this is the same photo from above, because it's the same step again. :)

Then, let it rise for another 45 minutes. Like I said, it's a bit of a process. 

After the second rise, go ahead and pull the dough out to sit on the counter. This is when you start to customize it.

Look how puffy it is now! 

For this batch, I've decided to do 8 Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels and 4 Homemade Asiago Bagels. I never make less than 16 bagels at a time, but I only had enough bread flour to make the recipe 1 1/2 times. So one full recipe will become chocolate chip bagels and the half a recipe will become asiago bagels.

At this point, divide your dough into sections based on your flavors. Below, you see 2/3 of my dough (8 bagels worth) with a pile of chocolate chips on it. In the background, you can see the 1/3 of the dough (4 bagels worth) waiting for it's cheese.

There is no measurement for the chocolate chips. Go wild! Remember to add a few extra so that as the bagels rise and increase in size, you won't run the risk of bites of bagel with no chocolate chips! That would be a travesty! 

Knead the chocolate chips (or other ingredients) into the dough until they are evenly dispersed. Then, cut the dough into equal lumps of dough. I now have 4 lumps of plain dough and 8 lumps of chocolate chip dough (and 1 pile of chocolate chips dedicated to quality control. I promise not to eat them all.)

Roll each lump of dough into a ball making the top as smooth as possible. Flatten it out slightly and poke a hole in the middle with your fingers. Widen the hole a little more than you think will work. It will close a bit as the bagels rise. Put them on greased pans to rise...again! (This is the last rise, promise!)

Cover with a towel and come back in about 45 minutes or so. I have found that rising times are very flexible with the recipe (thanks, children!), but at least 45 minutes is needed for optimal rising. 

Now you have grown-up bagels! At this point in the process, make sure you either turn on an exciting show for the kids, or put them down for a nap. This next part will require you to work fairly quickly and doesn't turn out well if there are interruptions.

Pop your pans of bagels in the oven one at a time under the broil setting. Broil about 2 minutes, flip your bagels over, and broil another 2 minutes. Watch them very carefully. All you are trying to do is create a bit of a crust to help them hold up to the boiling. Do not let them brown. In my oven, I know where the hot spots are and also that 1 1/2 minutes is plenty on each side, or I end up with brown bagels. Check often and adjust your time accordingly.

Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and add 1/4 cup of sugar to it.

Also make sure that your bagel station is fully set up before you start the boiling process. The rack is to drain boiled bagels, the first bowl is corn meal, the second bowl is asiago cheese, and then I have a slotted spatula and tongs to move the bagels around.

First, let's finish the Homemade Asiago Bagels:

Working with a few bagels at a time, drop them into the boiling water. Boil each side for 1 minute, using the tongs to flip them over (2 minutes total).

 Use the slotted spatula to remove the bagels from the pot and place them on the rack. After about 30 seconds, most of the water should have drained away or evaporated. 

Use the tongs to place the bagels, one at a time, into the Asiago cheese. A light layer on the bottom is perfect. Use the tongs to set the bagel back on the pan (which has been sprayed again to keep from sticking). Use your fingers to grab more cheese from the bowl and pile a nice little mound on top of the bagel.

Keep going until all of the Asiago bagels have been coated in cheese! Yum!

Now let's finish up the Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels:

Boil the chocolate chip bagels just as you did the Asiago ones. Boil each for 1 minute per side. Note that I did the other bagels first because these end up turning the water chocolately. Not a bad thing, just not very pretty on a cheese bagel.

Drain them for 30 seconds on the rack and then using the tongs, gently dip the bottoms of each one in the cornmeal so that they pick up a light layer. Why? Because I read somewhere in my research that it's the cornmeal and boiling that make the bagels taste like real New York bagels. Since I've never been to New York, I don't have much to compare it too, but I do it anyway.

Once all of the bagels have been broiled, boiled, coated, and/or dunked, they should all be back on the pans. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Let cool. And then bask in the glory that is Homemade Chocolate Chip or Homemade Asiago Bagels. 

One with natural lighting....

And one more so all bagels can be viewed equally....Yummy!

They freeze extremely well, so don't be afraid to make a large batch!

The top two flavors that I make are Homemade Chocolate Chip Bagels and Homemade Asiago Bagels.

I've also made Homemade Blueberry Bagels with fresh blueberries. Although Sean was a big fan of those, they are maddeningly difficult to get to turn out right. The blueberries burst when they are kneaded into the dough which puts way too much moisture into it. Then you have to add more bread flour to balance out the moisture. And then you realize that not all the blueberries popped the first time around as more suddenly start oozing, so then the dough is still too wet....it's a delicious yet vicious cycle. If you want to try a batch with fresh fruit, make sure you make a batch or two with dry ingredients first so that you know how the dough should feel. All that to say, the next time Sean asks for Homemade Blueberry Bagels, I'm going to try them with frozen blueberries. Hopefully that helps!

I also want to try Homemade Orange Cranberry Almond Bagels sometimes! I'll use orange juice in place of water, dried cranberries, and toasted almonds....Mmmmm!

Do you have any favorite bagels combinations? I'd love to hear them so that I can give them a whirl!