CookieD-oh

Here are some cookies I made for the church secretary, who recently had heart surgery.  Hopefully they'll cheer her up and make her feel a little better. :-) They're not the same old flowers I usually do, but they're growing on me. That's all for today. Enjoy!

Why yes, I am a child of the 80's.  Why do you ask? It dawned on me recently that we've never made roll-out sugar cookies together here on the blog.  So let's get to it! Here are the ingredients we'll be using: I found vanilla bean paste at The Anderson's last week.  Go figure.  I also found rose extract.  Who knew The Anderson's had hard-to-find flavorings? Anyhoo, cream the butter and sugar until it's fluffy. In order to save time, while the sugar and butter are getting to know each other, I get the dry ingredients ready.  Mix them all together in a medium bowl and give it a good stir with a whisk. Add the sour cream, egg and vanilla (or vanilla bean paste in this case) to the butter and sugar. Just dump it all in.  Mix it well. I love the little specs of vanilla bean. Now dump in the dry ingredients. And stir until it's all incorporated. Looks kind of sticky and unmanageable, doesn't it?  Fear not, l...

OK, these are old-ish, too.  We saw the Pioneer Woman feature these cutters on her blog back in 2010, and immediately ordered a set.  Because ninja are awesome. To celebrate the boy getting his temporary black belt in Taekwondo, here are some ninja (remember, according to Lego Ninjago, "ninja" is both singular and plural).  I didn't think of making them for his class until it was too late.  D'oh!  They would have been so perfect.  But the instructors do get a plate full every Christmas, so they're getting used to them. I've improved my technique since making these, but they're still super cute.  I mean, really, who doesn't love ninja?  (Except maybe samurai.) Well, that's all for today. Enjoy!

Well, because it's summertime, there's not a whole lot of baking going on around here right now.  I can feel it coming on, though, so I'll have new stuff soon.  In the meantime, enjoy the birthday cake I made for my mom a few years ago. I don't often make a dedicated cake for my mom.  She and my brother practically share a birthday (they're six days apart), so usually it's a combined cake.  But this was a milestone, so she got her own cake! Vanilla-almond cake with vanilla buttercream and fondant decorations (except for the buttercream roses).  Mom was an avid cross-stitcher back in the day, so this was appropriate, I think! I was pretty pleased with how the embroidery hoop turned out. I found out later there are molds for the scissors and impression mats for the cross-stitch fabric.  Both things would have been nice to know at the time, but it all worked out. That's all for today. Enjoy!

Hello!  I hope everyone had a fun-filled Independence Day!  It rained most of the day here, but it wasn't a downpour or anything, just enough to be inconvenient.  But the boy and hubby were happy it wasn't scorching like it usually is. :-) Anyhoo, we made turkey burgers and corn on the cob on the grill. And I made deviled eggs.  A picnic must around our house.  We also had some leftover Texas Caviar sitting around so we ate that, too.  Yum. But then there was the question of dessert.  I haven't eaten sugar since our juice fast, but the hubby and kids aren't sticking to the healthy thing quite as closely.  So they wanted dessert. On that note, my neighbors' black raspberry bushes have completely taken over the back corner of my yard.  The kids like to go out and eat the berries right off the bushes.  I like to bring a few berries in every year and make raspberry buttercream to put on dark chocolate cupcakes (amazing, btw).  But...