CookieD-oh

 Hey, long time no blog! Life just keeps on happening, and that's the only excuse I have. The kids are growing up rapidly. The boy is in high school, and the girl is in middle school. Both of them run cross country, so I (finally) got around to making cookies for them. The school logo and some general cross-country themed cookies, along with a saying from their coach. And just so this isn't the world's shortest blog post, here's a picture of my vintage kitchen: It's a weird mix of 40's and 50's, but as I'm working off of Craig's List for my décor, it's the best I can do.  Well, that's all for now.  Enjoy!

Not the most creative title in the world, but what are you going to do? It fits. Anyhoo, made some flower and butterfly decorated sugar cookies for an event at work. I also made some chocolate chunk cookies, but they weren’t as pretty. I made a set with more flower designs for my Mom’s retirement, but I didn’t take pictures of those. I’m basically the worst blogger ever.  I thought they were cute. I like butterflies and flowers, but who doesn’t? And who doesn’t like chocolate chunk cookies? Well, that’s all for now. Enjoy!

So I got invited to my first Matilda Jane trunk party last week. I had heard of Matilda Jane, sort of, but didn't really know what it was. Turns out it's super cute girls' clothing (big and little girls!). I was asked to make themed cookies, so I had to do a little internet research. I found out later that when Matilda Jane releases a collection, if an item sells out they don't replace it. So at least one of the dresses I based my cookies on was not available by the time the party was held. D'OH! Oh well, I still think they were cute. This was the "Once Upon a Time" collection for fall, and I really enjoyed the colors. These took me out of my comfort zone, too. I tend to do cookies that are similar in style most of the time. These were definitely not my regular style, but they were fun. The girl accompanied me to the trunk show, of course, and she had a wonderful time! She is ALL about clothes right now. *sigh* At 8 she is more fashionabl...

Decorated sugar cookies for fall! Leaves, pumpkins, apples, and sunflowers. I saw a couple different versions of the trees on Pinterest and decided to give them a go. I think the trees sort of pulled them all together. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

Made for a friend's daughter's baby shower. The theme was Mommy to Bee. These aren't colors I use regularly, but it was nice to do something different! There was a lot of black and some of the designs were wet-on-wet, so I made the icing with extra meringue powder, just in case. I've heard that extra meringue powder will stop bleeding. (Of course, for my regular royal icing recipe I've halved the amount of meringue powder I use, so really it was just the normal amount.) But whatever the reason, it worked! There was no bleeding black icing, even with the white polka dots. All bagged up and ready to go! I really have to start taking pictures before they're in the bags. I think that's all of them. I'm going to be making more cookies in the next couple weeks, so hopefully I'll actually get them posted to the ol' blog. Maybe. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

OK, people. I would just like to say that I recently found a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies, and these cookies are the real deal. I didn't have particularly high hopes. I didn't even take any pictures of the process. I mean, a chocolate chip cookie is a chocolate chip cookie, right? Maybe. Maybe not. I have made these approximately 8 times since discovering them on Smitten Kitchen last month. (And yet, somehow, I still only have the one photo.) Anyhoo, I tinkered with the recipe a little bit, just because that's who I am these days. The one thing I need to stress is that you should use a chocolate bar, cut into chunks. Chocolate chips work, but the cookies are better with chunks. So far I've used Ghiradelli, Hershey Special Dark, and a Spanish baking bar I received from a friend. If I could easily get the Spanish chocolate, I would use it again, but since I can't, I've been using the Hershey bar. It's bigger than the other and cheaper. And j...

A friend had a baby shower and I got to bring cookies and cupcakes! We were very excited for her, as this baby has been a long time coming. Unfortunately, I got ZERO good photos of the cookies. And I mean ZERO-er than normal. Made some onesies... Some bottles, rattles and bibs...  A plaque or two... And then I also made some cupcakes! I used my usual go-to chocolate cake, plus some white to go with them. Half the chocolate cupcakes were filled with dulce du leche (the ones with the dollops on top) and half of the white cupcakes were filled with lemon curd (also with the dollops on top). They were pretty darn tasty. Again, not a good photo, but you get the idea. They're cupcakes. :-) The little one arrived a few weeks ago and mom and dad couldn't be happier! Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

So this was kind of weird. A friend of my mom's asked me to make some Honda Odyssey cookies for her. Basically she was looking for an excuse to have a celebration, and she decided to throw her minivan a birthday party. So, I present to you a 2004 Honda Odyssey in royal icing! On a candy corn cookie! I ended up doing royal icing transfers for the vans. They weren't great, but they were recognizable, at least. And I'm happy to say that after about 30 RI transfers, I can spot an Odyssey from 100 paces. Or more. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

The girl saw the Valentine Love Birds floating around the interwebs and decided she needed them for her class Valentine's Day party. (Yes, I do realize it's almost summer.) Her teacher is (was) gluten-free, so I made them with gluten-free ingredients. They tasted pretty good. And they were cute. I kept asking the girl if she wanted the birds to be pink and blue instead of the original white and blue, but she insisted they be exactly like the photos. I don't know if I got them exactly, but they're pretty close. And I got to use my new(ish) petal dust palette on the cheeks. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

Now that it's almost Father's Day, it seems like a good time to post some Mother's Day cookies. Lemon cookies with lemon royal icing. Three dozen, if memory serves, in some fun spring colors. Well, that's all for now.  Enjoy!

Hello again. I guess I'll celebrate the start of summer vacation with a blog post! Anyone for another royal icing post? My recipe has evolved over the years; I started out using Antonia74's RI recipe, then I started adapting it to better suit my needs. First I added corn syrup for shine, then I started playing around with the amount of meringue powder. And then I started experimenting with flavors. I think I'm happy with where I've landed as far as a final product. So here's how I make it: First, gather your ingredients. You'll need warm water, meringue powder, cream of tartar, lemon extract, vanilla extract, corn syrup and powdered sugar. Next, whisk the meringue powder with the warm water until it's good and frothy. Add the cream of tartar and keep whisking until soft peaks form. *Free tip of the day: sift your meringue powder before adding it to the bowl. (I use a small sieve.) It's been my experience that the little lumps that clog the pipin...

**In the interest of full disclosure I would like to say up front that his recipe is extremely dangerous. Continue reading with extreme caution.** While I was researching recipes on Pinterest a while back, (if I blog about it later, I can legitimately call the time I waste on Pinterest "research") I discovered this recipe for an individual chocolate chip cookie  via Cooking Classy. Now, if we're being honest, the recipe really makes one cookie that should be shared between at least two people. But we all know that's not going to happen. So if there are two of you at home, double the recipe. This recipe is absolutely perfect for those times when you feel like having a cookie but you don't want to make a whole batch. Five minutes prep and this baby is done. In fact, you'll probably be done mixing the ingredients before the oven is even preheated. The only down side to this recipe is that you could potentially find yourself wasting some egg. However, the...

I never knew there was such a thing as Elvis UNO cards (and I do enjoy a good game of UNO), but a friend from church asked me to make some Elvis UNO card cookies. So after she sent me some pictures I realized I couldn't make those cookies because I'm not an artist. So I improvised. Silhouettes seemed to be the way to go. We've got some young Elvis and some old Elvis. I kind of liked the Jailhouse Rock Elvis in the middle. Then I had to explain to my children who Elvis was (ouch). And as a result I've had "Blue Suede Shoes" stuck in my head for DAYS. Two dozen total. Please pay no attention to the Christmas plate. It was unavoidable That's all for now. Enjoy!

I really don't get the baby feet cookie thing. I guess it's just not my bag. But people ask for cookies, and I aim to please. :-) I was rushing and didn't get a good picture. Again. I make more cookies than what I post here.The problem is by the time I'm done making them, I don't feel like taking pictures. I need an on-call photographer. Who makes house calls. Anyhoo, that's all for now. Enjoy!

So when I made macarons for my friend's wedding, I also made sugar cookies. Because that's kind of what I do. I also made some more of the caramel-filled chocolate chip cookie cups ...but that's another post. I did not make the cupcakes. The wedding colors were shades of purple and white, and the theme was butterflies. I was pretty excited that I got to bust out the butterfly stencil I got at CookieCon way back when (not the CookieCon that just happened...the one before that). But that's pretty much the only picture I got, so this is going to be a short post. That's all for now. Enjoy!

So I spent a few weeks trying to conquer the French Macaron. It wasn't easy. There were lots of failures, both epic and not-so-epic. But the end result was worth it! What do you think? Not perfect, but not too shabby. Lavender Macarons with lemon curd filling. Quite tasty.  A while back we drove up to a little lavender farm just outside Cleveland. We bought some culinary lavender and I'd been holding onto it, just sort of waiting for the opportunity to use it.  Then a friend from church asked me to make cookies for her wedding (!). Then I found out her colors were purple and white (!). My lavender suddenly had purpose!! The only problem was, I had never made a macaron in my life. And I had heard they were difficult, to say the least. So I set out on my macaron journey. I pinned pins, I watched YouTube videos, and I made batch upon batch of macaron batter. Some turned out ok. (These were filled with mint chocolate buttercream.) Some, not ...

Pink and green baby shower cookies. It's a girl! I actually haven't been blogging because I haven't been taking pictures. These were e-mailed to me from the party. Maybe someday I'll get a good camera and learn how to use it. But probably not. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

They were celebrating a retirement at my mom's place of employment and she asked me to make some cookies for her. Turns out the retiree is a big Mickey Mouse fan! And it just so happens that my cookie-friend Lisa gave me some genuine, officially licensed Disney cookie cutters a while back. Yay! So as usual, I did not take a picture of the cookies before they left my house. My mom did get one, though, and she sent it to me. I kind of liked how they came out. I did have a couple extras that I got a close-up of. I did not have any extras of the Minnie bow. :-(  So no close-up of that one. I used a butterfly cookie cutter (Thanks, Sugarbelle !!) and did the outlining and details in black to coordinate with the rest of the set. I think I might make these again sometime. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!