CookieD-oh

About a year ago a friend of mine asked if I would be willing to make cupcakes as favors for an event her porcelain-painting group was holding. Of course I would be happy to! Fast forward 12 short months, and it's time for the big event. Because the cupcakes were favors and not technically a dessert, my friend thought it would be cute to put them in teacups. I agreed. This is what we ended up with: I thought they came out cute. Half were vanilla and half were chocolate. She needed five dozen, so I had stacks by the time it was all over. There were cupcakes everywhere! I think the purple swirls with the pearls were just about my favorites. I may have been a little more partial to the pink ones. I saw the design over at Bird on a Cake and had to give it a go. The blue ones were fun, too. All-in-all, not a bad cupcake haul! But when it was all done, I had some leftover cupcakes and some extra blue and purple icing.  So I made hydrangeas. Do you...

These are cookies I made a few years back when my aunt came to visit from out of state.  The cookies are iced with glaze, and the details are royal icing. Dresses... Cakes... Teacups and teapots... More teacups and teapots More teacups... More dresses... And cupcakes... Can you tell I was playing with my new stencils? I went looking for those stencils recently and I couldn't find them.  So if you have any idea where I left them, please let me know. Oh, and I made royal icing roses out of the leftover cookie icing.  So I put them on a cake. Please don't judge my ugly cake. It was yummy, though.  Coconut cake with ginger-lime curd filling and coconut cream cheese icing. The roses came out pretty nice, you just can't tell because of the bad picture. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

I remembered this cookie and decided to post it.  It was quite epic at the time. I wanted to do one big cookie that was more like a picture.  I had a cross-stitch pattern sitting around that I had used to make a Christmas present for my niece.  So I copied the pattern onto a cookie.  I mean, it had all the colors listed.  Who could ask for more?  Anyway, I believe there were 15 colors.  The cookie was 4x6-ish.  I totally screwed up the background, but overall I was ok with how it came out. I used corn syrup glaze, not royal icing.  I may try it again sometime using RI. I don't have a kopykake, which would have made the whole thing easier, but I drew the pattern onto the cookie first, then outlined and filled the base, then added the details on top.  I did not have any tips smaller than a 1 at the time, so the details aren't as fine as they should be.  Live and learn. Then we gave it to the boy's teacher to make up...

Well, long time no post, eh?  I blame summer.  But now the kids are off to school and things should be settling down for a little while. To celebrate the beginning of the school year, we made cookies for the kids to take to their new teachers.  I shamelessly copied Sugarbelle's Nerdy Bookworm Cookies .  Because they're cute and I love them. And we made lots of apples to go with. Cute, aren't they? And the apples... Sugarbelle used a snowman cutter to make her bookworms.  Turns out I don't have a snowman cutter.  At least, I don't have a snowman cutter without arms and a hat.  And a snowman cutter with arms and a hat really wouldn't work for a bookworm cookie. So I had to improvise!   Circles! Stuck together and baked! Lots and lots of circles! But they were fun.  The kids loved them, and so did the teachers. Well, that's all for now.   Enjoy!

Who wants to make bread?!?!  I mean the good stuff...100% whole wheat with no refined sugars!?!? Since we started this whole foods diet thingy, I have discovered that almost none of the bread in the bread aisle at the grocery store is really 100% whole wheat, despite what the labels claim. And the ones that are 100% whole wheat still contain preservatives and refined sugars. So I moved it on over to the freezer case, where I found Ezekiel 4:9 bread. Made with 100% sprouted grains and NO sugars or preservatives of any kind. The only problem is that it's $5.00-ish a loaf. I really can't work much of that into my budget. But if you can, I totally recommend it. Faced with overwhelming adversity, I did what any other slightly imbalanced mom would do. I decided to make the dang bread myself. I'm just a glutton for punishment, I guess. Hang on to your knickers, here we go! I always use King Arthur flour.  It costs more, but it's worth it. I really don't get t...

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...