Frozen Friends (March 2014)

Ah, birthday season is upon us at our house, and this year, the theme was easy.  Disney's "Frozen" movie has seemed to become intertwined in just about all aspects of our lives since its viewing in late December.  We dress in their costumes, sing the songs, watch the you tube videos (now limited to 1x/day!), and make-believe we are the different characters daily.  Not only was it our daughter's first movie in the movie theater, but it soon became our son's first too.  We found one of those sing-a-long showings, and wow did they sing!  It's amazing how they really have no inhibition at this age.  And, it's so fun as parents to watch them watch/sing/play with something that they are so in love with.

So, Frozen it was for the birthday party.  Since she was set on character cookies, which were quite a challenge, we opted for an easy brownie dessert (with a decorated cookie as a garnish).

I found these snowflake sprinkles from Kreative Baking Shop on Etsy, and I thought their colors went well with the Frozen decor.  The brownies are actually a recipe I found on Bake at 350's blog, and they are the best (if I may say so!).  She calls them "Birthday Cake Oreo-Stuffed Brownies," and they are exactly what you think.  Birthday Cake flavored Oreos baked inside these fudgy brownies...yum!

  The cookie platter was more time consuming.

 I played it safe with my go-to snowflake minis and new favorite snowman, Olaf, as seen in a previous post.  He was made from a snowman cookie cutter, with the hat trimmed a bit.  He was a necessary addition to the platter, especially with all the boys we had at her birthday party.

I was much more worried about the Anna and Elsa cookies.  I found some cookies for sale on Etsy from Pastry Tart Bakery for these characters that helped me form my own design.  Here is their take on Anna and Elsa.  I liked how they sort of cropped the girls' dresses and how they styled their hair, but I wanted my girls to have their eyes opened, a risky endeavor I later found out.

You know, I am not the best at free-drawing, especially when it is Disney I'm trying to imitate.  It was funny to me how each of the girls looked different, despite using the same decorating techniques.  My best friends for this project were Americolor's Food Decorator Pens, especially when I was drawing the facial features, to get all those small details.  And, while overall, I can critique each one, once they were on the platter, I think they resembled the characters enough that they still were "like" each character enough...you know, "Anna-like" and "Elsa-like."

And, I'll take that.

A very happy birthday, to our now 4-year-old, who is definitely "worth melting for!"