A Royal Birthday Celebration (March 2015)

So, a good 6 months have gone by since I've made this batch of cookies.  Life gets busy.  But, in these last few months, I have had some time to reflect on the various cookies I've made over the years, and these, well, just may be my all-time favorite ones (as least thus-far).

As anyone with a daughter approaching 5 years old can attest, there is nothing quite as captivating as those Disney princesses.  Whenever her friends come to play, the first thing they do is decide which dress they are going to wear from our costume stash.  They'll play a game or two, but then, there are more decisions are wardrobe changes as the play date carries on.  So, we thought it would be fun to host a Royal Costume Birthday Ball, with princess (and prince) cookies to match.

 

I was most inspired by a photo I had seen on Pinterest from the Etsy store, NotBettyCookies.  Her stuff is amazing!  

 

At first my husband thought I was crazy.  But, I stayed focused and persevered, taking it one step/dress at a time.  Look closely at each cookie...there really are only a few colors on each with just a few important details.  When I looked at it that way, the project wasn't too overwhelming.  

The 2 batches I made are almost all the same, untouched cookie cutter, the princess ball gown.  For Prince Philip (Sleeping Beauty's prince...the one with the red cape), I simply cut off the top of the gown cookie before baking.  Prince Charming required a bit more cutting, as I started with a basic square to give him his oh-so-handsome, broad shoulders.

I did make an extra large number of these princes, in comparison to the number of princes...come on, if you were a 5-year-old boy (or younger brother), would you really want to choose a princess cookie?  No, the answer is no (in case that wasn't clear).

Cinderella and Belle both got a spray of silver and gold sheen, respectively, after they had dried to give their dresses some sparkle.  Otherwise, they were basically only 1-2 colors.

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Rapunzel were also just 2-3 colors.  I loved how Rapunzel's skirt had a bit of a petticoat underneath...

ah, such a fair maiden.

Both Rapunzel and Snow White had similar sleeve detailing.

Anna and Elsa were the most popular cookie choices of the young guests.  Anna was the most difficult cookie to create, simply because of the amount of colors required.  Elsa's dress was accented with sanding sugar to really give it that "magical quality," although she became a bit more curvy than originally designed (!).

On a platter, they really did look so pretty. 

Perfectly captured the theme of the day, and it was a very cool feeling to know that I created something that made the kids 

light up with excitement...

especially my little birthday girl (which was the whole point after all).

Lucky Days (March 2015)

St. Patrick's Day is not typically a big celebration in our house, but since it's cause for a party at preschool, I volunteered to bring the dessert.  I had been inspired by some of Sweet Sugarbelle's pot of gold cookies, but, I'm not going to lie.  I was also looking for something easy.  She had taken a mini flower cookie cutter and used it on each side of a circle cookie cutter to make her own rainbow with clouds...

that sort of sounded like a lot of work!  Instead, I used a scalloped square.

The key to these cookies was thinking ahead.  I made a bunch of little pots of gold first.  These were mini circle cookies made with black and yellow icing.  The yellow was quickly covered with gold sparking sugar to give it a more realistic color and texture/shine.  

(You know, since these are realistic cookies after all.)

Then, I filled in the white "cloud" on the large square cookie.  While the icing was still wet, I dropped the mini cookie right on top...sticks just like glue.  (This is the same technique I used to make my aerial ballerinas last year.)  Making all the rainbow colors was the most time-consuming part of this recipe.  However, I couldn't take any shortcuts with that.

Just as I was preparing to bake these bad boys, my dear friend shared the news with me that she was pregnant with baby #3!  She wasn't really sure how to tell her family, and I had mentioned that I was knee-deep in St. Patrick's Day cookies.  

I had a large Shamrock cookie cutter on-hand from my Crate and Barrel "Year of Cookie Cutters" set, and she and I brainstormed some ideas.

We decided that having a few decorative cookies on top of a platter of cookies/brownies would do.

I love to help contribute to these happy-go-lucky celebrations!

Vintage Wedding (March 2015)

When a colleague of mine asked me about making cookies for a "vintage" wedding shower, I was very intrigued.  I had been eying some interesting patterns/textures, but I had never yet had the opportunity to attempt them.  And, while these cookies were inspired by some of my favorite bakers,

 the designs are happily (mostly) mine.

I narrowed the designs to a set of 6.  Then I created 2 designs for each of the 3 background colors: light brown, ivory, and periwinkle.

The burlap pattern was definitely my favorite.  After looking into several different techniques, I chose to attempt the 

BearFoot Baker's burlap pattern.

After the base layer had dried, I used a filigree pattern on top with a thicker, piping consistency of the same color.  The filigree pattern I've been practicing is found on SweetAmb's website.

Although very simple, this lace pattern was inspired by a tutorial from Sweet Sugarbelle.

(I know this floral design was inspired by another design somewhere online, but I can't remember the exact link.)  Making the petals with the exact pressure/release in the icing bag turned out to be more challenging than I had thought.

I had a chance to practice petals again with this simple design.

This design was also simple, consisting of small heart and dot details to a solid cookie.

By themselves, each cookie was fairly easy to execute; however, I liked how complex the designs looked when all grouped together on a platter.

I added a quick bride and groom cookie to complete the platter.

So, my first attempt at vintage cookies...fun, different, and inspiring!

Conversation Hearts on Valentine's Day (February 2015)

I must have made a million of these tiny hearts this Valentine's Day.  These cookies were very simple.  Still time-consuming (you know, with a million to make), but a nice addition to several Valentine's Day celebrations.

These simple hearts were baked and then frosted with 20-second icing.  Once dried, I used a red food-safe marker to add the sayings.  The only trick was finding sayings short enough to fit on such a small mini-heart cookie.

I put 5 mini cookies per snack-size ziploc bag and stuck on a little label.  These were then passed out at preschool and ballet class to our little friendly Valentines.

The mini cookies were used as an accent to a plate of Blondies I brought to a family get-together, complete with Valentine's Day m&m's.

And, I also used them to accent a dessert platter I was responsible for at work.  I like how the mini cookies really add a splash of color/excitement to an otherwise, boring and yes, storebought (gasp!), platter of cookies.

Hey, I'm allowed to take shortcuts sometimes, too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mommy's Night Out (February 2015)

When my friend Dawn decided to host a Mommy's Night Out at her house, I realized just how long it had been since us girls had an opportunity to get together (without kids), have a few drinks, and enjoy a few laughs.  When she mentioned she wanted it to be a "game night," I was completely on-board.  I didn't know exactly what she had in mind, so I made a variety of cookies that I hoped would be somewhat applicable.

  For these cookies, I really was pretty scattered.  

There's a bit of everything here...a mixture between poker chips, pictionary, and charades.

The hourglass timers  were made with a simple rectangle cutter and some negative (undecorated) space.  I added some white sanding sugar on top to help give it some dimension.

These pictionary-inspired cookies were so simple.  I flooded each square cookie with white icing and added a yellow/golden border.  Then, using my favorite food-safe markers, I added some simple stick-figure drawings.  Can you find the "rainbow," "car wash," "cupcake," "love birds," and, my favorite, "beer goggles?"

I also made some plaque cookies as game cards for charades.  Since all these ladies are moms to 5-year-old girls, I thought some familiar children's movies would be fun...everyone was such a good sport.

Brad gets a special mention, though, as when we were all tired out from our fun, he drove each one of us home safely.  

Extra bonus points for such a great husband!

 

Thanks to this awesome family for giving this Mommy just what she needed...a good night out with friends! 

Sweet Treats for a Sweet Girl (January 2015)

Our little friend, Ashlyn, turned 3 in January, and her mom, who has a flair for creativity (and Pinterest searching), was throwing a Candyland-themed party.  This was complete with a full-scale Candyland board game in their basement.  This was such a fun and different idea for a party, that I welcomed the chance to make some less ordinary cookies in her honor.

These cookies were 100% inspired by Sweet Sugarbelle and her amazing imagination.  I'll be honest...these were tricky!  Between creating the right cookie shapes and having at least 6 frosting colors on-hand at all times, they were definitely a challenge.

Sweet Sugarbelle has designed a few cookie cutters specifically for Karen's Cookies' on-line store, one of which is this cookie jar cutter.   I thought that might make a nice jelly bean jar.  But, I had to piece together several different cookie cutters to make the gumball machine.  Seriously, it's been so long since I've made them and am only now posting about them, that I'm not sure I even remember what I used!  I think it was the bottom of a tiered wedding cake + large circle + small circles.  Either way, they took a lot of experimenting and patience, and when they were done, they were, well, huge!

To decorate them, I used wet-on-wet icing to create the gumballs/jelly beans inside the machine, and then once they had dried, I added more candies on top to create the dimension I so admired from Sweet Sugarbelle's original design.  My mini jelly beans might have looked a bit off, but they were also made by hand-cutting, so I think I deserve some slack. :)

I actually had cookie cutters for the wrapped candies, which made things a lot easier.  Those were probably my favorite with the swirl, embellished with more sanding sugar.  The striped peppermints were made with my number 1 cookie cutter (trimmed), and the Necco wafers were made with a diploma cookie cutter (trimmed) for some interest.  My husband wasn't sure what they were, but Necco wafers are a thing...and they are colorful, even if they aren't the yummiest.

Every birthday girl needs her own special cookie, and I will definitely keep this personalized cupcake cookie in mind for the future.  With a few sprinkles/quins, these were quick, easy, and colorful!

Happy Birthday, Ashyln!

We were happy to share in the (very sweet) celebration!

Cookie Fun for Everyone (January 2015)

This holiday season was a real kick-in-the-pants.  

These past 6 months have probably been some of my most stressful, what with starting my own private practice, co-founding a local music class, taking care of 2 young children, and worrying non-stop about creating a healthy work-life balance (!).  Well, by the time the holidays came around, I was forced to stop by the power of the all-powerful flu.  Yes, it hit us...hard.  At first, it was just me, but then the kids also got it, leaving my husband to fend for himself (which he did very well, since he somehow managed to escape illness this time around).

Cookie-wise, this meant that the cookies I had baked while healthy were slowly getting stale as I wouldn't/couldn't dream of decorating them while in my flu-coma, which lasted at least a week.  A bummer too, since they were going to be pretty cute designs (inspired by Container Store wrapping paper...I suppose I'm prepared for next year.).  However, we were able to find an upside to having pre-baked cookies sitting around the house.

Once we were all feeling better, we wanted to make up for some of the fun missed while nursing ourselves back to health over the holidays.  It was cold outside, we had a few more days off of work/school, and we decided to spend a glorious and impromptu morning together sharing the joys of cookie-decorating as a family, all in the comfort of our pajamas.  

I made some icing, put it in bags, and we all went to work.

Some of my 4-year-old daughter's creations:

And some of my 2-year-old son's:

Although they had a bit more of a crunch than most of my cookies, they were definitely the most beautiful (in my unbiased opinion).  

To all sit around the table creating, playing, and laughing together was a joy. 

 

Hands-down, this is one of my very favorite family memories and simply an awesome way to start the new year!