Oh What a Snow It Would Be...(December 2013)

Onto Christmas-time cookies.  Being from an interfaith household, I'm very sensitive to cultural differences, so when I distribute cookies around this time of year, I try to be somewhat generic.  These snowflakes were a very colorful addition to the little favor bags I usually give to neighbors, friends, and teachers this time of year.  (Although I had something special in mind for the teachers this year...see next post!)

Ah, and what about this little tin platter?  I loved the color, the faux lace background, and the price...$2.00 at Jo-Ann.  (Love their seasonal markdowns!)  I re-used it all season, and then I ended up leaving it at a family member's home with no worries.  No extra dish to wash and return...an extra gift from me to you. :)

Anyhow...the cookies.

 

I didn't want to do only white and blue (after all, I already sort of just did that with the Hanukkah cookies).  I wanted some color, and I got some great inspiration from Oh Sugar Events.

 I had two different, but basic, large snowflake cookie cutters, and then I used circles for the "mini" option.  

 

I tried to be careful about the order in which I frosted these guys (that is, in order to save the most time and dish washing).  But, I basically ended up having almost all colors handy at all times in order to make the details I wanted on each color. 

 All together, I liked trying new colors for these classic snowflake designs, and they definitely gave my lemon refrigerator cookies and chewy chocolate drop cookies the pop of color they needed to make a really festive little gift bag.

If You're Going to San Francisco...(December 2013)

So, the busy holiday season was here...Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, and Christmas all coming together in one hectic jumble (as always), but a co-worker of mine announced that she was moving to San Francisco because of her husband's job.  She had less than two weeks to wrap up things at work, pack, and move across the country.  As always, our department tries to coordinate a nice get together to wish the departing co-worker well, but I wanted to make it personal with cookies.

I had been brainstorming with people at work, but I finally thought of something that was fun, a little abstract, but that I could definitely whip up in a weekend...flowers.  As in the song, "If you're going to San Francisco...Be sure to wear flowers in your hair."
Ok, a bit before my time, but still fun.

For the hippy chicks, I struggled with what cookie cutter to use until I settled upon an elongated pumpkin shape (hence, the somewhat unattractive double-chin...at least from some angles).  But, that shape let me add the hair and vine strands where I wanted...

you know, giving out that ethereal vibe.

 

The mini pink flowers were my favorite flower creation so far.  I alternated petals (three at a time) with 20-second icing, making an interesting texture without all the outlining and filling-in.  They were quick, easy, and cute.  I will be using them again.

The mini "bouquet" cookies were inspired by Sweet Sugar Belle's flower cookies, although mine tended to look more like stars than flowers.  In the end, the effect worked and were fairly simple to do.

And, I couldn't resist attempting one cookie of the Golden Gate Bridge.  (That was definitely the vote/challenge from my co-workers.)  Although I was happy with how it turned out in the end, those birds were placed there only after 3 separate attempts at printing a "good luck" message in the sky.  I guess you gotta know when seagulls are enough.

Definitely one of those batches I made just for fun, but it let me really stretch my imagination...and for a great cause.  

Wishing good luck on the relocation and many happy returns to Chicago!

Happy Hanukkah 2013

I have always loved that Christmas tends to equal "cookies," at least in my family and friends' homes.  For years, I've made little bags of cookies and dropped them off with neighbors, served them at parties, and given them to teachers as gifts.  They've usually been the traditional drop cookie or refrigerator cookie.  I've experimented a little with different varieties (peppermint, lemon, oatmeal, chocolate chip, etc), but with this new discovery of cookie decorating, I feel the potential is endless...but, my time isn't.

So, because I tend to over-bake for Christmas, it was a joy that Hanukkah was so early this year (actually, a bit too early...on Thanksgiving!).  

But, that's ok.  I finally got a chance to give Hanukkah the time it deserves, cookie-wise.

I have a great set of Hanukkah cookie cutters, and that's where I found my menorah, dreidel, and star.  The present was from a Wilton Christmas collection, I think.  I got some inspiration from Lizy B Bakes's blog, but also from Williams-Sonoma of all places.

I used gold and silver metallic food color spray to give a little extra shine to the stars, menorahs, and gelt.  Notice how I keep finding ways to add my minis?  They are always the first to go...so, less guilt, more gelt. :)

And, I followed Ali Bee's tutorial for how to create bows.  I prefer the ones without the ribbon down the sides, but it was fun to create the different gift wrap, all staying within the same color scheme and trying to maintain that 3-D perspective.

Could it be that one day Hanukkah could be just as well-known for its traditional cookies?  Maybe in my house...

Turkey Platter (November 2013)

Since Thanksgiving and Hanukkah were the on same day this year (so crazy), I had been cookie-ing overtime lately.  Here is what I decided to bring to Thanksgiving this year: a Simple Thanksgiving Turkey Platter, ala Sweet Sugar Belle. 

I used a snowman cookie cutter for the body and a leaf cookie cutter for the feathers.

Seriously, very easy.  But...not so impressive without the platter.

With the rest of the dough, I made a few turkeys using a flower cookie cutter (inspired by Palm Beach Pastry on Etsy) and mini leaves to give to classroom teachers...you know, to say, "Thanks."

The leaves were a mini version of my autumn leaves from last year, giving me another excuse to play with food color spray mist.

This year, with the craziness the holidays always bring, I was "thankful" for any shortcut I could find, and this cookie platter was just the thing.

Little Blue Truck (November 2013)

Another couple birthdays coming up, so I decided to make a dozen or so cookies to accompany the gifts.  These were designed to go along with the story, Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, one of my son's favorites.  I designed him using my wedding cake cookie cutter, since it already had a nice, boxy shape.

 Although these cookies only required 4 different colors, they needed to be applied at specific times for drying and texture.  I really like the front bumper that looks like a mustache and the tread on the tires.

By moving around the location of his pupils, it really changed his expression.  He really is a friendly truck, and with the mustache, I worried that sometimes, he looked a little intimidating.

All in all, they ended up being a cute addition to the birthday gifts and another good excuse for me to play around in the kitchen.

Snuggly Gender-Neutral Baby Shower (November 2013)

A co-worker was having a baby, and so, I jumped at the opportunity to create some cookies for the shower celebration.  She wasn't finding out if the baby was a boy/girl, and she was keeping a fairly neutral color palate of white/gray.  (Great idea to then add blue/pink, both of which look so good with gray.)  Something along the lines of this Pottery Barn Kids collection.

So, I decided to make gray and white quilted cookies with the 20-second icing trick, and I used the wet-on-wet technique to create little chevron cookies, as inspired by Peapods Cookies.  Minis had to be incorporated somehow, so that's how I added a little more color.

The babies were actually made from a balloon cookie cutter.  I made all their hats gray, but the little pouf on top was then either white/pink or white/blue.  I added lashes to the "girl" babies too for fun.  Although a pretty easy design, I started to worry when the babies in stocking caps started to look more like knights in armor.  Can you see it too, or was it just  my tired eyes?

Anyways, in the end, it was a cute little platter, and much to our surprise, she ended up having a sweet baby boy.  (I had even made a few extra pink cookies, since I was so sure she was having a girl...what do I know?)

Somewhere Over the Rainbow (October 2013)

So, this was the most ambitious project of mine so far, and with all the other Halloween mini cookies I was making, these were probably unnecessary...but oh so fun to create.

 

  

My daughter has been into the Wizard of Oz for a little while, and it was recently re-released on DVD or something, so there has been a lot of buzz about this favorite movie lately.  All that helped make choosing her Halloween costume pretty easy...some character from the Wizard of Oz.  She was changing her mind each day, though.  "Maybe I could be Glinda!, or Dorothy!, or even the Wicked Witch!"  It wasn't until my sister-in-laws bought her sparkly red shoes that she was sold on Dorothy...and then, she really got excited.

Since my son is only 18 months, he didn't really have a say in the matter.  And, since I figure I only have a few years where they can coordinate, we made him into the Scarecrow.  Their costumes were really cute, but their excitement was even cuter.  This was the first year my daughter was really getting the idea of trick-or-treating (nevermind it rained cats and dogs on the actual Halloween night), but it was a fun holiday for us. 

 

 

That said, I thought cookies must be created to help celebrate this fun occasion...or at least, it was a good excuse.

 

 

Well, I knew I would have to make a "Dorothy."  I used Sweet Sugar Belle's Alice in Wonderland cookies as a starting point.  I liked how the hands came together in the front and how the face was sort of left alone.  Her legs/knees ended up with some less-attractive craters, but her sparkly shoes made up for it I think.  I sprinkled some edible glitter right on the wet, red frosting, and my daughter even helped (they are what makes Dorothy, "Dorothy," after all).

And then, how could I have Dorothy without the Scarecrow?  I didn't have anything close to a Scarecrow cookie cutter, so I used a cupcake cutter.  Sweet Sugar Belle had made a scarecrow cookie in the past that I also used as a starting point.   The yellow brick roads were my own invention, and I used 20-second icing to create textures on the bricks.  Oh, and those little roses are my new obsession.

Not stopping there with only 3 cookie designs, I wanted to incorporate the black-and-white and color parts of the movie, so I created a sort of tornado and rainbow.  The tornado started as a leaf cookie cutter, and I used Sweet Sugar Belle's trick for making confetti.  And, the rainbow started as a moon cookie cutter, and was a pretty intuitive design.

The broomsticks were originally champagne glasses and were definitely an easy addition to the platter.  I like the subtle green "W" on the handle.

This project was definitely the most time-consuming of all my previous projects.  This is when I really started drawing out all my designs 

(colored pencil style) prior to baking/frosting. 

In the end, I found them very rewarding, especially when all laid out on a platter.

I love that my daughter loves this movie.  There is nothing cuter than hearing her belt out all the words to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."  

And, it's just as cute with a mouthful of cookies.