Happy Halloween (October 2013)

I think my daughter goes to one of the last preschools where homemade treats are still allowed (given that they don't contain nuts).  To be extra careful, I replaced my almond extract with extra vanilla extract, but then I was off and running with the thought of making cookies for a reason...a fun, festive reason-Halloween.  I kept thinking of places I could bring these cookies to share, so I decided to make 2 batches of cookies, all of minis, yielding close to 300 in total.  

The baking didn't actually take that long, since they were all made out of 4 cookie cutters, and the decorating was also not all that time-intensive, since they all had the same color themes, and taken individually, were fairly simple designs.  My brain was working overtime with the designing and planning (mostly regarding the order in which to use the colors to save myself from making the same color twice or doing too many extra dishes), and although I'm sure some think I'm crazy, I want to emphasize how much I really enjoyed this project.

All these cookies were made from 4 cookie cutters.  Mini pumpkins (obviously), mini leaves (candycorn), mini circles (flying bats, spider webs), and mini tulips (ghosts, owls).  Somewhere on-line I had seen an idea to use a tulip cookie cutter for a ghost, but otherwise, the designs were all my own this year, some inspired by my kids' favorite window clings.

For most of the cookies, I outlines them with a piping consistency and then flooded them with a thinner consistency of icing, as I usually do.  But, for the pumpkins and for the candycorn, in order to, again, save some dishes and to give them that bumpy texture, I used something Sweet Sugar Belle calls, 20-second icing. 

This smaller plate went to my son's park district music class, mostly for the adults to share and for his teacher.

 

And, for my daughter's preschool class, I bagged about 6 cookies for each student, slapped a little label on them, and they were ready to go.  Afterwards, I saw some other moms had used bag toppers on their kids' treats...a good idea for the future to dress up these resealable snack bags.

And, I saved a few extra colors to make a more, well, feminine version of the Halloween cookies to bring to my daughter's ballet class for all the girls.  The kids liked the black cats and the ghosts wearing a tutu (my first attempt at brush embroidery, and although not perfect, definitely a technique I want to try again).

Happy Halloween!

Dressy Flowers (September 2013)

Okay, I might have a sickness.  Anyone reading through the past several posts might have noticed just how many batches of cookies I have made in the past 2 months.  I decided to start this blog in November, so at this point, I'm still posting pictures retrospectively, trying to catch up to present-day.  I can't believe how many different cookies I made in August-September.  

And, this post is going to seem just, well, silly.

 

I remember feeling an itch to bake a batch, and I found inspiration in the most unlikely of places (my daughter's closet).

Thank you, Gymboree.

 

I just loved the color palette, and they were pretty easy to put together.  Again, I used Sweet Sugar Belle's tip on how to modify the shape of an existing cutter (to add leaves to the flowers), and most of them stayed intact after baking.

Have I mentioned my obsession with minis?  I tried a few variations, subtle, but different.  I like the 6-petal version the best (and I've since modified it from this batch to add some additional texture and dimension).

A pretty platter, but for no particular reason, so I decided to bag them into little favor bags, and give them to my mom who was going with her long-time friends on a "girl's weekend."

Hey, always better to give than to...eat.

Preschool's Gonna Be a Hoot (September 2013)

I can't believe my baby is old enough to be going to preschool this year.  I knew she was ready, and I knew she was going to love it, but somehow that didn't make it easy.  We visited her school for orientation the week before school officially started.  Her teachers, who are both personal friends of our family, are amazing, and the class was decorated with little owls, each with a new student's name on it.  My daughter was a combination of excited and nervous, but mostly excited to learn what preschool was all about.  It had really been hyped up at our house.

I decided to also be more excited than nervous, and it was with that energy, that I decided to create this platter.  I gave a bag of cookies to each of the teachers in her classroom and a platter for the other teachers to also enjoy.

The owls were inspired by Sweet Sugar Belle, but instead of using an egg cookie cutter shape, I used my Eskimo cookie cutter and added little feet.  I've learned this is one of the most versatile shapes I own, and it's become one of my favorites. 

 

I also used advice from her website to create the quilted cookies.  I love their look, and it really wasn't all that much work...just required some patience.

In the end, the first day of preschool was much more difficult for me than for my daughter.  She found the rocking horse and the dress-up station and became so excited about playing that she had very little time to reflect on being away from mom.  I, on the other hand, found I had much more separation anxiety.  I knew she was in great hands, but I missed her, even for 2 1/2 hours.  She was turning into such a big girl! 

I've become much better at drop-off, I think, and I really love hearing her tell me all about her day at preschool on the car ride home afterwards.  I also now get to enjoy the one-on-one time preschool is affording me with my son.  

So, it's been an adjustment for everyone, but a definitely good one.

You Say It's Your Birthday? (August 2013)

(Sorry, mom, but in this post, as with your surprise birthday party, your age will be disclosed.)  Since she is a huge Beatles fan, we decided to throw her a surprise 64th birthday party.  Think-"Will you still need me, Will you still feed me, When I'm 64?"  

Singing along yet?

The party itself was a big success.  My mom was very surprised, and everyone brought a Beatles inspired dish to share.  We had "Sergeant Red Pepper Hummus" with "Twist and Shout Pretzels," "Chocolate Covered Strawberry Fields Forever," "Let it Bean Dip," "Revolution" beer, and "Lovely Rita Margaritas" to name a few.  We supplied "Yellow Submarine Sandwiches" and cookies, of course.

See my attempt at an Abbey Road silhouette?  Probably wouldn't have guessed it without the caption, but points for ambition, right?

I used a food coloring marker to write the names of different songs on the "records."  Really fun thinking of all the favorites, for the purposes of these cookies and for the background music.

I made sure to save a few "I heart Paul" cookies for my mom.  When she attended a solo concert of his with my dad a few years ago, I heard she was screaming how much she loved him throughout the entire show.  Fun times...right, Dad?

A fun celebration and a really fun party to plan...gotta love a good theme.  Happy Birthday, Mom!

Who's Caillou? (August 2013)

Our neighbor's daughter was turning two, and I wanted to make a couple cookies to accent her birthday present.  She is supposedly obsessed with a tv show, Caillou.  I had heard of it, but didn't know who/what he/she was, so thanks to Google, I found out!

Luckily, these little guys weren't too tricky.  I didn't have a cookie cutter this shape, but I took a note from a previous Sweet Sugar Belle post, where she talks about ways to add leaves to flower cookie cutter shapes.  I figured I could do the same thing...splice together another shape to a circle cutter and have them bake together to make the bill of his hat.  In all honesty, some of them didn't make it, as they became more fragile, but once I decorated them with frosting, they were plenty strong.

Still haven't actually watched the show....but, now I know.

Happy Birthday!

Pooh Bear and Friends (August 2013)

Hooray, time for another baby shower!  This time, I really stretched myself.  The designs were a bit intricate from the ones I'd done in the past, but I wanted a challenge, and what better occasion than for a fun baby shower?  I got the inspiration from her Winnie the Pooh bedding.  All of the characters seem to be peeking over their paws, and I thought, I could try that.  Well, in the end, I was happy with the platter, but individually, they all have, well, a story.

 

By far, my favorite was Tigger and his tail.  But, for some reason, all of his little pink noses got a crater (what some other cookie-decorators think is due to an air bubble releasing during the drying process)...but on every one?!  I didn't care...he was still so cute!

Then, there was Eeyore and his tail, which was trickier, but ok in the end.

 Pooh Bear, even though a simple character (color/shape wise), because he is so recognizable, somehow none of the bears looked quite enough "pooh-like" for me. 

I had fun with his "HUNNY" pot though.  I used a food-color marker to do the lettering and the buzzing bee since they were such small details.

And, while my printing with icing is always tricky, there were just so many sweet Winnie the Pooh quotes to choose from, I had to attempt a few. 

Oh, yeah, and in case you were wondering, our friend Piglet did not make the platter.  I had hoped to make his cute little belly and face to complete the set, but due to many revisions, Piglet's face kept expanding, creating more of a morbidly-obese Piglet, rather than Pooh's tiny companion.  Therefore, primarily due to my own feelings of embarrassment, he was consumed by my family instead.  

(They didn't seem to mind.)

Overall, the cookies were a hit at the shower, and I was happy I pushed myself to attempt such a big project.

Now, time for something sweet!

Lemons and Limes (August 2013)

These were a delight to make.  Pretty quick and easy, but really happy with how they turned out, especially when all arranged on a platter.  I actually made these little guys twice this summer (thank you to Sweet Sugar Belle for her never-ending inspiration).  They required only a circle cookie cutter and a knife, and three basic colors, with which just a little darkening of the green and yellow colors revealed the perfect shade for the "rinds." 

I loved the idea of creating halves and quarters for the people who can't seem to commit to eating a whole cookie.
 (Hmm...that never seems to be my problem.)

And, these ended up being a perfect platter of cookies to bring to our first attendance at the neighborhood's block party.  We're still the new kids on the block, as we had just moved in about six months earlier, but it was a great way to meet the neighbors and inaugurate us into the group.

Perhaps I should have also made some Corona-shaped cookies to go with them?