Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Mrs. Claus's Corset Cookies

Brrrrrrr

I told y'all I hated cold weather.....with cold weather comes SORE THROAT!

No fun

scratchy

barely there, but sore enough to irritate the heck out of me.

Yep, I have sore throat.

Now for a normal, average, everyday kinda girl, a minor sore throat may not be so bad.

BUT....for a talking, cleaning, talking, baking, talking, OCD kinda girl it stinks! Did I mention I like to talk? Yeah that's me, chatty Cathy....or Chatty Giselle as some may say.

So sore throat is NOT my friend, and it must be gone....SOON.

Meanwhile, I'll text everyone I know because it requires no voice. But just so you know I'm not a texter.....I do not like to text. For today I'll have to learn to be more like my teenage daughter and text at warp speed.....like I talk.

Ok so let's get to the cookies. I made Mrs. Claus Corset cookies.....cute huh? Mrs. Claus can not be running around in a dress and apron around here. It's corsets all the way. What do you think? I used a scalloped edge corset cutter I purchased from coppergifts.com. It was item #4570....lots of plans for this cutter.

Meanwhile, I'll lay here in bed, with my sore throat and sketch out some Christmas cookie designs for a bit.....at least until lunch time, then I'm baking....nothing can keep me from my baking...lol. After all, Y'all need to see cookies.....right?

I hope everyone is having a WARMSORETHROATFREE kinda day.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Snowflake cookies........


I love snowflakes.

Not the real ones.....y'all know I like SUNSHINE. I love fake cookie snowflakes.

The past two days have been so nice because I haven't had to go outside. That's right.

My fantastic husband has brought the kids to school for me! I love it. I can stay snuggled under the covers.

I wonder how long it will last? I mean he can only take Hannah Montana and Justin Bieber so long.  The girls told him he was boring and they want mom back.....HA.

Mom's fun......dad's boring.

Well while dad is out in the 34˚ cold weather, I'll be home in the toasty house,  baking wintery cookies.

Sound fair? Ok who cares if it's fair, right? As long as I'm warm. Besides, I can make you cute cookies.

Here are some snowflakes I made for those of you who love the cold.  The would go great with some Hot cocoa.  I had been wanting to try LilaLoa's Chocolate cookie Recipe for a while now and what better time then when your stuck in from the cold.  If you follow her instructions step by step it's a very easy recipe. Don't add too much flour. It's perfect....just follow the instructions.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Frosty the Snowman.......

I'm so excited that Christmas is on it's way.  I am not however looking forward to any cold weather that may be headed my way. 


I mean I'm New Orleans to the core.  I live for SUNSHINE.


I'm a halter top kinda girl.  I don't want bulky sweaters and knitted hats.  


A friend texted me earlier to let me know it's supposed to freeze tonight.  Maybe she thinks I don't watch the weather......or  maybe she thinks that I may actually go out and cover my plants (she should know better)...


BUT... now that I am aware that it's going to be too cold for me to leave the house tomorrow.  


I will be inside....


with the heater cranked up....


in my halter top.  


I mean who the heck wants to go out in the freezing cold weather.  


Well I made you some cookies......some Snowman cookies.  Frosty apparently rolled into town tonight, so I thought I'd put him in the oven and warm him up.....


I just used a snowman head cookie cutter.  I wanted him to match my tree decorations so I did his hat in turquoise. Then added a bit of disco dust while the icing was still wet.  A little pink luster dust on the cheeks and he was all done. 

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Snowman Cookies with a twist.....



Hope y'all had a Happy Thanksgiving.


Did y'all miss me?  


I've missed talking with all of y'all.  It's like a part of me has been missing.


Sorry I’ve not been on much, but as you know this week has been a bit hard on me and I’m not back into the swing of things.  I don’t want you guys to think I forgot about y’all. 
I hope everyone had a great day with great family and friends.  My Thanksgiving was great. It was quite interesting. Mom usually handled Thanksgiving, but now it’s up to sis and I. Too goofballs in the kitchen made for a very interesting experience.
There was much chaos that day.  My husband and sister throwing stuff at each other didn’t make matters better.....oh,  No worries, it was fun throwing. My sister and husband are like siblings.  They are always picking on each other, playing pranks, you name it.
Everyone was in Great spirits and the day couldn’t have been better. 

Well let's get to what y'all are here for.....the cookies. I made you some Christmas cookies. When I saw these cookie cutters at Fancy Flours, I knew I had to get them. I mean how cute are ornaments turned into Santa? So I bought them right away. 

 I haven't made the Santa ones just yet. The wheels started turning in my head when I got them though. I decided to make some snowmen first. What do you think? I thought you may like them. I've got a bunch of designs going with this set. Let me know what you think about them. 

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. What was your favorite thing about it this year?

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

In Loving Memory of my mother Sharon.....{Guest post}

Today I'm guest posting on Frosting for the Cause!

When I came across the Frosting for the Cause blog,  I knew I had to participate.  It's my goal to do everything I can in the fight against it.

 So come on over and see what we're baking up.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Update on Pregnancy

Today's post was typed up earlier and scheduled to auto post.

Late last night I started bleeding and went to the emergency room. We were told not to worry it can be common in early pregnancy. The bleeding had stopped and we thought all was fine. Until it was time to leave and the bleeding got heavy. Blood test showed hormone levels dropping and the doctor said it didn't look like I'd keep the baby.

Later this morning I returned to the doctor with severe cramping. My levels dropped to zero and it confirmed the loss of the baby. I will be taking several days to myself, but will be back as soon as I'm feeling a bit better.

Tomorrow's guest post for Frosting for the Cause has already been submitted and will post as scheduled. Thanks for every ones support.

Love,
Giselle

You guessed it.....I'm Pregnant


Well ready for my secret......
I'm pregnant!

I've been dying to tell you all. I told you I can't keep a secret. This almost killed me.

We are so excited. And I'm so excited to share the news with you all.

We're hoping for a bouncing baby boy this time....the guys need one on their team.

I'm five weeks along and due on July 25! 

Aren't these cookies too cute for words? I made these cookies and sent one out to each family member in the mail this week.  Cute way to announce the pregnancy huh? I thought so. 

Well I hate to cut it short, but I've got a ton of wedding cookies to finish up tonight. 
Just wanted to have this post scheduled and set to come out on Tuesday morning, after I know our parents received their cookie. 

Don't forget to stop by Frosting for the Cause tomorrow...I'll be guest posting there. 

Monday, November 21, 2011

Lemon Sablés


This is going to be the best week ever.

So many wonderful things are happening this week. 

1. I'm guest posting on Frosting for a Cause on Wednesday!

2. I'm having Thanksgiving dinner with my baby sister. We've been in Germany for the past three years and this is the first Thanksgiving we will celebrate since 2006!

3. And the best thing is...... I will be telling you a secret. Shhhh....I'll be telling you tomorrow so keep it a secret...ha ha, Ok you don't have to keep it a secret. But, be sure to stop by so you won't be left out. 

SECRETS.....I never was good at keeping secrets...or surprises for that matter.   I just can't keep a secret.  I mean look, that's a hard thing for a talkative kinda girl to do.

What am I going to talk about if I keep everything locked up inside? Then it's like I left you all out on the information and that's just not a fair thing and I'm all about being fair.

Then there's Christmas. Oh gosh I'm horrible. Especially if I buy the presents early. I buy the kids tons and tons of presents because I just can't wait till Christmas. They get things way early. 

A present here, a present there. It's like the twelve days of Christmas around here.

Look.....I've got issues. They can't be helped.....really I've tried. I'll admit my weaknesses. 

Now that my husband is home from Afghanistan I'm on present secret lock down. He's a stickler for keeping the rules.  He actually makes us wait till Christmas morning.....can you believe that? So UNFAIR!

My Dad actually does Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. We have a huge party Christmas Eve and do presents and stuff. You would think my husband would okay this for us, but NOOOOO. Mr. Rule won't do presents with the kids on Christmas Eve....so we have to wait. 

One day is an eternity in present time. 

ETERNITY!

So to keep myself from going crazy thinking about an extra day of waiting to open presents, I'll eat cookies. 

Sound good? I thought so.

These cookies are to die for! Yes die for. I seriously only gave everyone like two each and ate the rest myself. They were that good. 

This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart's key-lime sablés recipe. I wanted Lemon, not lime. That was the only substitution. 

Lemon Sablés
**Adapted from Martha Stewart's Key-lime Sablés

1 1/3 Cups flour
1/3 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
1 1/2 tsp pure lemon extract

1) Mix together flour, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, and salt in bowl of mixer until well combined. 

2) Add butter and mix until crumbs form. Add lemon extract and mix. 

3) Place dough on plastic wrap and form a disk.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until very firm.  At least 2 hrs. 

To bake:
1) preheat your oven to 325˚.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 

2) On floured surface, roll out your dough to 1/4 inch thick (I found the 1/8" in Martha's direction too thin) Cut into squares using a 2 3/4" square fluted cutter. Use a 1" fluted cutter to cut the centers out of half the squares.  

3) Place on baking sheet. Space about an inch apart.  Bake until they just turn golden brown, about 17-20 minutes.  (oven's vary so check them through oven window) Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

4) Spread 1tsp lemon curd on bottom of the full square cookies.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top squares with the cut out windows.  Place cut out cookie on top of the cookie with the lemon curd, making little sandwiches.  

5) Refrigerate for about 30 minutes until they are firm. Serve.....and SHARE (I omitted this part)





Friday, November 18, 2011

Nurse Cookies for the Worlds Best Nurse......



Well today is my baby sister's birthday.  Seems like there's a lot of birthdays on this blog.

Keeps me busy......and baking.

There's so much I could tell you about my sister, but it would be so much better to talk about myself.  Sorry got off on the whole I'm a princess thing again.....oops.....ok my sister...yeah back to her and her birthday.

My sister and I are extremely close.  But, it's not always been that way. I mean it's a good thing she's even alive.  SERIOUSLY.

No she never was in a fatal accident, or attacked by some deranged mad man. Instead she had me, the princess for a sister.

I probably never wanted a sister when I was little. I mean after all, the attention was no longer all on me.  And I tend to be an attention hog a bit. Sorry, it comes with the title.

BUT.....for the record there was NEVER a time that I tried to kill her. No matter what story she gives you. She is delusional.  I promise.

Ok now that you know that I can tell you some stories.

As a very young child we had a tea party. Well gotta have liquid in the cups....perfume...yes perfume. I gave my baby sister a perfume tea party. I didn't make her drink it.  Look maybe her breath was bad, I don't know. All I know was that it required a stomach pumping on her birthday....no big sister awards here.

Then there was that time when I was practicing being Wonder Woman.....and was jumping from the kitchen set to the bed. I can't help it if she wanted to be like me. I could have warned her that she wasn't gonna come close to being me.....or making the leap to the bed.....but that was totally her fault.  Some stitches later and she was as good as new.  She bounced back well.

Over the years of injuries, she was always fine and it's no surprise that she became a nurse. That's right a nurse.  Surprised? Didn't think so.

I like to think I played a part in her great career. Don't you think so?

I've never been more proud as I was the day she graduated from Nursing school.  It was no easy task. During her schooling, she was going through a divorce (with six kids).....having six kids was hard enough with the schooling, but a divorce, even harder.  Then our mom died her last semester. She wanted to give up. I couldn't let her. She finished that last semester and graduated.

What an accomplishment huh?

I'm very proud.

It was no surprise that I made her cookies. She would have got a cake if we lived closer, but cookies are all I can mail.....So I made her Nurse Cookies.

She's a super awesome nurse....all my doing too.....So when you're in the ER bleeding to death and she saves you, just know that because of me, you're alive. If I wouldn't have tortured her so much as a kid she wouldn't be the fantastic nurse she is.

So here's to Me my sister....on her ? Birthday....you didn't think I was going to announce her age did you?  That just wouldn't be nice....besides then you would know my age.....see it's about me :)

Happy Birthday Baby Sister! Have a shot of perfume patron for me.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

An Abusive Marriage.......

A few days ago I read Kristan's (Confession of a Cookbook Queen) story. Her story of abuse made me want to speak up and tell mine.  She helped give me the courage to do so.  I thought, maybe I could help someone by sharing my story as well.

I'm a very open person. I usually am a "tell all" kinda girl.  But when it came to this, I didn't tell too many people.  Now, I will speak up so that it may help others.

I got pregnant when I was just 17.  It wasn't your normally "oops" kinda pregnancy. It was one the boy that I loved and I planned. A few months into the pregnancy and he left.  All I wanted was to be loved and have a family, so when I started dating a guy I knew, it was what I expected.

I had known him a while and thought he was great. He was kind to my baby, who at the time was just about ten months old. We eventually moved in together and things quickly changed. He became a jealous, controlling man in no time.  He was jealous that I had a baby with someone else, so I decided to give him one of his own.

Pregnant with our first daughter he was furious that we were having a girl. To him it wasn't fair that he wasn't going to have a son. He would wake in the middle of the night in fits of rage and jealously. Accusing me of things and kicking me against the wall. I can't get into his accusations as they are too personal for young readers. They were sexual in nature. I assure you that I was a very faithful and did everything he asked.  Things just kept getting worse.

I left and went back home to my mothers.

Things got better as they usually did for a while and he promised to change. I went back to him and we married. Things weren't any different.  A few years later I was pregnant again....with another girl. Things didn't get better, things got worse.

I was required to have sex daily, keep the house perfect, and do as he told me.  When he came home from work the dryer was checked to be sure that there was no laundry left inside.

He called me lazy, called me a whore among other things. I wasn't allowed to have hobbies that interfered with doing anything for him.

I left him several times but always went back several months later.  I just didn't want to be a single mom. I felt like who would want me with three kids. After the birth of our second daughter I had my tubes tied so that another child wouldn't be born into this abuse.

My kids witnessed him calling me degrading names, throwing my stuff outside the door, and my son has attempted to save me from the physical abuse at a very young age.

One day he tried to choke me and I scratched his chest getting him off. My son jumped on his back trying to get him off of me. I had enough and called the police.  They wanted to arrest him, but the scratches meant I would get arrested too. I didn't care. I said arrest me too. But when I found out they wouldn't wait for my mother to come get my children and they would go to foster care, I declined pressing charges against him.

I felt helpless and I felt to blame.

In my eyes the abuse was directed toward me and my fault.  I felt I must not have been a good enough wife and that was why he treated me that way. There was always an excuse for the abuse, and it was always my fault.

I stayed for ten long years......that was when he started directing his hatefulness towards my son. My son came down with a stomach virus. His vomiting was disturbing my ex-husband sleep. He told me to keep him outside until 5 am when he gets up for work. That was it! It was the last straw! I would rather be alone, even if I was worthless and no one would want me with three kids. We would be happy and safe somewhere else. I left and never looked back.

And for the record, someone very much wanted me......took me a few years but I met a wonderful man. He told me I was a princess and should be treated like one. He meant what he said and treats me like every bit of one. We married a year after dating a year.  We had my tubes untied and had two beautiful baby girls, which he is very happy to have.

Every day that goes by I am so glad I got the strength and courage up to get my kids and I out of that situation.  It was a hard and scary thing to do, but we are safe. We are in a kind loving home and we don't have to be afraid or sad anymore.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Visions of Sugarplums.....



Ok I don't know about you but I'm ready for Christmas.  I've already started putting up my tree. I know it's a bit early, but hey, it's what I want....so it's ok. I say I STARTED putting up my tree because it didn't get further then taking out all the lights to find they didn't work.

 Oh yeah, you know what I mean.

 I never use the lights from the year before because of this reason here! Seriously, who the heck wants to go through every light to see which one is burned out? And by the time you find the right one and change it, you've lost your festive mojo.

Well NOT this year. When I took them out and they didn't work, I asked told my husband to fix them. When his two days passed and they were untouched.......I went and bought new ones. I know it's a bit wasteful, but look I'll donate the ones to the needy or something. Fair enough? I just couldn't wait any longer to get started on my tree.

 I mean HELLO....Christmas will be here quick.

And I'll have nothing decorated....there will be loud ugly crying because let's be honest,  I'm an ugly crier and the entire Christmas spirit will be ruined.

So in the "festive" mood that I was in and unable to decorate a tree.....I made you Christmas cookies.





Have any of you started your decorating your tree? What about Christmas cookies....you started making those? Come out the closet and do tell....I know you're secretly baking Christmas things and you just don't wanna tell. Tell me.....I can keep a secret....well kinda.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

The Queen of Hearts




So, I go in my room only to find my 3 yr old got into my MAC Wonder Woman reflects glitter! Can I just say I wasn't happy.  There's glitter all over my bed, the floor, my vanity....you name it.

She's in tears because she knows what trouble has found her.  I sit her down for the talk before the punishment. She can barely speak for all the crying and says.....bu-bu-but mommy....I wanted to look pretty just like you. How could I punish her after that? I was weak....and I left.

My husband had to handle it. He was more than willing to punish her, after all, he will be searching for that limited edition collection to replace the glitter she used.

While he is busy telling her what her punishment will be, mommy will make her pretty cookies :)

Below is a picture of The Queen of Hearts with Alice in Wonderland. If you missed the tutorial on the Alice in Wonderland cookie you can see it here. I did both cookies with the cookie cutter I purchased from Coppergifts.com. It's item #1702.


Monday, November 14, 2011

Alice in Wonderland.........




Christmas time.....umm I mean Thanksgiving. Yeah, right it’s Thanksgiving time. As someone who bakes constantly, Christmas is my favorite time of year, however I must contain myself from showing you all the Christmas things I’m designing.....I’m trying here. Not sure I’ll be able to contain myself too much longer.
So I’ll focus on something else cute......Like this dress cookie cutter from Coppergifts. Its item #1702.  I buy the majority of my cooper cookie cutters from them. I really love the quality and all the cute designs they have.  


When my dress cutter arrived, I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it.  I mean, I knew I was going to make a dress, but I wasn’t sure what kind. Trust me when I say this cutter has endless possibilities. I started with one idea and it took off from there. I’m in the process of designing many dresses with this cutter. I'll show you soon!


I wish I could show them to you all at once, but then you might not come back to visit me. 


Okay, okay, I know you’ll be back because y’all are nice and don’t want me to be lonely here in bloggerville. Hey, it does get lonely sometimes.
The first dress I made for you is......yep, Alice in Wonderland.  


Wanna know a secret? Sure you do..... Okay, I’m going to show you how I made it.  I know it’s really not a secret you knew I was going to tell you,  because you know I love y’all...... and my momma taught me to share.....sometimes I even listened to her....like now.
The first tip I have for you, is ......PATIENCE....that’s right, patience. You have to let the icing dry in between the layers. Which is really a pain, unless you have one of those heat guns and know how to use it properly.


I have a heat gun, and I totally HATE it. It's in the box...and I'm seriously thinking of putting it in a giveaway. SERIOUSLY!


Okay, let me show you how to make the dress.
First thing I did was outline the dress with a sky blue royal icing and tip#2. Let that dry for about 30 minutes (drying time will vary on your location) Then fill with 15 second sky blue royal icing. Allow to dry 3-4 hours.

Then outline the collar and sleeves with 15-20 second white royal icing and fill with same icing. I didn’t let the outline sit on the collar. This helped with cratering or was totally coincidence. Add a sash with a #2 tip and white royal icing. Let dry about 3 hours.

Next, you will outline and fill the top of apron and allow to completely dry.
outline and fill top of apron. Let completely dry.

Then with a #00 tip make a scalloped edge around the entire apron with white royal icing.
Let completely dry and it's finished.


Saturday, November 12, 2011

New Orleans Beignets....


It's Saturday morning.......I made you Beignets!

Ok well my daughter tricked me into making them. She said "you can blog about it". Sneaky, tricky little girl I've raised.....Yeah, okay, she's just like me. I would have sooooo pulled something like that with my mother.  She probably had me blog about it because she would eat them all when I was busy writing and taking pictures.

Anyway....

I'm a New Orleans girl down to the core.

I was born and raised here and never plan on leaving.

There's just too many good things here.

We have great food........

Mardi Gras.......

Riverboats.......

Streetcars.........

Bourbon Street.....

and we have Beignets!

If you're ever in New Orleans you must stop at Cafe' Du Monde and order some Beignets. These are French doughnuts and just utter goodness......I mean they are sprinkled  covered with powdered sugar. While you're there be sure to get a cup of their delicious coffee too.

If you aren't as lucky as I am to be from New Orleans and can get beignets as often as I can, you can always order a box of their signature mix or check your local Walmart. Some carry it.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Scarecrows......



How do things work in your family? When you’re driving along in the car, do you have the driver picks the music, the passenger shuts his cake hole mentality? Or is it more like my way of doing things......Driver picks the music, IF the princess is driving....otherwise its the passenger picks the music. Basically it’s just I (the princess) picks the music. Hey, I can’t listen to stupid music.
Growing up it was ALL about the music. Was that way then and it’s that way now.  It’s just one of the many things my father handed down to me I guess.  
What kind of music do you all listen to?  I’m all over the place with what I like.  Everything I listen to has some sort of meaning to me. It’s not just music. 
My music taste have a wide range from ....The Supremes, Styx,  Journey.....to more current bands/groups like My Chemical Romance to SOME, I say SOME Slipknot. 
I’ve tried all my life to pick a “favorite” song, but for the life of me I can’t.....there are just too many. 
Well enough rambling.....let’s get on to the cookies that have nothing at all to do with music. Sorry I ramble, but you know you love me and you want to see my cute cookies.....right? You still here? Ohhhhh there you are. :) Okay right, cookies.....




 To make these Scarecrow cookies I used a cupcake cookie cutter. Lately that's my one cookie I can use in another way other than a cupcake.....hey, baby steps here....baby steps.


First outline your cookie in dark brown royal icing using a #2 tip. Let dry about 30 minutes.
 Fill with flood icing in dark brown and allow to dry a few hours.

When that's dry outline scarecrow's face and neck using tip #2 and a flesh colored icing. I used Ivory here. Let dry 30 minutes. 
(**Note: I scraped off the line to separate face and neck as it left cratering)
Now with Ivory flood icing, fill in face. Let dry several hours.
 When the face is completely dry add facial features, straw, and hat detail.




Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Skull Cookies for an old friend



Any of you Military families? If you are, you can relate to leaving behind great friends.  Not easy for an adult, much less a kid.

This week I had the pleasure of making cookies for one of my daughters BFF's.  When we were stationed in Germany for three years, my daughter and Ceci were the bestest of friends.  They were inseparable. Wherever you saw one, you saw the other.

Being in the military you have the pleasure of meeting so many new friends, which is great......but, you also eventually have to move and leave them behind. My daughter and her BFF no longer live a street over from each other.....but live 928 miles apart. They stay in touch though facebook and emails, but it just isn't the same.

She would have loved to be at her friend's birthday, but it wasn't possible. Making her cookies for her birthday was as close as we could get.

Her mother asked for me to make skull cookies with a little pink bow......It was last minute so no tutorial here today :(, but I wanted to just share the cookies I made.

I'm working on lots of great Christmas designs right now and will be posting them soon...I know, I know it's early for Christmas.  I just couldn't help myself.

Happy Birthday Ceci.....we miss you.

Monday, November 7, 2011

An Apple a Day....






An apple a day keeps the doctor away.......well what about a basket of them?


When I think of Fall I think of pies and of my favorites is an apple pie. Which then causes me to think of that movie Baby Boom.....you know the one where she inherits a baby and moves to Vermont on an apple farm and makes applesauce all day long. I know it's not pie, but it's what I think of.....can't help it.


When I saw these adorable apple basket cupcakes on Pinterest, I knew I must make a cookie version.  So off to the drawing board I went.


 I didn't have a basket cutter so what to use, what to use.  I tried to think outside the box and decided to use the cupcake cutter.  It can be made into many different cookies.  I cut out the cupcake shapes then cut off the top.  I'm sure you could leave the top on and just have a higher pile of apples, but I chose not to.

cupcake or basket cookie cutter
light brown royal icing
red royal icing
#3 tip

With #2 tip and light brown royal icing outline basket
Add handles. Let dry about 30 minutes.



With 20 second light brown royal icing fill in every other section of basket.
 Let dry several hours.

After first layer is dry, fill the remaining sections of basket with the 20 second light brown icing.
Let dry several hours.



 Next take 20 second red icing and randomly pipe dots for apples, leaving spaces between. 
If some run together like mine did, it's okay. Those will be covered later. 
Allow to dry for several hours. 

Repeat randomly adding red dots with the 20 second icing. Working in layers, drying several hours between each layer and filling in any empty spaces.
Continue to do this until your desired number of apples are piped.
Then for a little more detail take the light brown royal icing (not your flood icing) and pipe a line at top and bottom of basket.
Allow cookie to dry overnight.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Easy Acorn Cookies


It's finally FRIDAY!!!!

I love the weekends. Not because I do anything exciting and fun.  I don't go out clubbing and get alcohol  spilled on my expensive shoes, get hit on by desperate men, or wake up with a mean hangover.

No, that was last month....this month is different......haaaa Just kidding.  You would have thought last month wasn't as lame as this one, but it was.

 I spend most of my weekends baking something, catching up on TVshows on my DVR, and just doing mommy things. It's actually very enjoyable. I'm not bored at all. Quite frankly, I'm never bored.  I keep busier than most people.  I really NEVER stop.  I'm OCD like that.  My friends think I must have superhero powers like wonder woman or something, but I don't.  I'm just super busy and hate to keep still.....although as a kid, I did think I was Wonder Woman....but that's another story (with cookies).

Well my OCD got the best of me with my sprinkle collection.  I say collection because I have 83 different sprinkles. Well for an OCD person the different bottles were getting to me. Especially when they are displayed on a shelf now. In the quest for finding jars to put my sprinkles in...that I love, I became extremely disappointed.....and cheap. Okay, I'm not cheap, but I am extremely impatient. So when I couldn't find jars in this small town, I opted to buy small candles in a jar, with lids. They were the perfect size and just what I wanted.....at least for now.  I can promise you I will decided on something else before the end of the year.  I'm just like that. Things get changed often.

Hubby came home with 22 candles the first time.  He had bought all they had at the store. We melted the wax down and removed it from the jar. Washed the jar out and added sprinkles to each one.

Well do you know the darn power went out at 2 am.  Hubby wakes me up and starts laughing...he tells me how ironic it is,  after buying all those candles, that he can't find one candle to light in all the darkness.....but we have sprinkles! I couldn't help but laugh with him......and tell him I'm so gonna blog about this.  My family is always on guard. You never know what mom's gonna blog about, so look out.

I did manage to find him a few candles that I have for such an event as the power going out. Life around here isn't all sprinkles.....well not for them. 

The rest of the candles have been bought.....all 83 jars, and are in the process of being de-waxed.  It's quite a process to be honest....and not the neatest process either.  I've spilled wax.....A LOT!

Well......on to the cookies.  I made these super duper easy acorn cookies. These are great for a beginner cookie-er.  They can be done with our without the sanding sugar.


First, with a #2 tip, outline the bottom half of the acorn in a medium brown royal icing. Then fill stem.

Next fill the bottom half with thinned medium brown royal icing.

Next outline and fill top half of acorn with  dark brown royal icing.  Let dry about 30 minutes and then fill with thinned dark brown royal icing.  (sorry for lack of picture)

If you want sanding sugar apply to top half when it is still wet. If not just allow to dry.





Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Sweet Sugarbelle


Well it's November.
Time to pack up all the Halloween decorations and prepare for Thanksgiving.

The kids had lots of fun Trick or Treating. 

How many of you raided the kids' candy buckets?

I have to admit I took a few pieces.....
just a few.

For the month of November I will be listing something I am thankful for every day.
I do this every year. 
It's a way to look at the positive in life.

I'm going to start off with one of the reasons I got into cookie-ing in the first place.

Today I am thankful for Callye from Sweet Sugar Belle.
She is my cookie Idol.

We all have one.
That cookie artist who made you want to push yourself beyond what you ever
 thought you were capable of.

Callye is that person for me.

She is truly an inspiration.
Most of what I have learned has been from reading her blog.

Her tutorials on things are amazingly easy to follow...
 and lets not even start
talking about her crazy talent. We'd be here all day.

Today is her Blogiversary! She's been blogging for a year now.
Be sure to stop by and wish her a Happy Blogiversary.
Read her blog too...you'll learn a lot.

Today I made turkeys....after all it's turkey month.
I did this using a wet on wet technique I learned from Callye.
I apologize for not linking the exact location on her blog....I can't seem to locate it. :(
However it's the same technique her guest poster used for her houndstooth cookies.....basically.

First outline the turkey body in dark brown royal icing using a #3 tip

Next outline and fill the head in beige royal icing.


fill body with thinned brown royal icing.
add lines in beige and drag toothpick while icing is still wet to make feather effect.
 This is the same technique used to make spiderwebs.

Then add red thingie under neck of turkey.
It's called a wattle.
But I call it the red thingie.


add eye and yellow beak.


Thanks for reading....and Thank You Callye for such an amazing blog 
and for inspiring me each and every day. 

What are you thankful for?


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