Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Decorated Rudolph Cookies



Ever have that moment when everything is going just right? You're sitting with a smile on your face because you just finished your daughter's cookies and she's going to think you're totally awesome.

Then your husband comes along and says something to totally jack up the moment!

Yeah, me too. Men do this a lot! It's not really their fault. I think when God made men, he gave women a piece of their brain and not a rib. They don't think sometimes.

It's true.

I had just finished up these Rudolph cookies for my daughter's Kindergarten class, when my husband walks in. I smile at him and show him my cookies that were made.... without using that four letter word. (Yes, sometimes decorating cookies does not bring out the best in you)

That was his moment to shine.....to say how awesome they looked....to say I was the best mom ever....anything.  He looked at me, not knowing he was about to meet his untimely death and asks, "Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?"

SERIOUSLY??? Name the reindeer? I don't even remember how many the big jolly man has, much less name them all.  I can't even call my children by the right name.

Sometimes husband's just shouldn't speak.

Just in case you need to know....there are Nine.....Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and we all know the most famous reindeer of all..... RUDOLPH!

These cookies were sort of an accident. My school bus cookie cutter (Designed by Callye, of Sweet Sugarbelle) was just sitting on my desk....UPSIDE DOWN. All I saw was Rudolph. I even wondered where the heck did I get a reindeer face cutter. DUH, it's a school bus. Sometimes accidents are a good thing.

Supplies:

School bus cookies (baked and cooled)
Royal icing tinted light blue, brown, red, white and black
Red sanding sugar (optional)
Snowflake sprinkles (optional)
Icing bags
couplers
#2 icing tip
#1 icing tip
icing bottles

1. With light blue piping icing and a #2 tip, outline entire cookie
2. Fill cookie with light blue flood consistency icing and allow to dry for a few hours. 
(steps 1 and 2 can be skipped. I prefer a completely iced cookie)
3. With brown piping icing and a #2 tip, outline Rudolph's head. Then fill with brown flood consistency icing. Let dry for an hour or so.
4. For his antlers I used the brown flood consistency icing that I had in the icing bottle. (I flood with icing on the thicker side). Outline antlers.

5. With white (thickish flood consistency) icing pipe on one eye on each cookie. Then come back to add a second eye. This will keep them from running into one blob of white.

6. While the eyes are still wet add a dot of black icing on the eyes. (Same consistency as the white) Let eyes dry.

7. After the eyes are completely dry, add a large red nose with red icing to each cookie. Then pour red sanding sugar on his nose while it is still wet. ***Make sure the eyes are completely dry before doing the nose or the sanding sugar will stick to his eyes too***

8. You could leave Rudolph as is, but I prefer a little more detail. So I took a #1 tip and outlined him and added some details to his face, including eyebrows (not pictured)

9. With white piping icing add dots where you want snowflake sprinkles.

10. Attach snowflake sprinkles.
For more great Rudolph Cookies done with repurposed cutters check out the links below:

Friday, February 22, 2013

3D Ducky Pull Toy Cookie



My baby boy turned 5 months old Monday!

The months are flying by and he's doing all sorts of new things.

He can roll over, he has two teeth, I have five new grey hairs, and the doctor started him on fruits and veggies. He LOVES to eat.

I can't wait until he's walking around dragging toys behind him.

Remember the old duck pull toy? Old toys are the best. They were plain and simple, just like these cookies. These cookies look cute yet there wasn't much decorating to be done. They were really easy to make.

For each duck pull toy cookie you will need:

4 small circle cookies
1 duck cookie
Royal icing (yellow, orange, white, and black)
yellow sprinkles or sanding sugar
string


Duck Pull Toy Cookie

Outline and fill small circle cookies and allow to dry. You will need four for each duck. These will be the wheels for the duck toy.


 Outline and fill duck cookie with yellow royal icing. Allow to dry several hours.

 Outline and fill duck bill with orange royal icing.
 Add a black dot of icing with a #1 tip and black royal icing.

 Add some squiggly lines for duck feathers.

While the feathers are still wet, sprinkle with some yellow sprinkles or sanding sugar.
Let dry then shake off excess sprinkles.


Add a dab of thickish royal icing. You can use yellow. I used white...it's what I had left over.
Here's where it gets all fancy. Get a piece of aluminum foil and scrunch it up. Place it along side the cookie. This will hold the end of the circle cookie upright. Place circle cookie on top of the foil and dab of icing. Do this for both wheels. Allow to dry overnight.

After the cookie has dried overnight, flip it over and add two wheels to other side.  Place aluminum foil between the two wheels while it dries. Let dry about 6 hours.

Add a dab of thickish white icing on the back of cookie to hold pull string. Use a boo boo stick to push the string down into the icing. Allow to dry.

These would be great for a baby shower or a baby's first birthday party.  They would even be cute decorated in pink or blue!

Hope everyone had a great week. We have lots of changes going on in our house this week.  I'm still working on a schedule so I can bake, blog and take care of the family without draining myself of all  available energy and brain cells.

When do y'all do your baking and blogging? Are you a late night blogger or do you get it all done over the weekend?

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Valentine Oreo Balls



Yesterday, I'm in Walmart getting some deli meat with my Starbucks coffee sitting in my basket, shopping cart....whatever y'all wanna call it. I pick the cup up and.... SMOOSH.....it completely caves in sending hot coffee all over the front of my white shirt.

I quickly grab my sliced turkey and head to the women's clothing department. They have such great selections (not), I wanted to buy a shirt and go change in the bathroom. So I grab a Minnie Mouse shirt and head for the check out line. Wouldn't ya know the lines were very long. Last minute Valentine's day shoppers.

I know, I'll check out in the jewelry department. So I walk up and ask if I can make my purchase here. The lady says....sure, I'll be a minute I have to finish emptying this box....ummm seriously. So I wait for what seems like an eternity and finally she comes to ring me up.

Wait....it get's better.

I mention spilling coffee all over me and she asked if it was hot......Ummmm it's coffee YES IT'S HOT. I nicely tell her yes and no joke, she asked me if it hurt......

Ummmm let me see......hot coffee.....spilled down my entire shirt.....Yes it hurt....DUH.

So my quick Walmart run was not so quick and a huge disaster.

I made up for it later by drowning myself in Oreo balls. Have you ever had an Oreo ball???? They really are amazing......and a quick, non-disastrous desert.


Valentine Oreo Balls

To make these you will need the following:

1 pkg double stuffed Oreos (crushed in your food processor)
1 8oz pkg of cream cheese, room temp
1 pkg of Almond Bark
pink and silver sprinkles


 Place crushed oreos and cream cheese in a mixing bowl or in your stand mixer. My Kitchen Aid bowl was dirty and I was too lazy to wash it.....hey, it happens.


 Mix until well combined.


 Give these beaters full of gooey goodness to your cute child or eat yourself. If this is for yourself, turn off mixer first.


 Take 1 Tbsp and roll into a ball with your hands. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 
Place them in the fridge for an hour. If you're in a hurry you can place in the freezer for about ten minutes. When you are ready to take them out, melt the almond bark in a microwave safe bowl. I do this 30 seconds at a time, mix, then reheat until completely melted.


 Take Oreo balls out of the fridge/freezer and place one into the melted bark. Pick up with a fork and tap to shake off excess.


Place in a bowl of sprinkles. Don't worry about covering the top that is showing....that will be the bottom of your Oreo ball. You need to cover with the sprinkles quickly because the almond bark hardens fast with the Oreo ball being cold. Place on parchment paper. Keep in the fridge until serving.


You can add tiny heart sprinkles as an alternative. These little heart sprinkles were sent to me in an order from Karen's Cookies.



So gooey and delicious.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!


Monday, February 11, 2013

Mardi Gras Bead Cookies




Mardi Gras in New Orleans......

hmmmm, how can I put this...........oh let's just skip to the chase. You show the Ta Ta's you get more beads. This is one of the few places you can get away with pulling out the girls.

Hey, I don't judge. The good Lord knows I've showed mine enough back in the day for some silly beads. These days the girls are nothing to show...... just keeping it real. I've nursed a few babies.

Tomorrow is Mardi Gras and I thought I'd make you some Mardi Gras inspired cookies. After all....it's about the beads.

This is a kid friendly blog so I gave my girl a top. If you want a more naughty version, you could totally do the entire cookie flesh colored and give her some Ta Ta's.

Mardi Gras Bead Cookies

Cut out heart shaped cookies and simply cut off the top. Then bake.

 Using flesh colored icing outline and fill cookie. Let dry completely (about 6 hours).

With grey icing outline and fill. Allow to dry several hours.

With a 1.5 PME tip add a scalloped edge. Allow to dry. 

With green, purple and yellow royal icing, add bead necklaces. Start with one color and leave the spaces for the others. Let dry about 30 minutes before adding next color. I started with one necklace and after it was completely finished and dry I added another necklace. 




Thursday, February 7, 2013

3D Valentine Flower Cookie Pops


Ever wanted to teach your husband a lesson?

Is it just me, or does it seem anytime you need help with the kids, your husband has to go to the bathroom?

And he's in there FOREVER!

Yep....my life in a nut shell. Cooking dinner....baby crying.....kids needing the potty....ya know one of those HEEEELP ME moments. The moment's you say "Honey please help me." Every single time I have one of those moments. He just happens to need a bathroom visit. 

Well NO MORE!!! Yesterday I was going to teach him a little lesson. 

Hubby lets me know the baby's crying....the toddler's full of spaghetti and needed to be wiped down....the works.  Apparently he had FB games to attend to and was busy at that moment. Who knows?

So I say in my sweetest princess voice...."Could you get it baby. I really need to go to the bathroom.......too much coffee". You know....so he'll know I'm gonna be a while.

For the record I did NOT have to use the bathroom. I'm a girl....we don't do those two hour bathroom things....unless we're in there applying makeup, but we'll talk about that another day.

So I'm in the bathroom just sitting....and listening.

Now as a mother this is not an easy thing to do.  We all know he is NOT going to do things right. The baby is going to cry a minute before he moves from his FB game or the episode of Duck Dynasty that he's seen twelve times. 

Mommies, this is not easy to endure. HOWEVER, I managed to sit there admiring my make up collection and think of new shoes that I surely needed. 

Everything became quiet. 

Too quiet. 

I sneak out and tip toe around the hall corner to see what sort of madness must be going on. Ya know,  with him in charge and all. 

Wanna know what I see? I see him napping on the sofa. The baby playing in his activity toy and the two girls sitting on the sofa quietly watching The Lorax. 

There goes my theory of teaching him a lesson. Guess the jokes on me.....or maybe NOT. 

My new afternoon thing is going to be having quiet time in the bathroom while he takes over.....Guess the Jokes on him. 

Now I just have to find a way to transform my bathroom into a fancy schmancy relaxing place.....sofas and all. Hmmm I may be on to something. 

Now that you're aware that my husband handled things better than me, lets make some cookies. 

3D Valentine Flower Cookie Pops


Start with a circle cookie cookie pop. Just roll out your dough, cut out shape, stick in the freezer for 2-3 minutes then insert the stick. Bake according to your recipe.
Need a good cookie recipe? You can get mine here.

 Outline cookie using a #2 tip and white royal icing.
Fill cookie with white flood icing.
While icing is wet, sprinkle with white nonpareils . Allow to dry.

Shake off excess nonpareils.


Outline hearts using a #2 tip

                          Fill hearts with red flood icing. Let cookies dry overnight.






Arrange heart cookies in a circle and add a dab of thickish white icing to each one. 


Place circle cookie on top of the heart petals. Allow to dry completely.
**For added cuteness, slip a stripey straw over the white stick. 
Tie a green ribbon around straw for a leaf. 

This would make a perfect Valentine's Day gift for a teacher. 
Hope your week is going good and you're getting lots of baking done!


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Mardi Gras Mask Cookie Pops

Ok I have a confession.

I know..... Confessions are supposed to be coming from the Cookbook Queen, but something just occurred to me when I designed these cookies.

I'VE NEVER MADE COOKIE POPS!!!!!

I know, weird right? Who would have guessed it.

They weren't very hard either. I thought they were going to be a huge pain but they weren't.

1.Roll out your dough and cut out mask shapes. I used this Mardi Gras mask cutter.
2.Place mask on cookie sheet and pop into freezer for 2-3 minutes. This is the key!
3.Remove cookie sheet from freezer and insert stick. I gave it a little twist as I was pushing it into the dough.
4. Bake cookies according to your recipe's directions.
5. Decorate as desired. 
6. Slip stick into a stripey straw for extra cuteness.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous week and trying new things. 


Monday, February 4, 2013

Simple Polka Dot Heart Cookies



I did not get as much done this weekend as I would have liked to. Did you? Who ever does right?

I had plans of doing lots of photo editing on Saturday, but that didn't happen. 

I did have good reason though. See, we have a transformer in our front yard. You know those big boxes that are for electrical stuff. Well my neighbor ran her car into it. Bam NO POWER! 

No power=No computer.


Seriously! I have no idea how she managed that.....it's 10 feet into my yard. So I didn't get my pictures edited that I wanted to. 

I did however manage to take a nap with the baby, enjoy peace and quiet with the tv off (that was a blessing), and get a foot rub from the hubby. So, it wasn't so bad without power. 

Ok....let's talk cookies. These cookies are very simple. So simple that anyone can make them. Really they're that easy. Wanna learn how? 

First outline heart with white royal icing and a #2 tip.


































Fill cookie with white flood icing.  While icing is still wet, drop black sprinkles onto cookie. I used some flat ones from a Halloween set of sprinkles. You can get them here.

If you have pre-made royal icing hearts you can add one while icing is wet. If not, wait until cookie is dry and pipe one on with a #2 tip and red royal icing. 

That's it. Easy as can be.

For other easy heart cookies check out:

 I hope y'all have a fabulous Monday.


Friday, February 1, 2013

3D Football Cookies



It's finally Friday!

What are your weekend plans? Any Superbowl parties going on? We aren't doing too much this weekend. We may or may not watch the game on Sunday.

Honestly I don't even know what teams are playing this year. There's only two things that I know....

This year's Superbowl is here in New Orleans....and you really need to make these cookies. I think 3D cookies are really cute.  These are pretty easy and would be perfect for the big game.....

....or a boys birthday party

....or football practice

.....heck they'd be good for anything. Cute cookies go with everything....right?

Ok let's get to the cookie tutorial. Here's what you do:

3D Football Cookies


Roll out your dough and cut out mini football shapes. I used the tiny cutter that came with my copper Mardi Gras Mask cutter. Bake and allow to cool. Decorate the footballs. You can see my tutorial on decorating the footballs here

Place a dab of thickish royal icing in center of cookie. Add football cookie and place a balled up piece of foil in front and back of cookie. This is a very sophisticated method....haaa.


With a #2 tip and green royal icing outline cookie.

 Flood cookie with green royal icing. Let dry several hours.

Add yard lines with white royal icing and a PME 1.5 tip. Let dry. 

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend surrounded by loved ones. 



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