Witch Leg Cookies

Happy Halloween!

Do y'all ever feel like you are one person trying to do the job of fifteen people?

Well that's the story of my life. I try to do too many things at one time. It's as if I think I'm a super hero or something.....I did think I was Wonder Woman when I was little. Maybe it just stuck with me. 

I had all intentions of posting this tutorial before today, but it just didn't happen. Better late than never right?  

I just love witch legs. I think it's the striped tights, I'm not sure.  I think my four year old feels the same way because she is a witch every Halloween.  Always a different color.....so we can get new striped tights I'm sure. This year we wore purple, last year it was green. 

She told me she likes being a witch like her Iya (grandmother)......We tease that she is a witch all year round. It's our little joke with her grandmother and we all have fun with it......Iya too. 

To make these cookies you will need:

black royal icing

orange royal icing

green royal icing

colored non perils

outline cookie with black royal icing and a #2 tip

then with 20 second orange royal icing fill cookie leaving a gap before the black outline

let dry 

Next using 20 second green royal icing add legs

                                         

 add black stripes using a #1 tip and black icing. Do this while the green icing is still wet.

 Next add shoes 

 Then add the first row of the ruffle skirt 

 After first layer of ruffles are dry, add the second row.

 When the second row of ruffles are dry add the top row of ruffles.

 fill in the gap between the orange and the black outline with black royal icing

 while the black royal icing is still wet add the non perils

When the icing is dry, shake off the excess.

 allow cookie to dry overnight.

                                                   

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. What did you or your kids dress up as? I went as an overworked mom of six....lol.

Now it's time for me to go through my children's candy and make sure none of it is poisoned. To do this with great accuracy I must eat the candy.

HEY.....I gotta be sure it's safe. Right?

Ghoulish Popcorn Balls

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween is finally here. 

Are you ready to get your Ghoul on?

Are you going trick or treating?

Will you be giving out frightful treats?

My little monsters are amped up and ready to hit the houses up for candy. 

Their costumes are made, thanks to me, mommy of the year

and we are all ready to go.

I'm NOT ready for the hyper, bouncing the wall kids whom I will want to hang by their toes after consumption of all this candy.

This is when as parents, we wish for pencils and fruit to be given out. 

Okay maybe not fruit....there are too many crazies out there...no way my kids getting poisoned apples.

No fruit or homemade treats from strangers houses for my kids.

Years ago it was safe to eat popcorn balls that were handed out to trick or treaters.

Now you have to inspect even store bought candy that was given out.

Popcorn balls are a family Halloween tradition for my husband. 

His mother made them for him EVERY year.

This year I thought I'd start the tradition in our home.

I called my mother-in-law and got her recipe.

She told me what to do and said to work fast and it was hot. 

She did not tell me I was going to scald the hell out of my hands.

NOT fun.

After making the darn things I quickly texted her......

"Some things in life are best left for mothers.  Next year your son's balls are all yours."

I had to add a little humor, after all I was in pain here.

After the pain subsided, I placed the popcorn balls in a cute Halloween cello bag 

and tied with satin ribbon. 

I'm a sucker for cute packaging.

The final results were great and the kids loved them.

Seeing their cute little faces gobble them up was worth my scorched hands.

If you wish to take a chance with death and want to make these cute treats for your little ghouls,  just follow the recipe below.

Popcorn Balls

4-5 quarts of popped popcorn (I use a air popper)

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup white corn syrup

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter

green food coloring (I use AmeriColor)

place sugar, water, corn syrup, salt, butter and food coloring in a saucepan. Cook on med/high heat until it forms a hard ball (260 degrees). 

After it reaches a hard ball add vanilla.

Remove from heat and pour over popcorn. Mix it fast.

Butter hands and form balls.

*do not try to mix it with your hands like my husband told me to do.....use a wooden spoon. Use your hands to farm balls AFTER it is thoroughly mixed*

After balls are formed place popcorn in a cute Halloween Cello bag and tie with a ribbon.

Brownies with Candy Corn M&M's

It's almost Halloween! 

Are you all ready? Are you dressing up?

Whose dressing up as what?

Every year I make every one's costumes. 

I normally dress up but this year things just got away from me.

 I did however make the two babies their costumes. My three year old is going to be a witch and her baby sister is going as her black cat.

Cute huh? 

Well since Brownies are one of my favorite desserts I thought 

I should make you some Halloween brownies!

I picked up some candy corn M&M's from the store this week....my hubby loves candy corn.

They were perfect for making him brownies. 

I prepared brownie mix as usual (out the box).

After pouring the mix in a greased baking dish, 

I sprinkled the candy corn M&Ms over the top.

The candy melts into the brownies. After the brownies are done, take them out

of the oven and add more candy corn M&Ms to the top. 

Serve warm.

These brownies didn't last very long. 

These were quick and easy and perfect for your little goblins. 

Let the Cauldron BUBBLE......

My three year old is going to be a witch this year for Halloween. As always I will be making their costumes. TuTu's all the way.....girls are fun.

Well we found a cute, realistic looking broom and she begged for it.  So we did as any parents do and we did what the child wanted.  After all she is three and her cries are LOUD. 

We left the store with the broom and you know she wanted to hold it....so once again, we did as she requested.  Well for you parents out there, you should know that giving your child what he or she ask for does not always guarantee the absence of LOUD crying.

The tears began....and crying and talking do not mix. 

We don't speak cry as my husband would say. This child cried for what seemed like an eternity.  Realistically it may have been two minutes, but it truly seemed like forever.

After calming the spoiled child down, we could finally understand her. 

"My broom is broke, daddy.  It's not working.  It won't fly" she said in her saddest voice ever....including big puppy dog eyes (these along with tears only work on daddies)

Daddy quickly replied, "Call you're I-Ya (grandma) and borrow hers. She's got plenty".

She did just that too. She called her I-ya.

I-ya would not loan out her broom.....she said it was her busy season and needed it. 

although I-ya wouldn't loan out the broom,

the child was happy and the world was good again.
I-ya's fix everything!

Since my mother-in-law claims to have her costume on year round and brooms on standby at a moments notice (her words NOT mine), 

I thought why not make some witch themed cookies 

for her and those she wishes to cast spells upon at work. 

Every witch needs a cauldron, so cauldron cookies was what I made.

I did warn her that black cookies turn your mouth black....she was NOT the least bit concerned. 

She's so easy to please.......I wonder if she cast a spell on me to say that?

~Throw on your heels and get to baking~

Dexter Cupcakes with handmade royal icing knives.....

Word of advise.....Never watch Dexter when your husband is working all night.

I've certainly had my fair share of dumb ideas but this is the DUMBEST  idea ever!

I should be watching Little House on the Prairie or something like that....not Dexter.

But here I am watching it as I type,  thinking of a plain of attack.... just in case bad scary stuff happens tonight.

Well I made some cupcakes for you today. I just used a vanilla box mix and topped with almond buttercream frosting.  Then I drizzled red tinted buttercream that was thinned down on top of cupcake. It's simple and easy.

I topped the cupcakes with mini royal icing knives.

To make these knives you will need:
 royal icing tinted grey
 royal icing tinted black
sliver luster dust
piping bags
#2 icing tip
knife printout
wax paper

tape a sheet of wax paper over a printout of a knife. Next simply pipe over knife design. Allow to dry.


Add silver rivets on knife handle. (not shown in picture) Allow to dry over night.






Be sure the knives are completely dry. Make extra to allow for a few breaking.  No matter how careful you are, a few WILL break.

After knives dry completely, carefully remove from wax sheet. Insert knife into top of cupcake.

Enjoy!

~Throw on your heels and get to baking~

I See You Shiver With ANTICI. . . .PATION

 The Rocky Horror Picture Show.........

This has to be my all time favorite movie....EVER!

I think it's more because of the memories, then the actual movie itself.

It was years ago when I was fourteen.  My mom and her best friend Cathy decided to take their two daughters (Jennifer and I) to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  Now this is NOT a child's movie, but our mom's were COOL like that.

The movie only played at midnight, so off we went to the midnight showing.

In case you have no clue what the "big hype" about this movie is, I'll explain it's FUN-NESS.  It's an audience participation movie.  I wanted to go the minute mom told me I could throw rice at the wedding scene.....Really mom, throw rice?  Oh, I was so there!

So off we went to get supplies for the movie. We needed rice, newspaper, lighter, water gun, party blowers, and a few other things.

We arrived and waited in line.  There were people dressed up as the movie characters waiting outside.  This was about the most exciting thing that I ever went to.....I lived a dull life....hey, I was fourteen.

After waiting in a very long line, we found seats (no back row for us) and waited for the movie to start.  Apparently the back row was the x-rated row.....we didn't ask.

The movie began and LET THERE BE LIPS......I loved the red lips singing.

Then the group of people dressed as the characters were on the stage under the screen playing the movie.  They acted out the entire move! They shouted out different things all throughout the movie, like name calling Janet, among other things.  For a teenager it was the "coolest" thing we ever went to.

Frank n Furter came down in these heels and it was time to dance.....The Time Warp. (*notice my torn fishnets*)

.....oh how I love the time warp. 

Everyone seemed to get up and do the dance..  Que music.....

   

It's just a JUMP to the LEFT..... 

and then a STEP to the RIGHT.......

put your Hands on your HIPS.........

you BRING your knees in TIGHT.......

but it's the PELVIC THRUST.....

that really DRIVES you INSANE.

   LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN

After the move was over, we were wet from the rain and full of rice from the wedding.  SERIOUSLY we had rice in our bras, pants, you name it. YES, there was that much rice being thrown.



It's now many, many years later and I still love The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  It will always be one of my favorites and will always be a great memory of my mother and I.

Have you seen The Rocky Horror Picture Show?



What's you're favorite scene or quote?  Favorite character?


If you haven't been to see this movie, I insist you go see it.....NOT at home on DVD but in the THEATRE as it's meant to be watched.


I hope you enjoyed looking at my cookies. These were so fun for me to make.  Be sure to leave a comment telling me how great they are, because well,  I spend all my time baking and don't get out to see people....so I just need to feel good about myself and know I am loved :)

Oh and before I forget......I'll be having a giveaway soon to celebrate reaching 200 likes on facebook. Be sure to follow my blog so you don't miss any updates or great cookies like these.

~Throw on your heels and get to baking~

A Slice of Life.......Dexter Cookies

The new season of DEXTER will be on tonight!!!!!


For those of you who don't know what Dexter is about, I'll explain.  Dexter is a forensic Blood Splatter analyst who is also a serial killer. He kills those who have gotten away with their crimes. Very good stuff! 


Okay this is one of my FAVORITE television shows.  I just love all the crime series......Dexter, CSI, Cold Case, just to name a few.  It's no wonder I'm scared when I'm home alone at night.


Never the less, I love them.  We started watching Dexter when we lived in Germany.  I was instantly hooked on it.


 It's my one and only reason for justifying the OUTRAGEOUS cable bill I pay.   I need to have Dexter....and True Blood.


With the upcoming premiere of Dexter Season 6,  it was no surprise, I had to make some cookies.  There were so many ideas floating around in my head with this one. The design I settled on was quite simple. As a matter of fact, my three year old did the blood splatter.  These are great cookies to make for a  beginner.


To make these Dexter inspired cookies you'll need:

• white royal icing
• red royal icing
• square scalloped cookies
• #2 tip
• disposable piping bags
• paint brush used ONLY for food products

1. Make cookies using your favorite sugar cookie recipe.  Allow to cool.
2. Outline cookies with white royal icing using #2 tip.  Let dry 30 minutes.
3. fill entire cookie with royal icing.  Allow to dry completely. 6-8 hours.
4. thin down red royal icing to the consistency of milk.....very watery.  
5. Dip paint brush into thin red royal icing. Splatter the cookies. DO NOT touch cookie with paint brush. You are just slinging the icing on the cookie for a splatter effect.  Allow cookie to dry a few hours. 

This cookie is so EASY even a beginner can do it.  Like I said, my three year old did the splattering.  It wasn't mess free, but it was FUN for her.

So who else watches Dexter?  Are you ready for the season premiere tonight?

The Monster Mash.......

When I saw the Wilton monster cutters at our local store I just had to pick them up.   They were too cute.  I love anything Halloween.......I love anything for that matter.  We'll just say I like to shop.

Halloween is such a fun holiday though.  I have such great memories of Halloween from when I was a kid.  It was so fun to go door to door getting candy.  Sometimes we would sneak and return to the same house to get more. Those were good times.  Times when people handed out homemade popcorn balls and such.

Now there are too many crazies out there and you have to inspect all the candy your child received.....I don't mind searching though...that's when I can steal the candy I want :)

My favorite memory from Halloween was when I wanted to be a vampire and hand out candy.  My step dad built me a coffin....yep.....it was AWESOME!!!!!!

We had black lights set up and a fog machine. I laid inside the coffin and opened it as the kids walked up.....good times.  That was the year it was "UNCOOL" to trick-or-treat.

Now I have kids and it's COOL to trick-or-treat every year.  One of the many rewards of being a mother.

What's your favorite Halloween memory?

When Zombies Attack..........

Making these Zombie Hello Kitty cookies got me thinking.....and it's ALWAYS bad when I start thinking. What's a baker to do when zombies attack?

There are many things y'all should know in life.  The most important thing, may be knowing WHAT to do in the event that zombies attack....YES.....zombies.

I've watched enough zombie movies with my son to know,  it COULD happen.  There are many survival guides out there providing us with lists of what to do in the event of a zombie apocalypse, but what about us bakers?  We don't have stock piles of guns hidden in our oven like Mr. and Mrs. Smith.  We need a list for us...after all when zombie's attack, I'll be in my kitchen......baking in heels.

It's up to me to save us all.....so ladies pay close attention to my list so you'll know just what to do.

THE BAKER'S TOP 5 WAYS TO SURVIVE A ZOMBIE ATTACK


1. Have zombie appealing food. (Witches Cauldrons with eyes and  bloody bones, creepy eyeballs, or monster cookies) Pop on over to Kristan and Calley's blog and learn how to make those. These zombie appealing treats may come in handy. Everybody's taste change.......lets get those zombies to like these great treats instead of brains.....Hey it may work.....these treats rock!

2.  Never trust anyone.....you never know whose been affected......even your mom.  You're friends may think she's hot, and bakes the best treats..... but DON'T trust her.....she could be a zombie.

3. Have many weapons on hand.  If you are lucky enough to have a secret stash of guns in your oven, well good for you, but those of us who actually use our ovens, don't and we need other weapons. Cooper cookie cutters work well to throw at a zombies. They are sturdy and will keep their shape better. After all, we don't want to ruin our cutters on the zombies. In the event we manage to destroy them all, we will go back to cookie-ing.

4.  Use stashes of royal icing to coat the floor.  We all know how sticky this icing is and how hard it dries.  This is sure to stop a zombie in their tracks. If you are like me and hate sticky things, have one of your children put this down. Kids love sticky and it ALWAYS finds them. This will be a fun activity for any child.

5. Last but not least, the HIGH HEEL SHOE.  Now those who aren't baking in heels may have a problem with this one.  Myself, on the other hand will have this one in the bag.  Pull off those stilettos and use the heel to base of zombie's neck destroying the brain stem.  Don't worry about the blood. The red will give you beautiful red Louboutin soles. It's a win win situation.

Now that the ZOMBIES are all DESTROYED.......

~Throw on your heels and get to baking~

*disclaimer- do not try this on your mom at home! She is NOT a zombie, she is a hot baker with really cute heels!

Eye of Newt and Essence of Spider.......

Halloween brings so many fun things. There's the candy....we all love that.  There's the costumes where we can dress up like we are still kids......or a sexy version of a Disney princess/fairy tale character, which seems to be the choice costume among women today (giggles). 

For the cookie/cake decorator it brings some NOT so fun things....like dark colors that do NOTHING for your nails.....seriously my nails were horrible from the black food gel.

Saturday I took the day off from decorating and went to have my nails done.  I brought Miss B and  

Miss P with me and made a girls day out of it.  Hey, a girl's gotta have nice nails.....and cute shoes.  That's a RULE in this house.  It's the one rule my daughters DON'T complain about :)

BUT......from now on it's gloves when coloring icing. 

Now.....on to the cookies.

You will need:


Wedding cake shaped cookies
orange royal icing
black royal icing
piping bags
#1 tip
#2 tip

First outline your cookie in orange royal icing.  Let dry about 15 minutes then fill with orange flood icing.  Let dry about 2 hours.

next pipe on spider and web with black royal icing using a #1 tip.  Outline cake layers in black royal icing.

Next pipe white dots on bottom layer of cake using a #2 tip.  Make various sizes of dots.  Be sure not to make dots to close to each other like I did or they will run into each other. Then take black royal icing and #1 tip and place dot on top of white dots to make eyes.  

Next pipe vertical lines with black royal icing and #2 tip.  Allow cookie to dry 6-8 hours or overnight. 

For another cute eye catching treats check out:
Confessions of a Cookbook Queen's Peanut Butter Eyeball Truffles

Sweet Sugar Belle's 3-D Witch Hat Cookies

Everyone SCREAM...in Our Town of HALLOWEEN....

Halloween wouldn't be complete without Jack Skellington in this house.  My kids all love him.  He's eerie and creepy....all the things a teenager loves.

I really think The Nightmare Before Christmas gets played at least once a week.  I don't like anything remotely scary.

 It's the closest thing to a scary movie I want to see. Now I know it's not really a "horror" film, but it's as close to one as I'm watching.

I can't watch scary movies.  Not happening!  It's bad enough my mind is constantly wondering....thinking crazy things.  I think I'm scared of everything.  Which is the reason I don't watch the news at all. I'm constantly thinking something bad is going to happen.  Wondering if someone is going to break in and slaughter us all.

I bet all the years of watching scary movies contributed to my warped sense of thinking.....I know it did. I still get scared watching Nightmare on Elm Street.......you know it scared you back in the day too.

And camping in the woods......nope.....Jason cured that.

So I will stay in my nice, safe, slaughter free zone at home and bake you cookies.  Things are much better this way.

To make Jack Skellington cookies you will need:
round scalloped edged cookies or shape of your choosing
purple royal icing
white royal icing
black royal icing

For recipe on Royal icing see my royal icing tutorial.

Instructions
Cut, bake, and cool cookies.

In center of cookie make a circle outline in black royal icing.  Don't worry your circle doesn't have to be perfect...Jack's face isn't completely round.  Let dry for about 30 minutes.

Fill circle with white flood icing.  While icing is still wet add eyes, nose and mouth on Jack. 

outline cookie with purple royal icing. Let dry 15-30 minutes. 

Fill cookie with purple flood icing. While icing is still wet apply a few semi circles in black for webs. Drag toothpick through lines to make spider web.  Let dry overnight.  

~Throw on your heels and get to baking~

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble......

I love cookie cutters.  There's just something exciting about them.  Maybe it's because they remind me of momma a little bit, I'm not sure.

 There are so many different ones out there.  Most cutters are fairly inexpensive, but some of them can be quite costly.  If you're not careful though you'll be broke in a matter of months.......or if you're as OCD as me and need them all, in a matter of days or weeks.

One of the blogs I read every day is The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle. The blog writers name is Calley and she really has a fantastic eye for things.  She will take a simple cookie cutter intended for one thing and make something totally different.  One example is her gumball machine cookies.  Truly amazing.

I've made many of Calley's cookies. I've even made quite a few on my own, but as they intended to be.  If its a bat cutter I make a bat,  an owl I make an owl, etc. 

This time I decided to try something new, to do something different.  I needed to use my cookie cutter for a cookie that it wasn't intended for.

After all.....It's what all the cool kids are doing. 

It couldn't be too hard right? Like making out pictures with the clouds right?  Well...it was harder than I thought.  After a bit of searching through my cutters.......four hours later......a light bulb went off.  My light bulb takes a bit longer than most to go off.....I'm slow.  I took my copper ice cream cone cutter and made a witch. 

 I know it's not extremely creative, but hey I'm new to this.  I gotta start somewhere right?  Maybe one day I'll be as creative as all the cool kids but for now you get a witch from an ice cream.

To make the witch cookies you will need:

Ice cream cone cookies

royal icing in green, black, white and reddish brown. (I was going for a reddish color but this was what I got)

tip #2

icing bags 

First cut, bake, and cool your cookies on a wired rack. 

After cookies are cooled pipe outline of hat in black royal icing with a #2 tip.

 Next outline the witch's face in green royal icing

Thin out some of the black royal icing. I normally use about a 10 second icing for this. Meaning, when you let the icing fall back into itself it takes 10 seconds until it's smooth again. Fill in hat with the 10 second icing. 

While the black icing is still wet I piped three rows of 10 second icing in white on top of the hat.

Then drug a toothpick through it several times to form a cob web. (while still wet)

Next fill in witch's face with green flood icing. Allow to dry for an hour or two.

Next I piped the first layer of squiggly lines for the witch's hair with royal icing. Let the hair dry for about an hour.

 

After that dried I piped a second layer of hair, filling in the empty spaces and giving it a more 3D look.

Then I piped on the face. I messed up on the eyes as shown below. Somehow I didn't fill in the entire eye white.....so after it was dried I used a toothpick to remove the center part of the eye and filled in with white then black dots for the pupils.

I added a purple band around hat after it was dry, but totally forgot to take a picture....Hey I can't remember everything. 

After the cookie has dried overnight display on a black background with some Halloween spider web decorations......Just like the cool girls do and take a pretty picture. 

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Please leave loving, good job, pat on the back comments because its the nice thing to do......You know your momma would want you to.