Mrs. Fox's Sweets

Luck 'o the Irish Link Party!

2012-03-01T05:00:00.002-05:00

Nothing says party like St. Patrick's Day!

Adrianne from Happy Hour Projects and I have decided to team up again and co-host a party where you can link up all of your fabulous St. Patrick's Day posts! Recipes, Crafts, Ideas, whatever you have made for St. Patrick's Day!

If you haven't already, stop by and visit Adrianne over at Happy Hours Projects, and find some fabulous projects that you can put together, quite a few projects that you can do in just an hour!

Just remember, St. Patrick's Day only and keep it family friendly (PG or better please!)

If you would like to link up non St. Patricks Day crafts, recipes, and projects go to Happy Hour Projects- Freestyle Friday and link up other sweets at Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party!

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #13

2012-02-29T05:30:00.005-05:00

Happy LEAP DAY and welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party!

I hope you are all having a great week! Before we party, I have a couple things worth announcing first. Tonight I will be taking my final class in Wilton's Course 4, so look for my final cake later this week! Tomorrow is also going to be the start of the Luck 'o the Irish Link Party where you can link up all of your St. Patrick's Day posts, anything goes, from March 1st thru 17th hosted by myself and Adrianne from Happy Hour Projects! I hope you will stop by and join us for that too!

Now for this weeks features!

The #1 most viewed sweet of Week 12:

M&M Pretzel and Peanut Butter Bananas from The Sweet Spot

Other Features:

St. Patrick's Day Cookie by LilaLoa

Key Lime Shamrock Cake by Bird on a Cake

Fishing Cookies by Lizy B

Congratulations to all of you!

You can find the "I Was Featured" button on the Grab a Button Page!

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Nothing new? Link that up too! Dig thought your archives and find a sweet treat that you want to share! I just ask that you keep it all kid friendly! I reserve the right to delete any post that I find inappropriate!

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. I would love for you to Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets someway or another, GFC or Linky Followers!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

3. Link to your sweet posts only, not directly to your blog. Giveaways are fine too, as long as they are somehow related to sweets! (ex. cookies, supplies, cookbooks, cupcake necklace, you get the idea!)
4. Mix and mingle, Visit some of the other sweets! We all love visitors!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

St. Patty's Day Quickie! (Pretzels)

2012-02-28T11:00:00.001-05:00

We are all working on getting back to good around here, not 100% but getting there! Not everything I make has to take hours and here is a quickie that can be done in minutes depending on how many pretzels you want to make. All you need is pretzels, some type of melting candy, and sprinkles! Melt candy according to package directions, dip pretzels one at a time, sprinkle, and place on waxed paper for the candy to set up!

A colorful and festive YUM!

I link up at these fun parties!

Mickey & Minnie Mouse Cookies

2012-02-27T05:30:00.001-05:00

MICKEY & MINNIE MOUSE!

I have pretty much spent the past week feeling under the weather and still on the mend. I will be so glad when this roller coaster weather is over! It took me a few days, but I did manage to use some leftover icing and peanut butter cut-out cookie dough to make these cookies!

I have made Mickey Mouse Cookies using this Mickey Cookie Cutter that I got from Disney World before and had quite a hard time with the ears staying straight when moving the dough to the pan. This time to solve that problem I cut out the dough right on the parchment lined cookie sheet removing the excess dough. This made the process a lot easier! I experimented a little and made the dots on Minnie Mouse two different ways also. One way was putting the white dots on the wet red icing so they sink into the red icing and the other putting the dots on top of the dried icing, which made them pop out more. I still liked the first way best.

Everyone was glad to have a sweet in the house once again, but this is going to be another slow week, I am still drained! Wishing you all escape this cold season unscathed!

I link up at these fun parties!

Wilton Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers- Lesson 3

2012-02-24T05:30:00.001-05:00

This is what I made in lesson 3 of Wilton Course 4- Advanced Gum Paste Flowers! This has been the most productive class so far! I feel like a lot got accomplished!

Flowers made in the above photo from left to right: Sweet Pea, Stephanotis, Sweet Pea, Stephanotis Bud.

Above are 3 wide and 3 narrow petals for the Stargazer Lily. Next week will be the final class and we will assemble the Stargazer Lily, paint all of our flowers, and make the arrangement to place on our final project!

Previous Classes

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 4

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 4

Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 4: Advance Gum Paste Flowers- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers- Lesson 2

View the Wilton Website for more class information

St. Patrick's Day Dipped WhoNu?'s

2012-02-23T05:30:00.000-05:00

Here we go again! A super fast, quick and easy way to dress up a cookie for St. Patrick's Day!

All you need is:

Your favorite sandwich cookie (my favorite is WhoNu? because of the added nutritional benefits!)

Wilton Green Candy Melts (found at at your local craft store)

seasonal sprinkles

Melt about 1/2 bag of candy melts in the microwave according to package instructions. I add about 1/2 teaspoon of shortening to the melts to thin it out and make it easier to dip. Dip half of cookie and place on waxed paper and immediately add sprinkles! Let candy melts set up for about 10 minutes in the refrigerator or slightly longer on counter top.

Fun and festive for St. Patrick's Day!

I link up at these fun parties!

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #12

2012-02-22T05:00:00.000-05:00

Hi there! Welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party!

I hope you are all having a great week! I have seemed to catch the bug that everyone is getting and just haven't felt like baking as usual. I can't wait to see what you have been baking up! But first....

Here are the Features from Week #11:

The Most Viewed Sweet

Valentine Treats from Pint Sized Baker

Other Featured Sweets:

"Happy Valentine's Day" Lady Bug Oreos by The Sweet Swiper

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes by Lady Behind the Curtain

Saint Patty's Cake Balls by Miss Candiquik

Congratulations to all of you!

You can find the "I Was Featured" button on the Grab a Button Page!

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets someway or another, GFC or Linky Followers! I do try to follow all of you back but if somehow you slipped through, let me know!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

2012 Valentine's Wrap-Up

2012-02-21T12:22:00.002-05:00

Valentine's is officially over, but that won't stop me from sharing the love!

This is what I made this Valentine season!

Love Letters & Hearts Cookies

Black & Red Heart Cupcakes

Hearts & Kisses Cookies

Hearts -a- Flutter Cookies

Love Birds Cookies

Chocolate Dipped Valentine Pretzels

Rose Cake Pops

Chocolate Coated Valentine Who-Nu's?

Valentine Cake Balls

Shiny Heart Cookies

Hearts on Sticks Cookies

Valentine's Brownies

Girly Cookies

Words of Love Valentine's Cookies

Valentine's Graffiti Cookies

Personalized Valentine's Cookies

Emoticon Valentine Cookies

Be My Cupcake

Giant Chocolate Chip Valentine's Cookie

Glitter Says "I Love You" Cookies

Red & White Flower Cookies

17th Birthday Cookies

2012-02-20T15:45:00.000-05:00

I seriously can't believe how time has flown and my baby boy has turned 17 so quickly!

I wanted the cookies to be special and to make something different for him that I haven't made before with a flavor I know he'd love. I used the The BEST Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe from Created by Diane. The cookie dough cut out, baked up, and kept shape nicely for decorating! It also tasted great and everyone loved them! This is definitely a recipe I will use again!

Happy 17th Birthday Steve!

I link up at these fun parties!

Red & White Flower Cookies

2012-02-19T06:00:00.000-05:00

Once I got going with Valentine's I just couldn't stop! My daughter thought these looked tropical, so I thought I would share these last since they could be any occasion!

For these I once again used the Sugarbakers' Chocolate Mini-Chip Cookies recipe. You can find the recipe at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle! The Ghiradelli Mini Chips made them perfect!

I had premade all of the royal flowers with leftover icing from the Valentine Brownies topped with Roses last month. After the flowers dry for 2 or 3 days, they can be stored in an airtight contain close to forever!

The cookies were outlined, flooded, and decorated with a size 2 tip. After the cookies were dry I glued on the flowers with royal icing. These could be done in any color for any occasion!

I link up at these fun parties!

Glitter Says "I Love You" Cookies

2012-02-18T06:00:00.002-05:00

This cookies were just so much fun! I just love glitter! This was my first time ever using Disco Dust aka edible glitter and I have Lorraine's Cookies to thank for it, since I won her 1,000 Fans giveaway! If you haven't already, stop by and see her, she is a very talented cookie artist! The cookie cutter that made these cookies was part of the giveaway also and is available at Copper Gifts. The edible glitter is available at Karen's Cookies. (both were sponsors of the giveaway!)

I have had these fabulous goodies for a few weeks and these fun items have been screaming at me to use them! I have found that I love putting words on cookies and the scalloped oval cookie is perfect for words! I had to dedicate one to my sweetheart, Brad!

Of course, I couldn't just not make one of these fun cookies for my daughter to give to her sweetheart too! Good thing he likes cookies and these cookies are made with a chocolate chip cut out cookie recipe, you can find all the recipes I used on my FAQ page!

To make the cookies, I first colored my royal icing black and let that sit for a day in an airtight container to deepen in color. The outline and flooding were then done using tip 2. After drying for about 12 hours, to be sure they were good and dry, I worked a little at a time (one cookie and just one part of that cookie like the dots or a name) piping red royal icing with a tip 1 and immediately sprinkling on the glitter and just letting it sit for about 30 minutes before dumping off most of the excess glitter. I left them alone overnight to make sure they were full dry and then used a soft brush to brush away the extra glitter that still remained. I can't lie to you, I had glitter all over the place! I worked over waxed paper so I could just fold it in half and put it in a container to use again. Static was loads of fun too and I think everything has a little sparkle to it now! However, I love it!

Disco Dust rocks!

I link up at these fun parties!

Wilton Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers- Lesson 2

2012-02-17T06:00:00.004-05:00

It's show and tell time again! This is what I made in lesson 2 of Wilton Course 4- Advanced Gum Paste Flowers. I have to say I almost skipped this class, horrible headache, but I am glad I went, otherwise I wouldn't have learned to make the Briar Rose.

First we made quite a few Ivy and Lily Leaves. These will be for our final project. More may need to be made at home depending on the final design, which I haven't decided on yet.

The Briar Rose is very easy to create. The only time consuming part is sticking 15 little yellow stamens into that tiny ball, which should be yellow, but I just left mine white. There is a green calyx underneath the flower which cannot be seen from the photo. In the last class we will be painting all of our flowers with petal dust, but I think I like this flower in all white. We ran out of time in class and were not able to start the Stargazer Lily Petals, so we will make lots of those next week, along with the Stephanotis and Sweet Pea.

Previous Classes

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 4

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 4

Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 4: Advance Gum Paste Flowers- Lesson 1

View the Wilton Website for more class information

Valentine's Graffiti Cookies

2012-02-16T06:30:00.002-05:00

More fun Valentine's Cookies! My daughter decorated these fun cookies for her boyfriend for Valentine's to go along with the Personalized Valentine's Cookies!

These were made by decorating a cookie with royal icing and letting it fully dry and then drawing on them with edible markers! Of course he loved them and he even shared them on Facebook before I did :)

I link up at these fun parties!

Personalized Valentine's Cookies

2012-02-16T06:00:00.011-05:00

Valentine's Cookies for the happy couple!

Happy Valentine's Katie & Garrett!

I link up at these fun parties!

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #11

2012-02-15T05:30:00.003-05:00

Hi there! Welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party!

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's! I am not done celebrating yet and will have more Valentine's post thoughout the week! I am co-hosting the "Share the Love" Valentine Party with Happy Hour Projects where you can still share any of your crafts, projects, recipes through this Friday!

Don't forget to enter the "EB Mine" Giveaway while you are here too going on through Saturday!

I also added the Linky Followers widget to my sidebar so you can follow me that way too now!

I can't wait to see what you have been baking up this week, but first....

Here are the Features from Week #10!

Sugarlicious is here! Cupcakes made by Sweetology

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway with lots of goodies and a preview booklet for the book "Sugarlicious" by Meghan Mountford! Of course you can order the book on Amazon. The book is filled with wonderful ideas and tips! I have been meaning to make one of the ideas from the book, but Valentine's has just swept me away! Meghan is just a sweetie and we have to support our blogger buddies right? Seriously this is an awesome book, a must have for the book shelf and beautiful pictures! Thanks Trish for recreating one of the fabulous book designs for the book release party!

Vintage Paris Edible Image Cookies by Sweetology

I just had to share these beautiful cookies too, they screamed to me when I first say them! Absolutely gorgous! I guess I am kinda stalking you this week Trish! You just just some kind of wonderful! Besides the other feature was more about sharing our love for Sugarlicious!

Muscial Cupcakes by DJ's Sugar Shack

Love these! Simply and stunning!

Shamrock & Pot of Gold Pancakes by Bacon Time with the Hungry Hungry Hypo

This is what is for breakfast for St. Patrick's Day! What a perfect way to start the day!

Now that Valentine's is coming to a close, let GREEN fill the Screen!

Congratulations to all of you!

You can now find the featured button on the Grab a Button Page!

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets someway or another, GFC or Linky Followers! I do try to follow all of you back but if somehow you slipped through, let me know!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

Giant Chocolate Chip Valentine's Cookie

2012-02-14T13:30:00.001-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here is a quickie! Really this is something that can be made at the last minute!

All that is needed is a package of chocolate chip cookie mix and the ingredients that go with it, red buttercream icing, heart sprinkles, and piping bag with tips 3, 17, and 22. The pan that I used is by Wilton sold exclusively at Target, there is a cut out heart in the center that I filled with Cherry M&M's.

Prepare cookie mix as directed on package. The pan is already non-stick, but I spread a little Wilton Cake Release in the pan and around the center heart stem for good measure. Spread cookie dough in pan. The dough was quite sticky and I had to sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough to be able to flatten it better with my hands. I sprinkled the heart sprinkles on before baking. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20 to 22 minutes. This cookie is 1-inch thick, so it needs the extra time. I let the cookie cool in the pan on a wire rack for a full hour before removing it from the pan. It could have probably been removed sooner, but I didn't want to risk cracking it.

For the borders and writing I used buttercream icing. If you don't want the mess or don't have time to make the buttercream, canned frosting with some additional confectioners' sugar (2 to 3 tablespoons) mixed in to thicken it up would work as well. The outer border is the reverse shell with tip 22, the inner is tip 17 reverse shell. If you are going to fill the center with candy, it is best to do that before piping around the center heart. I finished by writing "Happy Valentine's" with tip 3.

While you are visiting today, why don't you share your Valentine's Craft Projects at the "Share the Love" party that I am co-hosting with Happy Hour Projects!

and also be sure to enter the "EB Mine" Eggland's Best Giveaway!

I link up at these fun parties!

Emoticon Valentine Cookies

2012-02-14T06:00:00.029-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day!

People say it is a commercialized holiday. I make it a cookie-ized holiday and make my loved ones lot of cookies for Valentine's Day!

Have we not learned by now I can't resist bright colored things and sales? Again, found these little candies on sale and had to get them with no clue what I would do with them! I also happened to pick up some Ghiradelli Mini Chocolate Chips! Cookies...that sounds like a plan! More specific...

Sugarbakers' Chocolate Mini-Chip Cookies! You can find the recipe at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle!

The cookie dough was to die for! But, I didn't, you may, so as a public service announcement, eating raw cookie dough is a No-No! Just in case you want to temp fate...it taste delicious! I did manage to roll it and cut it out and made cookies with it though! For this you must use metal cutters, plastic wouldn't have sliced through the chips! The hearts are scalloped, a cookie cutter passed down from my Mother-in-Law, but the scallops didn't really show since the dough did spread a little more than my regular cookie dough. However, being a chocolate chip cut out cookie, it was so worth it!

These cookies were outlined, filled, and decorated with a size 2 tip and royal icing. See my new FAQ Page for a list of all the recipes that I like to use!

Napkins, Plates, and a fun Chinese Take-Out box to make sharing these easy!

Don't be sad, Valentine's isn't over yet, not at Mrs. Fox's Sweets anyway! I have Valentine's Sweets that I will be sharing all week!

While you are visiting today, why don't you share your Valentine's Craft Projects at the "Share the Love" party that I am co-hosting with Happy Hour Projects!

and also be sure to enter the "EB Mine" Eggland's Best Giveaway!

I link up at these fun parties!

Words of Love Valentine Cookies

2012-02-13T12:00:00.004-05:00

Another fabulous find! Recently I made Girly Cookies and Princess Castles & Tiaras Cookies with a Wilton shaped cookie pan. Well, I found another shaped cookie pan, again on clearance at Michaels, this one was on sale for just $3.99!

The pan has all of these shapes and all you have to do is squish sugar cookie dough inside. The pan directions say to fill either 2/3 or 3/4 full. I do like to fill the cavities pretty much all the way full. Bake 10 to 12 minutes according to pan instructions. It's that easy! I had wanted to take a picture of the cookies before I decorated them, but forgot!

These are a nice size cookie bar, they measure at about 5-1/4 inches in length!

Easy to decorated since it just involves tracing the design imprinted from the pan! I have really began to like this type of pan. I used tip 2 to outline, fill and decorate.

Hugs and Kisses!

I link up at these fun parties!

"Best of Valentine's" Guest Post!

2012-02-13T05:30:00.002-05:00

Hi everyone! Tomorrow is the big day!

Valentine's Day!

and today I am over at

to share some of my most popular Valentine's Sweets with Jenny's readers at Days of Chalk and Chocolate! Please stop by and visit over there. Jenny has such wonderful ideas on her blog and every Friday Jenny hosts the Latest and Greatest Friday Link Party where you can link up all of your wonderful projects!

If you haven't heard GFC (Google Friend Connect) is going away for those that aren't hosted by Blogger. A lot of us are adding the "Linky Followers" widget as a way to keep following us and to follow others. Be sure while you are here and over at Days of Chalk and Chocolate, and any other blog that you want to continue following, to look for the "Linky Followers" widget and follow that way also. Also if you have added the "Linky Followers" widget, be sure to leave a comment and let me know so that I can start following you that way too!

I also wanted to let you know that with Valentine's Day tomorrow, the Tuesday Sesame Street Character Cupcake post will be delayed a bit this week to make room for more Valentine fun! You still have all this week to join in on the "Share the Love" Valentine's Craft and Sweets Link Party and don't forget to enter the "EB Mine" Giveaway that I have going on right now too!

Have a sweet day!
Now hop on over and see Jenny and myself at Days of Chalk and Chocolate!

EB Mine Valentine's Brunch and Giveaway!

2012-02-12T06:05:00.026-05:00

February is not only the month of Valentine's Day, but it is also National Heart Health Month!
I was thrilled when Eggland's Best offered me this opportunity to host this EB Mine Brunch for my loved ones and giveaway for my fans!

According to the the American Heart Association, Heart Disease is the #1 cause of death in women.

Eggs can be incorporated into a heart-healthy diet, and are one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat. Eggland’s Best eggs contain more than 2X the heart healthy Omega-3 fatty acids than ordinary eggs, 2X moreVitamin D and 10X more Vitamin E, a vitamin associated with reducing the risk of heart disease. (Information source: Eggland's Best) Find out more nutritional information at Eggland's Best.

As you can imagine, I go through a lot of eggs with all of the baking that I do! I only want to give my family the best! Eggland's Best Cage Free Organic Eggs are my favorite eggs to use. I just feel better giving my family eggs known to be healthier. Not only are Eggland's Best eggs better for you than ordinary eggs, but as a baker, I found out myself that Eggland's Best eggs crack much easier than other eggs. I like to get down to baking, not picking out weak shell pieces! Besides, Eggland's Best is the only egg my Grandma will use and Grandma is never wrong!

On the Menu for the "EB Mine" Brunch:

Heart Shaped French toast with stawberries, maple syrup, and a slice of bacon (everything in moderation!)

For this selection I used a slightly altered recipe from Eggland's Best ABC French Toast
French Toast

2 Eggland's Best Eggs
1/4 cup 1% milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
4 tablespoons banana applesauce puree
6 slices wheat bread
4 to 6 strawberries slices with "v" shape cut from top to shape like heart

Whisk together all ingredients. Cut out bread using a metal heart shapped cutter and dip bread into egg mixture. Cook on medium high preheated griddle for about 2 minutes on each side until golden brown and dry.

Strawberry Muffins
made using heart healthy Eggland's Best eggs, heart healthy whole wheat all-natural unbleached flour, and strawberries which are also known as a heart healthy superfood

These muffins were made using a recipe from Martha Stewart's Website- Strawberry Muffins

Also on the menu not pictured:

Tortilla wraps with scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, onions, and chopped bell peppers

For Dessert:
a Mrs. Fox's Sweets original recipe

View full recipe at: Oatmeal Raisin White Chip Cookies

Now for the "EB Mine" Giveaway:

(one lucky reader will receive the following)

2 Free EB Dozen coupons (Any variety- classic, cage-free, or organic)

1 Free EB Hard Cookedand Peeled variety coupon

1 EB Apron

1 EB Spatula

1 EB Whisk

1 EB Cutting Board

1 EB Mixing Bowl

1 EB Bowl Scraper

1 EB Coffee Mug

1 Plush Egg

1 EB Tote Bag

~~Enter below using Rafflecopter~~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: Eggland's Best provided Free Eggland's Best Egg coupons for myself and my EB Mine Brunch guests, a giftcard, information, and an "EB Mine" giftbox for myself and one of my lucky readers!
For more information about Eggland's Best Eggs Visit the Eggland's Best Website, also find them on Facebook, and Twitter!

Oatmeal Raisin White Chip Cookies

2012-02-12T06:00:00.012-05:00

February is heart healthy awareness month and I was asked by Eggland's Best if I would like to host an "EB Mine" Valentine's Brunch! I wanted to make a variety of foods that all of the guests would like, but loving sweets, I wanted one of those foods to be a cookie! I thought of the heart on the box of oatmeal and decided on oatmeal cookies. I also wanted to make something that everyone would love and in the past Oatmeal Cookies haven't always been much of a favorite around here, so I decided to do a little experimenting and create my own recipe for this one. I also noticed that the bag of whole wheat flour had a heart healthy symbol on it as well and decided to incorporate that into my recipe. Of course loving sweets, I had to put a little extra goodness! I was really nervous about the outcome, sometimes my experiments aren't the best or they are just okay, but this one was a hit!

I still decided on two varieties, one with raisins and one without.

Oatmeal Raisin White Chip Cookies

(a Mrs. Fox's Sweets original recipe)

2 sticks of margarine

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 Eggland's Best Egg

1 teaspoon almond extract

1-1/3 cups whole wheat all-natural, unbleached flour

1-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups regular uncooked oatmeal

1 bag of white chocolate chips (12 oz size)

3 boxes of raisins (1- 1/2 ounce each ) optional

Cream together softened margarine, white sugar, and brown sugar in mixer. Add in egg and almond extract until thoroughly combined. In separate medium bowl whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add flour mixture into sugar mixture, mixing on low until combined. Stir in oatmeal, white chocolate chips, and raisins. Shape cookies by hand into round disk shape and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for about 10 minutes until you can see the edges starting to turn golden. Cool on cookie sheet for 3-4 minutes and then remove to finish cooling on wire rack. Enjoy!

This recipe is a keeper! Everyone loved them!

Disclosure: Eggland’s Best provided me with VIP coupons, a gift card, an "EB Mine" gift box, information, and a prize pack to give away to one of my lucky readers.

For more information about Eggland's Best Eggs, visit the Eggland's Best Website, find them on Facebook, and on Twitter!

I link up at these fun parties!

Share the Love Party!

2012-02-11T06:00:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone and welcome to the Share the Love Party!

In addition to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party and Happy Hour Project's Freestyle Friday this week, we have decided to have a special Valentine's Party for everyone to participate in! That's right, for this party link up your crafts, projects, sweets, and anything you have made for Valentine's (as long as it is appropriate of course!)

I am going to start off the party by sharing my favorite Valentine project from Happy Hour Projects!

Handmade Valentine's Greetings

and then my personal favorite from my own Valentine's projects....

Love Birds Cookies

Just a couple of small requests:

1. It would be lovely if you would Share the Love and stop by and visit my co-host Adrianne at Happy Hour Projects! She has some awesome projects over there!

2. Following us both isn't required, but would be very sweet of you if you did!

3. It would also be nice if you Shared the Love by helping to spread the word about the party, however you wish! If you would like to grab a button for this special party, go to the Grab A Button Page for the code!

4. Link to your specific Valentine's post, not directly your main blog. Link up as many sweets, craft projects, diys, tips, anything Valentine's related that you would like to share! Just keep it clean!

Happy Valentine's Day from Happy Hour Projects and Mrs. Fox's Sweets!

Wilton Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers- Lesson 1

2012-02-10T06:00:00.001-05:00

This week I started Wilton Course 4- Advanced Gum Paste Flowers! It has been over 6 months since I complete the other 3 courses and I was thrilled to hear Wilton was offering this new class!

In the last courses, packing was pretty intense. I would have the Wilton Ultimate Kit, a paper ream size box, plus a cake or whatever we may be working with that class. For this class, it is Gum paste and fondant only, so no need to bring the Ultimate Kit with all the tips and everything. I am just packing everything into a box. For class we needed the Course 4 Kit which has lots of fun new tools. One that I already showed you when I made the 300 tiny flowers for the Princess Castle Cake. We also needed our fondant/gum paste tools, gum glue adhesive, dusting pouch, 9" fondant roller, mat, jewelry pliers, flower drying stand, 4 inch cups, and of course fondant and gum paste. I brought my fondant mat to work on top of also.The flower drying rack is however little fun to tote around. It does come apart and it is 3 tiered. I took the top tier off and packed stuff around it in the box to get it home safe. Other than the instructor I was the only one that had the rack, but since I did I figured I may as well use it!

We worked on 3 things in class. The first is the Blossom in the photo above. Before we started the blossom we had to attach the stamen to the wire with floral tape, which isn't really hard, just time consuming. The flower is made with the same punch I used for the 300 tiny flowers. There is a mat that goes with the punch that we used in class, that I didn't use for the 300 flowers. It makes an impression, but after pushing the stems through and the blossoms dried, I can't really see the impression much anymore.

We also made this Gerbera Daisy! This was the highlight of the night! I did take it off the the 4" cup to photograph, but it isn't totally dry and I didn't want to mess with it too much yet. 2 hours sure does go fast in class, but we did finish up by making our Sweet Pea centers to be used for making the Sweet Pea in another class. Those are the yellow things hanging on the rack in the picture with the blossoms.

That's it, that was my first class! According to the Lesson plan in class 2 we will learn to make Ivy Leaves, Lily Leaves, the Briar Rose, and Stargazer Lily Petals. The last 3 courses were finished by decorating a cake, this course we are making a flower arrangement, corsage, or if we really want to we can make a cake. I haven't decided yet on what I want to do, but I do like the vase with the Stargazer Lilies in the book, so I am leaning towards that right now.

My Previous Classes

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 1

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 1: Decorating Basics- Lesson 4
Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 1
Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 2
Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 3

Wilton Course 2: Flowers and Cake Design- Lesson 4
Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 1
Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 2

Wilton Course 3: Gum Paste and Fondant- Lesson 3

View the Wilton Website for more class information

Valentine's Cake Balls

2012-02-09T06:00:00.004-05:00

Anyone for recycling some leftover cake?

When I make a cake, I make a big one and there are always a lot of leftovers, just like this left over piece of Princess Castle Cake from my daughters birthday. I have found the perfect ratio of frosting to cake is what is on a piece of frosted cake already! I know this piece looks a little rough, I had to pick off the flowers and anything I didn't want mixed in the cake balls, all also cut the brown part off the bottom before squishing the cake into cake balls.

I rolled all of the balls and then put in the refrigerator to chill. I heated up the Chocolate Candiquik and prepared to dip. I found cake balls a little more difficult than cake pops because there isn't a stick to shake the excess chocolate off with! One by one I got them covered and placed on waxed paper. They didn't look that pretty undressed, the bottom part was driving me crazy!

I added a mini cupcake liner and they dressed up quite nicely, covering those not so pretty bottoms!

I link up at these fun parties!

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #10

2012-02-08T05:30:00.000-05:00

Hi there! Welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party!

I am so happy that you have stopped by!

Things are slowly getting back to normal after the Princess Castle Cake that I have been working on for my daughters birthday! Everyone loved it and we are still eating it! This week is also exciting, because today I began Class one of the new Wilton Course 4- Advanced Gum Paste Flowers! I can't wait! It has been over 6 months since I have last taken a class and I look forward to learning something new and of course hanging out with some fabulous people while doing so! Just like last time, I will also post a "show and tell" showing you what I made in class, look for that every Friday for the entire month of February!

Now that I have updated you with what I am doing, share what you have been baking up!

But first,

Here are the Features!

The most viewed Sweet of the Week for Week #9 is:

Chocolate Covered Cherries by Pint Sized Baker

The other fabulous features of the week are:

Box of Chocolates or Mini Cupcakes? by The Weekly Sweet Experiment

Cherry Vanilla & Cream Cheese Cupcakes for Two by DJ's Sugar Shack

Groundhog Day Desserts by Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons

Congratulations to all of you! Here is your Button!

Code on "Grab a Button" Page

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Code on Sidebar ---->

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets publicly via GFC, I am your hostess after all! I do try to follow all of you back but if somehow you slipped through, let me know!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

3. Link to your sweet posts only, not directly to your blog. Giveaways are fine too, as long as they are somehow related to sweets! (ex. cookies, supplies, cookbooks, cupcake necklace, you get the idea!)

4. Mix and mingle, Visit at least one of the other guests at my sweet party and give them a sweet comment! Visit all of your favorites!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

Grover Cupcakes

2012-02-07T06:00:00.002-05:00

Guess who? It's GROVER!

This is #4 on my Sesame Street Adventure!

Grover is super easy to make!

Here is what you need:

Cupcakes

white and black fondant

Pink Peanut M&M's (from the Valentine selection- Easter would work as well)

Sandwich type cookies cut in half

blue icing (I used a mix of royal blue and sky blue)

pinkish red icing (mix of red and pink)

Tip 233

Tip 12

While cupcakes are baking, prepare the eyes or eyes may be prepared in advance. Roll white fondant to 1/8 inch thick, cut with opposite end (wide side) of size 12 tip and shape into an oval. Using the small opening of the size 12 tip cut out black pupils. Glue together with a food safe brush and a very small dab of water. Be careful, too much water and the black will bleed.

For the mouth, cut the sandwich cookies in half. Using pinkish red icing in zipper bag with tiny corner snipped off, outline bottom lip of cookie.

Ice cupcake in blue using piping bag fitted with tip 233, using a squeeze and release motion cover the cupcake. Assemble as shown in photo and that's it!

Grover did seem to have a hard time keeping his hands off the cupcakes! He just wanted to reach out and grab the other cupcakes, so I had to have him keep his hands crossed!

Look for a new Sesame Street Character next Tuesday!

Other Characters that I have made:

Big Bird

Cookie Monster

Elmo

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at:

Show Your Cake

Country Momma Cooks

Seven Alive

Girly Cookies

2012-02-06T06:00:00.017-05:00

These cookies were also made using the Wilton Girl 12-Cavity Non-Stick Cookie Pan, along with the Princess Castles & Tiaras Cookies. I used the Cookie Crazie Icing for these as well. I chose my icing for these cookies based on the texture and flavor which my family prefers!

Decorating these cookies with a flooding type icing is a little different than working on a regular flat surface cookie, you definitely don't want to overflow the cookies. I was in a bit of a rush, so these cookies had only dried about 2 hours before photographed. After 8 to 12 hours they would be slightly less shiny, but instead they were just gone! No one can resist the yumminess!

My favorite from the whole pan is the lips cookies, which would also be perfect for Valentine's Day!

I link up at these fun parties!

Princess Castles & Tiaras Cookies

2012-02-05T06:00:00.029-05:00

I have had these cookies baked a few days and I had planned on having these finished sooner. I guess later is better than never! This Girl 12-Cavity Non-Stick Cookie Pan by Wilton was something I just happened to find when gathering supplies for the Princess Castle Cake that I just made. The pan was on clearance for $5 so I couldn't resist it! Instead of cutting out the shapes, the dough is just pressed into the cavities.

The vote is also in, my children all prefer the shiny Icing Recipe from Cookie Crazie vs Royal Icing, so that is what I decided to use for these. I have to admit that I prefer the softer texture, the shine, and the flavor of it myself, but it is different to work with though. I find it is not as easy as royal icing, so royal icing is still my favorite to decorate with.

There are a total of 6 different designs in the pan, see the designs at Girly Cookies!

I link up at these fun parties!

Princess Castle Cake

2012-02-04T11:45:00.005-05:00

It's official! My baby girl is 4!

She is a girl that knows what she wants and after a zillion trips to Michael's in her lifetime! She has had her eye on this cake kit for a couple years. She wanted a Princess Castle Cake last year and then had a last minute change to a Hello Kitty Cake. This year my little princess was sure she wanted a castle cake!

So this is where I have been hiding out. This is why I haven't baking up the sweets like I usually do. I had to start this cake 3 days in advance by making over 300 tiny flowers!

This Wilton Romantic Castle Cake Set comes with 32 pieces, none of which are ready to go on the cake. 2 days in advance, I covered the turrets in pink royal icing and rolled in clear sparkling sugar. I also outlined the windows and doors, adding sugar to those as well. I also baked the 2 layer 6-inch and 2 layer 10-inch cakes a day in advance.

Cake assembly day should be a piece of cake, right? Wrong! I still had to attach dowel rods to the towers that would be inserted into the cake with white chocolate. I iced both the 6-inch and 10-inch double layer cakes in white and then of course had to insert the dowel rods into the 10-inch cake to support the 6-inch top cake. I also realized I forgot to decorate the windows on the towers, so quickly decorated those just using buttercream and also added pink sugar pearls, which worked fine.

I used tip 67 to create all the leaves and bushes. Tip 3 for the stringwork and tip 17 for the pink shell border. I also made the mistake of attaching the turrets and towers before making the shell border, so I was having to work at piping it in all sort of odd directions. I ended up not using all of the pieces, some by choice, there just wasn't enough room! I also forgot to add 2 of the finished towers, and when I realized it, it was too late! Oh well, it still looked fine! If I were to make a cake like this again, I would go with a 12-inch bottom cake.

Back of castle

I did have little Disney Princess figurines to go all around the cake, but on our trip to Target to get the party plates and napkins, my little Princess decided on Hello Kitty partyware! By the time the cake was finished, the sun had set and I had no natural light to take pictures in, so I was unable to get the perfect picture like I had hoped for. Oh and the little bushes in the front of the castle, perfect to hold the candles! If not for those, I am not sure where I would have put the candles!

Front of castle

In the end it was all worth it seeing her eyes lit up and her saying "I love my Castle Cake so much, you are the best, thank you Mommy!"

Happy 4th Birthday to My Princess!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at:
Mom on Timeout
These Peas Taste Funny
Bacon Time
Serenity You
Crafty Moms Share

Free Valentine's Crafts E-book

2012-02-03T09:35:00.000-05:00

I just love Valentine's Day and I was thrilled when Sarah asked if I would like to be a part of this Valentine's E-Book! She included one of Mrs. Fox's Sweets most popular sweets of this Valentine's season!

This book features ideas like:

Make Your Own Valentine Cards

Valentine's Day Fun Food Crafts

Make Your Own Valentine's Day Home Decor

Valentine Printables

The book is 60 pages with a total of 20 different featured bloggers! The best part is that the book is FREE to her subscribers! Aren't you excited?!

All you have to do is stop by Sidetracked Sarah and subscribe to her emails and the link to the e-book will be provided at the end of her daily emails!

Well....what are you waiting for?

300 Flowers and a New Toy!

2012-02-02T06:00:00.003-05:00

Usually I share with you a finished project, but today I am sharing a work in progress! This week is my littlest girls birthday and for the cake she wants, I needed to make at least 300 tiny flowers. I usually would use the tiniest Wilton fondant flower cutter like I did with my Love Letters & Hearts Cookies. But, I have this new toy (purple flower punch pictured above) that came in my Wilton Course 4 kit. I start the new Wilton course next week, which just like with the 3 previous courses, I will blog about it each week during the course. Anyway, I had to try the new punch and I am glad that I did! It only took 2 minutes per 25 flowers to punch out! Not nearly as long as I had thought it would!

I like to work on top of waxed paper for little jobs like this, easy clean up! I dusted the surface of the waxed paper using my dusting pouch with equal parts cornstarch and confectioners sugar. I rolled the fondant out to about 1/8 inch using the pink cheater rings on the Wilton Fondant roller and punched away!

Above is the bottom of the flower, you can see the print in it. However, that didn't much matter, that side won't be seen on the cake.

I used this green fondant tool to press an indention in the top to hold the sugar pearls that I planned to place in the center. I was making good time, I had made the 300 flowers I needed plus extras.

To finish the flowers, I used royal icing in a piping bag fitted with tip 1 to glue on sugar pearls. That part was a little more time consuming, still all of the flowers from start to finish were made in about an hour and a half. Sometime the hardest part of making a cake, is the prep work! Look for the finished cake this weekend!

Also be sure to stop by towards the end of next week when I show you what I learned to make in my first class in Wilton Course 4- Advanced Gumpaste Flowers!

I link up at these fun parties!

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #9

2012-02-01T05:30:00.002-05:00

Hi there! Welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party!

Wow this has been a crazy week and the craziness continues! Thank you all that shared your sweets last week and I look forward to seeing what you all share this week! For the first time ever I realized it was impossible to visit each sweet, which is actually great! Week #8 was the largest Mrs Foxs Sweet Party ever! According to the stats you were all hoping around visiting each other quite a bit and that is how it is supposed to work! This week is going to be super busy as well with preparations for my daughters Princess birthday party! I need to make 300-400 flowers and haven't even started! So without further hesitation....

Here are the Features!

The most viewed Sweet of the Week for Week #8 is:

Gnome Cupcakes by Sugar Swings! Serve Some
These are just adorable! My daughter loves them too!

Other Sweets that caught my eye:

Peacock Cake by The G-Free Wifey

This is really a neat way to decorate a giant cupcake! The peacock feathers (heart cookies) on the back are the perfect touch!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes w/Maraschino Cherry Cream by A Little Inspiration
Simply beautiful!

You Rock Valentine- A Chocolate iPod Pop by Sweetology
What an awesome Valentine! This would be perfect for kids to pass out to classmates!

Congratulations to all of you! Here is your Button!

Code on "Grab a Button" Page

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Code on Sidebar ---->

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets publicly via GFC, I am your hostess after all! I do try to follow all of you back but if somehow you slipped through, let me know!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

4. Mix and mingle, Visit at least one of the other guests at my sweet party and give them a sweet comment! Visit all of your favorites!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

Big Bird Cupcakes

2012-01-31T06:00:00.002-05:00

It's BIG BIRD!

This is #3 on my Sesame Street Adventure!

These guys took a little more time than the others, but I love working with fondant and they were a lot of fun to make!

Here is what you need:

Cupcakes

fondant in yellow, red, blue, pink, white, and black (or color white fondant)

icing colored yellow

Tip 67

A couple days ahead of time shape Big Bird's beak with yellow fondant, add inside of mouth using red and tongue using pink. If parts don't adhere well to each other, use a decorator brush with just a drop of water. For the eyes, I cut white fondant circles using Wilton's smallest fondant circle cutter, but the opposite end of your decorating tip can be used as well. I also made circles in blue and pink for the eyes and just cut the parts that I needed. The black pupil was cut using the opening on a size 12 tip. All eye parts were "glued" together using a brush with just a drop of water. Allow the beaks and eyes to stiffen up a day or two, if not they will lose shape when they are placed on the icing.

For the feathers I used buttercream colored yellow and tip 67. They were piped using a squeeze and release motion. Place on your facial features and you are finished!

*Be sure not to use too much water when adhering fondant parts together or your colors will bleed and the fondant will break down.

Again, my inspiration was a tiny stuffed animal!

Look for a new Sesame Street Character next Tuesday!

Other Characters that I have made:

Cookie Monster

Elmo

Grover

I link up at these fun parties!

Shiny Heart Cookies

2012-01-30T06:00:00.013-05:00

I just love things that sparkle! Okay, maybe these have more of a shine than sparkle, that's because they weren't made using my regular royal icing recipe, they were made using the Cookie Icing Recipe from Cookie Crazie! The recipe creates a softer than royal icing, yet still stackable cookie icing.

I have to admit, I did rush on these cookies. I only had an hour to decorate 32 cookies from start to finish, if I was ever going to get these done! Drying in between colors just wasn't an option. I used stripes, polka dots, and toothpick dragging for the swirl look. They were all made using They were made using tips 1 and 2.

After they were finished there was something so familiar. Apparently these 3 colors call to me, they are the same colors I used for my Christmas Tree Cookies and Snowflake Cookies last month, except for those were made using royal icing. Anyways.....

That's All Folks!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: Crumbs and Chaos

Valentine's Brownies

2012-01-28T06:00:00.000-05:00

Don't you hate it when you have a good idea, something simple, and then everything goes wrong?!

This is only the 2nd time since finishing my decorating class last summer that I have even attempted royal icing roses. They did take a bit for me to grasp the technique in class and without practicing much since then, I just kinda lost it! I can still make all of the other flowers just fine, it's just this rose! My teacher said that it took her a year to finally be happy with her roses, so I still have 6 months to perfect them, right? Anyway, I had leftover icing from cookies and making roses and other flowers seemed like a good way to use it up. Out of the 5 roses I made, I am happy with only one. To help my self esteem, I finished off the icing making 3 dozen super easy Apple Blossom flowers. Extra royal icing flowers last pretty much forever and are always nice to have on hand to throw on cookies, cupcakes, anything really to add some cuteness!

Back to this project....The canvas for my roses would be brownies, something simlar to what I made when I made the Ghost & Monster Halloween Brownies in the fall, except with roses. I used the same box brownie mix that I always use, except I sprinkled heart sprinkles on the batter before baking. My daughter said "easy peasy" as I had mixed the batter, "we should make easy things more." I baked the brownies as always and for some reason they were too moist! I put them back in the oven. No help. I ended up refrigerating them to firm them up enough to cut the heart shapes out with cookie cutters. They were still not a crisp clean cut like I had hoped, the brownie was simple too soft.

Despite all of my mishaps with these brownies, I continued on and placed my not-so-perfect roses on top with just a dab of icing. They all disappeared super fast with no complaints! Don't worry, if you don't have your rose down yet either, Wilton makes perfect little roses that you can place on top of these brownies! Now I still have 3 dozen Apple Blossom flowers to use up!

The moral of the story: Not everything turns out perfect or even remotely as planned, but even not-so-perfect sweets taste yummy!

I link up at these fun parties!

Hearts On Sticks Cookies

2012-01-27T06:00:00.003-05:00

I couldn't resist titling this post "Hearts on Sticks!" Sounds creepy, I know, but that is what they are right?

Something about putting anything on a stick just makes it more fun! Cake Pops, Cotton Candy, Apples, and of course COOKIES! To make these, just prepare and out sugar cookie dough as you would for any cut out cookie. Gently twist in a lollipop stick and bake according to recipe directions. I have also seen wooden cookie sticks available, but I just stick with paper sticks since they can be used for candy, cake pops, and cookie pops.

I guess it is the pinstripes but something about these reminds me of baseball!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: Cupcake Apothecary

Dove Wedding Cookies

2012-01-26T06:00:00.002-05:00

I have a large bin of cookie cutters that was passed down from my mother in law. While looking to see if I could find a cookie cutter for my Love Birds Cookies, I found this dove cookie cutter and just had to use it!

I wanted the cookies to be elegant, so stuck with white and added pearl dust for a little sparkle. I am a sucker for sparkle! Of course the photograph doesn't show the brilliance of the sparkle as well as I had hoped, especially with all the dark and rainy days that we have been having.

I did try a couple other designs, other than the swirls, but in the end the I liked the swirls on the wings the best.

I link up at these fun parties!

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #8

2012-01-25T05:30:00.001-05:00

Hi there! Welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party! I am so happy you have stopped by and thank you all who have come back to party another week!

If the Love Bug hasn't got to you yet, it will soon! Love and hearts are filling the air with less than 3 weeks until Valentine's Day! There are many beautiful Valentine's treats are popping up everywhere! I can't wait to see what you all link up this week!

Let's just move on to the features from Week 7!

The #1 Most Viewed Sweet:

Another Day at Swank! Cake by Trilogy Edibles
Not, mine, it's Karen's, but I wanted to share the whole picture with you! This cake is gorgeous from the design to the colors! I am still in awe!

The #2 Most Viewed Sweet:

Steampunk Valentine Cookies by The Enchanted Oven
How cool are these? So detailed, so hip! Lisa is rocking that Enchanted Oven!

This Weeks Favorites:

White Chocolate "Reeses" PB Hearts by Peas and Crayons
These are really neat and fun, not to mention sound delicious!

Strawberry Sweetheart Shakes by The Artsy Girl Connection
Whether served up to sweethearts or enjoyed by the kiddos, Marilyn has made this shake into a delicious work of art!

Congratulations to all of you! Here is your Button!

Code on "Grab a Button" Page

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Code on Sidebar ---->

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets publicly via GFC, I am your hostess after all! I do try to follow all of you back but if somehow you slipped through, let me know!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

4. Mix and mingle, Visit at least one of the other guests at my sweet party and give them a sweet comment! Visit all of your favorites!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

2012-01-24T06:00:00.007-05:00

It's COOKIE MONSTER!

Now that I have begun on making the Sesame Street Characters, I can't stop! This week I have made Cookie Monster!

I had really started to get bored of cupcakes until I started by making the Elmo Cupcakes last week! Now, I am on a quest to make all of the characters that we have stuffed animals of, maybe more!

These lovable little guys are just as easy as Elmo to make!

All you need is:

Cupcakes

Sandwich type cookies cut in half

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (I used Mini Chips Ahoy!)

White Necco Candy

Black Candy Writer

Icing colored blue (I used Wilton Royal Blue)

Tip 233

Heat the candy writer and make the black dots on the white Necco candies, let set. Color icing blue. Ice cupcakes using piping bag fitted with tip 233 and using a squeeze and release motion cover the cupcake. Add the eyes and mouth. With a dab of icing, stick on the mini chocolate chip cookies! That's all! That's it!

Cookie Monster love cookies....and cupcakes!

Look for a new Sesame Street Character next Tuesday!

Other Characters that I have made:

Elmo

Big Bird

Grover

(Note: I did not have a problem with the blue dye bleeding into the Neccos like I did with the red dye)

I link up at these fun parties!

I always share my cupcakes at:

Love Birds Cookies

2012-01-23T06:00:00.012-05:00

These are my latest cookies! I saw birds with beanies, scarves, and an Eiffle Tower on a plate and that is what inspired this idea! However, my birds turned out a little less plump.

My first plan was to find a bird or paisley shaped cookie cutter that would work and just make the birds with the hats and scarves, but all I could find was doves and ducks.

I tried to roughly sketched a design to see if it was even possible for me to make it look decent and it did look better in the rough sketch, but the space was limited the cookie so I changed it up a bit. No pattern, no predrawing on the cookie, I just winged it! Before the details were added these cookies didn't look very promising!

Then I thought 2 birds together in love would be cute!

and here is the whole collection!

I link up at these fun parties!

Dairy Free Fruit Smoothie

2012-01-22T06:00:00.010-05:00

How I start my day

Contrary to what people may believe, not everything I eat is filled with fat and sugar! I have also been asked "How do you stay so thin with all of those sweets?" Well, my answer, "everything in moderation!" I eat healthy about 90% of the time and bad about 10% of the time! I just like to make my meals count and save for the sweets! I do like to make healthier substitutions too when it doesn't compromise flavor in my sweets too. When I am decorating cupcakes or cookies, I am busy, so no time for mindless eating. Most of all, I try to be a good example for my children and for breakfast, my daughter and I have a fruit smoothie! I have found starting my day this way gives me more energy that last longer than just my pot of coffee! I still have the coffee too though and I try and stay active!

I used to have a large smoothie/frozen beverage machine and made banana smoothies for the kids all the time, using milk or yogurt and I just didn't like them that way. My old machine was also a pain to clean, it felt like a huge commitment just to make a smoothie. When that machine went kaput we finally replaced it with this Bella Rocket! I love the name! It came from Target and was only $20, so if it doesn't last forever, I am not out much! I am not trying to be an advertisement, but if you are looking for something like this, this one works fine! Moving on...

Here is how I like my smoothies:

Dairy Free Fruit Smoothie

1 ripe banana

a handful of blueberries

3 to 4 strawberries

a splash of carrot juice or when we have oranges I like using the fresh squeezed juice from one orange

1/8 tsp almond extract (optional)

(this recipe makes about 1/2 container about 6 to 8 oz if I guess, recipe is doubled in the picture)

I also like to add 4 or 5 grapes, but I don't have any right now. The fruits in our grocery store haven't looked the best and with prices up in the winter, I am using frozen berries (thawed). I fill a freezer bag and keep enough in the refrigerator for a couple of days worth of smoothies. I like to buy a bunch of bananas, let them go brown, peel them, and then put 2 or 3 in a freezer bag and squish them up, freeze them, and save them for smoothies. As long as the fruit is semi-soft, it won't need cut up. Fresh fruit does need cut up into about 1 inch size pieces. I put the grapes in whole. I don't always make it exact, I just kinda throw in what sounds good at the time! That's it! I put the fruit and a splash of juice in the container and let it go for about 30 to 45 seconds. With fresh fruit, I sometimes have to add a little more juice and sometimes I have to take the container off and shake it around to get the larger pieces to the bottom. I do like to add a little bit of almond extract to mine to give it that something extra!

So this is how I start my sweet day, with a naturally sweet fruit smoothie!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: Lady Behind the Curtain

Microwave Peanut Brittle

2012-01-21T06:00:00.002-05:00

I cannot remember the last time I had peanut brittle, it has probably been a few decades! I actually think it was a cheap box from the dollar store when I was a just a kid, but I remember loving it! Around Christmas, I began seeing quite a few recipes for peanut brittle and Pinned a couple. I can't believe that as I am composing this post, I have Pinned 1100 things, mostly sweets too! Anyway, I decided to make this Peanut Brittle that I Pinned. You can also find the recipe at Plain Chicken. It was a recipe from her Mom and things passed down are always the best! Steph gave me the okay to share it with you too!

This recipe seriously take less than 10 minutes to prepare and make! After that, it just has to sit for 1 hour before enjoying! I did measure out all of the ingredients beforehand and prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper. It is very helpful to have everything ready since this recipe goes quick, quick, quick!

Here is what you need:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup corn light corn syrup

1 cup of peanuts (I used Planters Roasted Peanuts)

1 tablespoon margarine (original recipe called for butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

First combine the sugar with the light corn syrup in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Immediately, stir in margarine, vanilla, and peanuts. Return to microwave and cook an additional 1-1/2 minutes on high. Remove from microwave (bowl will be HOT) and stir in 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Quickly spread on parchment paper. Let cool for 1 hour before enjoying!

(Note: Microwave cooking time may vary depending on your microwave, but mine was right on with the original recipe time!)

The hardest part of the whole recipe was spreading the molten hot peanut brittle while scraping it out of the heavy bowl. It would have helped if I would have thought ahead and had the pan in a location to where it wouldn't slide so much!

In the end this peanut brittle was absolutely delicious! My son described it as a peanut butter cookie without the cookie and I thought that described it very well! I just couldn't stop eating it! We buy peanuts in a large 52 ounce container and I always have sugar, so I will definitely be making this again and often! I highly recommend trying this recipe! Quick & easy doesn't need a special occasion!

I link up at these fun parties!

Chocolate Dipped Valentine's Pretzels

2012-01-20T06:00:00.004-05:00

If you don't know by now, we are all big fans of dipped pretzels around here! I made them for the 4th of July and then again for Halloween. Anytime I see someone post them, I have to comment how great they are! Something about that salty sweet combo that makes these the perfect quick and easy treat!

For directions on how to make dipped pretzels, view my Halloween Dipped Pretzels post!

If you haven't tried them yet, what are you waiting for?

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at:

Tatertots & Jello

Babyberry

A Well-Seasoned Life

Hello Kitty Cookies

2012-01-19T06:00:00.014-05:00

Hello Mother. Hello Father. HELLO KITTY!

Do you remember that commercial from Target, like a bazillion years ago? It always pops into my head when I am making something with Hello Kitty! I couldn't even find it on YouTube, that is how long ago it was! Maybe late 90's? One thing that is for certain, Hello Kitty never goes out of style!

Exactly 6 month ago from today, I posted my Hello Kitty Chocolate Face Cookies. (not planned either, purely coincidental!) The 2 Hello Kitty Cookie Cutters came as a set from Party City.

I remember thinking at that time that I would probably never make the full body Hello Kitty Cookie, it just looked too overwhelming and would take too much time. Well, here it is! I finally made it!

They still don't all look identical. I just like to say that each one has her own little personality!

Recipes used for these cookies:

Martha Stewart: Sugar Cookies (almond)

Wilton Royal Icing (thinned)

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: These Peas Taste Funny

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #7

2012-01-18T05:30:00.002-05:00

Hi there! Welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party! I am so happy you have stopped by and thank you all who have come back to party another week!

This week has flown by like I don't know what! Seems like it went faster than Christmas! I have been working on my cookies here and there, just an hour or two at a time. I am finding that to be very relaxing in the day to day chaos called life! I am sure you don't want to hear me vent about things like why is that car riding my bumper? I am going the speed limit. Don't they know I am in front and winning and that I have all the power to go even slower now? Why is Blogger acting up as I am trying to compose a post?

Let's just move on to the features from Week 6!

The #1 Most Viewed Link:

Owl Cookies from Sugar By Julie
Owls are adorable and apparently you all liked them as much as I did!

The Very Close #2 Most Viewed Sweet:

Light Strawberry Champagne Cake by Bacon Time with the Hungry Hungry Hypo
This sexy cake is light and perfect for sharing with your Valentine!

This Weeks Favorites:

Sweet Romance Valentines by The Enchanted Oven
So detailed and gorgeous!

Frosty Faces by The Seven Year Cottage
Too adorable to eat....okay I would still eat them!

Groundhog Day Cupcake Push Pops by Sweetology

Also too adorable to eat, yet I still would!

Congratulations to all of you! Here is your Button!

Code on "Grab a Button" Page

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Code on Sidebar ---->

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets publicly via GFC, I am your hostess after all!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

4. Mix and mingle, Visit at least one of the other guests at my sweet party and give them a sweet comment! Visit your favorites!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

Elmo Cupcakes

2012-01-17T06:00:00.015-05:00

It's ELMO!

This has been something on my to do list for 2 years now! I first got the idea from the Sesame Street Cupcakes at Busch Gardens. We spend a lot of time at Busch Gardens every summer and all of the characters have become like a part of our extended family!

I ended up settling on the Cookie Monster cupcake on that hot summer day back in 2010 and decided to recreate the characters myself. However, I just kept pushing my remake of these cupcakes farther and farther down the list. I kept putting them off until recently seeing Cookie Monster at The Weekly Sweet Experiment and that was enough to make me want to get moving on this project! My daughter had really hoped for Abby Cadabby first, but I already had the WhoNu? Cookies to use for the mouth and red icing in the refrigerator, Elmo was the character that I decided to create first!

These lovable little guys are super easy to make too!

All you need is:

Cupcakes

Sandwich type cookies cut in half

Orange M&Ms (I used Pretzel M&Ms)

White Necco Candy

Black Candy Writer

Icing colored red

Tip 233

In advance, heat the candy writer and make the black dots on the white Necco candies.

I also find it is best to color your icings a day in advance, because the colors do tend deepen with time. I had already previously colored the icing with Americolor Super Red, so it had time to deepen. Color it a shade lighter and give it this extra time, if possible. I have actually had a red icing that I colored and used immediately turn burgundy within about 6 hours.

Once you are ready to decorate, ice cupcakes using piping bag fitted with tip 233 and using a squeeze and release motion cover the cupcake. Add the eyes, mouth, and nose, and wallah! Elmo is finished!

*Note: I did find that after these cupcakes sat for quite a few hours the red began to bleed into the Neccos. I have already made the eyes for the next character as well, so we will see if it is just the color red or other colors as well. Upside down candy melts or cut marshmallows are another option for the eyes.

That first year that I began taking my youngest daughter to Busch Gardens, each visit she got a new mini character. Her first was this Elmo! Maybe I should go back and look at pictures and make all of the characters in the order that she got the mini of the character! I don't know if she would like that very well though, since Abby wasn't available for a very long time! She has always loved the characters, we never had the problem with her crying or running from them like some kids we have seen, she always ran to them! I can't wait for summer again!

Other Sesame Street Characters that I have made:

Cookie Monster

Big Bird

Grover

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at:

Chef In Training

Bizzy Bakes

Food Corner

Chocolate Coated Valentine WhoNu?'s

2012-01-15T06:00:00.004-05:00

Yes, that is what they are called...WhoNu?'s! Every heard of them? I remember seeing them once or twice, but never gave them much thought. Then, while shopping for sandwich style cookies to use for this cookie mold that I got last Valentine's Day and never used, I found WhoNu?'s. The calorie count and fat is about the same as my regular brand, but they add a lot of good stuff to these cookies too!

Of course, I am coating them in chocolate and candy coating, but why not add some nutrition to what we were already going to make? They taste great too! Some of them I coated in dark chocolate so that should count for something good!

These are super easy to make, I made them in a Christmas & Winter theme just last month!

All you need is a sandwich cookie mold, the mold I am using is by Wilton and available at Michael's. You will also need some type of chocolate, candy melts, or candy coating. You can using candy colors and candy flavorings to change it up a bit, I made the pink candy cherry flavored.

Once you have gathered your supplies, melt up your candy according to package directions and get ready for yumminess!

There are a few different ways that the cookie mold can be filled. The quickest would be just making one solid color like I did with the single pink cookie in the photo below, by filling the candy mold cavity 1/2 full with candy and then pressing in the cookie.

Another method is to use a piping or zipper bag with a tiny corner snipped off to pipe in as much or as little detail as you wish. If this method is used, the first color will need to set up in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes before continuing. After the first details have set up, continue by filling candy mold cavity 1/2 full with chocolate or a different color and press in cookie.

Once the mold is filled and the cookie is inserted, let set up in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes or until easily unmolds when you tap onto counter.

Chocolate and candy coated sandwich cookies have become a quick and easy sweet treat that we all love! As simple as they are, they always get lots of attention too! They are so easy that even children can help make them, with a little supervision in melting the chocolate and candy, of course!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: WhoNu?

Hearts & Kisses Chocolate Cookies

2012-01-14T06:00:00.005-05:00

Baby, It's Cold Outside Now!

That is just what I didn't want! If the neighbors didn't think I was crazy before dancing, playing water guns, and running around the yard with my kids, they will think I am crazy now, outside on a cold and blustery day photographing cookies! That's okay, let them think I've gone crazy! I just can't seem to get a good picture inside and I don't have a light box thingy!

I am like a kid in a candy store...but at the cake decorating store! I found 3 new cookies cutters this week! These lips were from a lip cookie cutter that was a little less voluptuous until I bent the cutter to make them pucker more! I also decided to make a chocolate cut out cookie for these, the same as I used for my Hello Kitty Chocolate Cookies. All I did was take my favorite cut out cookie recipe: Martha Stewart's Essential Recipe No. 2: Sugar Cookies and changed the amount of all-purpose flour from 3 to 2-1/2 cups and added 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder. I received rave reviews for those Hello Kitty Chocolate Cookies and hope to for these too!

I also got a basic heart shape metal cutter, different from the heart cutter that I also got recently and used for the Love Letters & Hearts Cookies. I have a plastic one that is a little larger, but now that I am getting more into cookies, I really don't like the plastic cutters.

I had a lot of fun decorating these cookies! I really didn't have a plan to start, I rarely do. I mostly just pick out the icing colors and go to town with it! I even used some of the methods I used on last years Valentine's Cookies that went on top of cupcakes. It is fun to look back and see how much I have learned in my adventures of the past year and I still have so much to learn! That's the fun part, figuring out what I can do next! Valentine's Day is only 1 month away! I hope you all have the Sweetest Valentine's Ever!

I link up at these fun parties!

Bacon Time Cookie & Crafting From The Heart Contest Linky & Prizes

Snowflakes & Snowmen Recap

2012-01-13T06:00:00.006-05:00

Winter 2011

Is that it? Really Winter 2011? Technically Winter didn't even start until December 21st and is still going on...but I am just not feeling it. Watch old man winter come late and hang around until June! Today, a jacket isn't even needed! When it was raining a couple days ago and around 60 and sunny yesterday I almost complained, and then I thought, "Hey this really isn't bad for January, this is good weather!" So while adorable little snowmen are still appearing in blogland, mine are here to say good-bye, my mind is springing forward!

Oldest to Newest....Newest to Oldest

Where should I begin?

Newest.

Snowflake Cookies

These were my crown jewel of the season, my absolute favorite!

Snowman Gingerbread Cookies

These were just a fun and yummy cookie with the snowman candies that my daughter loved so much!

Dude, Where's My Snowman? Cupcakes

This is what happens when I am having a rough day...I find laughter in making snowmen pee!

I am not really a snowman bully...he just had too much eggnog!

Snowman Oreo Pops

Once again, the favorite snowman candies on a favorite quick and easy treat!

Snowman Oreo Pops

This is the traditional Snowman Pop I found popping up on the internet possibly originating from The Farm Girl Recipes, that was as far back as I could find it!

Dipped Christmas & Winter Oreos

It doesn't get any easier than this and I just thought they were so pretty...and yummy! I really don't like just eating Oreos plain, but dipped, now that is another story. There is a red and green Christmas Tree version of these also on the original post.

Mini Snowman Cupcakes

This was the first time I used the mini snowman candies. My youngest daughter picked out the snowflake mini cupcake liners and the candies for these cupcakes!

Snowman Family & Snowflake Cookies

My first cookies of the season!

Snowman Family & Snowflake Cookies

Just the snowflakes from the collection. These were my first snowflakes, they were my favorite until I made the last snowflake cookies of the season (listed first on this page)!

Mint & Dark Chocolate Snowflake Candy

Some may call this "bark", I just call it "candy", since it was made in a mold. It is another super easy and pretty sweet treat and they were the first snowflakes of the season!

I link up at these fun parties!

Hello Kitty Giant Cupcake Cake

2012-01-12T06:00:00.023-05:00

One of my New Year's Resolutions for 2012 is to make at least one cake a month. I want to do this so that I don't get out of practice and this way when an event comes, I am ready. This is my cake for January. Okay, to avoid any confusion let me share my definition of a cake.

Cake- noun- A sweet bread like baked good, made with flour, usually sugar and eggs, but not always. It is larger than a traditional or jumbo sized cupcake. The batter amount would be equal to the cake batter amount used for at least 8 cupcakes. May be made with boxed mix. This includes, but is not limited to 6" rounds and larger, 6" squares and larger, giant cupcakes.

I had a couple of options for making this cake. I have a Big Top Cupcake Silicone Giant Cupcake Pan that I have had for almost 2 years and never used since I wasn't sure how I wanted to decorate a cupcake of this size. I also have this Wilton Dimensions Giant Cupcake Pan, that I received in November from Wilton for participating in a decorating panel. Part of me felt that I should be loyal to the unused Big Top Cupcake pan since I have had it longer, but I have a few different ideas for that one that I can't do with the Wilton pan and I had already decided on how I wanted this giant cupcake decorated before deciding on which pan to use. The Wilton pan is also very slightly larger and I made a lot of flowers that I need for it to accommodate!

The bottom part of the pan took 4-1/2 cups of batter. The top part took 2 to 2-1/2 cups, I can't remember exactly. This cake is equal to about a box mix and a half, which fits into my category of being a cake. I premade the flowers with fondant. The base of the cake is covered in fondant as well, which to my surprise was just as quick to cover with the ridges as flat sided cake. I flipped the bottom part of the cake over to put on the fondant so that it covers the bottom as well, just like a cupcake liner would. The stars on the top part of the cake were made using Wilton tip 195.

I sure wish I would have been able to make something like this last year when my daughter wanted a Hello Kitty Birthday Cake.

Hello Kitty!

Goodbye Kitty!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at:
A Little Inspiration
The Cupcake Blog

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #6

2012-01-11T05:30:00.000-05:00

Hi there! Welcome to Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party! I am so happy you have stopped by and thank you all who have come back to party another week!

The holidays are over and life should have resumed as normal for everyone by now and everyone is getting ready for the next big thing...Valentines Day! I know I have! It has been such a strange winter that I find it hard to continue on with winter themes when it is so unseasonable warm out, but I'm not complaining!

Here are the FEATURES from Week #5:

The #1 Most Viewed Sweet:

Dipped Oreo Pops by Happy Hour Projects

I am so proud of you Adrianne! Not that long ago Adrianne was finding this as a slight challenge and look at her now! Obviously most of you have, since she had the most viewed Sweet of the Week!

The #2 Most Viewed Sweet

Oreo Truffles by the Weekly Sweet Experiment

Okay, I am seeing a theme here, you all must just love Oreos! Of course these look delicious too!

Now moving on to my favorites!

This was a little hard being y'all linked up so many spectacular sweets this week, but I limit myself to just 4 featured sweets each week.

Rainbow Jelly with Mango Pudding from Food Corner

This looks so refreshing with the beautiful bright colors!

Happy New Year Cookies by Pint Sized Baker

I love this idea! So cute!

Congratulations to all of you! Here is your Button!

Code on "Grab a Button" Page

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Code on Sidebar ---->

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets publicly via GFC, I am your hostess after all!

2. Share my button or a link to this party on your blog somewhere to spread the word! It is okay if it is on your button or linky collection page. You can find the Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party Button on the "Grab a Button" page and also in the right sidebar!

4. Mix and mingle, Visit at least one of the other guests at my sweet party and give them a sweet comment! Visit your favorites!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

Blue Flame Cookies

2012-01-09T12:51:00.001-05:00

These cookies are a bit trial run of a cookie celebrating the end of the gymnastics season. I wanted these cookies to look a little bit different, have a little more of a shine to them and thought this would be the perfect time to try the Cookie Crazing Cookie Icing Recipe. From even before I began blogging, I adored the amazing looking cookies from Cookie Crazie! This actually is the second time I have tried this recipe. I tried it once before on some Leftover Cookies, which I tried to pipe Easter Eggs on and it didn't turn out well. It was all my fault and my lack of knowledge. It was before I had a clue about outlining, flooding, waiting for colors to dry, and anything related to making cookies. I had icing pouring off the side, colors bleeding into colors, you name it, I was having a problem. I couldn't blame the recipe, I just didn't have a clue on decorating cookies with a flood type of icing.

This picture is before I added the pearl dust

This glaze type icing is easy to make, no mixer, just stirred it together by hand. It is a one consistency icing, outline and flood with the same consistency icing. I outlined the entire cookie, including the design and let them dry about a half hour before I began adding the colors. With each color in it's own section, I really didn't have to wait for one color to dry before moving on to the next, but I would have to wait to brush on the pearl dust and the words I intended to write. At this point I thought the cookies had turned out fine. I could have implemented the design a little better, but it looked okay. I left them overnight to dry. After drying overnight, light spots began to appear, which you can see on the picture before I added the pearl dust. This is a known problem using glaze type icings and I knew this before I started. I blame it on the drastic change in temperature and humidity overnight, since I didn't have this problem with the Leftover Cookies that I had made using this icing when the weather was more consistent and very warm.

The pearl dust did help to hide some of the splotches, but they are still a little visible.

The icing dries hard enough so that the cookies are stackable, yet the icing isn't as hard as royal icing, which is nice and leaves the entire cookie melt in your mouth soft! This is definitely an icing I will try to use again!

Recipes used for these cookies:

Martha Stewart: Sugar Cookies (vanilla)

Cookie Crazing Cookie Icing Recipe (vanilla)

I link up at these fun parties!

Rose Cake Pops

2012-01-08T06:00:00.005-05:00

Roses are Red

Roses are Pink

These are the tastiest roses, I think!

There are quite a few versions of Rose Cake Pops that I have found on the internet and I am not sure of the origin, but you can find a similar version with tutorial of these over at Miss Candiquik. For the pink roses, I used Vanilla Flavored Candiquik, colored with Wilton Pink Candy Coloring. I used a different candy for the red roses and they were slightly harder to dip and I didn't get the smooth finish that I had hoped for. I flavored both colors with Wilton Cherry Candy Flavoring....YUM! The shimmer was achieved by brushing Orchid Pink Pearl Dust on both colors of cake pops.

For more information on the way I assemble cake pops view my Peppermint Cake Pops.

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at:
Lady Behind the Curtain
Bacon Time
Happy Hour Projects
Petals to Picots

Black & Red Heart Cupcakes

2012-01-07T06:00:00.006-05:00

Red Velvet Cupcakes & Vanilla Bean Frosting decorated with black and red hearts

I have actually been waiting to make these since before Christmas, but with all of the Christmas baking, I just didn't have the time. I got this mix from BJ's, by Sof'ella- gourmet natural foods. It isn't chalked full of chemicals either and things I can't even pronounce either. I figured I would try it...why not?

This is what the cupcakes look like without the fondant toppers.

The box comes with the cake mix and a powdered frosting mix. I followed all the directions with no substitutions, so these guys are 440 calories each plus the toppers, more than double my usual cupcake. Following the directions for the frosting as well, using room temperature butter, I didn't need to add the water to the frosting. The frosting was already too loose. In fact, I had to add about 3/4 of a cup of powdered sugar to get it to piping consistency. The frosting wasn't overly sweet to begin with, so the added sugar was fine. I used Wilton tip 195 for the swirl, it is a medium size tip like the 1M.

So here is the whole gang! Almost.

They taste better than the average box mix, the frosting is definitely better than a canned frosting. As far as red velvets go, I am still looking for a red velvet to wow me. People always name red velvet as a favorite. I have tried a few different red velvet from scratch recipes, different red velvet box mixes, as well well as red velvets from a few different cupcakeries. I still don't see what is so "wow" about red velvets, other than the fact they are red and that is kinda cool. I guess these are about as good as it gets for the red velvets that I have tried.

Of course the cupcake is just a vehicle for the toppers that I have made. I used the Duff Red & Black Fondant, so of course they taste great. Here are the red ones.

Here are the black ones

Here is the loner. The box was supposed to make 12 and I ended up with 13 full nice sized cupcakes. I was impressed with the nice look and dome of this red velvet cupcake. You can even see the specks of vanilla bean in the frosting!

I made the cupcake toppers at the same time that I made these Love Letters and Hearts Cookies and of course they are inspired from the same thing...I won't say it again, not right now. By the way, I am over 3/4 finished with the second book now!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: The Cupcake Blog

Love Letters & Hearts Cookies

2012-01-06T06:00:00.025-05:00

I know you must think I am a crazy romantic by now, getting a start on Valentine's Day over a month early and these would fit the bill for that. It's just perfect timing really, where my inspiration is coming from.

There is really no reason for the number of black hearts, but there is a reason for just one red heart.

Maybe this will help?

Or this?

There is a significance to the 4 love letters.

My inspiration.

We already had the first book with the movie cover and I wanted them to match, besides I did see the movies first. I am about halfway through the 2nd book now. Everyone that said I must read them, was right and thank you! These books are a must read if you like this kind of thing. I have always been a fan of vampire stories, reading all of The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice, and another similar series that the name escapes me right now shortly after, so many years ago.

These cookies were made using: the Martha Stewart: Sugar Cookies recipe and Duff Red & Black Fondant. I cut out the shapes with the same cookies cutters I made the cookies with while the cookies were baking and immediately placed the fondant on the cookie as soon as the cookies were out of the oven and still hot, this adheres the fondant to the cookie. I premade the tiny flowers so they would have time to harden slightly and not lay flat on the cookie. I used a bottle of royal icing left from yesterday's cookies that to stick on the sugar pearls onto the flowers and then to stick the flowers onto the cookie after the cookie had finished cooling and the fondant on top had started to dry.

Anyway if you love these cookies, you will love the cupcakes that are floating around in my head right now waiting to be made very soon!

My Word for 2012:

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: Bacon Time

& A Little Inspiration

Hearts -A- Flutter Cookies

2012-01-05T06:00:00.006-05:00

Anytime is a good time for love!

I am really not sure whether I would consider myself a romantic or not. I did just finish reading the first Twilight book the day that I made these. I know, I did it all backwards, watching the movies first, don't judge! Anyway, lot of romance in that! I just got the next 3 books and I am looking forward to every minute of it!

This is more of what I was talking about when I said more cookies in 2012, well kinda. I could still see some white royal icing showing through the sugar and that bugs me, maybe I should have colored the icing to match first?

I started these just like I have any other cookie decorated with royal icing by outlining the cookie with a tip 3 and then flooding using a squeeze bottle. I flooded these one at a time, immediately sprinkling on the darker colored sugars while wet. I did run into a slight problem with a couple. These can't be flooded as full as I usually fill them, the sugar adds weight and that little sound that sounded like a little sugar hitting the parchment, was the beginning of an avalanche! I did save them by quickly squishing the frosting back up and propping the cookie up. I was much more careful not to fill the others so full. I didn't shake the sugar off, that just didn't seem like a good idea, so I let them sit as is with a stack of sugar on them for about 6 hours. I then shook of the excess sugar. I followed up by flooding the wing area and adding the white sugar allowing that to dry fully before shaking off as well.

They even sparkle in the sun!

Recipes used for these cookies:

Martha Stewart: Sugar Cookies (vanilla)

Wilton Royal Icing (thinned)

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: A Little Inspiration

& Serenity You

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #5

2012-01-04T05:30:00.005-05:00

Happy New Years!
Welcome to the first "sweet" party of 2012! I am so happy you have stopped by and thank you all who have come back to party another week!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Kids out of school, family in town, and all the craziness and fun that goes with it! It is already Week #5 of Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party! With all of the holidays out of the way, I can't wait to see what you are baking up now!

Here are the FEATURES from Week #4!

The #1 Most Viewed Sweet:

Snow Monsters by Sugar Swings! Serve Some

The #2 Most Viewed Sweet

Snowflake Cake Pops by Pint Sized Baker

For #3 there was a tie

(listed in the order they were linked up)

Rudolph and Friends- Reindeer Cups by The Seven Year Cottage

and also tied for #3

Peppermint Snowflakes by Happy Hour Projects

Congratulations to all of you! Here is your Button!

Code on "Grab a Button" Page

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Code on Sidebar ---->

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets publicly via GFC, I am your hostess after all!

3. Link to your sweet posts only, not directly to your blog.

4. Mix and mingle, Visit at least one of the other guests at my sweet party and give them a sweet comment! Visit your favorites!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

Turtle Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

2012-01-03T06:00:00.007-05:00

It's the start of a new year and this is my first time baking for 2012! With family visiting, kids home from school, and then other people giving us desserts too, my schedule is all out of whack and we have had a lot of sweets around! I have spent the past few days reading Twilight and I am almost finished! Love, love, love it! I have fallen in love with all of the movies and I started the book before when my daughter read it years ago, but just didn't have time to finish, so now I plan to read the whole series! I have also been beading and tie dying with my teenage daughter the past few days and having a blast at that too!

Anyway, these cookies really aren't my ideal choice for the first thing to bake in 2012, I prefer pretty cookies and these aren't really that pretty. They certainly aren't what I meant when I said as one of my New Year's Resolutions to "expect to see lots more cookies" this year. These are yummy and quick though and sometime a quick cookie is needed! Quick enough to make before I have to pick up my daughter from gymnastics practice, another thing we have been doing all winter break! Of course there are also just flavors that you can't get into a cut out cookie that you can into a not so pretty cookie!

I started with storebought peanut butter cookie mix (17.5 oz pkg) which would make 36 normal sized peanut butter cookies. Prepare peanut butter cookie mix as directed on package. Wrap around the cookie dough around frozen Turtle candies. Bake at 375 for 12-14 minutes. This will be big cookies, with the mix only making 12. Let cool...if you wish! I broke into the first one while it was still hot and gooey and yummy!

What's not to love about peanut butter, peanuts, caramel, and chocolate?

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: Crazy For Crust & Something Swanky
and shared at: Happy Hours Projects

New Year's Cookies

2012-01-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

Happy New Years!

Can you believe it is already 2012? Wow! Where did the time go? It's funny how time just gets stolen from us without us even realizing it.

The holidays all flew by too! I did manage to get these cookies finished though. Speaking of getting things done, what about New Years Resolutions? I never really make a resolution that isn't attainable. I don't like to set myself up for failure. This year I plan to come up with a better baking and blogging schedule! I want to get better at decorating cookies too, so expect to see lots more cookies! I would like to start making at least one cake a month to better practice the skills I learned in all of the Wilton Classes that I took and the new class that I am taking this February. That way when I do make a cake, I feel a little more ready. I also want to read a book, a real book, not just one with recipes, thinking about Twilight- Breaking Dawn. The movie was so good, I just need to know what happens!

Now, moving on to the cookies....I started these cookies by outlining and flooding in white and letting them dry overnight. I sprayed each cookie with 2 coats of Wilton Silver Color Mist Spray. The entire can will cover about 18 cookies, I say about since 2 of the cookies only got sprayed once before the can ran out. The picture above shows a solid white cookie, the top left is with one spray coat, and the bottom is with two coats. I did spray all the way to the edge, the glare makes it look as if I didn't in the picture above.

These little guys are hard to get a good picture of to really show you how they shimmer!

I sprinkled on some Wilton Edible Star Glitter right as the silver spray was almost dry, but still a little damp. If you sprinkle on the star glitter too soon, the stars will curl up and look wilty. The spray does dry pretty quickly so it is best just to work with 2 or 3 cookies at a time if you intend to sprinkle the star glitter on them.

Here are almost all of the cookies, there were a few casualties along the way. Remember the 2 that only got one coat? You can see them above. I also had a hard time decided whether or not I wanted them outlined in black, so I left two without an outline.

Recipes used for these cookies:

Martha Stewart: Sugar Cookies (flavored with almond extract)

Wilton Royal Icing (thinned)

Wishing you and yours a very happy 2012!

and for the record...I don't believe the world is coming to an end this year!

I link up at these fun parties!

New Year's Mimosa Cupcakes

2011-12-31T00:01:00.008-05:00

New Year's Mimosa Cupcakes

(slightly adapted from the Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes)

1 box of Betty Crocker White Cake Mix

3/4 cup of champagne or ginger ale (I used ginger ale)

1/2 cup orange juice (I used fresh squeezed orange juice)

1 tsp grated orange peel

3 egg whites

1/3 cup oil

Mix together all ingredients in mixer on low for 30 seconds, scrapping sides when needed. Turn mixer to medium and mix an additional 2 minutes. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 18 minutes. Cool completely.

Look at these gorgeous oranges I used in both the cupcake and the frosting straight from my Mom's backyard!

New Year's Mimosa Frosting

(from the Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes)

6 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened (I used margarine)

1 teaspoon grated orange peel (I used 2 teaspoons)

3 tablespoons champagne or ginger ale (I used ginger ale)

2 to 3 tablespoons orange juice (I used fresh squeezed)

In mixer on low mix together all ingredients until creamy, about 3 to 4 minutes.

I piped the frosting with a Wilton 1M tip and sprinkled with additional grated orange peel and Wilton Edible Star Glitter on top.

Using a snipped off zipper bag filled with orange candy melts, I piped 2012 onto wax paper. I also underlined the date and made a little stem to insert it into the cupcake. Let set up in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and then insert into cupcake.

I have never tried a Mimosa, so not sure what these should taste like, having nothing to compare it to. The cake has a mild orange flavor, the frosting has a stronger flavor. Together the combo reminds us of orange sherbet or orange creamsicle and taste perfect! We all really liked it!

Happy New Years Eve!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: A Well-Seasoned Life

Snowflake Cookies

2011-12-30T06:00:00.004-05:00

More snowflakes!

Lots and lots of snowflakes!

These were made with a different cookie cutter than my previous snowflake cookies. These snowflakes are a little larger made with the Wilton Comfort Grip Snowflake Cutter. These also share the same colors as my Gingerbread Christmas Tree Cookies.

Recipes used for these cookies:

Martha Stewart: Sugar Cookies

Wilton Royal Icing (thinned)

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: Food Corner

Sugar and Spice Cookies

2011-12-29T06:00:00.000-05:00

I have been so busy with decorating cookies for everyone, that I really haven't even had a chance to eat any! In the midst of all my baking, I needed a quick cookie that I could enjoy now! I still had some molasses left from my Gingerbread Men and Christmas Tree Cookies and decided to try a deicious looking recipe from my good buddy Adrianne over at Happy Hour Projects!

Sugar and Spice Cookies from Happy Hour Projects

Above are Adriannes Sugar and Spice Cookies. Delicious looking aren't they? They have molasses, cinnamon, and clove in them. The outside is slightly crisp and the inside is chewy! It was a recipe passed down by her Gram! I love recipes like this that just give you that warm and cozy feeling! For the recipe visit Happy Hour Projects!

Adrianne decked hers out with red sugar for Christmas! I am not making these for Christmas and didn't want them to look the same, so I first used clear sparkling sugar, then a mix of clear and blue (top photo), and the last set solid blue!

These cookies are just gorgeous in any color! I did make mine pretty large. Adriannes recipe makes 3 to 4 dozen. I rolled them pretty large, about golf ball size and made 26. They did have to bake slightly longer, at about 10 minutes.

Adrianne failed to note one thing in her recipe, it was a very important thing, that really shouldn't be omitted. The addictive quality of these cookies. Oh my YUM! I couldn't stop eating these. The texture, the flavor, all absolutely perfect! My whole family is addicted! These are super delicious!

Hope on over to Happy Hour Projects and grab the recipe! I promise you they are awesome!

Thanks Adrianne! You really knocked this one out of the park!

I link up at these fun parties!

Mrs. Fox's Sweet Party #4

2011-12-28T05:30:00.001-05:00

Hi and welcome to my "sweet" party! I am so happy you have stopped by and thank you all who have come back to party another week!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! We had lots of great sweets linked up last week for Christmas and beat the previous weeks count! Thank you all so much! Can you believe we will be counting down to the New Year soon? Where did the year go? I know you are busy getting ready for the next big event, so let me get to it!

Here are the FEATURES from Week #3!

The #1 most viewed sweet-

Christmas Tree Cupcakes- by The Weekly Sweet Experiment

The #2 most viewed Sweet-

Vintage Pastel Snowmen & Snowflake Cookies- by Sweetology

This weeks Favorites:

Mr. Sugar Cone Santa- by Sweetology

Creative and adorable!

Sugar & Spice Cookies- by Happy Hour Projects

I made these this week, super quick, easy, yummy! Look for my version of these yummy cookies tomorrow right here at Mrs. Fox's Sweets!

Congratulations to all of you! Here is your Button!

Code on "Grab a Button" Page

Now moving on to this weeks party:

Link up your sweets, whatever dessert YOU have made this week!

Code on Sidebar ---->

Ready to join in? Here are a few quick things to do:

1. Please Follow Mrs. Fox's Sweets publicly via GFC, I am your hostess after all!

3. Link to your sweet posts only, not directly to your blog.

4. Mix and mingle, Visit at least one of the other guests at my sweet party and give them a sweet comment! Visit your favorites!

Each week I will feature the most viewed sweet and my favorite sweet! These sweets will be featured at the next weeks party! By joining this party, you give Mrs. Fox's Sweet's permission to use your sweet photo in a featured post. Featured sweets may also be shared at Mrs. Fox's Sweets on Facebook, Stumbled, and/or Pinned!

Snowman Gingerbread Cookies

2011-12-27T06:00:00.004-05:00

Here are more Gingerbread Cookies that I made with the Bakerella Gingerbread Cookie Recipe!

I had saved 6 of these little snowmen candies just for these cookies!

Simple, cute, most of all YUMMY!

I link up at these fun parties!

Flashback to New Years 2011!

2011-12-26T06:00:00.002-05:00

It's Flashback Monday?!

This is a once in awhile segment, usually on a Friday, that I created to show you some of my past adventures before I began blogging! Friday is already the day before New Year's Eve and I wanted to give you plenty of time to gather ingredients if you decide to make one of these!

Where oh where did 2011 go?

On New Year's Eve guests enjoyed Martini Cupcakes!

These cupcakes were inspired by the folks from "Hello, Cupcake!" and they were a total hit!

To make these:

I used plastic Martini cups from my local party store. I rubbed the rims of the cups with corn syrup and then dipped in colored sparkling sugar to match the color of the cupcake I intended to put in side. Next, I put colored Jelly Belly's in the stem of the cup. Then, I melted and colored some canned icing and swirled around the top of the cup, being careful not to let it drip into the stem. It only takes about 10 seconds in the microwave to melt the frosting up, so be careful! By the time I got the last cup swirled with icing, the first was about dry and I placed an unwrapped cupcake inside and poured additional melting icing over the top, garnishing with Jelly Belly's, gummy fruit wedges, and umbrellas! These were a little time consuming and a pair of extra hands is very helpful. In the end when your guest arrive to see these, you will know that they are totally worth it!

With the extra cupcakes that I didn't use in making the Martini Cupcakes, I swirled with buttercream, black and gold sprinkles and topped with some plastic confetti from the party store! I didn't have a problem with people eating the plastic either, just like a cupcake pick, people know to remove it! These cupcakes were a great option, since the buttercream was a little less sweet than the canned icing.

This was my first New Year's Eve making cupcakes!

New Year's Eve doesn't last forever and soon comes New Years Day!

Welcome to 2011! This was my first attempt ever at royal icing. I had all of the snowflakes piped, waiting a day and they started to break when I removed them from the waxed paper, so I piped over them again and made the snowflakes very thick! At the time I totally loved these cupcakes! I look back at these now and wonder what was I thinking?

Anyway, that was what I made to welcome in 2011!

I can't wait to Welcome in 2012!

I link up at these fun parties!

Featured at: Mom On Timeout

Mrs. Fox's Sweets 2011 Christmas Recap

2011-12-25T06:00:00.003-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Today is a day for family, fun, and festivities!

Maybe Santa brought you a new baking supplies? Of course it is never too late to bake up Christmas goodies, and many can be adapted to winter or other seasons!

Here is what I baked up this Christmas season!

The #1 Viewed Sweet I made was:

#1- Holiday Peppermint Patties

#2- Christmas Dipped Oreo Pops

#3- Christmas Tree Cake Pops

The many more sweet treats I made for the 2011 Christmas Season

(In no particular order)

Pink Princess #25- Cool Peppermint Cupcakes

Polka Dot Christmas Tree Cupcakes

It's a Pink Christmas! Cupcakes

Dipped Christmas & Winter Oreos

Peppermint Cake Pops