Summer Vacation Cookies

It's finally here...VACATION TIME!

Here are the cookies I made for the road!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies

2 sticks margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

In stand mixer with dough hook mix together margarine, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Add in flours and cocoa powder 1 cup at a time until fully mixed. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes or more depending on cookies size.

These cookies are made with Wilton mini cookie cutters and this recipe made 100 mini cookies. The cookies are iced with royal icing.

Soft, chewy, and bite sized!

See you in a few weeks!

  ~Christina

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2012 Graduation Cookies

This is my very first cookie order!

Deja Vu? Kinda. Less than a week ago, with the help of my 2 daughters, we made Graduation Cap & Diploma Cookies pretty much just like these. I sent a few of the cookies home with one of my son's friends that is also graduating and his mom asked me to make some for them! I can't tell you how excited I was that someone wanted my cookies! Okay, I get email cookie orders pretty much weekly, but they are usually out of state and I decline. But now, who knows? Maybe this could be the start of something new in my life?

...Graduation Caps

...Diplomas

I really enjoyed making these cookies and once again found relaxation with my piping bag in hand!

The cookie box dividers didn't quite fit the cookies so had to go without, but my first order is boxed and ready to go!

Tonight they finally walk! Tomorrow look for the final graduation sweet of 2012 that I made for my son!

 

CONGRATULATIONS

CLASS

of

2012

~Christina

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Graduation Cap & Diploma Cookies

Less than a week to go until my son's graduation ceremony! His last day of school was actually today!

With so many things going on I just haven't had time or motivation to bake. I had lemon sugar cookie dough in the freezer that I used to make these. My daughter and partner in baking, Katie, actually flooded all of these cookies for me! My 4 year old wanted to get her hands into the fun and actually helped pipe the top outline on some of the graduation caps and diplomas! I helped guide her tiny little hand a bit, but she did great and had lots of fun!

I planned on these being my last cookies for awhile, but actually had a request to make a batch of these for a senior graduation camping trip before we take off on our vacation! I am pretty excited that my cookies are wanted! So look for more cookies similar to these soon!

CONGRATULATIONS

CLASS

of

2012

and

to my dear son Steve, you have made it to the finish line, just waiting for the ceremony now! It seems like just yesterday he was graduating preschool!

   

~Christina, Katie, & Jess

(we all had a hand in making these!)

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Bee & Flower Easter Egg Cookies

A slight twist on a regular looking Easter Egg cookie

I decided with these cookies to try a different cut out cookie. Well when they say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," let me tell you that is the truth. These cookies spread out too much for my liking. I did use lemon extract in the dough for a perfect springy flavor!

Lemon & Berry Anyone?

Think you don't like fondant? Have you tried Fondarific? This blue is the Fondarific Berry Blue and it is so perfect with the lemon flavored cookie! I rolled out the fondant, made the impressions with a rubber stamp, and then cut out out with the same cutter I used to cut the cookie. Now you see why the cookie spreading too much was such a problem? To adhere the fondant to the cookie, immediately place the cut out fondant on the warm cookie. If the cookie has cooled, put the fondant on the cookie and put it in a "warm" oven for just 1 to 2 minutes. Keep an eye out, with both Fondarific and Duff fondant as soon as it begins to get slightly shiny, it is done!

Other than Fondarific and Duff, I have only used Wilton brand fondant. Wilton fondant doesn't adhere to the cookies well and it is just easier to use a food safe brush and brush a little corn syrup onto the back of the fondant to use as glue.

Spring flowers are not complete with out the bees!

This truly is an easy way to decorate cookies, especially when time is running short!

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Easter Bunny Cookies

It's Easter Bunny time and here are my bunny cookies!

For these cookies I used 2 teaspoons of lemon extract in my regular sugar cookie recipe. This is my first time using lemon in them and I love the flavor. I would have liked it to be a little bit stronger and may bump it up to 3 teaspoons of lemon extract next time for the batch. They are decorated with royal icing.

The bunny cookie cutters came in a set with a carrot cookie cutter. I originally planned on icing the carrots too, but I have been making so many cookies lately that I ran out of icing. I didn't want to make a batch just for the 5 carrots I cut out, we enjoyed those "as is" and even undecorated they were yummy with that lemon flavor!

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Bunny Hop Easter Link Party

This Weeks Cravings- Easter Cookies

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Thank You Trilogy Edibles!

Let's see...today (yesterday by the time you are reading this) was a rough day from the start, but when the mailman was holding a small box, I rushed up the hill to him...okay, I am a huge dork, the secret is out, now you know! I knew it had to be my special cookies from Karen at Trilogy Edibles! I only took a second to take a couple pictures before I began devouring them like Cookie Monster!

I did share these guys with the family though! We all loved them. It was so fun eating cookies made by someone else...lol. I loved the light shortbread like texture of these cookies! So colorful too!

Thanks Karen for making my day!

Hugs!

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Shamrock Cookies

This past week has been a rough baking week for me. From a total fail of a berry pie to a not-so-perfect batch of icing. I cannot stress enough now how important it is to stick with a brand you like, that works for you. I tried a different brand powdered sugar and my icing just didn't turn out right! I had already flooded the cookies with it when I noticed that it was drying weird. The icing still tasted fine, so I continued and finished them as best as I could.

These 3 cookies were my favorite of the group. The woven look, as done on the cookie in the middle, is the best way to cover a bad flood job! I love the look of lines on a cookie, it gives them a bit of pizazz and people always think it is more difficult than it really is.

Here is the whole family of shamrock cookies that I made! For a list of recipes that I use including the Basic Sugar Cookie Recipe that I flavored with almond and the Royal Icing Recipe used here visit my FAQ page.

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Pot O' Gold Cookies

What pot o' gold would be complete without gold Disco Dust? Nothing like a little glitter to make the gold shimmer! I do have a hard time getting a good photograph when I use the Disco Dust though!

These cookies were made using my favorite basic sugar cookie recipe and royal icing. For a list of my favorite recipes visit my FAQ page!

May the Luck o' the Irish be with you!

 

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Glitter Says "I Love You" Cookies

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!

:)

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Valentine's Graffiti Cookies

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 :)

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Personalized Valentine's Cookies

Valentine's Cookies for the happy couple!

Happy Valentine's Katie & Garrett!

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Words of Love Valentine Cookies

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!

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Girly Cookies

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!

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Princess Castles & Tiaras Cookies

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!

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Shiny Heart Cookies

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!

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Hearts On Sticks Cookies

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!

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