Posts

Classic Frankenstein Cookies

There is no shortage of random cutters that I've turned into Halloween cutters. ( Flip-Flops , Animal Paw , Tulip , Ladybug , Christmas Bell , Greek Letter Phi , Squares , Circles ...) There IS, however, a very short list of ACTUAL HALLOWEEN cutters that I've used to make Halloween cookies. I have used a witch hat and a cauldron. The end. Well, very nearly the end. My favorite way to decorate cookies with children is to bake them, and then outline all the sections with black icing. Then I give them bottles with colored flood icing and let them fill in all the sections. My 4 year old can literally spend an entire day filling in sections of cookies with icing. And eating the icing. Mostly eating the icing. I wanted to make some of these outlined cookies for a Halloween party and grabbed my Halloween cutter box and discovered a little treasure inside. An ACTUAL Frankenstein cookie cutter!! You know the square-ish shaped one that comes in that Wilton Bucket O'Hallowee

Top-Down Pumpkins

I kind of have a thing for pumpkin cutters. And by that, I mean that I LOVE THEM. I want to date them and kiss them and marry them. But most importantly, I want to buy them. Every single time I see a new pumpkin cutter, I covet it. I think about it. I go visit it at the store and then eventually, I buy it. And I hold it in my hands and dream of all the most wonderful, lovely, gorgeous pumpkin cookies that ever were dreamed. And then I put it in a bin and pull out all my other cutters and turn them into pumpkin cutters too . And when I can't find JUST the right cutter, I make my own .  Seriously, it might be a disease. You all are going to have to stage an intervention sometime soon. But let's do it after you make these fun top-down pumpkin cookies from a paw cutter. They are my new favorite pumpkins! 1. Start with the section in the bottom front of the pumpkin. Use a #3 tip and 15 count orange icing to outline and fill a vaguely tear drop shape. Move on up to th

Scariest Masks -- Cookies and Cards

Do you ever have those days that just bug you? Like, the whole entire day and everything in it. Me too. Today was that day times a million. *** WARNING *** ACTUAL THOUGHTS AHEAD *** ~AAAAAHHHHHH. I hate you computer. I want to throw you away. Why must your shift key randomly stop working in the middle of a blog post? WHY?! Why don't you love me? I paid for you with real money. You are *not* a Monopoly money computer. Do not *act* like a Monopoly money computer. ~WHAT is that unearthly noise down the street? Oh no! It's garbage day. It's garbage day and I haven't taken out my garbage. Where are my shoes? WHY are they never where I left them? ONE of them is in the bathroom? That is not going to be helpful. It's getting closer. I'm just going to have to run for it in my socks. Eeewww! I stepped on something. I don't know what it was. I don't want to know. Aahh. My elbow. STOP FIGHTING ME GARBAGE CAN. I am *trying* to help you. Eeeww. You smell ba

Remove Delicate Royal Icing Transfers -- Quick Tip Tuesday

I go through phases. In college, I went through a tortilla phase. For weeks on end, every meal I ate included tortillas. Sometimes they *only* included tortillas. (I did say I was in college, right?) It wasn't a conscious decision it just happened. And one day, completely without realizing it, I moved on. (To cottage cheese  and pickles if you must know.) I've gone through tomato phases and stir-fry phases and while in Korea, I went through a phase of going out to eat only to return home and eat again because I had accidentally ordered neck bone soup instead of rice and vegetables. Or hot pepper spaghetti instead of rice and vegetables. Or spicy octopus instead of rice and... you know what? I think you get the picture. I do the same thing with cookies. For weeks every cookie I make will have sanding sugar on top of it. (Maybe because I'm too lazy to put them away? And since they are there...) Or I'll paint all my cookies. Or... currently... I'll make Royal Icing T

Organize Your Sprinkles and Sanding Sugars -- GIVEAWAY

Once upon a time I fell in love with everything colorful and sparkly and edible. And I wanted them all to come live with me so I could squish them and love them and look at them and never let them go. Then one day an evil sorcerer told me it was time for them to find a home that was NOT the kitchen table. So into a box they went all hobbledy-wobbledy. The sugars jumped around and the sprinkles hid under each other. It was a mess. And not just any mess. It was a horribly depressing mess that made me never want to look at them for fear I would feel the dreaded "need to actually clean and organize it guilt." So they were banished to the tallest tower of the hall closet. Until one day... I discovered a new kingdom called SPECIALTY BOTTLE . Each page was it's own wonderful adventure. And the knights of SPECIALTY BOTTLE came to my rescue with these perfect little plastic jars for my sprinkles and pearls and sanding sugars. I bought twice as many of the 4 ounce size as

Decorated Caramel Apple Cookies

I love-hate caramel apples. I mean, on the surface, they sound pretty fantastic. You get the crisp apple flavor mixed with a salty-sweet gooey caramel coating. And you don't even have to feel guilty eating it because it's a fruit, so that puts it squarely in the health food if you ask me. In theory, they couldn't be easier to make. You jam a stick in the top of the apple and drop it in a bowl of melted caramels. Done.   Except, let's be honest... it *never* works that way. First, you have to UNWRAP all those caramels. And caramels are by their very nature, the stickiest things on the planet. Which means that the flimsy cellophane wrappers stick in every crevice of every caramel. You probably end up melting just as much plastic as caramel. And then when you stick the caramel in the microwave, nothing happens. And nothing happens. And nothing happens. And then, all of a sudden, it's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and your caramel is tearing at the ceiling of your