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Skulls and Skeletons

So...I like to have money. And I like cookie cutters. It's a tricky business combing those two things, really. A few days ago, I was looking at a clearance rack of a local store. They had the usual textbooks from 2 years ago, expired bread, random candles in scents that NO ONE wants to smell....and then I found some cookie cutters! Well, really, it was one cookie cutter but there were 3 of them. To make this find even more exciting, let me just tell you that in the year I've lived in Korea, I have only seen 5 or 6 cookie cutters. So, you know, this was a big deal to me. It was a cookie cutter . And it was on clearance . Forget about the fact that it was a tulip cutter, and I have no immediate reason to make tulips. None of that mattered. It was a cookie cutter, and I was actually touching it. At a store. And I wasn't dreaming. So I did what any normal person would do and I bought one. And then, I did what any normal cookie making person would do and I bought the other two.

BLACK cookies for Halloween

Once upon a time, like 2 weeks ago, I had this great idea. I got excited every time I thought about it. (And yes, it may have been Halloween related, and may have helped spur on this ridiculously early parade of Halloween cookies) So I made my cookies. And as the cookies were baking, I realized that I was probably the 400th person (counting my grandma) who had ever come up with this idea. And I was sad for at least 7 seconds until I realized, it just doesn't matter. It's STILL a good idea. Especially since it results in the easiest cookie you will ever decorate. See, I had lots of Halloween design ideas that were, ...well, black . And we all know that black icing tends to leave black teeth. Which, is okay for a teenager's Halloween party, perhaps even desirable...but for adults and good friends that you would like to keep as good friends? Not so much. So I added just a little bit of black food coloring to my already dark brown chocolate cookie dough and made black

Candy Corn, Pumpkins, and Vampire Cookies

Are you excited? It's the square Halloween cookie tutorials series finale. Anything could happen! I could magically whip up a million cookies and stack them to the moon and then light them on fire and call them a beacon of peace.  Or ... not. Actually, that doesn't really sound like a good idea to me at all. I'll probably just stick with the remaining tutorials and call it a day. Ready? HOW TO MAKE A SQUARE CANDY CORN COOKIE Pipe a yellow rectangle on the bottom of the square and a white rectangle on the top. Then stop. And take a break. For at least an hour. You've earned it. Piping rectangles is tough work. Fill in the middle with orange icing.  And then take another well deserved break. This time, maybe work in some snacks. When the icing is dry, add some white dots for the eyes. Let it sit for a couple of minutes and then add the black dots on top. Use a food marker to add a nose, mouth, and eye brows. You could skip the eyebrows, but then it would just be a

Mummy and Cat Cookies

You know how there are some things you're just NOT good at, no matter how simple they seem to be? And everyone else in the entire world is some kind of mad skills EXPERT at it. And you keep trying anyway, hoping that if you pretend hard enough that one day you will be able to fool yourself into believing that you might actually be capable of accomplishing said task. Sewing is like that for me. I can't do it. I shouldn't do it. But sometimes I forget.  I wanted to make a purse for my little girl. I was certain I could make it work out this time . I had all the pieces cut out. (And by that I mean I cut out some rectangle-ish squares of fabric.) And then my little boy said, "Good job Mom, you're almost done. Now you just need to NAIL IT TOGETHER." Clearly, he knows me too well. So I gave up and made cookies instead. BUT, as it turns out, piping cat whiskers is another one of those simple things that I just can't do. Who knew? HOW TO MAKE A SQUARE CAT CO

Frankenstein and Monster Cookie Tutorials

Let's be honest. I made a lot of different square cookies. And I, personally , adore those little guys. And I have a tutorial for every single one of them. But you don't love me enough to read one eternally long post detailing each cookie. Not all in one sitting at least. So I broke it up into pieces. But in a good way. Not in a China vase falling off the top shelf kind of way. Oh, and for all of you that don't know this -- I use just ONE consistency of icing. It's roughly 12-15 second icing. But do what you want. If you like your cookies with a piped outline and a flooded middle, then go right ahead and do that. Just outline each area first and fill in. You know, just like you always do.  HOW TO MAKE FRANKENSTEIN This guy is seriously my favorite. But don't tell the other cookies I said that. First -- make a square cookie. I'm just going to assume you can do that all by yourself. Pipe a jagged line across the top of the cookie and fill in the rest of the

Halloween Cookies --NO cutter required!

Cute and easy decorated Halloween cookies that DON'T require a cookie cutter!!! I have been wanting to make Halloween cookies for way longer than is culturally acceptable this year. I'm still not completely sure that it is, in fact, okay yet. But I have two excuses. And I'm just going to pretend that they are both valid reasons for messing up the seasonal continuum by forcing fall holidays to be celebrated during Beach Season. 1) It dropped about 10 degrees here and all the humidity in the entire country went to Japan. Or somewhere else that is decidedly NOT here. So, you know, it's basically fall in Korea now. 2) Umm, this is a little embarrassing to admit, but I noticed on Pinterest that someone had pinned some Halloween cookies I made a long time ago. Like, a LONG, LONG time ago. Pretty much the second set of cookies I ever made. And THEN about 14 or 20 people re-pinned those cookies. So that pretty much sealed the deal for me. Because it's like how

Back to School Backpack Cookies

Can we talk? I mean, is it safe here? You've all got my back, right? You're not going to turn me in to some kind of agency that people turn other people in to, are you? Look -- it's about this whole going-to-school thing . You've all got me a bit nervous  I mean, my little man still has another year before he is of kindergarten attending age. I haven't even thought about it...until I started rambling around the blogosphere and apparently , when my child goes to school he will come back as some mutated form of himself that has a driver's license and no longer wants to lie under blankets giggling and reading stories with his mother all afternoon. See, here's the thing. Just two days ago, he said to me, "When I'm big like Daddy, you can still cuddle me." And I plan on holding him to that. Especially now. I mean, it's on the internet. That's totally binding, right? So...I'm just wondering if I should be starting anti-behavior modifi

Back To School Apples

You know how your car stops you from going more than 140mph because it has a governor? I need that. But for cookies. Isn't there some kind of warning light I can buy? Maybe with a little siren and a British voice that says "STOP NOW." See, I wanted to make some back to school cookies. I'm running out of time, I know.  But I really wanted to do it anyway. I settled on something simple. I made some apples. They were cute. I added a little shine line and everything. And then I decided to add some sugar on top. And for some reason, that made me think about an image I had seen somewhere. An apple with a mustache. It had to be done. And then naturally, the mustachioed apple also needed a bowler hat. Because if you have a mustache and NO bowler hat....total creepsville for apples. And then...everything just kind of spiraled out of control and I'm not sure that I remember everything. There are some moments in there I might not be too proud of in the morning....one