Posts

For the Love of Red Icing

How to make red icing that is ACTUALLY red!! I've always loved red icing. For a long time, I just kind of admired it from a distance. I knew it was gorgeous, and it made me question myself. Could I DO that? Would that true, deep red understand me and accept me for who I am? Would I have to change? Would it bring the satisfaction I desperately hoped for? I bought flowers and threw them away. I was too shy to just go up and introduce myself. I stuck with some weirdy shade of pink icing that I tried to convince myself was just as good as the real thing. But I never stopped thinking about the real red icing. The kind of red icing that seems to go deeper than the cookie it is placed upon. The red that wakes you up at night and won't let you go to sleep until you promise that THIS TIME you are not going to take "no" for an answer. The kind of icing that won't let you walk away, won't let you accept defeat, and most importantly, won't be confused with PINK.

Tiled Heart Cookies

Once upon a time there was a young girl. And she had a crush on a certain Valentine's candy. Who am I kidding? She was in love with that candy. She thought about it all year. She saved up every cent she could find or earn. And when the stores started turning pink in the winter, she would anxiously count that money and walk very slowly to the neighborhood store with her brothers, being very careful not to drop any of it. And while her brothers were looking at things that made loud noises or some kind of electrical something that they would invariably take apart upon reaching their home, she scanned the candy aisles. She started at the front, knowing full well that the bag she was looking for was at the back, on the left, at the very top. She would grab a bag and run for the counter and buy it before her brothers saw. And she would take it home and hide it in the space behind the loose paneling in the wall. And she would ration it out, eating 3 pieces a day for like, a week, until

Fuzzy Valentine Cookies

Let's all just admit it together. This guy is cute. And fuzzy. (Although, I'm not really sure yet whether fuzzy goes on the positive or negative side, so maybe we should just leave it at that.) I think I will call him Bob. And let him come to the store with me. I bet he'd be real nice and probably wouldn't scream or bang his head on the floor in a show of solidarity for the box of fruit snacks I just returned to the shelf. I wouldn't have to pin him down with my knees while singing a song and acting out a finger puppet play just so I could get him buckled back into his carseat. Probably, he would even let me buy something real nice for myself. He would want me to do it. It would make him happy to see me so happy. I mean, I would have to say yes.  How could you say "no" to a face like that? This guy is SO EASY to make. But you need to plan ahead just a little bit. First, pipe some eyeballs onto a piece of wax paper. *** Let those dry for at least

Snowman Party Finale

Oh my goodness -- I LOVE YOU ALL! I really, really wanted a Snowman Celebration (as evidenced by my shameless pleading ) and you all totally came through for me! I mean, I just threw the invitation out there and then huddled in a corner hoping that I wouldn't be sitting all alone eating the chips by myself because no one wanted to hang out and celebrate with me. 94.  That's the number of  links on the Snowman Celebration link-up party. 94. As in Ninety-Four . That's way more than I expected. I should probably have gotten more chips. And maybe rented a bouncy house or something. I wanted to make a whole bunch of snowmen cookies as a grand finale sort-of giant fireworks in the sky thing. But I didn't. Because you all made such FUN cookies that I couldn't help sharing some of them. (And also partially because I spent an inordinate amount of time online ogling snowmen cookies this week. But let's stick with the positive, shall we?) This was actual

Snowboarding Snowman -- Guest Post from Haniela's

Ohhhh -- you all are in for a super big fun surprise today and you don't even know it. Unless, of course, you read the post title. And then you would know that my dear friend Hani from Haniela's is here today! But what you don't know is that she created a super big fun surprise snowman cookie for us all. Okay, fine, if you read the post title you already knew that as well.  ( My goodness , you are ruining all my super big fun surprises today.)  So ... Haniela.  Love her. Adore her. Sweetest woman on the planet with some pretty amazing things on her very beautiful blog of super big fun surprises. She makes delicious food , takes incredible pictures , and somehow managed to grow a tomato the size of my head . Okay, maybe not quite the last one, but I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be true. AND... she makes the most fantastic cookies with a ziplock bag. ~SNOWBOARDING SNOWMAN by Haniela ~       Blogging is amazing. I found another friend! One year ag

Snowman Teacups -- Guest Post from Sweet Sugarbelle

If I was stuck on a deserted island, and I could only take one thing with me, I would choose Callye from The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle. She's really, really creative and has a way of looking at things from a surprising angle. So you know, she could probably find a way to turn sand and leaves into a sailboat and we would be out of there in a couple of days. But just in case it took a few weeks, she also makes the best cookies EVER...so we'd be set. Plus, she's super nice. She'd probably agree to do a guest post or something for me while.....wait a minute -- she already has! She's HERE. Today. Guest posting. Go ahead. Just say hi to her! ~~~~~*~~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~*~~~~~ Howdy y’all.  Don’t panic.  I don’t really talk that way all the time, only when I’m in a new place trying to subtly tell people that this blog has been hijacked by a Texan.   So, here I am. The cookie baking Texan.  Nice to meet y’all.  By the way, I don’t say howdy mu

Ombre Snowmen

Do you ever have those days where NOTHING seems to go right? -- Your garbage bag breaks while you are taking it out and the garbage juice gets all over the kitchen floor and worse...leaves a trail on the carpet to the door because you are running late for work and didn't notice the rip until you got to the sidewalk but you couldn't possibly hold off emptying it until later because it's already kind of (a lot) overflowing. The shirt you need is in the dryer and you forgot to turn it on. Someone asks you if you are pregnant. (You're not.) Your shoe breaks. Your water bottle tips over. You run out of gas. Dinner starts on fire. Your children go to bed with toothpaste in their hair. And then, at the very end of the day, you realize ANOTHER DAY IS COMING. And then a meteor hits your house and the roof caves in.  -- Me too (except the meteor part.) Let me ask you another question. Do you ever NOT have those days? Yeah, me either .  My misfortunes are probably a result

Parade of Snowmen -- Guest Post from Cristin's Cookies

What? Another guest post? I know what you are thinking -- Will the fun never end? Don't worry. It's for real. This is really happening friends. It's not going to go away when you close your eyes. Today's guest post is brought to you by the number 38 and Cristin from Cristin's Cookies . When I met Cristin, she was trying to decide if she should get a 6qt mixer or a smaller, PINK mixer. I said big , she chose pink . It was like destiny brought us together. We are practically the same person. She rides her bike a jillion miles a day -- I sometimes go up the stairs if the elevator is broken. She's met Lance Armstrong -- I once did a running test that people say he was really good at. She uses glaze -- I use royal icing. We couldn't be more alike. Anyway...she was super nice to agree to guest post. AND, she even let me go over to her blog today as well! What she doesn't know is that when she's not looking, I'm totally going to peak i