Sugar and Spice...

and everything nice!  Thought these little girls turned out sweet!  Next time I'll have to make blonde-haired and blue-eyed girls...to match my sweet little girl!!!

Back with some more SOON...Happy Weekend!!

Sanding

I have really been wanting to practice some sanding on my cookies.....so I went straight to one of my favorite cookie decorating gurus and found an idea for sanding pumpkins!  Bridget made these pumpkin cookies last year...and I loved her color choices and thought it would be a great way for me to practice my sanding techniques.  Finding the sanding sugar (the specific brand I wanted....and the color I wanted) was actually harder than the process itself.  I tried to find fine sanding sugar in white at Michael's and Hobby Lobby and D&D, but to no avail.  So J and I had to drive a bit further to my favorite baking store...where we actually found just what I was looking for (after having to stop at the train tracks and make a 5 minute detour out of our way after realizing the street entrance was blocked off due to the city's annual chili fest occurring that night).  But, I guess that extra time was worth it... I LOVE this sanding sugar!!!  And as for J....he was thrilled beyond belief that we got stuck at those train tracks.  He LOVED watching that long train go by!

A few more fall things and fun cookies to share this week!

Confessions

So the little man and I took a day trip to Louisburg over two weeks ago to buy a great big bag of apples.  The plan....to make a great big apple pie.  Two weeks later....still no pie.... I guess I have been knee deep in cookie baking....and I can not believe October is almost half-way through and I must admit, that I still have not baked my annual apple pie. I guess I need to watch my favorite movie..."The Waitress" to get me in the pie baking frame of mind!!!  My goal is to make it before the end of this month....

But for now... I have put some of those apples to good use in these....

These maple-drizzled apple muffins from www.RecipeGirl.com were easy peasy to make.....and I thought the frosting on top might just be the trick to tempt my little S into eating her apples in the morning... so far...no such luck....but J ( my fruit lover) can eat one in no time flat!!!  Here is the recipe:

MUFFINS:
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 TBLSP baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup ( I had to send the hubby to the store late one night for this...thanks B!)
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 cups chopped peeled apples ( I used a mix of granny smith and jonathon's)

GLAZE:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 TBLSP maple syrup

1.  Preheat oven to 400 F.  Grease 12- cup muffin tin or line with paper liners.

2.  In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (through cinnamon).

3.  In a small bowl, mix milk, butter, syrup and egg; stir into dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.  Fold in apples.

4.  Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4-full.  Bake 18-20 minutes or until muffins test done.  Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

5.  For glaze, mix sugar and syrup; drizzle over cooled muffins.

Yield:  1 dozen

Since I didn't take pictures of our trip to the cider mill... I am posting some pictures from our trip to the pumpkin patch last weekend.  These special people are the reason my cookies posts are sometimes few and far between...  They keep me pretty busy:)

The little J man....

My pretty princess....

The whole gang (minus me, of course,)....but can't leave out the hubby who is my best kept secret behind my cookies.... he is my late night grocery store runner, my taste-tester, and even my cookie cutter maker, at times!!!

That's all for tonight....but I've been having some fun with some fall cookies and other designs...so stay tuned!

WHOOOO is ready for fall?

After many orders for baby showers and birthdays...finally some time for fun Fall cookies.  I got my inspiration for these cute little owls from this amazing woman.  I had seen some owls on her site a while back and loved her detail.  She is super talented at icing cookies...and I am so grateful for her words of wisdom and always helpful advice!!!!

And I know Halloween is still quite a ways away....but I have little munchkins at home who are already chatting about costumes and trick-or-treating plans...so I figured I'd better get on the ball with some spooky cookies....and for these I used a chocolate sugar cookie dough....Miss S....loved the dough...mmmm....and I had a hard time keeping her little fingers out of it when I was rolling these out:)  These cute spider webs I copied from my other cookie baking hero.  She comes up with the cutest cookie ideas ever!!! Thanks for sharing these Bridget!

So..ok...these last few are not Fallish...but some recent ones I have done....I LOVE the colors....and got the cherry idea from yet another DEAR blogging friend.  Be sure to check out her amazingly creative Halloween ideas.  Wow...not sure how this incredible woman does all that she does...  But I do know... what she does with cakes and cookies is truly an art!!!

Finally the little wagons...I thought they would be the perfect treat for toddler boys....I know my little guy loves his red wagon...even though it is twice his size!

So.....that's all for now...but some fun orders to come.  It has been a wild week for me (and it is only Tuesday)....So for now...I'm just going to count all of my blessings...and call it a good nite!!