Giving Thanks 2011

It is a beautiful morning here in the Midwest...a perfect day for giving thanks with family for the many blessings in our lives.  I can not even put to words how grateful I am for my husband and my children who make my life FULL everyday.  I am thankful that we are all healthy and that we have the opportunity to live in this amazing Country.  

But I am also thankful for my fellow "cookier's" who share this love of baking with me.  We all may be miles apart...and never see each other face to face, but we are together in some way through email, Facebook, blogger, etc.  So many of these incredible women inspire me everyday....open my eyes to a creativity I wouldn't have known before, and are always willing to answer all of my questions.  

Thank you to Paula who never fails to leave sweet and encouraging comments on every blog post. She is amazingly creative and super sweet right down to her core!  And thank you to Callye for always inspiring and teaching me.  She is incredible beyond words.  Thank you to Linzy who always helps me with my royal icing dilemmas.  Thank you to Lila Loa for always making me chuckle, and for her fabulous ideas and willingness to offer suggestions.  Thank you to Pam for sharing recipes and ideas so readily, and for her amazing cookies that inspire me to work even harder.  And thank you to Amanda for sharing her beautiful creations, and for her always sunny disposition.  She inspires me not just be be a better baker, but also a better mother; and encourages me to challenge myself in more ways than one.  Thank you, thank you!

And my final cookie for this Thanksgiving came from an idea I found on a flickr photo stream here.  My mouth dropped when I saw them.  I tried to recreate...but I'm still loving hers better:)

Here is my rendition....

Wishing my family and friends and fellow "cookiers" a lovely Thanksgiving and a wonderful Holiday Season!

Not so scary Scarecrows...

Last week... I went to Sugarbelle's website to look at her Indian cookies so I could make some of my own for our Thanksgiving Feast.... I had already made some Pilgrims (still need to post these) and of course I needed Indians to make the cookie set complete.  But when I got to the site... I found her DARLING scarecrows.  I couldn't resist..... as you can see...

I followed Callye's instructions to the T....thank you thank you, Callye, for all  of your detailed instructions!!!  I think the only change I made was the color of the patch on the hat.  

My hand was a little tired after piping the grooves on the hat because I made quite a few scarecrows....and the grooves were pretty tiny...but definitely look just like an old scarecrow's hat!  

These little guys have such personality....Yes... cookies can have personality....:)   My favorite part of these little guys....their sweet pink cheeks!

Today... I ventured away from cookie baking to whip up the sweet potatoes and apple pie for our Thanksgiving Feast tomorrow...

Here is the pie before it went into the oven...

And a picture (from my phone) as soon as I pulled it out of the oven....

Hoping that it tastes as good tomorrow as my kitchen smells right now!  I promise to share the Pilgrim cookies...real soon:)

Leaves

I have seen so many fun Autumn cookies this Fall... so many creative spins on the "usual" Fall cookie.  I really wanted to not overlook the Thanksgiving holiday this year.  It seems that we go straight from Halloween and right into Christmas and almost tend to "skip over" Thanksgiving.

I have soooo much to be thankful for this year.....I don't have to wait for Christmas to receive gifts...because they are already here in my lap.  God has answered my prayers in more ways than I can count this past year...so I am definitely counting my blessings...and really trying to give this Thanksgiving holiday the credit it deserves:)

I have a lot of cookies to share....but these were some of my favorites this season.  When I saw them on LilaLoa, I was dying to make some of my own....I always love me some gooood chocolate cookies....I like plain sugar cookies...but really I'm a chocolate kinda gal.  Thanks LilaLoa for the inspiration, and for all the chuckles I get when I read your blog...it's a fun read every time!

Check back later this weekend for some more Autumn inspired treats:)  Happy Friday!

Baby Bottom and Bath Bash

Doesn't a "Baby's Bottom and Bath Bash" sound like so much fun??? I was thrilled to make these cookies for this darling themed shower.  What a fun way for friends and family to meet Mr. K.  

When I received the request... I immediately remembered a post Sweetopia had published with a VERY similar cookie.  Marian....an amazing "Cookie Queen" created this design and even made the cookie look almost "stained glass-like" to better resemble a bath shower.  You can see her incredible cookies from this post here.

To make these cute rubber duckies... I did make a paper template... I was too nervous to attempt piping the duck's body on white with black frosting without having a guide.... so I made a template from Marian's design and traced with a food writer before I piped.... I really wish I would have taken pictures of the process... It would have been a good tutorial...next time.. :)

The bubbles I made with royal icing on wax paper.  I made all different sizes and colors and let them dry.  Then I sprayed them with a pearl spray... it was sooo fun and gave the bubbles just the right amount of sheen!

I also used a few sugar pearls to add some different textures.

And because I don't have a bib cutter that I love... I just used a few different circle cutters to create a small little simple bib.

Congratulations to Mr. K's family!  Thanks for letting me create a sweet treat for you:)

Turkeys on the brain and a revelation....

Every year the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving seems to just slip away ever so quickly.  I know the next few months will be busy ones at our house...so I wanted to get some Thanksgiving cookies in before all the holiday craziness sets in.

I remember seeing these turkeys last year when Bridget posted them here.  Love how she used various cutters to make these little guys.

I made a few changes and used a few different cutters...but followed the general idea.  The result: sweet little turkeys for my sweet little ones.  Not too big...not too little.

I opted to use a small oval cutter at the bottom to form the base of the body and the feet.

Lots of piecing together to make these gobblers...but not too difficult and definitely a fun change from your standard turkey cutter!  Thanks for the idea, Bridget.... and if you haven't been to her blog recently...do stop by for a looksie...Her blog has had a "facelift" and is cuter than ever.... and this amazing lady is busy writing a book...which I can't wait to get my hands on!!!

I took lots of pictures of these little guys...just love their fallish colors!

And next... the revelation....

In addition to the turkeys... I wanted to make some owls....I had bookmarked these over a year ago when Linzy made them.  I have a thing for owls...and for birds...not real ones...just pretty decorative ones.  I was so excited to make these....

until... I realized I would have to conquer the eyes...GULP....  The puffy whites with black on top have been giving me troubles lately....those pesky little craters.  I want that puffy look but can't seem to achieve it without getting those craters as a result.  This go round I tried adding black sugar pearls rather than adding black icing to the middle...but still to no avail... when I added them when the white was wet...they sunk in too far...and when I added them to a dry white....the white cracked when I pushed them in... UGHHHH

I did not want to post these...and I admit... I did throw a few of the really bad "eye" ones away..tsk, tsk, tsk.  I was frustrated.  Mr. B kept telling me... "They're just cookies!!!"  It took me a while to come to terms with that...but yes... he is right.  So...the revelation:  It is OKAY to accept imperfection.... and now that I have kids I realize that even more.  Sometimes I see my daughter getting frustrated with a picture she is making, and she will simply throw it away.... I am always shocked because all of her artwork is so wonderful to me.  I am trying to teach her that everything doesn't have to be perfect...that there is beauty in everything.....but then I see myself getting upset with my minor cookie imperfections.... Hmmmmm... "Practice what you preach, Mama!!"  It's funny how much parenting can teach you about yourself.

Okay...I'll get off my soap box... these little guys aren't perfect....but they have character....and I'm pretty sure those "cratery" eyes will still taste darn good!!!!

A MONSTER of a job

I have seen sooo many amazing Halloween cookies from all of my cookie blogging friends who continually make my jaw drop when I see their creativity.  It was hard to decide what type of cookies I was going to make for Halloween this year...  I LOVED one idea in particular from Lila Loa...who demonstrated how you could make lots of Halloween cookies from ONE basic cutter... (not that I don't have 2 drawerfuls of Halloween cutters...but this was just too cute to pass up!) 

I chose a few of her designs and went to work.  

I have to say....these were a bit more work than I anticipated.... I tried just using flooding icing to achieve a smoother look without any piping.  And... I vowed to myself that I was determined to create "craterless" eyes on all of my Frankensteins and vampires.  But sure enough...those stinky little "pit hole like" craters showed up nonetheless on a few.

Meet Frankenstein up close and personal...

And his close friend Vampire....

And what would Halloween be without a friendly Jack?

Well... I am still open to suggestions regarding my crater issue.  When I make my eyes... I like the black part of the eye to be smooth (flush) with the white....but this can be tricky....It seems that as they dry... I sometimes get little pit holes in the black part.  The vampires seemed to pose less problems...maybe b/c the eyes were smaller...but I wanted the Frankensteins to have large whites and blacks.

After much trial and error (my mother can vouch for this)....She and I sat at my kitchen counter for a good hour and tried creating the eyes in all different consistencies, using different size tips...even using a two minute timer between adding the white and black dots.  Still.... we got some craters. UGGGHH

I don't think I will ever be able to rid myself of these annoying little craters completely, but here is what I have learned, at least for now:

1.  When making big eyes... I used a number 3 tip for the white and a number 2 tip for the black.

2.  I sometimes think that they turn out better if I don't wait too long to drop the black after I drop the white.

3.   I did notice less craters when I turned my fan on (Thanks for the tip, Callye!).

But the best thing I learned was from one of my favorite cookie friends, Linzy.....  I asked her what size tip she used on some eyes she had done and she shared that she used black sugar pearls so as not to have to mess with the crater issue at all!  AWESOME idea!  Thanks Linzy.  If you don't know Linzy....you NEED to...  She is out of this world amazing, precise, and her cookies are just about as BEAUTIFUL as she is.  You can see her amazing creations here.

 So after a busy week of experimenting and cookie"ing"...Today...my oldest had the day off of school.  So, while J was at preschool and little S was napping, Miss S was thrilled  to help me bag all the cookies I had made.   And we had a ball making these little packages for our friends.

Is she the cutest or what???

Hope everyone is having a festive "almost" Halloween weekend!!

A little bit of "spooky"

I really wanted to do some out of the ordinary Halloween cookies this year....not just your normal jack-o-lantern, ghost, etc.  So when the Cookie Queen herself came up with these....I couldn't resist.  Callye's creativity strikes again in these cookies, where she made cute witch stockings and boots out of a baby onesie cookie cutter!! Incredible.  I followed her tutorial and came up with these...

I had my pumpkin cutter out and ready to make some pumpkins when Callye gave yet another tutorial on how to make puffy pumpkins.  I loved how "real" her cookies looked.  It was a fun way to make these cookies...however, after mine where finished and dried... I noticed lots of blotchiness in my orange color.  I went over and over in my head what possibly may have caused this...and came up with these conclusions:

1.  Maybe my cookies were slightly underbaked and the oil from the butter in the cookie caused this blotchiness when it met with the RI


or


2.  Maybe using a spray bottle when trying to achieve the flooding consistency caused the blotchiness ( I used to just drop some drops of water in my stiffer frosting with a spoon to achieve desired flooding consistency until recently when I heard about the spray bottle tip)  I SURE hope this is not the cause b/c I LOVE to use the spray bottle...makes my life sooo much easier


or


3.  Maybe I needed to add white to my frosting prior to the orange color to prevent this blotchiness

If anyone has advice on how to prevent this in the future....do tell..do tell!  But for now I am trying to do all three things I mentioned above to prevent it.  I have even stopped the spray bottle.....but I MISS it.

I have more Halloween cookies to share very soon and of course more sweet baby cookies to come. The littles have already had many opportunities to wear their costumes, but are looking forward to the big night.  We need to get those pumpkins carved and then we should be set...

Be back soon-