Baby Girl Sugar Cookies

 

 

One of my friends that just had twins told me the best gift someone brought to the hospital was food. I just want to clarify that wasn't me. I didn't bring her anything, cause I didn't know any better. Now I do, thanks Megan!

 

 

The next time around (different friend) I was going to be ready. I went out and bought a onesie, rattle, baby foot and bottle cookie cutter.

 

Baby "C" personalized onesie



Baby "C" personalized rattle. Of course all of these have edible glitter on them. For the love of Pete's dragon they are baby girl cookies! The more pink and glitter the better !

 

 

As always moment of truth... I think that the baby feet look like a T-bone steak. At least the sole part of it. I'm sure that this is just my problem, but these were not my favorite. Great meow I'm craving a steak.

 

The bottles were my favorite. I loved the measuring lines markings with tiny hearts out to the side. Those were super tiny sprinkles. I utilized a pair of tweezers to place them in the right spot. Trust me, every kitchen needs a pair of tweezers.

Don't worry be HAPPY!!

 

Delightful Avocado Egg Sandwich

 

 

 Just look at it! How delicious does that look. Simple to make, but makes a pretty fancy presentation. Plus it doesn't look too bad either. Did I mention I like that way it looks, so colorful!

 

Ingredients

 

English muffin

Avocado

Cheese

Egg

Butter

Salt and Pepper

 

Ready 5,6,7,8. Put the English muffin in to your toaster. Then cut your avocado in half and slice into thin slices. Make sure your avocado is ripe, otherwise this won't work to well. I pick my avocado when they are dark in color and slightly give when you squeeze them. That's right I squeeze my fruits and veg.

 

Then melt some butter and I use real butter. I read today on the internet that butter helps you burn fat! If its on the internet its FACT. On a medium-high temp after the butter is mostly melted I'll crack an egg it in. Then add some salt and pepper. I use a large spatula to flip my egg over so I won't break the yoke. Also if your butter is popping at you, turn down the heat!

 

So while your egg is frying away, start putting your sandwich together. Pull out your freshly toasted english muffin. Add a piece of cheese. I like Colby-jack because it tastes great and melts nice, real nice. Then grab your cut avocado. Run a spoon around the inside of the skin and it should come out in a nice fan. ( See above, see below, that's a nice fan.)

 

By the time you've done all that, your egg has mostly likely burnt. Why did I spend so much time on the avocado fan? Add your hot fried egg on top of the cheese. Let the melting begin. Then just put the two sides together, because its a sandwich. Enjoy.

 

This beast is my gross monster most commonly referred to as Elmer.

Little red wagon planter

 

Little Red Wagon Planter

 

 

My weekend project a little red wagon planter. I love the little red wagon and I love flowers. So why not combine the two?

 

 

First I started by buying some flowers. I always get nervous putting flowers in my car. If a spider would come out of one I'm 100% sure that I would wreck my car. I don't like to put them in the trunk because I can't see them. Life is rough.

 

 

This is what I started with. My little red wagon, flowers and some garden soil. The little red wagon has holes drilled in the bottom of it for good drainage.

 

 

I added a bottom layer of soil to the wagon. I also added bricks on both sides to put drinks on. Then I just started to add plants. I put the taller plants to the back and added some trailing vines in the front.

 

 

Give it some time and it will fill in. This is a portable planter. Game of croquet anyone? Set up the course add some chairs then pull this bad bog around to put your drinks on. Could you ask for a better evening? I think not. 

 

This has been Misti tested and Elmer approved! 

21 birthday cookies

 

~ 21st Birthday Cookies ~

 

 

Is there any better way to celebrate a 21st birthday than with cookies? I think not.

 

 

Martini glass cookies- I found this cookie cutter from cheapcookiecutters.com. I'm pretty sure that this place would have every cookie cutter you could think of. I'm not going to lie, they were fairly difficult to cut out. The stem of the glass and the bottom of the glass were hard to get from the table onto the cookie sheet without breaking. I just tried to press them back together on the cookie sheet. They mostly turned out well. Some of the stems also were not straight to the base, I could have done a better job. They all got ate so I'm pretty sure it didn't even matter.

 

 

Again its all about the presentation. I use small treat bags and raffia to package up these goodies.

 

 

For the martini glasses I used a bigger treat bag and raffia again. I made these cookies on a very humid day, the icing was having a hard time setting up. The bags were sticking to the cookies :( Not everything goes as planned, life goes on.

 

 

I used a box from  www.brpboxshop.com. You can buy these boxes in bulk. They are reasonably priced and very durable. Many of the boxes come in multiple colors and sizes. This by far is my favorite place to get boxes from. Again is about the presentation. You can put some crappy cookies in a box and if the box is fancy it will make your cookies a little less crappy. Meow get out there and bake something!

Birthday Cake Pudding

BIRTHDAY CAKE PUDDING SHOTS 

 

 

These tiny treats are always hit where ever you take them. As always they are super easy to make. You could also make them into " graduation cake shots, wedding cake shots or just cake shots". For this occasion they are 21st birthday cake shots. Perfect on so many levels.

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 packet of cheesecake pudding

1 tub of whipped topping

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup Rum Chata

1/4 cup cake vodka

 

 

 

Add packet of pudding, milk, rum chata and vodka. Mix like you would for normal pudding. After you mix the pudding add the whipped topping in. Do yourself a favor a sit out the whip topping so that it is soft. This will allow it to mix easier and you won't have frozen clumps of whipped topping. Side bar- you may feel the need to add just a little more alcohol into this mix.. DON'T DO IT.. it will make your pudding very runny. I know this from personal experience ;)

 

 

After the pudding is all set up you'll want to place it in small containers. Its easier for people to eat and makes a better presentation. I used 2oz containers ( see picture below). I used a measuring cup to pour it into the containers. I think that if you had a decorating bag or even a zip lock you could pipe it into the cups.

 

 

After you have your pudding poured into the cups feel free to add some SPRINKLES.

 

 

 I found some 4 inch wooden spoons. They are perfectly tiny for perfectly tiny pudding shots. After you get all the wonderful pudding shots put together put them in a box with your spoons. I think that this should count as a side dish. So instead of bringing baked beans next time to the BBQ, bring some pudding shots. I can promise that no one will complain about your contribution.

Colorful marble cake

COLORFUL MARBLE CAKE

 Marble cakes are delicious, but they could be better. Black and white is boring,why not add a little color in your life or cake?? Easy to do and adds interest into your cake.

First I made a chocolate cake mix and a white cake mix. I just added purple food coloring into the white cake mix, for K-State. Go Wild Cats! You really could add any color you wanted to. Maybe even divide the white into several colors, a rainbow marble cake sounds amazing. You could also make this into a gender reveal cake, blue or pink, easy enough.

I just randomly poured the mixes together in a 11" by 15" pan. I baked this cake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Don't worry if the top looks brown, once you cut into the cake, you'll be able to see the color. Frost and decorate how you want to, its all good. Meow get out there and do something sweet!

Super cake

SUPER DUPER CAKE

I don't even know where to begin.. So I'll start from the beginning. My sister wanted a cake that said " Super Star " with and star and skull and cross bones. I should probably throw in there that she is 30 years of age. She being the trophy wife asked me with the husband, 2 jobs, 4 cats and a gross dog ( ELMER) to do this for her. Of course I said " YES !"

I baked a 11" by 15" marbled cake. Then I frosted it with chocolate hazelnut buttercream. If I were not technology challenged I would link you to my recipe that I used. If you want it probably just scroll down to my other blogs. 

Then I piped stars around the base of the cake using a Wilton 1M tip. Super easy to do. This really is a no fail border for a cake.

It is an easy border, that anyone could do. So to make people a little more impressed i added a  pearl sprinkle to each star. Hint of Sprinkles :) Do yourself a favor.. Go to the local dollar store and get a pair of tweezers. You will be able to place each sprinkle exactly where you want it. Then when people ask " How were you able to place each sprinkle right in the center?" You'll be able to share your trade secret. Then when they ask " Did you buy a pair of tweezers for your kitchen or did you just wash yours really good?" You'll be able to answer " Ewww, of course I bought new ones."

After the border I moved to the main attraction. I just used a Wilton 7 tip for the lettering. Then I drew the star using the kindergarten technique and the filled it in. I used a spatula to smooth out the star.

Skull Star Cake anyone??? This little dude is pretty tiny, I used a Wilton 4 tip. I drew a mushroom shape and filled it in. Then below I drew an X. I used my tweezers to place the eyes and two long chocolate sprinkles for the teeth gap. If I was thinking I could have saved the chocolate buttercream and piped over the white buttercream. Oh well, If that's the worst thing that happens, life is good. At the end of each line I piped a tiny heart. There you have it friends a skull and cross bones. 

** I also glittered the whole cake, because glitter makes people better people. Its a fact, check the internet.

Chocolate hazelnut buttercream

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BUTTERCREAM

Chocolate hazelnut buttercream:

2 lbs of powdered sugar

2 stick of butter

1 stick of crisco

5 TBS cocoa powder

1/2 cup chocolate hazelnut spread

6-8 TBS milk

2 tsp vanilla

First cream your softened butter and crisco together. BTW its 1 cup each, its just easier to buy them in sticks. It's A LOT less messier that way. Add in vanilla. Next add the cocoa powder and chocolate hazelnut spread. You may have to stop your mixer and add this. If you try to add it while mixing you may end up with the spatula being ripped from your hands. Not saying that happened to me, just that it could happen to you. Moving on, once you have everything creamed together, start adding in the powered sugar. I like to add half then add some milk then mix in the other half. Followed up with milk to make the buttercream to the consistency of your choice. 

The more milk you add the thinner it will be. I don't care for chocolate, but i thought that this was most delicious!

meow go forth and bake! 

Rainbow tank

RAINBOW TANK

Needed a fun tank top for a color 5K run. I got these white tank tops at the local Wal-Mart for $4. Not to bad :) But they are pretty plain, that's just lame. I looked around the house and came up with an idea. 

Rainbow Bow Tank Tops

These are going to be so fun to make.

Thanks to previous crafting fails, I had some scrap material. 

I ironed it first, because I like to store my material wadded up in balls. I think is saves space that way! Then I cut my piece into a square. I didn't measure, because i'm lazy and just didn't want to. Just eyeball it my friends, no point of making crafting hard.

Let's take a second to get real. This shirt is going to get stained and destroyed. I am NOT going to pull my 1970's sewing machine out for this project.  Moving on, I fold the material over on itself and sewed it by hand. Then I scrunched it up in the center and secured it.

POOF!!! A rainbow bow was born.

I made a larger bow to put onto the back of the tank. Again, being real, no one is probably going to even see it because i'll be at the back of the pack. This 5K is for fun, no one should be there to compete. I just tacked it on to the back of the shirt on all the points of the bow.

I had extra material and extra time, so I made a tiny baby bow! Ahh, just look at it. Just follow the steps above, but in a tiny way. And there you have it. A customized rainbow bow tank top for $4. 

No blood was lost in the making of this craft.

Cardinal cookie pops!

 

Cardinal Cookie Pops

 

 

How cute are these little birdies? I made these for a high school graduation. Can you guess what the mascot was? If you guessed Cardinal you would be right!

 

 

 

First get your prefect sugar cookie recipe. I like to roll it out using parchment paper, this ensures that you don't have to add flour and dry out your cookies. Boo :( Then I use 1/4'' sticks to roll out the dough. This way all of your cookies are completely flat and smooth. This makes is sooooo much easier to decorate.  

 

 

I used a silpat mat to cook these birds on. Parchment paper works just as well. I used Wilton lollipop sticks. It says on the packaging that they are not intended for oven use. I baked my cookies at 350 degrees for 9 min with the lollipop sticks in the cookies. I didn't burn down my stove or house, so its all good I think.

 

 

Let your delicious cookie pops completely cool before you start to decorate them. I use royal icing to decorate. Also side note when making royal icing I hope you have a stand mixer. The first time I made it all I had was a hand mixer and it broke, in my hands. It died in my hands!! Anyways, outline your cookie in a thicker royal icing then go back and flood it with a thinned down royal icing. 

 

Royal Icing-

4 cups of confectioners' sugar

3 tablespoons of meringue powder

6 tablespoons of water (H20)

2 teaspoons of flavoring

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Add everything into your STAND MIXER, and whip on high for 10 minutes. I also use amaretto flavoring in my icing. I guess you could use vanilla, if you hate adventure.  

 

 

After you have your cookie flooded, let it harden. Then you add a wing with the thick royal icing. I used Wilton Food Writer pens for the black. Lets be real here for a minute. No one likes the way black food coloring tastes!! After adding the black to the face, I added a black sprinkle for the eye. Use tweezers for this, it will make is so much easier. Work smart not hard! Then I had orange royal icing for the little beak!

 

 

Edible Glitter!! It is a proven fact that glitter makes cookies taste better. Let these bad dogs dry for awhile before you try to package them, or you'll have smeared cardinal cookies. No one wants that!

 

 

Presentation is everything ! I used a book cookie stand that I made to display these little fellers. That's it in a nut shell. Cardinal Cookie Pops