Killer Zebras

St. Patrick's Day barely in time

2012-03-17T22:26:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm a little late but technically it's 10 PM and therefore still St. Patrick's Day! This really isn't a big holiday for me... I'm not Irish, I'm German. But holidays are fun no matter what, especially if you have children! My little Matthew man recently started preschool...

{adorable picture of Matthew on his first day of school, this proud mom just had to include this... he was practically bursting with excitement in case you can't tell from his face!}

...and he has apparently been telling people that he likes to make cookies with mommy. I was talking to the owner and mentioned that I'd love to make cookies for his class sometime... so here we are! They had a St. Patrick's Day party this week and we brought cookies for the class!

I'll be honest, this is not my best work... these were pretty rushed. Regardless, the kids loved them and Matthew was so proud to be bringing cookies in to his class!

So...

Happy {a little late} St. Patrick's Day!

pink zebra flowers

2012-03-14T17:33:00.001-07:00

Two pink posts in a row! Living in a house with 3 boys means I don't get to do girly stuff very often. These cookies were for the birthday of a sweet girl named Kate. According to her mom, she likes "flashy" things!

Hopefully these fit the bill...

The design idea originally came from Sweet Sugarbelle, although these were

done last fall and I can't seem to find the post she did that inspired these.

And unfortunately my camera is broken so these - and all cookies in the near future - were taken with my cell phone. It's a good thing I have a decent phone.

Little Mary

2012-02-28T21:30:00.000-08:00

Growing up, I had a second family. When I was about a year and a half old I moved to a small town in New Hampshire called Merrimack. I haven't lived there for almost 14 years now but I still consider it to be where I grew up, and a large part of me still thinks of it as home. There was a family there who my family was close with, and I've known them all my memory. Two of their kids are my age... Matt is about 6 months older then me and as kids we always competed for who was the tallest (these days I think he has a good 6 inches on me at least). He was my first kiss (we were about 3 or 4) and we used to play tag with each other, except when we caught the other we would kiss. This is a fact we earnestly denied as we got older, and it's also a fact that our older siblings never let us forget. "Little Mary" was the other, about a year younger than me, and her and I were best friends. My younger brother Tommy had a major crush on her for a long time and as a little kid he used to sing "I love Mary Kahler" all he time. My family referred to her as "Little Mary" for years because I have an older sister named Merry.

Here we are, that's me in the middle:

And here is Mary with my brother Tommy!

I came across those pictures recently and had to share! But on to cookies. Little Mary is little no longer, and while we haven't seen each other in many years (what with living on opposite sides of the country) I still keep in touch with her and all of my second family. Well Mary recently had her first baby and I wanted to do something for her. I talked to her Mom and sister, and sent some surprise cookies for her baby shower whose theme was pink and black damask:

These first ones are my favorites, but they were pretty intricate. This is my first time doing damask and I think they came out pretty good!

I also tried a simpler pattern

And threw in some baby carriages as well.

And just because I worked hard on these and they are my

favorites... one more picture of these damask cookies!

I'm definitely going to have to play around with this pattern some more.

And I'm happy to announce that Elizabeth Keila was born on November 17th, 2011 (which is a wonderful birthday... Matthew's is the next day!) and she is healthy and beautiful!

On another note, I'm feeling adventurous and I'm in the mood to start making cookies again... except I can't decide what theme to go with! Any suggestions?

it's been a long year...

2012-02-23T14:02:00.001-08:00

I've disappeared from this blog for quite some time now... and I haven't posted any cookies in nearly a year! I announced in my last post that I was pregnant, and I haven't posted since then because... well, mainly because I don't have easy pregnancies and life just gets busy on top of everything else!

I'm happy to announce though:

my little guy is here!

say hello to

Miles Aaron

Or as I call him at home, my sweet little one. Why? Because he is the sweetest little guy ever (on a side note he is not remotely little - he's enormous for his age!). And I mean ever. He never cries, and all he wants to do all day is snuggle and smile at you. Not to mention he's been sleeping 7 hours at night since he was a week and a half old... I'd call that sweet!

We also have a very proud big brother Matthew, he absolutely adores Miles. I'm sure that will change in time... but it has been almost 2 months and it's still going strong!

And in other good news... now that Miles is out of me (finally), my aversion to the smell of cookies has gone away! To be honest that's sort of a double edged sword. Especially with all this pregnancy weight to lose.

I'll sort that part out later, though.

I'm getting excited to get back in to the cookie making mode, and I have a few pictures to show you guys as I did manage to make a few batches while pregnant. Cookies to come very soon!

I've got a bit of explaining to do

2011-07-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

I've been missing for a couple of months, and the couple posts I have done since Mother's Day have not really been about cookies. The thing is, I've not been able to do any baking... because of this:

That's right, I'm about to have another one of these...

(This is Matthew at about 5 days old.)

At first I was just too exhausted to make cookies, and then I had a birthday order to do and I realized something... I have an aversion to my own cookies! It's not a small one either... if I smell nearly any sort of cookie it makes me want to... well this is a food blog, so I won't gross you out but I think you can guess! In fact just scrolling through my pictures of cookies makes me feel sick. Crazy, right?

As it turns out I have trouble doing most types of baking, and I finally figured out the main (but not only) culprit: VANILLA. That makes me so sad! Not only is vanilla one of my favorite smells (or at least, it used to be) but it's in everything.

I'm really excited for this baby, but my baking has sort of gone out the window. Now that the worst of my morning sickness seems to have subsided I think I'll be able to get back in the kitchen, but I may not have any cookies to show for a while still. On the other hand, since I've been baking less I've gotten back to doing some projects around the house... most of you don't know but I have another blog, it's really just one that I do for fun, but I usually put up projects that I work on around my house. I expect that one will probably start being updated more than this, but hopefully I can keep up both. For anyone interested in checking it out, here is the link: Hopefully you will see me back here soon! Wish me luck!

Bowl of Oranges

Hopefully you will see me back here soon! Wish me luck!

French Macarons

2011-05-16T11:21:00.001-07:00

This post is going up quite late - actually I had planned to have it up before Mother's Day! Oh well, too late now. I hope all of you mothers out there had a great day, my boys gave me some great gifts... all baking related, so you'll be seeing those soon! Although there is probably going to be a lag in posts in the next couple weeks... I'm not making as many cookies, but for good reason! I'll be able to you guys in a couple weeks, and until that time hopefully I'll be able to put out some more recipes instead.

For Mother's Day I wanted to make something extra special for the moms in our life.

Has anyone out there not heard of French Macarons?

Are these the new cupcake or something? They seem to be gaining in popularity like crazy! It's no suprise though, as they are both unique and incredibly delicious! Maybe one of the things that make them so desirable though, is their rarity. Unless you are in Paris (I wish), you are probably going to have a hard time finding somewhere to buy these. I've seen a few bakeries that will ship them, but I've never ever tried that route. Of course if you can't buy them, the next obvious option is to make them. Macarons are known for being finicky though, so they aren't something you can just decide to whip up one afternoon.

I'm no expert on macarons - far from it. Mine are not perfect. Yet. I have only made them a few times, and my first time was a complete disaster! They came out great the second time, except I had run out of parchment paper (and didn't have silpat at the time) and used wax paper to cook them on thinking it was my next best option. Wrong!

{EDITED TO ADD: I receive a surprising number of google searches looking to see if wax paper is ok to use with macarons. Although I never addressed it directly in this post, I think the context is clear. In any case I will spell it out for anyone who is looking for a direct answer. DON'T DO IT! The macarons cooked beautifully, but when it was time to take them off of the wax paper... it was like they were superglued down. I just barely soaked the paper in water and was able to peel about half of them off... but unless you are VERY careful you will ruin the macarons... plus it took forever. Trust me on this, just invest in parchment paper or silpat.}

If there is one thing I've learned about making macarons, it's that you have to be extremely precise in every aspect of the recipe. After my first failure I did a lot of googling (this is what I do when I have a question about anything!) to find reasons why I had failed. There is a lot of information out there with tips and tricks and some of it is even contradicting... the perfect way to make macarons is not as elusive as it seems though.

Most of the recipes I have come across are very similar, and my two favorites come from BraveTart and Tartelette. I like BraveTart's view on macarons... which is that they are only a cookie. In my opinion, with some planning and prep... anyone can make these! I won't put a recipe on here, as I only like to put up my own recipes... but check out both of the links above and you will find some great recipes.

If there is interest out there, I can do a step by step post on how to make these. For now, I'd just like to mention some of the thing's I've learned along the way!

* Aging your egg whites - To age egg whites you separate the egg whites into a bowl and cover with a paper towel, leaving out on the counter for 24-48 hours. Some people are weirded out by leaving eggs at room temperature... to which I say: chickens don't lay eggs in a refrigerator. In many other countries, eggs are not even stored in the fridge. The purpose of aging is to let some of the water evaporate out of the whites. Some people say you should do this, some say it's not necessary. In my opinion, you will have a much easier time if you do... but I think it depends more on where you are cooking than anything. Moisture (excessive, at leaste) seems to be an enemy of the macaron, and as I live in the Seattle area - where moisture in the air is to be expected - the less moisture in the egg whites from the start, the better. I suggest you try it different ways, and see what works best for you.

* Measuring - If you have it, use a digital scale to measure all ingredients (in fact, that's how I bake 100% of the time). Also be sure to sift your almond flour and powdered sugar together (the powdered sugar will keep the almond flour from sticking). I recommend sifting at least twice.

* Almond Flour - Almond flour is nice, but expensive. For those who don't have access or don't want to spend the money, you can grind your own almonds (watch it carefully so it doesn't turn into butter!). I go the middle ground and buy almond meal at Trader Joes. If you grind your own, you will want to dry it out either on the counter for a few days or in the oven (be careful not to burn!). You want it to be dry enough that if you try to pack it into a ball, it will not hold together.

*Humidity - As I said, moisture seems to be an enemy of the macaron and the more moisture in the air, the more likely your macarons will fail. On a particularly wet day, I make the macarons in the kitchen with the oven door slightly ajar so as to dry out the kitchen. Also macarons release moisture as they cook, and I've found it helpful to put a wooden spoon in the door of the oven while they are cooking so that there isn't too much moisture. Excessive moisture leads to cracked tops on the shell. I've heard that if you have a convection oven this isn't as much of an issue... but I really don't know how true that statement is!

*Mixing/Batter Consistancy - I think one of the key aspects of getting a macaron to come out right is the consistancy of the batter. It's all in how long you mix for. You don't need to be particularly gentle while mixing, but you do have to watch the consistancy of the batter closely. Ideally it will be the consistancy of magma. Or at least, that's what every recipe will tell you... however I don't know who all these people are who seem to have first hand experience as to what magma is like! That term has always confused me... and I will say that this step is the one area where I still need improvement. I tend to leave my batter just a little too thick most of the time. Mostly I think I'm afraid of it ending up too thin, at which point there isn't much you can do to save it. I've read that you can add small amount of almond flour to thicken it, but I really can't say if that would work.

*Piping - An easy trick to get your shells all a consistant size: trace circles on a piece of parchment paper and then flip it over and pipe onto the other side. Don't make the mistake and forget to flip the paper over... I did that once and ended up with pencil marks on the underside of my macaron shells!

Well that's about it for the moment. If anyone has any questions or needs any help, feel free to comment or email me with questions! Also, are there any particular recipes or baking help anyone is interested in? If there's something you'd like to see here on the blog, be sure to let me know!

Mother's day lace cookies

2011-05-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

Quick note before you check out this post, if you haven't checked to see if you are a winner of the giveaway, scroll down to the next post or click here!

Finally some pictures. These are the cookies I'm sending out for the winners! For Mother's Day I wanted to do something very feminine. For some reason I just don't work with the color purple a lot (I guess it just doesn't come up very often) so I thought I would go with a purple theme. Lace reminds me of my own mother, especially because she makes all of her own clothes... and by clothes I mean dresses because she wears nothing else! And yes, you read that right. My Mom makes all of her own clothes. Nearly every dress is trimmed or somehow complimented with some kind of lace, so I think of her when I see lace.

These next ones were more of some experimentation. I've done some like this before but never so large and never with such contrasting colors. What do you think?

They remind me of something, but I can't quite put my finger on it... maybe some old vintage fabric I saw at my Grandmama's house? She has lots of fabric, seeing as she makes her own clothes as well. Or at least, she did. She's over 90 now so I'm thinking she doesn't sew as much anymore!

I had to throw in some more flowers... what is Mother's day without lots of flowers?

So what are your Mother's Day plans, are you going to see your Mom? Is your family doing something special for you? Word from Aaron is that he has a suprise for me... I can't wait to see what it is!

For the Mothers in my life I have a very special something that I'm going to be baking for them (non cookie related!). I haven't made them in a long time so I'm hoping they come out good. I'll be posting a recipe up this week!

Don't forget to tell your Mother that you love her!

Winners of my first giveaway

2011-05-03T20:19:00.000-07:00

My first giveaway is at an end, and I have to say you guys are amazing. Such wonderful comments and emails from everyone, I just can't believe how many of you turned out! I don't have time for a full post tonight, so you'll have to wait till tomorrow to get a good look at all of the cookies, but here is a little peak...

Even though I don't have time to post pictures, I wanted to announce the winner so that I can get these shipped as soon as possible! And now it's time to announce a winner, but first I have a surprise..

You all impressed me so much, that I just couldn't choose only one person.

So I chose three.

#45 - Kris

# 27 - Brooks Interior

#8 - Jenny

I'll email you guys and get your addresses for shipping. Be sure to respond right away so that your cookies can get there before Mother's Day!

Check back tomorrow for the full pictures!

rubber ducky, you're the one!

2011-05-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ok first of all I have to say - WOW you guys! Lots of entries for the giveaway, and I've been getting a barrage of emails every day from all you lovely ladies! You are the best! If you haven't entered the giveaway yet, make sure to do so here! Heads up on a small change though: I'm changing the deadline to Tuesday at 6 PM Pacific time, because I'd really like to make sure the cookies get to you before Mother's Day and with the possibility of them being mailed to the East Coast... well, I don't want to push it too much! So be on the lookout for the winners Tuesday night, because I'll need your addresses right away for shipping!

And now, a few quick cookie pictures!

These were for a baby shower over the weekend. I hope you enjoyed them Holly! I acturally get a lot of enjoyment out of seeing people's faces when they see their cookies for the first time - but Holly's husband picked these up so I didnt get to see how she liked them.

She was doing a rubber ducky theme and asked for a dozen. I like the little rubber duckies, but I am never one to stick with the simple route... I always want to do something extra. So I did a half dozen regular duckies...

And a half dozen duckies in the bath! What do you think? The bubbles are iredecent, but that never seems to come across well in my photographs.

Matthew loved the ducks, and he has the cutest way of saying "quack quack!" so I enjoyed listening to him quacking like a duck all weekend!

By the way if you are one of Kathy's (my mother in law) readers over at Never Enough Thyme, you may have seen these already (albeit a picture taken with a cell phone). My husband shared a picture of my project with her and she posted it up... he (in all his technology nerdyness, which I love so much) likened it to when the iPhone 4 was leaked on Gizmodo before Apple had offcially released information about it. Somehow... these two events don't seem equavilent. Although I appreciate the sentiment!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway if you haven't already! Love you guys!

A Mother's Day cookie givaway!

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Easter is over... but guess what's almost here?

Mother's Day

I wonder what my two boys have planned for me? Something good I hope! Do you have anything planned for the mother in your life? I still have a couple spots open before Mother's Day if you think your Mom would enjoy cookies!

And speaking of cookies...

I've been baking up a storm lately, and I find myself with a few extra cookies... I wouldn't want them to go to waste! My sister says maybe I should share them with my readers. What do you think? I only see a small number of followers on the sidebar, but I keep a close eye on my stats and my email account. I have received such an overwhelming response from everyone, and so much support! I'd love to give a little something back!

The cookies I'm giving away are a surprise... so no pictures yet. They are springy though, and something you haven't seen. Interested?

Here are 3 ways to enter:

1 - Become a follower

2 - Link back to this post on Facebook

3 - Blog about this on your own blog

Be sure to leave a comment for each entry, and be sure to include your email address otherwise I won't be able to contact you. Giveaway ends Tuesday, May 3rd, at 6 PM Pacific time. Only 3 entries per person. U.S. residents only.

I'll be sure to mail these cookies to get there before May 8th, so who out there wants some Mother's Day cookies? I know there aren't truly a LOT of you out there, but I know there's more than the ones that generally make themselves heard! So make yourself heard!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is my entroposcope:

and clearly entropy is decreasing.
Be on the lookout for an occurance of unprecedented weird.

...Thursday Next? Anyone? Anyone? Ok maybe that's just the nerd in me.

Anyway...

Jellybeans!

When I was getting Easter candy for Matthew, it occurred to me that he doesn't really need candy, and he really does love cookies way more than candy. So cookie jellybeans it is!

Here he is with his Easter basket from Oma, he had so much fun on Easter morning!

This is his Easter basket from Aaron and I... there's something lacking in presentation here, but I think we made up for it in one aspect:

Woody and Bullseye saved us here!

The Easter bunny decided to visit us too!

I debated putting this picture up... I'm not really a fan of pictures taken of me right after I wake up! But check out what I'm holding - I haven't experimented with macarons in a while, so I'll have to make some again! You can count on a post about them, hopefully soon!

Matthew loved his jellybean cookies, and I have to say - perfect size for a toddler!

Happy Easter

everyone! Hope yours was as great as ours!

Easter eggs - the bane of my decorating life

2011-04-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

There is something about decorating Easter eggs that has always eluded me. Maybe it's the weirdly rounded shape? Or maybe it's all of those pastel colors... I'm not typically a pastel kind of person. In any case like I said here, my mind just goes blank when I look at an egg to decorate.

My favorite one that I made is the yellow one here in the front. I think it's my only truely succesful Eastery looking egg! I have issues.

My mother-in-law Kathy gave me some sanding sugar in Easter colors that I had to try out. I love the pink and yellow!

Here I wanted to try some really simple designs with the sugar. My favorite is the yellow!

So how did I do? Are they Eastery enough? Well anyhow they taste good so hopefully the recipients can overlook the visual aspect this time!

spring animals

2011-04-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

When I saw this lamb cookie cutter I just knew I had to try it out, it's just too cute! I was pretty tired the night I did these and so there isn't a lot too them... looking back, maybe I should have put a little bow or bell around his neck. I'm always a fan of clean lines though and I kind of feel like this little guy is what Spring is all about - new life - just bright and clean, and undisturbed. I did feel as though he needed something more though.

This guy didn't photograph well, but in person he's a lot cuter. I just used regular sugar to sand him with, and the effect is a slightly fuzzy baby lamb. So cute!

These rabbits are the same - pretty basic, but I love them anyway! Sometimes less is more I think. I'm not loving the pink one, although to be fair when I mixed the pink color the night before it was a lot lighter - all icing colors deepen within 24 hours of mixing them, but I have found some colors go a lot darker than others.

Here is a closeup. I really need to get a better camera! The ears and nose have pink on them, but the flash of my camera detracts from that. Of course, if I don't use the flash all of the pictures come out fuzzy. Anyone want to donate a really nice camera to me? ...I thought not.

Now for some color! White is nice - but I love the bright colors of this time of year! This cookie cutter was supposed to be a bumble bee, but I like being able to take one shape and turn it into something else. I had to do an orange one. This is my throwback to the Monarch butterfly - which I use to see a lot of in the town I grew up in: Merrimack, NH. I don't see a whole lot of butterflies out here in Washington.

More butterflies. How could anyone not love butterflies?

And of course I had to do some bumblebees too, since that's what the cookie cutter was meant for! Although, I personally thought the bumblebees on the packaging of the cookie cutter were really ugly. I hate the phrase "think outside the box"... but it really applies to making cookies. Anyway that's half the fun - just coming up with your own designs!

And what would make a cute little bumblebee happy? Some flowers of course!

Happy Almost Easter guys - only a few more days! Be sure to check back, I have more Easter designs coming!

a quick update

2011-04-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Easter is nearly here! I'm excited for this year because my little Matthew is finally getting old enough to start understanding holidays. Although, he told me he did NOT want to see the Easter Bunny or do an egg hunt... until I told him there would be candy involved to which he said "egg hunt please!"

I have so much to put up on the blog but of course the busier I am baking, the less time I have to post. So here is just a quick update with a couple cookie designs from last week, not my favorites I think but I like to experiment with new shapes and designs!

As Easter is getting closer I think the post about wedding cookies will have to wait for next week (I can't wait to show you guys though!) - but check back again this week as I have some really cute stuff to show you! How are you guys preparing for Easter?

coconut buttercream frosting - and a wedding cake!

2011-04-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

My baby brother got married! I actually already talked about that in this post here, but that was the actual wedding in Idaho. Their reception was out here in Washington since this is where they are both from. I made the cake and about 17 dozen cookies for their reception. That, along with a couple other orders, is why I was so busy last week!

According to Tommy (my brother). neither him or Carly are big cake fans. Because of this they didn't want regular cake, so they decided on pound cake with Coconut buttercream frosting. That, my friends, is a whole lot of pound cake! It was so good - but rich!

For transportation reasons, I had to keep the tiers separate and

assemble/finish the cake when I got there...

And of course I got there late, so I was rushing to get things done! As my sister says... that's what happens when you try on 4 different dresses and can't decide what to wear! It's true. In the end I just went with something that matched my boots because I just had to wear them... I wish I'd gotten pictures of those!

I had a helper though, so that ~~sped things up~~ was completely adorable but a major time waster! It's hard to get things done with a two year old trying to swipe a taste of frosting.

He is too cute to be upset with though!
Thankfully Grandpa swooped in and saved the ~~day~~ cake.

People were starting to arrive as I was finishing, but I think I did alright!

Tommy said they wanted a "homey" looking cake... I'm not sure exactly what that means... or if I should be offended that they came to me to produce something "homey"... but he's my brother so I suppose I'll give him the benefit of the doubt!

Aren't they cute? Here they are exchanging their rings.

Carly just looks so pretty here!

Cutting the cake... you can see from these pictures that as wedding cakes go, this one is on the smaller side. They didn't want anything too big so the largest tier, on the bottom, is just 12 inches.

They donned aprons while serving the cake - naturally my brother wore the girly one!

So how about a recipe? The coconut buttercream frosting is just wonderful! Again, it's very rich - especially when paired with the pound cake - but so amazing!

__________________________________________

Coconut Buttercream

3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/2 tsp. coconut extract
3 tablespoons water
6 cups powdered sugar (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1. In a large bowl, cream shortening and butter.
2. Add coconut and water .
3. Gradually add sugar, a little at at a time, until all of the sugar is
incorporated. Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl often.
Continue to beat until icing is light and fluffy.

* Refrigerated in an airtight container, icing can be stored up to 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.
* This recipe makes enough to fill and ice a standard two 8" or 9" round layers, or three 6" round layers.

__________________________________________

I've got wedding cookies to show you guys too, those will hopefully be up tomorrow! In the meantime I'll leave you with this beautiful picture my mom took of the reception hall... I'll have to find more pictures of the reception itself, it was so pretty!

easter chick cookies

2011-04-14T11:11:00.000-07:00

My sister Sandie found these cookie cutters a couple weeks ago and said she couldn't resist getting them! I like that they aren't just the standard rabbit/egg/chick kind of thing. I especially liked the rabbit popping out of the egg, but in my mind I saw little chicks in bunny outfits. Is that what they look like? That's what they are supposed to look like.

I had to do at least one actual bunny!

My only problem here was decorating the eggs... I have this weird issue with decorating eggs. I always have! Hand me an egg to decorate and my mind goes completely blank. Due to this, my egg decorating may be somewhat less than inventive. I'll have to get in some more practice before Easter gets here! What is your favorite way to decorate an Easter egg?

a bit of spring

2011-04-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Spring is finally here... which means here in Washington we still have a while before we get any weather that is actually decent. At least we are headed there though! With April here, I've started getting a lot of Spring and Easter requests. I love the bright colors this time of year so that's just fine by me! I've got a few designs to show you guys so I'll have to break them up into multiple posts.

Some bright flowers seemed like a great way to start the season! Tulips are a favorite of mine and always remind me of this time of year. When I was about 5 my mom bought some lovely pink tulips and we planted them around our front porch. Every year I looked forward to them blooming because they were something I actually helped plant! Random memory: I remember one year my sister Sandie and I picked the petals off of the tulips and put them in plastics bags with water. Then we went around our neighborhood trying to sell them as homemade perfume. We were so proud of ourselves!

I can't wait to see some flowers booming around here! And along the line of plants...

How about some cute little carrots?

Carrots naturally remind me of the Easter Bunny... another random childhood memory: When I was little I wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny and left it in my empty basket the night before Easter. My siblings teased me about it... until the next morning when I was the only one that got a card from the Easter Bunny, and a pair of earrings as a thank you for the note. HA! In your face! That's just generally to all of my brothers and sisters since I can't actually remember which ones teased me.

You know I love you guys.

I hope everyone out there is starting to feel winter thawing. That especially goes out to all of my New England friends - you guys had a rough winter. I miss living there but I can't say I was missing it while watching the weather reports last winter!

More spring - or more specifically, Easter - cookies to come this week! Hopefully I'll have time to post, I may have bitten off more than I can chew this week... wish me luck!

French themed thank you cookies

2011-04-06T08:00:00.000-07:00

Recently my mother-in-law, Kathy, watched Matthew for us for 3 days and he even spent 2 nights at her house! That week was supposed to be her week to relax at home by herself but she did us a big favor in helping out. I wanted to do something as a thank you, and I know how much she loves anything with a French theme!

Moi aussi.

The Eiffel Tower was an obvious first choice. There's just something enchanting about it, no? Kathy is lucky enough to have actually been there (I have not though... yet), so I knew she'd enjoy these.

The fleur-de-lis was my next choice. It's hard to tell from these photos (my camera is on the fritz and so my pictures are somewhat less than perfect!) but that shine is because they are brushed with gold. I know Kathy collects all kind of things with this symbol on it, and since the fleur-de-lis is technically a lily flower it counts as spring-y too... right? Maybe not.

I needed a third black and white design, and I thought the silhouette gift I made her for Mother's Day last year was the perfect thing to finish it off. What do you think? Word is, she likes them so much she is having them preserved... I hope at least some of them get eaten! After all, that's what they are for! Although I like the idea of somehow making fake cookies that look real but wouldn't go bad... maybe as ornaments? Would that be of interest to anyone?

strawberry swiss meringue buttercream

2011-04-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've got some more cookies to show you guys, but as the cookies have not yet been delivered (and I like to surprise the recipients) I won't be posting them up until tomorrow! In the meantime I thought I'd post another recipe. For those few of you who read my personal blog, you'll recognize this as a repeat. This recipe is one of my most popular and requested, so I had to share it anyway!

When I first saw this recipe, I dismissed it as something I would probably never take the time to make because at first glance it sounded difficult and too time consuming to make (of course, this was before I started baking to the degree I do now). I eventually ended up giving it a try because... well, it sounded good! And WOW, is it good. It's light and fluffy, and just the right amount of sweet. It's also much stiffer than it appears which makes it great for filling cakes.

Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup egg whites

2 1/2 (1 1/4 cup) sticks butter, softened

1/4 cup strawberry puree

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together sugar and egg whites.

2. Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water. Whisking constantly, heat until all the sugar crystals have dissolved and the mixture is hot. Get it as hot as you can, being careful not to cook the eggs.

3. Put the bowl back in the electric mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture forms a stiff meringue and the bottom of the bowl comes to room temperature, about 10 minutes.

4. Stop the mixer and replace the whisk attachment with the paddle attachment. Set the mixer to low speed and add the butter, a few cubes at a time. When all the butter is incorporated, turn the mixer to medium speed and beat until fluffy.

5. Set the mixer to low speed and add the strawberries. Once the strawberries are incorporated, scrape the bowl and continue to mix on medium speed until you have a smooth, creamy texture. Don't worry if the buttercream appears curdled, it will become smooth again with continued beating. If the buttercream is too liquid, refrigerate until completely cool, then rewhip.

A few notes about this recipe:

* You can use the buttercream immediately, store it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days, or refrigerate it in an airtight container for ten days.

*After storing the buttercream in the fridge, you need to reconstitute it before you can use it. Bring to room temperature and beat on medium speed until smooth.

* This recipe makes enough to ice 24 cupcakes, or fill one 8" or 9" round cake.

* For vanilla flavor, replace strawberries with 3 tablespoons vanilla.

Matthew is a big fan too! He's actually a really picky eater - the only thing he never hesitates to eat is anything I offer him off of a whisk like this. He just knows its going to be good.

* In the pictures here I've paired this frosting with French vanilla cupcakes. So good.

Buttercup(s)

2011-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

Spring is here!

Actually around these parts, it really isn't. But those buttercup flowers really brighten things up don't they? Here's another Buttercup that can really brighten your day:

Isn't that such a sweet face? I know first hand what a sweetheart this dog is, as she's spent lots of time at my house putting up with my own little Facey dog. Buttercup's mom had to go out of town recently, and luckily a friend was able to watch her. These cookies were a thank you to him and his family:

Bite-size buttercup flowers! The perfectionist in me is irritated that real buttercups only have 5 petals and I happened to only have a 6 petal cookie cutter. So... you know, just ignore the 6th petal.

Some food and water bowls

And of course some Snoopy style (that's how I think of them) houses! Or as my son Matthew put it, these are all "Blue's Clues cookies," anything in this house with a paw print on it is automatically Blue's Clues!

I think these are a perfect thank you! Would my friends be more inclined to watch Facey while I'm gone if I gave away cookies? Probably not. Facey has gotten herself a reputation as being a handful (a claim that is not unfounded!)... it might take a lot of cookies for someone to take her on! Anyway... enjoy your "Blue's Clues" cookies!

oh and by the way...

Happy April everyone!

{Am I the only one who can't believe it's already April?}

a wedding and a missed baby shower

2011-03-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Posts have been a little slow since last week... but with good reason!

That's my baby brother and his super adorable new wife! Since my husband wasn't able to get the time off work, my sister and I drove out together with our sons, and it was so nice to be able to be there!

Here Matthew and I are freezing our butts off, but it was worth it! The reception out here in Washington isn't for a few weeks still, which is good because I'm making the wedding cake and cookies for the reception... and I haven't 100% planned it out yet. I should get on that.

While I was gone there was a baby shower for a friend I've known since high school! I hated to miss it, and really wanted to do something for it. Then I saw the adorable theme: cookies & milk. Um....PERFECT? I ended up making some little milk bottles with straws, and I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of them because I was in such a rush to get them done and pack for my trip at the same time! Luckily Merilee got a shot of them for me, and check out the rest of the cute baby shower here!

Ok can I just say... where do I get one of these cake plates for myself!?

Anyway that's my quick update, it has been a very busy week and a half, but hopefully life will be calming down again soon. I've got some more cookies and another great recipe to share with you, hopefully before the week is out!

Curious George third birthday party

2011-03-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to show you guys these cookies because a lot of time and effort went into them! Why? Well, let me introduce you to someone:

This is our dog Violet, also known as Facey (Facey is her nickname, along with a hundred other names. She's deaf, so we can call her whatever we want!). Don't be fooled by that sweet face... this picture does not accurately depict her personality... I think this one is a little more accurate:

If it's taking you a second to figure out what you are looking at... that's my dog, sleeping on her own head. She's a bit of a weirdo.

So last week I made 3 dozen Curious George cookies for a birthday party on Friday. I had finished everything on Wednesday, figuring that Thursday night would be a nice laid back evening! The cookies were ready to go, sitting on my dining room table. Thursday afternoon I come home to find my sweet little Facey has done another one of her escape artist tricks and unlocked her dog kennel... that we also latch shut with on of her dog leashes! This girl is insane! Well I'm sure you all know where this is going, she jumped up on the dining room table and ate all of the cookies (not to mention our garbage and the rest of her dog food that was in the house... uuurrggg that DOG!)! I'm not sure I've ever been that mad at her ever! And trust me, that is saying something. That night she was in what we called a "sugar coma".

Thanks to the Face (yes we really do call her Facey and the Face all the time) I was up all Thursday night redoing everything. I think I got about 3 hours of sleep that night! It's a good thing I love you Kerri, and don't feel bad - I was really happy to be able to do these for Jack's birthday!

So here are my hard earned pictures. Of course I didn't take pictures of the originals... because apparently I'm not that smart. Here are my hastily done birthday cookies, although hopefully they don't look hastily done...

Happy 3rd Birthday Jack!

Matthew really really struggled with the fact that I was making Curious George cookies and he wasn't getting to eat any of them. I didn't feel too bad though seeing as he was invited to the birthday party and got to eat one anyway!

Yellow hats, of course!

Jack seemed to like them, so it was worth it! Afterward it occurred to me that some yellow ties with black spots would have been a good addition as well. Maybe next time! Although I'm not sure I'm in any real rush to do another set of these cookies! They were fun though, I mean... who doesn't like Curious George?

st. patrick's day... a little late this time

2011-03-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm a little late... to be fair, I had these pictures ready on time! I just didn't have time to write this post because... well as my mom said, I was "putting out fires". I came home yesterday from work to a ~~minor~~ major disaster... but you'll hear all about that on Monday's post!

In the meantime...

I thought it would be fun to do some gold coins for St. Patrick's Day! My husband so lovingly pointed out that there was a coin with a dollar sign on it... and American dollar sign (if you look carefully you can see it peeking out in the above picture). So... not exactly Irish. What do I know. I'm German, not Irish! Oh well.

Did you wear green? I wore aqua, it was the closest thing I had to green. No one would dare pinch me anyway, so I figured I was safe! I'm sort of new to doing even the most remote amount of celebrating on this holiday, so for me I think that was pretty good! But St. Patrick's day is over now. I'm excited for what I've got to show you guys on Monday, and to tell you about my very loooong day last Thursday.

Happy weekend everyone!

spring birds

2011-03-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

I'm getting a little desperate for spring to come!

When the weather is nice {enough} Matthew and I take walks outside, and he's always trying to find the birds he hears chirping from the trees. I love listening to him say "tweet tweet!"

I'm getting a bit anxious for the cold rain to go away, and I thought some cute little spring birds would be just what I needed!

I'm not sure these came out as cute as I envisioned in my head, but at least I got my small dose of spring....

Which is your favorite?

appletinis

2011-03-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

These martini glasses are being sent off for a birthday in California...

Happy Birthday Becky!

I haven't had much luck with getting a good apple flavor into cookies or icing, so for the rimming sugar on the martini glasses I used actual apple martini rimming sugar. You get a nice strong sour apple flavor along the top! (ok, so I may have eaten one of them...)

The martini glasses needed a little something extra (I didn't want to do olives or anything since apple martinis don't typically have anything like that in them), so I made some apple slices!

Cute, no?

pineapple upside down cake

2011-03-10T11:29:00.000-08:00

Pineapple upside down cake is possibly one of my favorite desserts... my mom has been making it for as long as I can remember. This recipe actually comes from my Grandmama (that is her depression ware glass plate in the picture), and has been tweaked just a little with each generation.

__________________________________________

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

1 can pineapple rings, drained (reserve juice)

maraschino cherries

1/4-1/2 cup butter

brown sugar

1 box yellow cake mix (or vanilla)

1. Mix cake according to directions, but substitute water for pineapple juice. If there isn't enough pineapple juice, substitute remaining water with milk.

2. While oven preheats (heat according to cake mix), put 1/4 - 1/2 cup butter in cake pan and place in oven to melt.

*Amount of butter used is based on how rich you want your cake to be. Obviously more butter makes it tastier (and this is how my Grandmama does it) but some of us like a little less fat!

** If you don't have a pan that will fit a whole cake mix, divide between two pans.

3. When butter is melted, swirl to coat sides of pan. Sprinkle brown sugar over melted butter... there is no amount because it's really a personal preference. I prefer more, but sprinkle enough to get a good layer. If needed, use the back of a spoon to smooth it into a fairly even layer.

4. Decorate with pineapple rings and cherries, if you choose to cut your cherries in half (I do) make sure to place the cherries upside down so that when you invert the cake they will have the rounded side up!

5. Pour cake batter into pan and bake according to box.

6. When cake is done, cool for 5 minutes before inverting onto plate. If necessary use a knife to level cake before inverting.

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Steps 2 through 4 are shown here. Personally I'm one of those people who likes to have a visual of what exactly I'm supposed to do!

I'm actually not the big of a fan of cherries! That mini cake was more for me than anyone else.

Doesn't that just look so good? There's something about the way this cake looks... you just know it's going to be tasty! For anyone out there who's never tried this, it's an absolute must. And for anyone out there who's never made this because it seems difficult - you could not be more wrong!

But then again, you can never really go wrong with one of my Grandmama's recipes.

shamrocks, a little early

2011-03-08T20:15:00.000-08:00

I didn't have any particular cookie plans today, but Matthew (my 2 year old) came to me this morning and said, "nummy cookie please?"

...how can I say no to that face?

So we made (well I made, and he ate) some early St. Patrick's Day cookies. St. Patrick's Day isn't until next week but we had fun, and Matthew got to learn the art of dipping cookies in milk!

Is it just me, or is St. Patrick's Day one of those holidays that are kind of forgotten until you have kids to enjoy them with?

More St Patrick's Day cookies to come soon!

mod monkey birthday party

2011-03-07T12:32:00.000-08:00

My adorable nephew Charlie is turning 1!

These cookies are headed off to D.C. for his monkey birthday party...

wish I could be there!

Hopefully they arrive ok, I don't normally ship cookies and have done it both successfully and unsuccessfully! In any case he's turning one, so I think he'll be happy either way.

Happy Birthday Charlie!