Idaho

We just got back from our trip to Idaho where we visited my husband's family. We drove all over the place but had a great time. I even got to do a little decorating while we were there. My mother in Law just opened a new bakery called La Vanilla Bean. She let me pipe the filling into some teeny tiny tarts. It was fun to work in a commercial kitchen for a change. I wonder how my husband would feel about turning our garage into one...

Happy Birthday Peri!

We are celebrating my niece's first birthday tonight. Her mom wanted me to use periwinkle because her name is Peri. I love first birthdays because the birthday child never has a clue what is going on! They just clap and smile! I need to work on my cupcake decorating skills, but I think the cookie favors turned out cute.

I feel like it has been so long since I decorated any cookies! Last night I got inspired to make some limes. Summer is quickly fading and I just want to hang on to the last few weeks. There is just something about limes that feels so summery to me. I love lime in Pad Thai, in cookies, and of course in a cocktail!

Meringues

I let my daughter pick any recipe she wanted to make out of a cooking with toddlers cook book. Of course she choose the colored meringues! They were fun for her to make except she got tired of holding the electric mixer. She loved using the pastry bag to pipe the meringues onto the cookie sheet. She decided to dip hers in chocolate which I was all for. We just melted chocolate chips over a double boiler and stirred in half and half. They were ooey and gooey but tasted really good!

Here are more cookies from Art on Park. I thought the thank you cookies would be a nice favor for a baby or bridal shower.

Stowe Community Church

I love the Stowe Community Church cookies. They are made using a custom cookie cutter that I ordered on Etsy. It was my first time designing a cutter and I am happy with the way it turned out. Hmmm what other buildings could be turned into a cutter...The churches are about six inches tall and would make a great wedding/shower favor.

I took a break from cookies this week and made some great blueberry muffins instead. My husband, daughter and I went blueberry picking and we were having so much fun we ended up with nine pints! They are big and juicy and perfect for muffins. I used this recipe from Ina Garten, they are a bit indulgent but they taste really good! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/blueberry-coffee-cake-muffins-recipe/index.html