This is my first attempt at painting on cookies. I gotta say I loved it! It really is like using water colors which I also love.  Try it at home this Valentine's day!  Just glaze the cookie with royal icing in a light color and you have your canvas.  Then mix a small amount of alcohol ( I use absolute lemon which my sister can't believe we still have in the freezer) with gel food coloring.  I used small Wilton paint brushes from Michael's.  I have tried using vanilla instead of vodka and it just doesn't dry enough for me for packaging.  It may just have too much sugar; it gets sticky.  

                            

                                            

                             There will certainly be more painted cookies to come! 

Here is my daughter cutting out hearts.  She cracks me up because whenever I ask her to smile for a picture she squints her eyes and does this funny face like she is trying really hard to smile but it is a little bit painful. I could have a whole seperate section talking about that little one, she is quite a character! I guess photo shoots are just not her thing. Of course my sister- in-law can get my nieces and nephew to pose perfectly in a beautiful fall maple tree and smile for the camera, but not this little bugger!

                                               

Bacon!

                                       

I had to stray from cookies for a moment and share this dish we had the other night.  It is a heart attack in a pan but it was really good! It is thin slices of potatoes layered with shredded fontina cheese and wrapped in bacon with a little melted butter to top it all off!  I had to drain about a whole cup of fat off when it was done but it tasted great.  You are supposed to be able to flip it upside down onto a plate like a cake but of course mine stuck to the bottom of the skillet and almost ended up all over the floor! I bet it makes a dramatic statement though when that actually works out.  Well we can try it again in about a year!

Baby shower owls

I used Sweetopia's design for these owl cookies.  She maintains a great cookie decorating blog, I recommend checking it out! They turned out nice in the end but for some reason there was a roadblock every step of the way.  The first time I mixed up the dough while my sister was chatting with me in the kitchen. This is always a BAD idea!  You know how sisters get talking and then somebody forgets to add the eggs!  Scrap that batch!  The next batch I rolled the dough too thin and used an owl cutter. 

                                     This is the one I used...I don't like it.  Well I should say I don't like it for a baby shower, I like it for kind of a creepy Halloween owl.  It is too skinny for a cute little baby owl.  Soooo I scrapped that batch as well! I went with the circle cookie and piped on the outline of the owl. I really prefer basic shapes, I find they are much easier to work with. Here is the final finished product. Three times a charm right?

                         

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it is 2014 already, that sounds very futuristic! We rung in the new year quietly with a little take out food and Ryan Seacrest and Jenny Mcarthy! I made these stars very much after the fact but I realized I had a whole bunch of stars left in the freezer that I never used at Christmas.  Rolling and cutting out the shapes then freezing them really is a big time saver.  That way you can just pull cut out dough as you need it and bake it. 

               

The the stars on this cookie sheet are about to go into the freezer for at least an hour and then I wrap them in Saran Wrap and put them in a plastic container in the freezer.  When I am ready to bake them I just put them on a room temp. cookie sheet and pop them right in the oven while they are still frozen. They always taste great!

I have a new background for my blog! The pink stripes and I were just not a good fit!  I made these cute polar bears to send to family in Idaho.  It sounds like they all made it in one piece sooooo I may be able to begin shipping cookies! When I get my Etsy shop set up I will include a link here.

                                       

A Very Merry Christmas!

Well Christmas has come and gone in the blink of an eye!  We had a great holiday with friends and family.  My wonderful, thoughtful husband gave me a large baker's rack and it has been a life saver! I think he was sick of sheets of cookies drying all over the place!

                                      

If you are a cookier and are thinking about buying one I definitely recommend it!  I also opened a present from my mother-in-law today (who also happens to be in-the-know!) and it was a rack cover! I can't wait to try it out. I am wondering if it will lengthen drying time or affect the sheen of the cookies. That will be another post!

My daughter got her own adorable stand mixer just like mommy's!  I have definitely played with it more than she has...  She also got a very realistic Keurig machine sooooo I think we are ready to open a coffee shop! 

                                      

My daughter is a little hard to please at Christmas for some reason.  She came out in the morning and saw her presents from Santa and there was an unwrapped little snowboard. She picked it up and said very matter of factly,"Well, I guess Santa didn't know what I wanted for Christmas." Then when I was tucking her into bed on Christmas night she said, "Mommy, can I return one of my presents to Santa and get an Easy Bake Oven instead?". Of course I said, "No you can't return presents to Santa!", but I think we have a little baker on our hands after all! 

My Aunt brought a very festive cocktail to the party!  It is Bailey's and peppermint schnapps with a candy cane garnish of course.

                                       

I hope you had a great Holiday and here's to 2014!

Theses cookies were an order for an office Holiday Party.  She ordered a unique cookie for everyone in the office (it's a small office!).  I thought that was a great idea as it can be hard to find a thoughtful inexpensive gift for a coworker.  I welcome any ideas for custom cookies.  

She also ordered msnhattans for her manhattan club!  That sounds fun!