Cookie Goodness

Life According to Yoda

2010-02-01T21:20:00.002-05:00

My son-in-law is a big sci-fi fan. I decided some Star Wars cookies would be fitting for his birthday. The Darth Vader cookies were really very easy!

The light sabers would have looked better in different colors but I was lazy and just used what I had already made, but I did like the added disco dust.

Yummy Snickerdoodles

2010-01-09T19:21:00.001-05:00

Snickerdoodles

(printable recipe)

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

In a medium bowl beat butter for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Beat until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour
Cover and chill dough for 30-60 minutes
Preheat oven to 375. Combine sugar and cinnamon.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture.

Bake 9-11 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet.

Makes 36 cookies
WW Points: 1.5 per cookie

*Diet 2009*

Ten in 10 Weeks…..Week 1

2010-01-02T14:24:00.001-05:00

Today is the beginning of the Ten in 10 but there is still plenty of time to join! The great thing about the Ten in 10 is that it is whatever you need it to be to get healthy or maybe you just need some motivation to maintain your healthy lifestyle.

I think we can all use a little inspiration to shake things up and the first of the year is always a good time to re-evaluate what is working for you and what isn’t. Now is the time to really think about the steps that will lead to success.

Goals:

Weight Loss – The goal is 20 pounds in the next 10 weeks.
Vitamins – I am really bad at the healthy stuff, first up I need to get back to taking my vitamins and adding some calcium in.
Fruits and Veggies – I am even worse at eating green stuff. I plan on starting off slow just by adding a few healthy foods here and there. This needs to be a lifestyle change not a lifestyle phase.
Water – I really would like to be one of those girls that drinks a gallon a day, but that might be a bit much. I will settle for a healthy 6-8 glasses a day.
Bite it…Write it – I guess this should really be #1 but logging your food and exercise is so important especially in the beginning when you aren’t sure of portion sizes and you just don’t think you could possibly be eating THAT much.

Lastly, my former weight watcher leader used to say: those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Maybe she had something there.

Cookie Cutter Madness

2009-12-27T17:12:00.001-05:00

I feel like it has been so long! Christmas was filled with lots of food and family. I am finally dragging myself out of the food coma and getting a few things done. The first on my list was to catalog my cookies cutters. I think the second on my list is going to be to find a bigger cookie cutter box.

Possibly this is a geeky thing to do, but it works for when I am short on brain cells and can just scan a list to see what I have. You can see the rough draft of my excel sheet below. Very simple, if only I can remember to keep it updated.

I just had to gush about a few ‘foodie’ gifts I received at Christmas. Bake It Pretty is carrying this great cookie cutter set, 5 cookie cutters in a tin. I can’t wait to try them!

Aren’t these teaspoons awesome! A smidgen, pinch, and dash. Describes my cooking perfectly.

I couldn’t help but add a little family charm. My son and his girlfriend sporting 3-D glasses while watching Bob’s Big Break.

My New Blog!!!…..and Snowman Cookies

2009-12-18T22:22:00.001-05:00

Jessica finished my new blog! I love it!! She has some great blogs in her portfolio so jump over and check out her great, creative talent.

These adorable snowman were part of the cookie baskets I made for family gifts.

I’ve developed an obsession with sanding sugar. I just love it!

Happy Baking!

The Birthday Girl!

2009-12-16T23:36:00.001-05:00

We celebrated Chloe’s 1st birthday. She was less than thrilled with her birthday hat, but I just couldn’t resist!

I made the same peanut butter cookies that I made for Molly’s birthday last month and added some frosting by mixing 1 cup of greek yogurt with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and some gel color. I let it chill to thicken it up a bit. It didn’t exactly ‘dry’ but the dogs didn’t mind.

Every dog deserves a new fluffy squeaky toy on their birthday! I take advantage of buying her lots of pink things.

Ok, now that the furbaby birthdays are done with I can get back to Christmas and some baking!

Gift a Homemade Cookbook….Works For Me Wednesday

2009-12-15T22:56:00.001-05:00

Personalized cookbooks make great holiday gifts for friends and family. It is a great way to pass down recipes that have been around for generations and to put the new favorites in the mix. Using an expandable cookbook makes it easy for the recipient to add new recipes .

You will need:

an 8x8 scrapbook
additional pages
sticky tabs
cardstock

I am using an orange scrapbook I bought on sale at the craft store($5) along with flickr images for the divider sections and post-it colored sticky tabs. MasterCook 7.0 to print recipes and Microsoft Word to make the divider sections but any text editor will work just fine.

This isn’t a very good picture but it gives you an idea of what you can do with some great food images and Microsoft Word. A homemade cookbook should be personal and next to cookies is my love of chicken. I cook it a hundred different ways, hence the section for just chicken.

If you are looking for something a little more fancy, HP Offers an Heirloom Photo Book with themes, a place for images and text to make your recipe pages. It would make a lovely cookbook for anyone. There is also a nice little article on eHow that can give you some ideas on what to include in your cookbook.

Homemade cookbooks make a great basket idea, add an apron, a few spatulas and measuring spoons. Ta da!

This gift from the heart works for me. Don’t forget to jump over to We Are That Family and check out all the awesome works for me wednesday tips.

The Eclectic Christmas Tree….Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash

2009-12-15T14:01:00.001-05:00

It is Day 2 of the Holly Bloggy Christmas Bash and today it is all about trees. Don’t forget to jump over to A Baby Changes Everything and check out all the great Christmas trees and when you’re done there head over to Thrifty Decor Chick for another Christmas Tree Party. Let the festivities begin!

This year we put the tree in a ‘new’ corner of the living room and I think it looks great here. I like to put the tree up as early as possible, so it is rare that we get a real tree, the woodstove in the living room can dry out a tree real quick.

Our tree is definitely follows an eclectic ‘theme’. I’ve always coveted those fancy trees that follow a real theme, but our ‘theme’ is more like a timeline.

This little girl is now a grown woman with a child of her own, which means I’ve been hanging this ornament for a few decades. Its age is starting to show, don’t look too closely at the picture.

In other ‘historical events’ I made this tree skirt as my mom would say many moons ago. It has weathered many years and many pets using it for a holiday blanket.

This is the angel that sits on top of the tree, which my son can now put on top of a 6’ tree with hardly any reach at all. My how time flies!

Lastly, it is a bit silly but I love this ornament. This ornament definitely fits in the eclectic category as its not very christmasy but it makes me smile every time the tree spins around.

Happy decorating…of the Christmas kind!

Holiday Giveaway Season

2009-12-12T18:38:00.001-05:00

It is the season of giveaway, and there is so much neat stuff to win! So hurry and comment and follow and tweet….and win!

Here you can enter to win a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond. Ten readers will win a copy! Hurry! It ends tomorrow.

Diane is giving away an adorable cupcake apron. Jump over there and leave a comment. Giveaway ends 12/15/09

Southern Weddings is having a huge giveaway including a $25 gift certificate from Bake It Pretty.

Simply Sweet Home is hosting The Bloggy Christmas Bash and there is tons of stuff to win! It is coming up this week from the 14th-18th. You don’t want to miss it!

Lastly, win a pair of Ugg Boots. Seriously! Check it out!

Good luck! I hope you win some great stuff while the giveaways are booming. I’m looking forward to The Holly Bloggy Christmas and kicking this nasty bout of bronchitis. Yuck.

Happy baking, decorating, and winning =)

*images are taken from the respective sites offering the giveaways*

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-12-10T19:39:00.001-05:00

I confess I’m not that fond of chocolate chip cookies. They are just not very exciting and between our mothers, recipe books and online sites we have about a zillion options to choose from. However, this recipe changed my mind. I need a cookie recipe that turns out perfect the first time and this one did! Crisp, chewy, thick, chocolatey cookies! Even if you have tried every other recipe out there, this one deserves a second look.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

(printable recipe)

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour and chocolate chips. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
Bake for 8-10 minutes in a preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

Makes 4 dozen

Make sure you check out Sarah’s cookie exchange for more delicious recipes.

Happy Baking!

The Short Stop Christmas Cookie Exchange and Ornament Cookies

2009-12-10T18:26:00.001-05:00

I’ve never been one to pass up a cookie exchange of any type so when Sarah invited me over I just couldn’t resist. A cookie exchange is a great way to expand your recipe collection so don’t forget to stop over and see some of the great cookies!

Since I am all about the sugar cookie, let’s go with that.

Classic Sugar Cookies
(printable recipe)
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 TBS milk
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream the butter(room temperature) and sugar
Add the egg, milk and the extract of your choice
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to mixture
Flatten into 2 disks, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes
Grab a rolling pin and some cookie cutters!

Makes about 2 dozen. Your mileage may vary depending on cookie cutter sizes.

The fun thing about sugar cookies is you can decorate them. I made these ornaments yesterday for the local vet clinic, with 2 dogs and a cat they deserve some cookies.

If you need an icing recipe you can find mine here. To create the ornaments below I used white icing and a few bright colors for the decoration, gold icing for the top which actually turned out looking a little orange-ish and then some white sanding sugar. I love, love, love sanding sugar!

cover the ornament base in white
draw a few stripes across the wet icing
then use a toothpick to draw through the wet icing for design

Fill in the top of the ornament and then sprinkle sanding sugar onto the wet icing. Ta-da! One lovely Christmas ornament.

You can add more stripes, use special colors or just what you have on hand. Have fun!

Happy Baking!

Perfectly Rolled Cookie Dough 101……Works For Me Wednesday

2009-12-09T07:43:00.001-05:00

Decorating cookies is so much easier and enjoyable when your cookies maintain their original shape. Here is the way I roll my cookie dough for perfectly shaped cookies it is called ready to roll and when it comes to easy, beautiful cookies it works for me.

You will need:

some cookie dough
a rolling pin
parchment paper
wax paper
cookie sheets

Place your dough disk on a piece of parchment paper and then cover with wax paper. You can use wax paper for both the top and the bottom and then transfer the dough onto parchment later. However, if you use parchment it can go right from the fridge to the oven without ever touching the cookie dough. Easy peasy.

After rolling the cookie dough to the desired thickness, place on a cookie sheet and chill for 30 minutes. You need a fairly level surface, so you might need to juggle some of the fridge contents to make room.

Remove the chilled cookie sheet and set aside the wax paper and cut your desired shapes.

Making sure to give your shapes enough space for baking and then remove the excess dough. I place all the extra dough on the wax paper and roll it out once more.

I find the chilled dough so much easier to work with than the regular method of chilling and then rolling the dough. I hope you find it works for you too! Jump over to We Are That Family for more WFMW tips.

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Bread

2009-12-07T20:04:00.001-05:00

Last month Cheryl posted this great banana bread recipe over at Living Locurto and I’ve been meaning to try it ever since, so after a long weekend of cookie baking I decided I needed a change.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

(makes 1 large loaf or 4 mini loaves)

1 1/4 cup sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
3-4 mashed bananas
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream together sugar and butter, add eggs one at a time. Mix in milk, bananas and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients.

Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake for about 50 minutes for a regular loaf, or 30 minutes for mini loaves.

Happy baking!

Cookie Craft Christmas and Windows Live Writer

2009-12-02T18:55:00.001-05:00

Cookie Craft Christmas: Dozens of Decorating Ideas for a Sweet Holiday by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer is a spin-off from Cookie Craft and as you might guess it focuses on Christmas cookies. It is a smaller book, looks a bit like a chunky paperback.

Some of the information from Cookie Craft has been condensed for this release, so you will still find basic cookie decorating instructions in addition to cookie and icing recipes. However, the main focus of the book is full-color pages of beautiful cookies followed by directions for making that specific cookie design.

I especially love the white icing on gingerbread cookies, simple yet beautiful. There is an example of luster dust used as garland on a christmas tree, wishing I would have ordered some luster dust this week.

If you are in need of some fresh ideas for the holidays this is a great book with lots of colorful inspiration.

Windows Live Writer

I have recently started posting via Windows Live Writer and I could not be happier! I was having loads of formatting issues on Blogger and spending more time frustrated than writing. Adding images is nearly painless and it offers basic ‘photoshopping’ options, most of the other tools are the same such as categories and links. The preview is an actual preview of your blog which is very nice. There are also extra plug-ins available here, including a twitter notify.

Happy baking and blogging!

Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust

2009-12-01T09:36:00.001-05:00

Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust; Designs and Techniques for Creative Cookie Occasions by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer

This is an amazing book! If you are cookie decorator or just in love with sugar cookies, you really need to check this book out. This book would have answered so many questions when I first started out.

There are lots of pictures and brief instructions on how to decorate the cookies pictured in the book. I can’t wait to try out some of the helpful suggestions.

There are 9 chapters plus a short resource list for buying supplies.The chapters include:

Cookie Craft Inspirations
Ingredients, Supplies, and Equipment
Cookie Craft Planning
Cookie Recipes for Creating Blank Canvases
Prebaking Decorating Techniques
After-Baking Decorating Techniques
Simple to Showstopping Cookie Craft Constructions
Freezing, Storing, Wrapping, and Shipping
Cookie Craft Events

The first chapter includes cookie designs to cover nearly every holiday. It includes recipes for both cookies and icing plus suggestions for tracking your cookie cutters and planning your icing colors for your designs. I love the page titled ‘The Mighty Toothpick’

Up next Cookie Craft Christmas!

Happy Birthday Molly!! and Doggie Cookies

2009-11-28T16:56:00.002-05:00

Today is Molly’s 10th birthday. So we are celebrating with peanut butter dog cookies, recipe compliments of Three Dog Bakery.

Peanut Butter Dog Cookies

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 TBS baking powder
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix peanut butter and milk. Add wet mixture to dry, and mix well.

Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll out to 1/4-inch thick and cut out shapes. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake 20 minutes or until lightly brown.

They smell yummy!! Just not as sweet as a sugar cookie but the dogs don’t mind. =) I will be making them again soon we have another furbaby birthday in a few weeks.

In other interesting or maybe not so much, depending on your love of cookie cutters. Recently Bridget talked about her collection of cookie cutters in a post. I seem to keep running out of room for mine, but this is my collection so far.

Happy decorating!!

Pirates And Circle Cookie Cutters

2009-11-28T11:04:00.000-05:00

Circle cutters are a basic must have especially for the beginner, and since they come in all different sizes you can make really small ones if like at my house the kids just wait for a 'bad' cookie to happen.

I got a little carried away with circle cookie cutters this week and ended up with these cute pirates with treasure maps. Circle cutters are just screaming for you to let your imagination run wild.

All you need is some icing and toothpicks to make these ornament look-alikes. Not the real thing but they still offer a christmasy look.

There are many ways to design peace signs, this just happens to be the easy way. The second pic is awful but I love the way the sanding sugar looked on these cookies. You might have to look a little harder to see it.

While we are on the subject of easy and bad photography. Who doesn't love a smiley face.

This is my son's favorite part of cookie decorating. All the cookies sitting on the kitchen counter in air-tight rubbermaid. A college kid needs to eat too.....

My Sugar Cookie Recipe

2009-11-24T21:27:00.001-05:00

As you might have guessed I make a lot of sugar cookies. Here is my no fail recipe, it's true you really can't mess this up. I love this recipe because it gives you room to play. Use more extract or less, use just vanilla or just almond it's totally up to you. I like a splash of milk or I should say my son prefers his cookies with a splash of milk, but it really isn't necessary so if you don't like milk or just plain ran out of it, no worries.

By now you've guessed that I'm not Martha Stewart, my mamaw cooked by using a pinch of this and a splash of that. I don't believe recipes are written in stone, just play to your tastebuds as long as you and yours think it tastes good, it's all good.

Bake, decorate, enjoy!

Sugar Cookies
(printable recipe)

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 TBS milk
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream the butter(room temperature) and sugar
Add the egg, milk and the extract of your choice
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add to mixture
Flatten into 2 disks, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes
Grab a rolling pin and some cookie cutters!

Makes about 2 dozen. Your mileage may vary depending on cookie cutter sizes.

Make Your Own Decorating Bags

2009-11-23T21:23:00.002-05:00

You have a few different options when it comes to icing your cookies or any other baked good for that matter. I think to start with the easiest is disposable decorating bags. They are relatively inexpensive, you just need a few tips and you are good to go.

There are also featherweight bags, as in not disposable. You will need to wash them, which is enough to dissuade some bakers. I personally love them. They are soft and cleanup is easy. Wilton sells featherweight bags in many different sizes, but there are also other brands available such as CK Products and Ateco.

Lastly are parchment triangles. These take a little practice and have a reputation for being challenging. First off, buy the parchment triangles rather than cutting your own from your parchment roll. It really isn't worth the hassle. After buying a box of triangles I was surprised how easy it was to put together.

This is a great video that shows a very easy way to fold your parchment bags.

Happy decorating!!

My Book Wreath

2009-11-16T13:15:00.000-05:00

I am not a crafter which you may figure out since this blog is about cookies. But I could not resist attempting to make this book wreath that Lindsay posted on her website

If you are a non-crafter like myself I suggest you pop over to Lindsay's site and take a look at the video she has posted. It was very helpful! I only used one paint color, who can resist paint named 'teddy bear tan'. I did in fact use an entire novel. My apologies to Lynsay Sands but the cover was already in bad shape. My biggest suggestion is to not make the layers too tight, you can fill in the wreath at the end. I also did not completely cover the wreath, but you would really have to inspect it to see the half inch of foam on the inside.

It was very easy to do.....and cheap! This one is being shipped to my mom for her birthday. I hope she loves it!

Cupcake Cookies and My Cookie Tester

2009-11-12T22:30:00.002-05:00

I broke my digital camera today. Just after reading this great post by Brown Eyed Baker. Karma? Mojo? Luck of the draw? Regardless, she has some great ideas and suggestions so jump over and give it a read.

What a difference a flash makes. Although the color is called electric blue, the flash really makes it almost blinding.

I am afraid my cookie tester had mostly eaten her cupcake cookie before I could get her to sit still long enough for me to get a picture.

Baby Shower Cookies

2009-11-11T20:21:00.001-05:00

Baby stuff is adorable. There is just something about small and bright stuff that melts my heart.

A Work In Progress

2009-11-09T16:15:00.000-05:00

I share one major common quality with this blog. We are both a work in progress. The past few days have reminded me that I am a baker not a decorator. I am doing my best to phase myself into being a decorator, but these things take time.

As you can see from the above image I have made the icing too stiff, I have made the icing too thin. I have left the icing sitting out, the end result being some very uneven coloring. I have learned that you really can't have too many #2 tips. In the end spending a day surrounded by cookies isn't all that bad, even if a few turn out less than perfect, not to mention the fun to be had mixing colors.

I believe you need to be able to look back in order to see how far you've come. Whether you blog, twitter, or stick to paper and pen it's important to resist the urge to edit, delete or toss in the woodstove. Give yourself the opportunity to look back and see the progress you have made.

Classy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-11-08T20:22:00.000-05:00

Chocolate chip cookies are rather boring but at the same time everyone needs one really good recipe. A recipe that is easy to throw together and yet delicious. Guilty Kitchen has a great image filled post about these cookies, make sure you pop over and see all the goodies on her site.

Classy Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter (room temperature)
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour, unsifted
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 bag chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cream butter and sugars in large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.

3. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt.
4. Stir in 1/2 of chocolate chips.

5. Drop by rounded tablespoon, 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Press other half of chips into tops of cookies before baking for nice presentation.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
8. Cool for 5 or so minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to cooling rack.

This recipe makes a large amount of cookies, especially for my family of three. Perfect for freezing! Flash freeze on a cookie sheet and then move them into a freezer container. I usually let them thaw for about 20 minutes and then pop them into a preheated oven.

Easy Royal Icing

2009-11-06T20:20:00.001-05:00

Making Royal Icing is easy, the ingredient list is small and so is the preparation time. My favorite recipe uses meringue powder instead of egg whites.

Antonia74's Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water
5 T meringue powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
2.25 lbs. powdered sugar

First sift the powdered sugar into a large bowl.

In your mixer bowl whisk the water and meringue powder for about a minute, until it gets a bit frothy.

Add the cream of tartar and whisk for another 30 seconds

Add all of the powdered sugar and with your paddle beater set on lowest speed for 10 minutes.

The end result is some very thick and creamy frosting,

I usually add about 1/2 cup of water and mix it for a few more minutes. Be careful not to add too much water at once, it does thin out rather quickly.

Happy Baking! Or maybe today it is just happy decorating!