Cookie Cutters

Who knew the world of cookie cutters was so extensive. You can find a cookie cutter for just about anything now on the Internet. One of my recent finds has been American Tradition Cookie Cutters.
They have a large selection of cutters for a great price. I'm very excited about my new find!!! Check it out for yourself!

Happy New Year

For some odd reason, I have always had this strange superstition that odd number years are bad luck, so going into 2011 would normally bring a little apprehension. Fortunately, as we enter into a new year I am very excited about all the wonderful blessings I have in my life and am optimistic for a happy, healthy and terrific new year. With a beautiful daughter, amazing husband and loving family and friends, I truly have so much to be grateful for. And I am excited about the ideas I have on my radar to bake up and share with you. Cheers!!!

Christmas Cookie Challenge: Wrap-Up

It's Christmas Eve and I'm officially hanging up my apron for a couple of days to relax with my husband, celebrate my daughter's first Christmas and enjoy the fruits of my labor. All in all, I'm pleased with my success this month. 21 days of baking... not too shabby for a full time working mom of a 9 month old. With this success, I am motivated to start the new year off with a bang and look forward to sharing my creations with you in 2011. Thank you to all who have shown support and encouragement to me this year and a special thank you to my husband Mike who is truly amazing!

Day 21: Special Order Roosters

When a friend of mine asked, can you make cake pops in the shape of roosters, I quickly said, "sure". Of course, at the time, I had no idea how I was going to pull of this unusual request. This is just one of the reasons I love to bake and create tasty treats...anything is possible. I am just so happy with the results of these cute little birds!

Day 20: Santa's Suit

This week I decided to bake several dozen circle cookies and decorate them in new and fun ways.

Thanks to TidyMom for this fantastic idea!

Day 19: More Ornaments

I can't get enough of this swirl effect. Who knew a toothpick and some royal icing could make such a fun detail on a basic sugar cookie.

Day 17 & 18: Santa and his Elves

I just love it when I can re-purpose a cookie cutter into something else, so when I saw this idea on Bakerella's blog, I knew I would have to give them a try. Using an ice cream cone cookie cutter, I flipped the cookie upside down and got busy decorating. These definitely are one of my new favorites!

Day 16: Christmas Trees

Day 15: Personalized Ornaments

Inspired by Bake at 350, I just love the look of these ornament cookies. They were a great treat to share with friends and family at my holiday Open House.

Day 14: Happy Birthday

A special treat for a special little girl. "Happy 6th Birthday, Lindsay!"

Day 13: Santa Hat Cake Pops

Day 12:

I took a little break from the Christmas theme to bake this order for a friend of mine who is celebrating the birth of a new family member.

Day 11: Caroling Cookies

I just love it when I set out to make something that I fear won't turn out well, but on the contrary, beats my expectations. When I set out to make these caroling cookies, inspired by Wiltons, I didn't know if they would stand up, let alone resemble the cute little singers. After adding all the little details, I ended up being really pleased with these cookies.

Day 10: Christmas Tree Cake Pops

Day 9: Santa Hats

Day 8

Inspired by cupcakes found out Glorious Treat's blog, I set out to make these chocolate cupcakes with peppermint cream cheese frosting. I had a really hard time with the frosting stripe, but they tasted great. I used her frosting recipe, but my own chocolate cake and topped them off with mini cookies made with cookie cutters from William and Sonoma.

My Cookie Monster

Here's one BIG reason I'm behind on my 25 Days of Christmas baking challenge.

Day 6 & 7

Ok, so I have to cheat a little. I have been really busy trying to keep up with my 25 Days of Christmas baking challenge, but I received a huge cookie order of 160 sugar cookies, so I'm counting these cookies for days 6 & 7.

What happened to days 8-12? They will be posted soon, so please stop back this week!

Day 5: Home for the Holidays

Do you know someone who will be away from home this holiday season. Send them a thoughtful treat to say, "Happy Holidays". These cookies are just $12/dozen (shipping within US available).

Thank you to Bake 350, for this wonderful design!

Day 4: Christmas Cookie Mix

By far, my most popular cookie is the Cowboy Cookie. With the combination of oats, M&M's and chocolate chips, it's not a surprise.

I was recently asked to make these cookie jars for gifts for her kids' bus drivers. What a great way to thank all those people in your lives that make your life better all year round.

Place your order today: $5.00 - personalized labels available!

Not Just Cookies

Ok, so maybe this wasn't the best cake to tackle since I'm definitely a beginner when it comes to cakes, but I just couldn't resist trying this one out. I was actually really surprised at how much fun I had decorating the cake. The only real issue I ran into was preparing the cake for transport. Next time, I will need to do a little thinking in advance of how to get the cake to its destination. But all in all, I'm really pleased at my first cake!

Day 2

I just love when you can re-purpose things for a new use. With these reindeer cookies, I flipped them upside down and decorated them into Rudolph!

On the 1st Day of Christmas...

Day 1
To kickoff my 25 days of Christmas Baking Challenge, I started off with these cutesy Christmas Cupcake Cookies. Happy December!

Along with my commitment to 25 days of baking, I'm setting out to get 25 bake good sales. I hear all the time that I should sell my treats, but I have always struggled with "promoting myself", but I know in my heart that this is what I truly love to do. The treats I make are a labor of love and a real passion that I enjoy sharing with others. If you are reading today's blog, I hope that you will consider placing an order. Whether it's a cookie order for a friend, cake or cupcakes for an upcoming celebration, or a cookie decorating party for your little one's birthday, I am happy to work with you to find the right treat for the occasion.

Thank You (and wish me luck on both my challenges)!!!

Sweet Turkeys

Ok, so these might be one of my favorite creations to date. These mini turkeys start with a simple vanilla base, topped with frosting, then covered with caramel and decorated with Pringle stick (drumsticks) and Chex mix (stuffing). What a great treat for the kids on Thanksgiving!

Congratulations

Good friends of ours recently got married, but we weren't able to make it to their wedding in California, but we were definitely thinking of them and wishing them much happiness. To celebrate, I sent them these little gems. Congratulations, Tim & Danielle!

Gobble Gobble

When I set out to do these Turkey Cake Pops, I thought they would be fairly easy... guess again. I am definitely learning a lot about using chocolate in my desserts and am starting to figure out what the right temperature is for the perfect pop!

Wedding Bells

What a fun treat to make... I just love this bride and groom couple. I hope the real bride & groom to be will enjoy them at their wedding shower.

Betty Crocker

Normally, I am all about Halloween and dressing up for a costume party is something I would usually be super excited for. But for some reason, this year, I just didn't have the energy to think of an elaborate costume. Some friends of mine suggested being Martha Stewart, but I didn't want to put the energy into being "blond", so I went with Betty Crocker. And best of all, I made some gingerbread mummies to bring along to the party.

Our Little Strawberry

Although Amelia was too little to enjoy the treats of Halloween, she had to have some of her own to share. I made these strawberry cake pops (made from Bakerella's new book). They were really challenging, but with some persistence, I couldn't be more happy with the way they turned out. And the red velvet cake I made them with, was the biggest hit.

Happy Halloween

I just love Halloween. I especially enjoyed all the tasty treats that I got to make and enjoy with my family and friends.




Mummy Oreo Cookies

Home Sweet Home!

I just love edible markers!!! I made these simple house cookies, frosted them with white royal icing and then reverted back to my elementary days and colored the blank canvases to make them look like these adorable little houses... What a perfect treat for a house warming party!

Luau Time!

I recently made these fantastic cookies for our bunco night. I think they fit the luau theme perfectly! I especially love the hibiscus flowers. The detailed stamen (flower's center) really make them extra special.

Giveaway Scout

When I first started blogging, I never realized how many giveaways were out in the blog world. Very rarely do you find something for free in this world, but it appears that many of these giveaways are truly freebies.

Giveaway Scout is a giveaway search engine. Our users subscribe to receive updates on the latest giveaways on the web. Add your blog and your giveaways will be exposed to our large network or users.

Silhouette

Like many of you, I have seen a handful the die cut machines on the market these days and have often wondered if I could ever make enough projects to justify the cost. Well, I recently came across this Silhouette giveaway at Tidy Mom and was impressed by all that this little machine can do. Specifically, I am excited that you can cut vinyl word sayings. I also love their cupcake wrapper ideas. Check it out!

Onsie Cookie Order

These onsie cookies are my favorite to decorate, so I was pleased to have the chance to make more of these onsie cookies for an upcoming baptism.

I am still working on perfecting my royal icing consistency... Can anyone share some advice on getting it thick enough to do fine piping, but not too thick? I was very excited to use my new button candy mold from Bake It Pretty. I think this little added detail was just what the cookie needed!

Helpful Tips on Smores Cupcakes

Ok, so as soon as I saw these cupcakes I knew I had to make them. I stashed the recipe from Bakerella away until I had the chance to make them. With a lot of anticipation, I got busy last night to make these scrumptious cupcakes for a family get together. Unfortunately, I felt like the recipe requires a lot of "tweaking", but I didn't discover this until after making them.

The changes to the recipe that I would make are as follows:
1. The recipe can make about 2 dozen cupcakes, rather than 12.
2. I had to cook my cupcakes for closer to 30 minutes, rather than 15.
3. Do not overfill your cupcake holders.
4. I would use milk chocolate for the ganache, rather than semisweet.
5. The cupcakes will come out of the oven looking nice and puffy, but will shortly collapse in the middle... don't panic. Once you add the ganache and marshmello, you won't even notice.

Overall, these cupcakes were worth the little extra work. Now that I realize that I can make a few changes, I think I will be more successful next time.

Seafood Celebration

This weekend we hosted our 4th Annual Seafood Celebration! It seems that each year we perfect our seafood concoctions. This year our pride and joy was a clambake. We followed the directions from Martha Stewart's July issue (demo on Today show) and it couldn't have been easier or more tasty. Along with the clambake, we had salmon, crab legs and numerous decadent side dishes.

As for desserts, I whipped up more of the "HOT" mini cupcakes on a stick, which were gone in seconds. I also added to the sea food theme with chocolate cupcakes topped with chocolate lobsters and crabs. Lastly, I dressed up traditional Rice Krispie Treats with fun homemade paper boxes. I couldn't have been happier with these boxes and have plans to use them again for future projects. (check back for a downloadable template soon).

One of my favorite projects for this party was the homemade labels I made for root beer and ice tea. After searching the stores for bottled beverages for this and some other upcoming events, I decided that spending $7.00 for a 6 pack of ice tea or lemonade was a little silly, when I could make my own. So, I purchased some glass bottles, made some ice tea on my patio and attached some hand-stamped labels. For about $15, I had twelve super cute, personalized beverages that can now be reused for future events.

"Bun in the Oven"

With so many friends and family members expecting babies, it seemed logical to make a cookie basket with a pregnancy theme. What better than ice cream and pickles to dress up the pregnant lady cookie. I am really excited to give this basket to the mommy-to-be's!

And The Winner Is...

Congratulations to Blogger Sam who is the winner of the $25.00 Bake It Pretty Gift Certificate giveaway. Please contact me via e-mail @pinzy4@hotmail.com to receive your prize.

Bloggers, be sure to check back soon for the next giveaway!

I Scream for Ice Cream!

These ice cream cookies are part of a larger project (check back soon for complete project details). I was super happy with the way they turned out. They were extra easy to make. A couple of tips: use a very small tip when piping the stripes on the cone and allow the icing to dry while the cookie is flat (I stood mine up and the pink icing ran into the white on some of mine).

I also recently saw someone making cookies on a stick and they inserted the stick immediately after the cookie came out of the oven... I was doing it before they were baked. I will definitely try it their way; it looks much easier!