Lorax Cookies

About two weeks before Ben’s Willy Wonka party, we were walking around Target looking for things I needed when Ben announced that he decided he wanted a Lorax party instead. Now, I had just sent out the invitations (golden tickets wrapped around Hershey bars), but I hadn’t bought anything else. So we walked around the store debating the pros and cons of Willy Wonka verses the Lorax as far as party-ability. In the end we finally agreed (and yes, I negotiated a deal with an almost three-year-old) that we would have a Wonka party and bring Lorax cupcakes into daycare.

 

I took some pictures along the way, because it was actually very easy to make this cookie topper. I used a mustache cutter from this set and a small oval cutter.

 

1. Cut out your mustaches.
2. Cut out two small ovals per cookie. Use the oval to cut notches into the mustache to fit the eyes- I did take a picture of this step, but it was blurry
3. Outline your mustache in yellow piping icing (I used an Ateco 1 tip)
4. Flood the mustache.
5. Pipe two white eyes, using a one step consistency (thick enough to hold its shape, but thin enough to settle flat, 10-20 second consistency). Let this dry overnight.
6. Add details. Using the yellow, pipe lines on the mustache and eyebrows. Using the orange, pipe a nose (I actually was going to use orange jelly beans, but I didn’t have enough. I think it would be really cute to use jellybeans.) Color the eyes using black and blue food coloring markers.

I baked vanilla cupcakes, topped them with a swirl of orange colored vanilla icing, and topped each with a cookie. Ben was happy. I’m a sucker.

 

Passover Matzo Bark (Special Guest Post)

HI,I’m back!It’s Ellie!Here is my next YUMMY recipe!

Ingredients

4 sheets of matzo.

1 stick of salted butter.

1/2 cup sugar.

1 bag of chocolate chips. (kosher for passover.)

1/2 cup chopped almonds.

Directions(**means that a grownup should do this part)

1- Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

2- Preheat the oven to 350 (**)

3- Line the baking sheet with matzo, do not overlap, break them into pieces if you need to.

4- In a small saucepan, combine the butter and sugar and bring to a boil, pour mixture over the matzo. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the matzo is lightly browned. (**)

5- Remove pan from the oven (**)

6- Being careful not to touch the baking sheet or the hot butter, sprinkle the matzo with the chocolate Let it melt slightly then use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate over the matzo.

7- Sprinkle with the chopped almonds.

8- Let it cool completely in the refrigerator for a few hours.

9- Break into pieces before serving.

So that is my yummy recipe!

ANNNNNNDDDDD- we lost Ellie to Hannah Montana. Lol.

Anyway, make this because the only acceptable way to eat matzo is covered in chocolate.

So if you want to leave a comment, be nice Six and a half year olds are still easily distracted, lol.

(Quick note- I’m not sure exactly where this recipe came from, I copied it onto an index card several years ago. I did modify it a bit from the original.)

Fruit Salad (To Go)

Remember, in science class, learning about saturation? I remember hanging a piece of string in a glass of sugar water, adding more sugar, and watching as, over the course of a few days, the sugar left the sugar/water mixture and clung to the string. What I’m trying to say is that I feel like that sugar/water mixture, and if you hang a string near me, in a few days you’ll have rock candy.

I guess that’s what happens when you have Halloween, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas/Hanukkah, followed by New Years, followed by Valentines Day, followed by your son’s third birthday! That’s why when Ellie was “star student” the week following her brother’s birthday, I decided to NOT make cookies or cupcakes to send in. (Sorry first graders!)

These treats were a big hit with the class, despite the lack of added sugar. Just a warning, though. You’ll want to prepare them as close to snack time as possible. The shelf life for these is pretty much non existent.

Ingredients:

(Makes about 12 bags)

• 12 strawberries
• 6 easy peel clementines
• 3-4 bananas (depending on size)
• 1 1/2 pears
• about 96 blueberries
• about 72 grapes
• 12 cellophane dipped pretzel bags
• ribbon

1. Cut your fruit- you should get about 4 chunks of banana per fruit (depending on size) and about 9 slices per pear (note- if your child’s class is allergy  sensitive, lay wax or parchment paper on your counter and use a plastic knife. The pears can be difficult to cut, so I cut a few slices with plastic, and packaged them with a different color ribbon so I knew which bags they were in. Then I switched to a regular knife. If you need to make sure all fruit is safely cut, you could always substitute green grapes for the pear.)
2. Place fruit in bag according to the rules of ROY-G-BV: about 6 grapes, 8 blueberries, 1 pear slice, 1 banana chunk, 1/2 clementine, 1 strawberry (halved when needed- there were some mutant huge strawberries in that container!)
3. Tie with a ribbon.
4. Serve immediately.

Just a little note. I tend to try to buy organic where I can. In this case, the grapes and bananas are non organic. I know it tends to be more expensive, and in some cases harder to find. Just do what you can, where you can.

And I am definitely not off sugar for good! I just needed to take a little break from it, you know?

I’m linking this up to Simply Sweet Saturdays at Simply Sweets by Honeybee.

Willy Wonka Birthday Party

I went big. Then I crashed and burned, lol. I’ve been such a bad friend/facebooker/blog runner for the past few days! Ben’s birthday party was such a huge success (at least I thought so!), but when it was over, I just wanted to nap! This is the first time in too long that I am even logging into WordPress, that I just found about seven comments in my spam folder that were NOT spam (woohoo!). So if you left a comment over the last week, and it never showed up on the post, I am so sorry! I just took care of that.

If you didn’t know, I decided that it would be totally sane to have a birthday party at my house. I liked the idea of being in control of the food. Most places have restrictions as to what you can bring, if you can even bring anything at all! And since you would figure a party for a Willy Wonka obsessed little boy would heavily involve food, I didn’t see any other choice (parks and playgrounds in March in New Jersey are risky venues for parties!)

I made the cake in a simple 9×13 and frosted it in vanilla bean frosting using this recipe from Simply Sweets by Honeybee. I topped it with a golden egg and an educated egg-dicator. Along side, were buckets of jelly beans and mini lollipops. Chocolate bars and large lollipops filled metal baskets on either side of the cake. I also wrapped Cadbury Cream Eggs in gold foil, and served a plate of “lickable wall paper” strips (or candy dots)!

I made some bright and colorful cookies.

 

The Everlasting Gobstoppers were packed up as party favors.

My favorite part of the dessert table was definitely the cupcakes! Morgan from Mighty Delighty made these Oompa Loompa cupcake toppers. They made decorating the cupcakes so easy!

 

Using chocolate frosting and some of the vanilla bean from the cake, I tried to copy the clothes the Oompa Loompas wear in the movie.

I was a little nervous about entertaining a bunch of three year olds, but it turns out they pretty much entertained themselves! As they arrived, I brought them strait to the kitchen to decorate their own chocolate dipped pretzel. I laid the pretzel on wax paper and wrote each child’s name by their pretzel. They were hardened and ready to wrap by the time everyone started leaving so I was able to wrap them in cellophane and ribbon and include them in the goody bags!

We played “Pin the Hat on Willy Wonka” (I made a crayon drawing of Willy Wonka on poster board and cut out pictures of hats. The kids stuck them to Wonka with double sided tape- since I didn’t blindfold them, I just told them to close their eyes, they all won!) We also rolled giant rubber balls across the room and pretended we were Oompa Loompas rolling Violet Beaureguard after she blows up like a blueberry. The kids danced to music, bounced balloons, and played in my basement. They had a blast!

It’s now four days after the party, and Ben is still wearing his Wonka costume around the house.

If you like these Oompa Loompa cupcake toppers, or you want to talk to her about designing custom printables for your party, you can contact Morgan at Mighty Delighty on her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MightyDelighty.  Or through her shop: Mightydelighty.blogspot.com.  I had a wonderful experience working with her! She listened to what I had in mind and gave me exactly what I wanted!

I hope, if you have a mini Wonka fan of your own, you were able to find some ideas here for your party!

 

Good Luck Charm

When Melissa of Simply Sweets by Honeybee asked me to be a part of her St. Patrick’s day collaboration, I immediately said “YES!”… because she’s my friend. However, when I thought about it, I almost wrote back and backed out. The project (as you probably read in the title of this post) was to cookify our lucky charm.

I’m not saying I don’t have anything that I consider lucky. I have a particular spatula that I know if I don’t use it to scrape the side of my mixing bowl, my royal icing will fail. I have a cup that I have to use when I eat at my parents house- I know it’s my cup by the way it was warped in the dishwasher. I have a favorite coffee mug.

But honestly, would any of these things be particularly fun to cookify?

Then it hit me.

When Ellie was born, my dad bought her a little pink security blanket. The first time we put it in her carseat, she immediately snuggled up with it.  She was only a few days old, but she wrapped her arm around it and held it close. When she stopped sleeping sometime around four months old, we would put her in her swing in our room, give her the blankie to snuggle into and she would go right to sleep. At the time, we assumed she wanted to be in our room, close to us. Or that she had a little reflux and was able to sleep better slightly upright. At around six months old, we asked her pediatrician when she could have her blankie in her crib. He said, “not until she can recognize it and acknowledge it’s presence.” We held the blankie in front of her, she immediately grabbed it to her chest and snuggled it to her face. The doctor said, “go ahead and give it to her tonight.” That night she slept through the night for the first time in two months!

So as soon as Ben was born, (three years ago tomorrow!) we bought one for him too. He actually never took to the one we bought him. Then one day when he was about a year, we were walking around Pottery Barn Kids. He grabbed something off a shelf as I pushed him past in his stroller. And since that day, he refuses to sleep with any other blankie!

Confession- sometimes when I can’t sleep, I borrow one of their “spares” (and believe me, we have many spares) and something about it helps me drift right off. And since sleep is one of my most favorite things in the world, something that helps all of my family members sleep? THAT would have to be my lucky charm.

Now, there are so many other amazing interpretations of “Good Luck Charm” in this collaborative project that you need to go check out. I can’t wait to read everyone’s posts to see what makes these things lucky for them!

1)      Opal Ring by Tami Rena’s Cookies

2)      My Children by Kookie Kreations by Kim

3)      Hamsa & Evil Eye by Not Your Everyday Cookie

4)      Wonder Woman Shirt by The Cookie Puzzle

5)      Attitude is My Good Luck Charm by Pink Little Cake

6)      Cookies Are My Lucky Charm by The Baked Equation

7)      Good Luck Money Tree by Semi Sweet Designs

8)      Security Blanket by Ellie’s Bites Decorated Cookies

9)      Lucky Number 32 by Cristin’s Cookies

10)   Always With Me by The Cookie Corner AZ

11)   Leprechauns by Trilogy Edibles

12)   Good Luck Elephants by Simply Sweets by Honeybee

Hidden Easter Eggs

I am so excited that I was a part of this fun project put together by Hani of Hanielas! We were asked to create a project (cookie, not cookie, non-baked-good…anything) that is related to Easter in some way.

I couldn’t immediately think of anything specific to do, but then I walked into Kitchen Kapers and found some fun mustache cookie cutters and an idea took hold.

So, I baked some egg shaped cookies and played around, trying to make them pretty.

Then I dressed them up a little- you know, in costumes.

Then I hid them.

I hid one on the beach……

One in a palace…..

One in the Old West at high noon….

And one in Hawaii. He’s a private investigator now.

Now you have to see all of the other amazing projects! I get a little flutter in my chest when I think that my project stands among this talent!

3D Easter Bunny by Marielle – De Koekenbakkers

Chick Cupcakes by Robin – Bird On A Cake

Mrs. Bunny Centerpiece by Myriam – Chapix Cookies

Cheesecake Easter Eggs by Beth – Hungry Happenings

Cho “Bunny” Greek Yogurt Pops by Jill – Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons

Hidden Easter Eggs by Stephanie – Ellie’s Bites

Easter Egg Cupcakes by Liz – Hoosier Homemade

Easter Treat Pouches by Elena – Just Me

Mini Meringue Cake by Karyn – Pint Sized Baker

Bunny Cake by Kathia – Pink Little Cake

Easter Gumball Machine by Marlyn – Montreal Confections

Easter Island by Laura – A Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe

Easter Bunny Sandwich by Michelle – Creative Food

Bunny Garland by Sue – Munchkin Munchies

Egg Hunt Pound Cake by Jennifer – Not Your Momma’s Cookie

Dutch Easter Egg by Lorraine – Lorraine’s Cookies

Easter Egg Painting Chicks by Mike – Semi Sweet

Easter Basket Cookies by Amber – Sweet Ambs Cookies

The Carrot Patch Cake by Kim – The Partiologist

Cookie Bunny Pop by Meaghan – The Decorated Cookie

Pretzel Bunnies by Sarah – Miss CandiQuik

I, Robot Egg Cookie by Hani – Haniela’s

Irish Coffee Caramel Cookie Cups

I’m going to go ahead and bet that the first person to put alcohol in coffee had to be the mother of an almost three year old. It just seems like the perfect example of invention being born of necessity. Of course the idea of taking this alcohol spiked coffee and baking it into something probably came from a mom with a food blog, right?

My friend Melissa, at Simply Sweets by Honeybee, has been hosting these weekly link parties. There are no rules, she just wants anyone to link up anything they have been working on. Actually there is one rule- it must be your own work. Everyone likes to show off a bit and have their work appreciated.

I haven’t exactly been using these weekly link parties to get attention- although it would be nice. I mean I’m home all day trying to keep two kids alive and happy, doing laundry, and cooking nice healthy meals. It’s always nice to hear someone say “great job, Steph!” when I know I’m not going to get it from said kids or the husband who benefits from the clean clothes and healthy meals. Lol. And every week, I get a “Great job, Steph” from Melissa. It’s awesome!!!

Anyway- that’s not why I’ve been doing it. I’ve been trying to stretch my imagination and comfort zone- encouraging myself to try making something other than a decorated cookie or a recipe that came from someone else’s work. I’m making it a goal to take a recipe and make it my own, then to play around with the styling and photographing of whatever baked good comes out of my oven.

This week, I had the idea of Irish Whisky Caramel in my head (probably from Pinterest) and with St. Patricks Day coming up, it was a good time to try this. I can honestly say, I was determined to make this work. It took me two batches of caramel and three rounds of cookie trials to get what I wanted, but I’m glad I persisted because these are GOOD.

Before making these, you’ll need to prepare a batch of Irish Whisky Caramels. I used this recipe only I used 1 tsp vanilla rather than the whole vanilla bean and I skipped the step of sprinkling extra salt on top.  Next brew yourself a cup of strong coffee. I boiled it a bit to reduce it and make it a little stronger. You can definitely use it strait from the cup. Add a splash of Bailey’s Irish Creme to the coffee and stir well. If you have a responsible adult with you who can watch your kids, reserve a tablespoon of the spiked coffee, let that cool completely, and drink the rest. If it’s not a good time for you to drink it, just set the whole thing aside to cool off. You’ll only be using a tablespoon full.

Ingredients

• 1 stick of unsalted butter softened
• 1/3c sugar
• 1/3c brown sugar
• 1 large egg at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1tbsp cooled coffee mixture (with or without Baileys)
• 1/4c unsweetened cocoa powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4c flour
• Irish Whisky Caramels cut into 1/4inch squares

1. Preheat oven to 325* and line 24 mini cupcake cavities with mini cupcake liners.
2. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment cream butter and both sugars until fluffy.
3. Add egg, vanilla, and coffee mixture. Mix until combined.
4. Mix in cocoa powder until combined, then add the salt, baking powder, and flour. Mix everything until combined.
5. Use a 1tbsp cookie scoop to scoop dough into the cupcake liners. The dough will be sticky.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.
7. Take the pan out of the oven and, working quickly, gently press a caramel square into the top.
8. Bake an additional 2 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and let cool in pan until the cookies are set up (about 10 minutes) then cool completely on a cooling rack.

The longer you let these set up, the more the taste of Baileys and coffee will come out. If you want you can sprinkle a little salt on top or pipe a little whipped cream, or just serve with some Irish Coffee.

Cereal Cookies For St. Patricks Day…Or Valentines Day….Or Whenever

I made these cookies for a wedding shower, but on the off chance that the recipient reads my blog, I won’t share the really cute centerpiece cookie with the couple’s name on it yet.

BUT…. I DID make a tutorial to share. So that’s something, right?

 

As much as I like handcutting, I am happy to say that I was actually able to find cookie cutters that I could use to make these cookies. That’s right, I didn’t hand cut a single one of them!

The spoons are made from baby rattles, and the milk bottles are baby bottles. The cereal bowls took a bit of altering, and I took a few pictures.

1- Using a round cutter of whatever size cookie you want, cut a circle

2&3-Use the scalloped side of the same cutter to make a scalloped top. To do this, carefully angle the cutter so you are only using the top of the cutter to cut only the top of the circle. It won’t remove completely, so you’ll have to cut the sides with a knife to remove the scalloped top.

4- Using the knife, trim the bottom of the circle so it’s flat.

 

1. Using white piping icing, outline the shape of the bowl.
2. Fill in the outline with flood consistency white icing. Let this dry until it is at least surface dry.
3. Give the bowl a little depth by piping a rim to the bowl. You can flood this too to give it more dimension, but I didn’t do that.
4. Start piping pink hearts.
5. Fill in a few orange stars.
6. Add your yellow moons.
7. Follow with your green clovers.
8. Throw in some blue diamonds.
9. Finish with purple horseshoes and forget to take a picture.

You can obviously add some red balloons and any other marshmallows they may have added since I last ate Lucky Charms. And don’t feel like you even need to make Lucky Charms. Make Trix or Cocoa Puffs if that is more your cereal.

Caramel Maple Bacon Cookies

This week, I made about a hundred trillion baby shower cookies. It is definitely the season for babies!

Instead of sharing those today, though, I played around and made something that has been on my mind.

A few months ago I ran to Whole Foods to pick up a few things and they were having a sale on their flavorings and extracts. I bought a few, including maple extract, with no idea what I would use them for. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure out how to use it!

So, these cookies take a little prep work. A few hours before you plan to bake them, you’ll need to make some bacon, using the bacon making method of your choice. Just make it crispy. I bake mine at 400F for 12 minutes or so. Then you’ll need to brown 1.5 sticks of butter. Do this by melting the butter in a sauce pan. Once it’s melted keep stirring it until it turns brown and smells delicious. Then pour it into a bowl and put it back into the refrigerator until it becomes solid again. Third, make some caramel sauce. I used this recipe by Pioneer Woman, you can use any recipe you like or you can use a store-bought jar. Finally, while your bacon is cooling, your butter is hardening, and your caramel is chilling, make yourself a spinach and egg white omelet and squeeze in an hour on the elliptical. Or referee 10 rounds of “I don’t WANT to watch Willy Wonka again, MOM why do we always watch what HE wants to watch???!!!!”

Once your butter is hardened (but still soft, do you know what I mean?) gather the rest of your ingredients.

• 1.5 sticks unsalted butter (browned)
• 6 Tbsp sugar
• 6 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 1 tsp maple extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt (optional- the bacon will make the cookie salty)
• 1.5 cups flour
• 8 slices of crispy bacon chopped into small pieces
• caramel sauce for drizzling

1. Preheat oven to 325F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper
2. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, beat together the butter and the two sugars until fluffy
3. add  egg, vanilla, and maple extract. Mix well.
4. Add baking soda, salt, and flour and mix until incorporated.
5. Fold in the bacon
6. Bake for about 18 minutes or until lightly browned
7. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. Heat caramel sauce in a small bowl in 15 second increments until it is pourable. Drizzle the sauce over the cookies.

Making the caramel was tricky for me. I’m not sure what happened to the first batch but it was grainy and all wrong. I threw that batch out and made another one. This one worked perfectly, only I think I let it go for too long, as it was a little harder than a sauce. It was a little tough to drizzle, but it was perfect for sandwiching between two cookies.

Either way you make them, you could probably serve them with a cup of coffee and a spinach and egg white omelet and call them breakfast!

I’ll be linking these to Simply Sweet Saturdays at Simply Sweets by Honeybee.

Inspiration Challenge: March {Spring Is In The Air}

Hey… wait. Where did February go?

I know the groundhog said there would be an early Spring, but I didn’t think it was possible to make a whole month actually disappear!

We didn’t get much snow here in New Jersey again. I’m sorry Midwest. I really don’t mean to rub it in. A bit of snow would have been nice, especially since I actually bought the kids snow suits and boots this year.

Anyway, it won’t be too long before we can go back outside to play. And the playground!

There is one sure way to know that spring is in the air around my house. You look for something else in the air:

My kids are OBSESSED with bubbles. In warmer weather we can go through a bottle a day. Since Ben actually thinks he is Willy Wonka, his favorite thing to do is chant “Bubbles bubbles everywhere, but not a drop to drink” while his sister blows bubbles into the air.

Once again, and I’m sorry, I don’t have a tutorial or even multiple photographs. If you do have the desire to make these, I can tell you that the bubble wand is a baby rattle with the little bumps on the side cut off. The bubble bottle is my latte cup cutter ( a gift from my friend Kim at The Cookie Puzzle who knows how to combine coffee and cookies- my two obsessions!). I know I have to get on the ball and get some tutorials out there. I lost my daylight working hours again and I haven’t had a chance to look for a light box.

My friend, Melissa, however MAKES tutorials. Not only does she make them, she records them and shares them on YouTube! She is awesome and she made the most AMAZING “Spring is in the Air” cookie. The way her mind works just stops me in my tracks. So head over to Simply Sweets by Honeybee and see for yourself. While you are there, you can link up your Spring is in the Air cookie.

Next month, we’ll be celebrating April Showers. Warmer weather, humidity wreaking havoc on royal icing again, allergy attacks. There is just so much inspiration to be found in THAT topic! lol.

So, what says “Spring is in the Air” to you?