Inspiration Challenge: May {Cookies You Fear}

I have to start off by saying, there is not much I fear about cookies anymore. I guess it would be different if I had a business selling my cookies and needed to accurately make whatever my customer asks for. But since I mostly make them for fun, or for friends who give me a lot of creative freedom, I am able to pick and choose what and how. And when and where for that matter.

There was one last thing, NOT a cookie, that I had feared so I conquered that instead. I had always been afraid to make anything that required a candy thermometer. A few weeks ago, I made caramels, and in honor of this month’s challenge, I made marshmallows. Ok, so the marshmallow recipe I used didn’t call for a thermometer, but it DID involve boiling sugar, which can be a little scary and anyway, marshmallows were on my baking bucket list. Check.

I chose to use this challenge to make cookies based on a book that I REALLY wanted to “cookie”, that if it hadn’t been for this challenge, I wouldn’t have had a reason to make them. To make things difficult, I used a technique I don’t really use. I painted them.

“Have you ever heard of Mickey…..” who falls into a dream, and strait down “In The Night Kitchen”? I really kind of love this book by Maurice Sendak. The illustrations are bright and colorful and the story is ADORABLE.

Mickey falls into The Night Kitchen and strait into the batter of the cake about to be baked by the three bakers. They mistake Mickey for milk, and mix him in then pop him into the oven- ready to bake “a nice Mickey cake”. Mickey bursts out of the oven crying “I’m not the milk and the milk’s not me, I’m Mickey!”- (Ben’s favorite line by the way). Then Mickey makes an airplane out of bread dough and flies into the sky, dropping down into the giant milk bottle.

Before waking up from his (trippy?) dream, Mickey scoops up some milk from the bottle and pours it into the cake batter, thus saving breakfast. As the bakers bake the REAL breakfast cake, they chant “Milk in the batter, milk in the batter, we bake cake and nothing’s the matter!” (Another favorite line. In fact the other day, we made coffee cake for breakfast just so the kids could add the milk to the batter while singing that nothing’s the matter!)

I can’t possibly, with my description or cookies, do justice to this book. If you have littles, I highly suggest it. (Try to ignore the fact that when he isn’t covered in cake batter, Mickey is stark naked. If that bothers you, this book isn’t for you.)

To make the cookies, I base coated squares and a scalloped circle in white. After they were fully dry, I painted the background onto the cookie with food coloring, a bit of water, and a clean brush that I only use for cookies.

Once the backgrounds were dry, I brought out the white icing again, and piped and flooded the shapes I wanted to make pop. After that dried completely, I painted the 3D areas.

It was really fun to make these cookies based on a book I find adorable. They weren’t easy, but I LOVE the end result!

Sadly, this was the last month of Melissa’s (Simply Sweets by Honeybee) and my year long inspiration challenge. We really enjoyed doing this and working together each month to come up with a new source of inspiration and challenge ourselves to stretch our comfort zone. Mostly, we enjoyed seeing what you all linked up when you played along! Don’t forget you have the whole month of May to link up your challenge.

Just because we are not continuing to play every month, that doesn’t mean we won’t be coming up with random projects here and there! And in the meantime, use the things you find around you for inspiration, take a picture, and link it up to Simply Sweet Saturdays, every week at Simply Sweets by Honeybee.

Thank you to everyone who played along!

(I will be updating this post with links to all of the past projects when I have a few minutes to organize things….)

Lemon Blueberry Cookies

Three years, one month, four days. Three years, one month, four days plus the 39 weeks he lived in my belly. That’s how long it has been since my baby boy and I have slept under a different roof.

Three years, one month, four days and 39 weeks. Until tonight. That is because my inlaws just swooped in, scooped him up, packed him into their car, and whisked him away. The plan being to have him tonight for a sleep over. I really wish I had made something chocolate this week.

Oh well, lemon blueberry cookies will have to suffice. I mean, they’re not chocolate, but they do still take the edge off of a broken heart.

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 6 tbsp confectioners sugar
• 6 tbsp lemon sugar (see below)
• 1 tbsp sugared lemon zest (see lemon sugar below)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp lemon emulsion
• 1 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1/2 c  fresh blueberries
• glaze (see below)

Lemon sugar- in a small bowl, stir together 6 tbsp sugar and the zest from one lemon. Really mush it around. Let the mixture sit for as long as you can. When you are ready to use it, sift the sugar through a fine mesh strainer. Reserve the now candied zest for use here.

1. Preheat oven to 325F and line two or three baking sheets with parchment.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars, and zest until fluffy.
3. Add egg, vanilla and lemon emulsion. Beat again until combined.
4. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt until combined.
5. Fold in blueberries by hand, OR beat them with the mixer. They’ll burst a little in the oven anyway, and I think the swirls of purple in the lemon cookie are pretty. Just barely mix them, or you’ll wind up with purple cookies.
6. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.
7. When cookies are done, let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. Drizzle with lemon glaze.

Glaze- Whisk together 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice and 6 tbsp confectioners sugar. I use the whisk to scoop up a little of the glaze and fling it over the cookies. If the glaze is too thick, you can thin it with a few drops of water. If it’s too thin, add a little more sugar.

I hope you like!

I’m linking these up to Simply Sweets Saturday at Simply Sweets by Honeybee.

Inspiration Challenge: April {April Showers}

Rain is not my most favorite thing in the world. I have thick, curly hair which frizzes easily, and frizzing is the only thing that it does easily.

Actually, I don’t really hate rain. I hate my hair.

To be perfectly honest, I like rain. As long as it’s warm. A good warm spring rain. It’s good for puddle hopping, and it’s good for the environment, too. It’s not really good for my sinuses, but it helps the kids sleep well. So I can live with it.

This month, Melissa (Simply Sweets by Honeybee) and I chose to use spring rain as our inspiration to make some cookies. Specifically April Showers.

I made some rain splatters and some umbrellas (to keep our hair as frizz free as possible).

I don’t actually have an umbrella cookie cutter, but I realized that you can make an umbrella out of just about any shape! A raindrop, a circle, or a square. The best part, is that if you own the sets of graduating cutters in these simple shapes, you can make them in any size!

I didn’t make an umbrella tutorial, but it is fairly straight forward.

Cut out and bake your shape. Outline the top half of the cookie and decorate it in the umbrella pattern of your choice. Let this half dry for a while. Then outline and flood the bottom half in white. Let the whole thing dry for several hours or overnight. To make a stormy sky background on the white half, cover the umbrella half with a paper towel and spray the white with Wilton’s silver color mist. Be a bit heavy handed (although it goes against your instincts). Before the alcohol evaporates and the color dries, use a paper towel or a clean paint brush (that you only use for food) to wipe parts of the color away in streaks. After that dries, outline and detail your umbrella top and add a handle with grey piping icing. When the handle dries, you can use a bit of silver luster dust mixed with vodka to paint the handle and make it pop.

Speaking of heavy-handed, I may have gone a little overboard with Picmonkey’s photo editing options! I had a lot of fun making my cookies look “stormy”. Here is a straight out of camera version.

Now, go check out Melissa’s cookies at Simply Sweets by Honeybee. They are so perfectly spring rain like!

So, we are nearing the end of our year long inspiration project. May marks our twelfth project and we thought it might be fun to take some risks. Is there a set of cookies that you have been wanting to make, but you’ve held back because you were afraid? Maybe a character or theme that you’ve been wanting to cookify, but you didn’t have a specific reason and you felt it was too intimidating to try only for fun? Here’s your reason! Next month, May, we are going to face our cookie fears. Make that set that you didn’t think you could. Then share it.

Until then, don’t forget to stop by The Cookie Puzzle everyday in April. Say “hi” to Kim and when you can, share a few posts. Help spread awareness for autism.

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.

 

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.

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?

Lemon Sandies

I’m turning into that lady who complains all the time. I don’t mean to do it, and actually, I wouldn’t even be bringing it up if this wasn’t a cry for help!

SO- I need a little sleep  advice. Advice on how to get more sleep. My son has stopped sleeping. I know you’re saying “again?”. We went through a rough patch almost a year ago when he learned how to climb out of his crib. We got him a toddler bed and put a gate on his bedroom door and soon he was sleeping like a baby again. We got the most complicated gate on the market figuring it would take him a few years to figure it out. Wrong- it took him two months short of one year. Now, with his new found freedom, he’s discovered he has the capability to explore the house at all hours of the night.

So- what do I do now? Any advice? I will be forever grateful if you leave me the solution in the comments section! I would be so grateful that I would tell you where you can find the recipe to make these:

 

Who am I kidding? I’m too tired to be coy. Of course I am going to share. You can find the recipe here. It is by my friend Melissa at Simply Sweets by Honeybee.

I made a few substitutions. Out of necessity, mind you, not because I thought they would be better this way. I didn’t have salted butter, so I added 1/4 tsp salt to the cookie. And I didn’t have pistachios on hand, so I pulverized 1/2c almonds and 1/2c white chocolate chips in a food processor and used that mixture instead. These cookies taste like buttery air. They are so light and fresh. I wish I still had some in the house since I tend to crave carbs when I’m really tired.

OK- thanks in advance for your advice. I know since I told you where you could find this recipe, you’ll hold up your end of the bargain I’m really looking forward to getting a full night’s sleep tonight!

One Fish Two Fish

Did you ever make a set of cookies that you love so much, that you have to share them, even though there really isn’t much to write about and anyway, you have about 30 things to do before you go to work in two hours, so you are just going to post a quick run on sentence and a picture and promise that it won’t happen again, well, not often anyway?

Happy Monday!