Christening Cookies

I recently made an order of cookies for a Christening.  I used Americolor Teal to get the Tiffany blue color and then just tried to come up with some thing pretty.  I made script  T's on the scalloped round ones, in addition there was a smaller round cookie, Capital T shaped cookies, as well as the obligatory cross.  I am beyond happy with the finished result.  I am always surprised when I start making these because I never know how they will turn out.

Hey while your here, why not like my Facebook page?  MMMMkay?  That'd be greeeaaat.

Southwest Biscuit Casserole. DELICIOUS

This is not a food blog, or a cupcake blog or a cookie blog.  I know it looks like one though.  This is just somewhere for me to come to share the things I like, and have done.
Here is something I like.  A LOT.
Who loves comfort food?  Who loves biscuits from a can?  Who loves easy?

I DO! I DO!  I DO!

I got the bare bones of this recipe, from my friend Kafi via Facebook one day.  I have a habit of constantly tweeking things, so I tweeked this.  Here it goes.

Southwest Biscuit Casserole

Preheat oven to 400°

½ cup sour cream
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 small can diced chiles, whatever temp you like
1 cup or so of red potatoes, diced (microwave for 4 minutes)
2 chicken breasts cooked your favorite way, then diced
1 can of corn
1 can any biscuit in a can
1 cup pepper jack cheese
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese

Ok, really the best part is this is easy.  I am sure anyone reading this is like, "What the hell? This chick just opened cans"  Yeah? Well, sue me.  This takes me a a half hour to prep, only if I have to cook the chicken.  If you have chicken leftovers, BOOM, this is the recipe for you.

In a medium bowl combine: soup, chiles, sour cream, potatoes (don't for get to microwave them to cook them a little) diced chicken breast, corn.

Pour the mixture in to a casserole dish, I like to use a square one. There is only 4 of us.

Mix up your cheeses, spread over the top of mixture in casserole dish.

Open can of biscuits.  stretch out the biscuits, to fit and cover the top of the casserole.

Bake 35 minutes at 400°

Let sit when done cooking for about 10 minutes.

When I have leftovers of this, all I do is think of them, forcing me to eat some.  If you make this you will know what I mean.  I mean look, it has all classic elements: biscuits, cheese, and creamy stuff.  YUM.

Baby Girl Cookies

Here is another batch of baby shower cookies.  We have baby faces, carriages, rattles, bottles, onesies and other cookie shapes in flowers, hearts and circles.  All cookies were embellished with candy pearls and flowers made of royal icing.  I really love these cookies.

As per usual, i got my inspiration from Sugarbelle's site, however, i can't find the link right now.  However, that is ok.  Go look.  it is insane cookie porn!

Adorable Ducky Cookies

I was contacted not long ago about a cookie job.  The lady wanted some cookies and cupcakes that would go along with her theme which went with the above invitation.

Here is what I came up with. I stenciled the basic duck shape on all of  them, and then went through refining them with a few more colors.  I like painting on cookies with food coloring.  The customer was very happy and so was I.  What do you think about them?  

Hey remember when I bartered my Ninjago cookies?

Did I tell you about the time I bartered my cookies for delightful handcrafted jewelry?  Well, I think I did tell you.  It isn't my fault if you don't remember. Are you having a senior moment?  Anyhoo.  I made sweet Ninjago cookie favors, and my friend Jamie sent me these sweet Doctor Who inspired bracelets. Jamie has super cool stuff, and she will custom make stuff as well.  Not only that, but she is reasonably priced.  I would highly recommend her for custom gifts.  I am thinking Jennah may need some (more) custom jewelry from Jamie.  So, if you are not into looking at my old posts, (I linked to it in the first line of this post, how much easier do I need to make it?) here are her links.  Justahausweyef 's Facebook Page and Justahausweyef's Etsy Page.  Check her out and give her a like!

Wedding Gown Cookies

Here are some wedding gown cookie favors I made for a group of bridesmaids.  The design is pretty simple but I really think it works.  What do you think?  The wedding colors were rainbow, and the final result was bagged in cello bags and tied with rainbow ribbon, which I should have posted a picture of. #missedopportunity.

I have quite a few orders coming up at the end of the month!  No complaints here, people.  Today I had to sit down and figure out the number of cookies I need to bake on my "baking day".  It comes out to about 200.  Yikes.  Oh well, I love a cookie challenge!  What tips did I use here?  Wilton #1 in case you wanted to know.  Thanks for checking me out, feel free to comment!

Halloween Cookies 2012

Halloween is like, my favorite holiday.  I love dressing up, (although i dont so much anymore) and now making costumes for my children, and it is the eve of my birthday month.

With all of that in mind, how can I not make some adorable cookies? I made these guys last night.  I love them.  The bats especially.  They have purple sanding sugar "lining" to the wings, complete with little bloody fangs.  The spider web cookies are also pretty cool, with a hand painted spider.   Also we have a couple of ghosts as well as candy corns.  I made a pumpkin too, but i ate it. LOL!

Happy Halloween everybody!

Safari Baby Shower Cookies

I made these cookies using a Wilton set i picked up a couple years ago.  I had never made the lion before, but i am so happy with how he turned out!  I didnt want to paint the faces, so I went ahead and used my food coloring painting technique.  I really think they are adorable!

Ninjago Cookies

I made these cookies for my friend Jamie.  She made me super sweet Doctor Who inspired bracelets (pics to follow of those soon, but until then why not check out her Etsy shop or her Facebook page?) some cute earrings and a necklace and bracelets for my daughter.  In return, I made cookies for her son's birthday.  These cookies got bagged and bowed as cookie favors that look adorable.  For once I didn't go to Sweet Sugarbelles site to find inspiration.  I went instead to the internet and just checked out Ninjago stuff on Google.  I did however, use techniques I read on her blog, so there is that.  All in all, I have to say I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

Spiderman cookies and cookie favors

More cookies on my cookie making odyssey.  These are Spiderman cookies, and cookie favors that I made for a little boys birthday party.  I am really happy about how they turned out, even if the black icing gave me fits.  I have to give credit where credit is due, my go-to cookie resource blog, the Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. She is very talented, and has been an outstanding resource for me, I really should think of thanking her for her awesome tutorials.

Winner winner, chicken dinner! UPDATED.

I am very excited to announce that my Chocolate Cherry Beauties cookie recipe won a blue ribbon from the Just a Pinch Recipe Club!  I am thinking I should take the time out to say that before I posted a recipe there I was using it like crazy for different cake recipes.  It was always popping up in my sidebar on Facebook with delicious creations that made me click.  So what did we learn today?  That I am a baking nerd, and that the Just a Pinch Recipe Club is a great website and resource.  Still haven't heard anything about my entry to the cookie contest, but I am keeping my fingers crossed!

UPDATE: The cookies were a finalist in the Just a Pinch Cookie Celebration contest, and was featured on the front page of the site during the week of July 10th, as well as featuring them in their Facebook ads..  They made me an Honorary Kitchen Member and sent me a Chefs hat.   So now I can ca call these cookies "Award Winning"!!! Woo Hoo!

Wine Themed Cookies

I made theses cookies for a rehearsal dinner for a wedding being held in Sonoma,  Ca with a wine country theme. I am pleased with the results.  A little bit of hand painting and voila!  Cookies.

Pirate Cookie Collection

 I made a pirate cookie collection for a three year old's  birthday party. The collection included pieces of eight, pirate ships, pirates, swords (or cutlasses?idk.) Treasure maps, and personalized scrolls. Here is a picture of all of them:

Below is a closer view of the scroll banner cookies.  I painted them with food coloring "paint" The pirate cutlass came from a palm tree cookie cutter because I was not able to find a cutlass cutter.  Improvisation!

This one is my favorite.  I used the "F" cutter, (the boy's name is Frankie) and flooded the cookies with an almost flesh toned frosting, then painted it to look like a treasure map, finishing it with a red royal icing "x" to mark the spot. I had no idea what that was going to look like when i started it and it just turned into a totally happy accident.

On the right, is what I am calling a pirate ship.  All I could find was a sailboat cutter so I used that and made some alterations to it to make it work.  I used little round cutters to make the pieces of eight, making several different ones.  Finally, there is this little pirate.  I got this cookie idea straight from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, who is my cookie idol.

If you click on the first picture, you can kind of see the different patterns i made for the pieces of eight.  all I really did for that was look at different fonts and pirate themed stuff on the internets to get my ideas.  Thanks for stopping by to look at my stuff!

Ninjago Birthday Cake

I made a Ninjago themed cake for a boys birthday, and wrote his name in royal icing on the side of the cake.  I am pretty excited to deliver it.

Cupcake bouquet...

I did a cupcake bouquet for a garden themed birthday party on Sunday, and I think it turned out great. Here ya go, instructions! (Sharing is caring people!)

1 six inch pot
1 pot saucer
1 six inch floral ball
Popsicle sticks
glue gun and sticks
a rock to weigh it down.

Glue the saucer to the bottom of the clay pot.  Put the rock in the pot.  Glue the floral ball to the opening of the pot. Stick Popsicle sticks around the ball about a half inch above where it meets the pot, all the way around, spaced about an inch an a half apart. Stagger the next row up and so on.  I recommend using one cupcake to get a feel for the spacing before placing all the Popsicle sticks. Place the Popsicle sticks angled upwards.  The bouquet takes 19-20 cupcakes.  make a slit in the bottom of the cupcake about the width of the Popsicle stick, then place the cupcakes on the sticks. for empty spaces I tucked in tissue but you could easily stick in leaves or fresh greenery as well. Please note you need a denser cake, with no filling and a firmer frosting, (not a whipped frosting) the bottom row is a little precarious, and if the day is warm and you are outside, that frosting is going to slip right off those suckers. It is very pretty and versatile... The possiblilities, they are endless!

Nojo "Safari Baby" inspired cookies

I did these cookies for a baby shower.  So cute.  I was inspired by Targets Nojo collection, "Safari Baby".  To accompany the cookies I made Boston Cream Pie cupcakes.  The feedback was very good on both items.  I think my skillz are improving.  I just wish Michaels had better treat bags.  the ones I get (the only ones they have that i find acceptable) have a narrow neck that I have to slit to get bigger cookies into.  Bigger cookies are basically every cookie, so that really sucks.  I am going to have to look at Ebay or Amazon.

Minnie and Mickey Mouse Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for a rehearsal dinner.  The Mickey and Minnie's are made with royal icing that I dried.  How crafty am I?  I really love the way they turned out.

The cupcake flavors are lemon cake, make with 7up, and white cake, with a whole strawberry and some fresh strawberry filling in in it.  They turned out delightful.

Cookies for Baby's Arrival...

 Still doing cookies.  Here we have baby bottles ad rattles.  I used sanding sugar on the outline of the rattles, but chose to leave the bottles somewhat plainer, but I am very happy with the result. I have to say I really am enjoying the cookies. I also made a delicious marble cake this week with a fresh strawberry filling in it.  So hmmm, what have i learned with this batch...Ahh yes. Pressure.  When using a #1 tip for lettering, pressure is so important, but even more important: consistency.  Icing consistency is incredibly important in achieving the effect you desire.  I think i am finally getting that.  When I made thos batch of cookies I also made lamb and duckie cookies, but i am lazy and have not iced them yet.  Rest assured when I do I will be pinning them.  Thanks to you visitors, for checking out my work.  I appreciate it!

Jennah's Hello Kitty Birthday cake

And here we have my daughters sixth birthday cake.  I made the the Kitty with gum paste, all of the flowers with royal icing, and the petal frosting pattern, I got straight from Pinterest.  The totally kooky thing today was that I got this big, bad-assed cake tip (see below) for frosting cakes.  It knocked the crumb coating and filling in between layers out with a quickness.

How about that bad boy, huh?

So there ya have it.  Hello Kitty birthday cake.

Jennah and Mommy

On a more personal note, six years and three hours ago, I gave birth to a tiny little girl, and named her Jennah. Jennah, my baby doll, you are getting so big and turning into such a charming little lady.  I love you so much.  I look forward to watching you grow up, even though I wish you could stay little. *sniffle* oxoxox Mama

Hello, Kitty!

I really need to take better pictures.  That being said, here is my first attempt at Hello Kitty cookies.  I am 95% happy with how they turned out.  Next time, I will use a smaller piping tip on the bow, and I will do better on the bow over all now that I have a better feel for the placement of it.  Other than that I think they are adorable.   I made them for my little dolly's class for her birthday.  She squealed with delight, so I know she loved them, and they taste delicious too. For help on this i used Callie's tutorial over at The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle.  She is crazy helpful to me and doesn't even know it!  Go look at her blog!