{ Celebrating Father's Day with Cookies }

My husband is always complaining that I make cookies for everyone else but him. He "never gets any cookies". Of course that's not true. I always sneak a few from whatever batch I'm making so he can sample th

I had every intention of making him a special BBQ/Father's Day collection of cookies. I looked around at all the amazing cookie decorators for inspiration, ordered some new cookie cutters and got to work last week, baking and decorating.

There's still a few burps and farts going on with these cookies. I stuck my finger in a beer mug and tried unsuccessfully to fix it and I really need to work on my lettering. I think I need a stiffer royal icing so the letters don't blob together. I'll work on that for the  next batch which I'll be working on next week, Fourth of July & BBQ cookies to take to TN.

{ What happened to quilting and knitting? }
I'm still doing both. I've been working on two pairs of socks and a plus quilt for my niece's classroom. It's almost done and  I'll post some photos after I send it to her. I don't want to ruin the surprise.

{ Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my! }

Well, actually it was more like lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos and monkeys. Zoo animals were the theme for Ronin's 2nd birthday party held over Memorial Day weekend. Last week was very busy around our house ( guests in from out of state for my son's graduation) so I couldn't start baking/decorating until Tuesday night.

I used tutorials from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle for the giraffe and the leaves. She makes everything seem so easy but, let me tell you, those giraffe spots were hell.

The cookies were a hit, especially with Ronin. He helped himself to a lion. I wish I could have grabbed a photo but he's not still long enough.



I'm still practicing the cookie decorating thing and usually enjoy the process. No strict deadlines is really a plus. Now I'll have to check the calendar for the next holiday or special occasion.

{ Weekend Cookie Baking }

We have a new baby in the family. A sweet little boy. I spent some time making cookies this past weekend. This cookie decorating thing is still an ongoing experiment. Some aspects of the decorating process are coming easier to me than others. I definitely have to work on my writing skills.

PS: See the little green heart with yellow polkadots in the front? I dropped it and there's a dent. I didn't catch it before I took the photos. I did switch it with another heart. Just buried that one way underneath the others. {shhhhh}

{ Bluebirds and Daisies }

For last week's baby shower I offered to make some cookies that would be given out as part of the favor. I had purchased the cutest set of cookie cutters, momma and baby bird. I finagled a bit and merged the two cutters to make one cookie. Worked out great! So, 65 cookies pairs and 65 daisies later..........

 

You'll notice three different styles of daisy decorating. I was experimenting. I prefer the one with the piped outline. Next time that's the way I'll do them all.

And, I flavored some of these cookies with almond flavoring instead of vanilla flavoring. Yum-my! Besides smelling incredible as they baked, they tasted amazing. {Yes, I made a few extras for sampling purposes. I had to know if they tasted good...wink, wink} I used decorating tips from The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle for the birds. She's so talented and new cookie decorators {me} can learn a lot from her.

{ Welcome back The Walking Dead }

My sister and I are The Walking Dead junkies. She watches in Florida and I watch in NY. We text each other during the show and both watch every marathon AMC runs. {I think I've seen season one  15 times}
Last year and this year we were able to be together to watch the return of the show after the mid-season finale. It's a bonding experience for us.

I brought a special surprise with me on the plane from NY to FLA.... zombie/walker cookies, complete with some bloody guts and exposed brains. I made ' just brain ' cookies too.

Before the addition of guts.

After the enhancement, displayed lovingly by my sister atop her dining room table. 

 My sister loved them! She {we} ate some and decided to save some to display in her office. I'm not sure how long they'll last before they get moldy but she'll hang on to them as long as she can.

This guy's my favorite. I bit his arm off the first chance I got. It was delish!

{ Christmas Cookies }

For the first time in a zillion years I made rolled sugar cookies for Christmas gift giving. My Mom reminded me that I used to make such pretty cookies when I was a kid but they really didn't taste very good. (Thanks for telling me 35 years later Mom) I looked around the internet for cookie decorating blogs and came across Sweetopia.  There were recipes, decorating tips and videos to aid me in my beautiful and tasty cookie quest.

I picked up all the required ingredients and decorating tools, baked one day and decorated the next. I'm happy with the results, both the look and the taste. These babies took a long time to decorate. First they had to be outlined, then flooded with royal icing. Some needed secondary decorating so I had to wait for the first layer to dry a bit before starting the next layer. Oh, and mixing royal icing for 10 minutes with a hand mixer was hell. I'm hoping to find a stand mixer under the tree from Santa this year.

I have to bag them and pack them up for gift giving. A few I'll be keeping for myself, just to look at.