Peppermint Bark

http://www.food.com/recipe/peppermint-bark-345124?photo=29873 

• 12ounces chocolate chips
• 1lb white chocolate chips
• 1⁄2teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1⁄2cup peppermint candy, crushed

1. Preheat oven to 250. Line a 9x13 pan with foil, letting it hang over the sides. Spray foil. Pour the chocolate chips in an even layer on the foil. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until almost melted. Remove from oven, smooth with an offset spatula or knife. Place in refrigerator until cold and firm, about 20 minutes.
2. Melt white chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a metal bowl over simmering water (don’t let bottom of bowl touch water), until chocolate is almost melted. If you are daring, you can use your microwave. Remove bowl from water and stir until completely melted, stirring in extract. Let cool a little bit so it doesn’t melt the chocolate layer when you pour it on top. Pour this over chocolate layer, and, working quickly, spread to cover. Sprinkle with crushed candy (I pressed the candy in just a bit).
3. Chill until both layers are firm. Lift foil out of pan and shake off excess candy. Trim edges. Cut into 2” wide strips. Peel bark from foil and cut each strip as desired. Chill in covered container. Makes about 2 pounds.

Surprisingly Easy!

So if we can all remember back that far, let's talk about Thanksgiving desserts!! As a vegetarian and a sweets fanatic, dessert is my happy time for me - it is my Turkey. This year I made two staples, my Apple Oatmeal Crisp, which is honestly wonderful because there is a crisp later on the bottom and on the top.........thank god it is wonderful and worth it because the apples I bought from Target weren't big enough and I needed more so a quick run the nite before Thanksgiving to the foodstore we were back in business, my fresh Whipped Cream ( I think I did the recipe times 5 - no one will ever complain about too much whipped cream.) (I think new pictures are in order next Thanksgiving!

My cousin sent me an email asking me if I received Cooking Light with a picture of a recipe, after telling her no but the recipe looked great I was asked to make it for Thanksgiving.  I have never made a mousse before and some people (thanks mom) doubted my abilities to carry this off but I have to say in the long run it came out great and it was not hard at all.

The recipe does call for 1 tablespoon of Brandy and I somehow don't know anyone who keeps it on hand so my dad and I (family bonding right?) headed to the liquor store and bought a cheap MINI bottle - and seriously it worked out perfect.  Also, it says instant espresso granules and I don't drink coffee but my mom leaves some good British instant coffee in my fridge for when she comes down so I used that. For the Dutch Process Coco I just used my normal Hershey brand coco.  O yeah I forgot to read the Cool Whip directions on how to thaw it and so it wasn't really/fully thawed before I went to go use it so I mixed it a little before I measured it and I think put in some extra. Also, I had a 9 inch pan and just used that - maybe a little thinner but still delicious.

This recipe was declared a HUGE hit by the family even though when trying to cut and serve it, it fell apart a little bit. I love chocolate but even for me this is super chocolate so a little goes along way - isn't that what the whipped cream is for.

As I said one of my resolutions is to be better about taking pictures and honestly, this is the reason! I totally forgot to take the picture until people were halfway thru it!  




BAKED CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
(Source: Cooking Light)

Ingredients

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa

1 teaspoon instant espresso granules

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon brandy

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs
2 large egg whites1/3 cup sugar

Dash of salt

1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

Baking spray with flour (such as Baker's Joy)

 

DIRECTIONS:

  - Preheat oven to 350°.

 - Bring 1/2 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add cocoa and espresso, stirring until smooth. Remove pan from heat. Add chocolates; gently stir until mixture is smooth. Stir in brandy and vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture into a large bowl. Let stand 10 minutes; stir occasionally.

- Combine eggs, egg whites, sugar, and salt in the top of a double boiler, stirring with a whisk. Cook over simmering water until a thermometer reaches 115° (about 2 minutes), stirring constantly with a whisk. Place egg mixture in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until ribbony, soft peaks form (about 5 minutes).

-  Gently stir one-third of egg mixture into chocolate mixture; gently fold in remaining egg mixture. Gently fold in whipped topping. Spoon batter into an 8-inch springform pan coated with baking spray, spreading evenly. Bake at 350° for 27 minutes or until almost set (center will not be firm but will set as it chills). Cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Cover and chill at least 8 hours or overnight.

OR USE WHIPPED CREAM: You can substitute an equal amount of whipped cream for the whipped topping BUT you have to cook for 5 minutes longer.

 

 

 

BaBy Q Sugar Cookies!

For the BaBy Q I made cookies for the girls as favors and minis for the party...............the minis got devoured even by the boys.  I have to say I was really happy and proud of these cookies. I think it was because I planned and took my time but everything seemed to go well. I used my Sugar Cookie Recipe and Pink Martini and Pearls royal icing recipes that I have used before on the Bow cookies - this time I ended up making 3x times her recipe (2 times early on in the night and one later on).

THE BEST ROLLED SUGAR COOKIES:(Source: All Recipes)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

- Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.


ROYAL ICING:
(Source: Pink Maritinis and Pearls)

INGREDIENTS: Times is by at least 2 - probably 3 times

1 lb. Powdered Sugar (does not need to be sifted)
3 Tbl. Meringue Powder
6 Tbl. Hot Water (from tap is fine)
1-2 Tablespoon of Lemon Extract (this is an addition by me but do it to taste)

DIRECTIONS:

- With a whisk attachment beat all the ingredients on high until fluffy. Do not under beat. Pink Martini mixes for at least 8 minutes. Put the icing immediately in a container with a tight lid to prevent it from drying out.

I then followed her directions for 10 second icing:

BaBy Q!!!!

I think I am at that age where I no longer go to weddings but now I go to baby showers.  I am also the type of person that offers to throw baby showers.................o why! I ended up helping throw a baby shower for my neighbors but we did it with a twist and threw a coed BaBy Q shower and had some awesome BBQ catered; of course, I did the desserts.  I am trying to get better about planning and because I am crazy and planned a last minute trip to Spain leaving the next day (you can check that out on my travel blog: Runaway Cubicle) I spread things out over multiple days and it totally made a difference - even though I was still up crazy late decorating cookies. Since it was a co-ed baby shower we didn't really want to do games but we did do one. I bought baby bottles and we did a beer race with 2 rounds (dads vs non dads) and the winner of each round went head to head. I do not have kids and bought the slow flow ones (um I am clueless) so we decided to puncture them and make them a little bit bigger.............yeah it wasn't a smart idea because it wasn't really a challenge so if you do it then don't make it bigger!

 

Bottles are solid chocolate

 

Red Velvet Cupcakes (regular size and mini)

The Boys Baby Shower Gift was a choice of different flavored Hot Sauces

They were labeled

Brubeck Temper Tantrum Sauce

Pink Cookie Love!

When I made the adorable bowties and neckties for Father's Day I decided to make some cookies for my mom's birthday as well.  I made some cute birthday cupcake cookies that had a candle on top; however, the candle part could be flimsy and didn't come out right sometimes so I just cut that part of and just had a cupcake cookie.  I also made some present cookies, those need some work to look cute! Also, I made some mini hearts and sunglasses for her pool! These were all made with Pink Martini and Pearls and my Sugar Cookie Recipe.  

Bowterrific Cookies Part 3!!!

As I have said before I am stubborn! I have decided to embrace this "I will not let a little sugar cookie beat me" project and instead went on a cookie cutter buying spree and ended up searching and stalking until I got these cute bow tie and neck tie cookie cutters (big and minis).  This time I decided to use Pink Martinis and Pearls  Royal Icing recipe; she also makes the most beautiful cake pops.

I ended up doubling her recipe and then making another batch. So the recipe below is enough for maybe 1/2 batch of my sugar cookie recipe.  I think this might be my recipe because it worked out really well and wasn't sticky. I will have to try it out again just to make sure it wasn't a fluke!!!  I thought some of it was coming out too thick so I thinned it well the thinner ones were the ones that weren't as dry, where the thicker dried better - totally not what I expected to happen! I ended up putting them in jars I bought for pretty cheap from Michaels for my dad and Uncles for Father's day. Also, do you see the cool gift tag cookie cutter I got! SO cute to tie it to the front of the jar.

ROYAL ICING:
(Source: Pink Maritinis and Pearls)

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. Powdered Sugar (does not need to be sifted)
3 Tbl. Meringue Powder
6 Tbl. Hot Water (from tap is fine)
2 Tablespoon of Lemon Extract (this is an addition by me but do it to taste)

DIRECTIONS:

- With a whisk attachment beat all the ingredients on high until fluffy. Do not under beat. Pink Martini mixes for at least 8 minutes. Put the icing immediately in a container with a tight lid to prevent it from drying out.

I then followed her directions for 10 second icing:

10 SECOND ICING:
(Source: Pink Maritinis and Pearls)


- To get the nice smooth icing you see on the cookies it needs to be thinned. Too thin and it runs down the sides of the cookies and will not coat it well. Too thick and it will just sit there and not be smooth. (I find that this is trial and error for me and still learning)
- Add water a teaspoon at a time (sometimes I add some lemon just to keep the flavor up). Mix the water well. 

Pink Martinis and Pearls says: Pull a dollop of icing on your spoon or spatula and let it drop back down; count to 10 and if it seems to melt and disappear by 10 then you have the perfect consistency.  If there are still remanants add a touch of water. If it melts too quickly then you need to add more regular icing to give it more body. (I think last time I just put a little but more sugar in it).

 Sweet Sugar Belle: makes 20 second icing. I LOVE her way of just drawing a line in your bowl and seeing if it disappears. Works well for the 10 second icing as well.

Honestly: I would love for my stuff to look even a quarter as good as Pink Martini and Sweet Sugar Belle and love their explanations, pictures, and directions.  I really need to be better with my pictures and just not do them as I am running out the door!

Sugar Cookies Summer Style!!! Part 2!!!!!

This is a continuining series in my adventures of trying to find a sugar cookie recipe!

Okay so cookies are my albatrose..........I am really good with cookies, pies, cupcakes but not with round cakes and sugar cookies! I am stubborn and have decided that I will get this skill so I can put it in my back pocket. This includes getting recipes I am really comfortable with. I decided to try something different then my normal icing recipe and to do a royal icing recipe. After looking (really stalking) a lot of wonderful blogs (seriously, there are so many talented (patient) sugar cookie people out there and I am just not one of them) I decided to try The Sweet Adventure's of Sugar Belle's Royal Icing Recipe.  I liked this recipe but felt like it took forever to make, I do not have one of the awesome Kitchen Aid mixers. I also had trouble with getting it to dry really well but I blame that on the user and not the recipe; this is a reoccuring problem and why I started to look for a new recipe.  It was a great way to kick off the summer!

I only made 1/2 of the recipe and it was enough for my cookies. I also used lemon juice (not extract) instead of vanilla so it definitely could have been user era. Also I know my cookies will never look good as hers!


O I used my new Sugar Cookie Recipe! Sorry the pictures are not the best - quick snaps with the iPhone.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

My guinea pigs, er co-workers, are used to getting regular cookies or cupcakes at work but after being inspired by so many talented blogs I decided to work on decorative sugar cookies. Who knew my biggest hurdle would be finding a St. Patty's day cookie cutter!?!?! Seriously Michaels! Thankfully my cousin had one that I was able to use. I also decided that there was no reason that I had to make a full batch, which is like 60 cookies, for work so I scaled my recipe back to 1/4 and it ended up making about 20 shamrocks, perfect! (recipe is in next post!) Still learning about decorating, people make it look so easy but it isn't!

All About the Desserts.....I mean Babies!

Wow I really might be the worst blogger ever! Some of it is laziness and some of it is using new recipes and then losing them! I promise to be better. In October I helped throw a baby shower for a very dear friend from college. It was wonderful because her mom, sister in law, mother in law and another college friend helped out but let me do all the desserts. I was a little nuts, what's new, and over baked way too much but everything came out great.  People asked if it was a job or a hobby, I wish it was a job but not even sure if they were that amazing. I am proud to say that not only did everything looked good but everything tasted amazing!!!!

First was Red Velvet Cupcakes with bright blue cream cheese (it's a boy!).

I also made them in mini size! Which were a big hit, less guilt and just as delicious!

I also made cheesecake pops that came out great except I did keep them in the freezer before hand so they defrosted at the party.   I made them once before with Daring Bakers but I used a different recipe this time. They were super impressive at the party and a great hit.  I stored them in large plastic cups in the freezer so this way they could stand up as they were drying.The recipe I used this time is below.                                                                                                                 

These are 3D solid chocolate baby bottles that I made out of a chocolate mold. They werent perfect but everyone loved them and I did too!

CHEESECAKE POPS
(Source: Allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
24 lollipop sticks
10 ounces white confectioners' coating
miniature semisweet chocolate chips toasted

DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

- Beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in the sour cream and blend thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour, vanilla and salt and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, blending thoroughly before adding the next egg, but do not overbeat. Pour batter into a 9-inch springform pan.

- Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until the edges of the cake just begin to turn golden. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

- Use a small cookie scoop to scoop out round balls of cheesecake. Roll them into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Push a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Place the tray in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

- Melt the white confectioners' coating (or semi-sweet chocolate). Dip each cheesecake pop into the melted coating. Then dip into one of the toppings. Place on waxed paper until coating is set. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Store in refrigerator. (I store mine in the freezer)

Lemon Bottles and Onesies

I am so far behind on blogging, I just don't know why. I have decided to try and update the blog because this is the easiest way to keep all my recipes at my fingertips. This post is extremly beneficial because I am in the process of planning another friend's baby shower.

For a friend's baby shower in February I decided to make onesie cookies again. I am excellent at underestimating the amount of time and the amount of work that I have to do and this was a perfect example because I was up until 4 am and back up 2 1/2 hours later trying to finish the over 100 cupcakes and an absurd amount of cookies (I think I blocked out the extra number for my own mental health). I was in pretty good shape making the cookies (both onesies and baby bottles)and then I tried the first batch of unfrosted ones and GROSS!!! They had to get thrown out and I started scouring my favorite Allrecipes for a new recipe (and now it was almost 3:30pm). I was pretty happy with this recipe except they blew up when they were baking them so I had to recut them once they came out of the oven (this could be because I used just butter) and some of the icing seemed to smudge in the bags but yet again I think my few hours of drying was just not enough.

Even though some of them were a little ugly they did get rave reviews because of the taste, the frosting and the cookies both had some lemon in them. Genious! (Thank you to whoever came up with that idea). I definitely would make these again but next time I would try and follow the recipe to a T and give myself more time for all of the frosting to dry!




SHIELA'S SUGAR COOKIES
(Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/shielas-sugar-cookies/detail.aspx)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup margarine
1 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt

ICING:

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2.In a large bowl, cream together the 1 cup margarine, shortening, white sugar and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets.
3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
4.To make frosting, combine the 3 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup margarine and 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice in a medium bowl. Mix until smooth, adding milk 1 tablespoon at a time until frosting has reached its desired consistency.

BACK............AGAIN!!!

WOW!!! It has been forever since I have blogged and instead of throwing my hands up and saying I am done I have decided to come back to blogging. Since I have been back from Japan I have moved and redone my kitchen, I love all my new space and it is such a huge difference from my little galley kitchen!


So here it is what I have been doing:

THE KITCHEN:


Old Kitchen


New Kitchen

A FRIEND'S BABY SHOWER:
She didn't know what she was having so I made her favorite Red Velvet Cupcakes and made the frosting both pink and blue. I also made regular size and mini cupcakes. They were a big hit! I had sugar booties, duckies, and flowers to put on each one.

We did candy jars as favors:

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES:
My officemate is not a chocolate fan so I made my lemon cupcakes and lemon frosting for his birthday. This time I let them cook longer and they came out delicious. In the earlier recipe I said to halve the cream cheese frosting so below is the halved recipe (enough for one batch of cupcakes). Sorry for the bad picture, they were the last cupcakes left!

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

- 1/2 of an 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1/8 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar in 2 additions. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading.

I'm back and with a fantastic cookie!

WOW!!! I haven't blogged in almost a year - 2009 was CRAZY!! I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog but in the past year I realized this blog is really helpful to me to get some of my favorite recipes when I am on the road. I might not be blogging as much as in my heyday but here we go again....................

One of the tasks that kept me busy in 2009 was a Holiday Cookie Swap at work that I was in charge of. My favorite recipe from the swap was my boss' cookies who are named after her aunt. I love these and made them for some Christmas Cookie gifts. They are supposed to be a little logs but my batch came out flat on the bottom. Enjoy!!!!!



Right out of the oven:




Coated and looking pretty:








Packed up with some truffles



AUNT NETTIE’S CHOCOLATE COOKIES


INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups of sifted flour
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) margarine, softened (I used butter)
3/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tspn vanilla
1 (6 oz)pack semisweet chocolate chips (mini chocolate chips work really well but you can use others)
2 cups chopped walnuts (you can also use almonds)

CHOCOLATE COATING INGREDIENTS:
1 large (12 oz) package of chocolate chips
1/4 cup margarine (I used butter)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix flour and salt
- Beat margarine, sugar, egg, vanilla in large bowl until well mixed
- Blend in flour, then stir in chocolate chips
- Shape dough into 2 by 1/2 inch logs (use a little flour on hands if dough is sticky)
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes
- Cool on wire rack

- Once cookies are cooled then melt 1 large package of chocolate chips (12 oz) and 1/4 cup margarine
- Dip ends in chocolate coating and roll ends in nuts.
- Place on wax paper until set.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!

Happy Valentines Day! I am a lucky girl and get to spend Valentine's Day with my little cousins and goddaughter but the other day I made some Valentines treats for work.

I made Red Velvet Cupcakes except this time I cut the chocolate to 1/4 c. They came out a little dryer then I would have liked BUT the cream cheese frosting came out delicious!!!! I actually had some leftover and trust me it is taking all of my will power to not dive into some pink cream cheese frosting!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

I am not a creative person but these came out so cute and were so easy!!! Somebody told me they looked professional!!! I got the idea from allrecipes.com and it was so easy! All you need is cookies split in half, Hershey Kisses, and red gel (and cupcakes of course!) I made peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting and they came out delicious!

After the cupcakes have cooled frost them and keep the extra frosting. I first placed the hershey kiss down and then used a little extra frosting on the edge of each cookie (like glue)to stick them into the cupcake and had the kiss slightly touching the cookies. I left some space between the back of the cookie and the rest of the cupcake. I put them in the fridge over nite and they succesfully made the metro trip this morning!





PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES
(Source: Peanut Butter& Co. Cookbook)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 C. flour
1 1/2 tspn. baking powder
1/2 tspn. salt
1 C. light brown sugar
6 Tbs. ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tspn. vanilla extract
1/2 C. peanut butter
2 large eggs
1/2 C. milk ( it says whole I used 2%)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12-15 muffin cups with paper bakin cups.
- In a large bow, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- In a seperate large bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add the peanu butter and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and then add milk. Slowly add the flour mixture and combine until batter in uniform - do not over mic.
- Fill muffin cups with batter until amost full (I did mine a little less and got 15 instead of 12). Bake for 20 minutes or until the cucakes sprin back when lightly touched.


CREAMY CHOCOLATE FROSTING
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons evaporated milk (I used regular milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

- In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar. ( I used more milk)

Onesie Cookies - Baby Shower Favors

For the baby shower that I made the Onesie cake for I also made Onesie Sugar Cookies that were the favors and we packaged them with M&Ms on the bottom so they would stand up in the basket. They were a big hit!

One of the things that my friend and I loved about the cookies was how well they came out. We used this great decorating method and here are the step by step instructions.

• Roll out your cookie dough. Then using a cookie cutter cut out the shapes.
• Remove the cookie impression from the dough.
• Bake your cookies according to your recipes directions and let cool completely on a rack before decorating.
• Make a batch of royal icing, thick enough to hold it’s shape when piped. Fill a decorating bag about a 1/3 full with Royal Icing. Tint with desired color or leave white. Fit with tip # 2 or 3.
• Squeeze, while outlining the edge of the cookie. After outlining the entire edge, stop at the edge of the beginning line, touch and lift This is called the dam or seam.
• Take the icing that you will use to fill in the center of your outline, add a little water to it. It needs to have a streaming not runny consistency.
• Fill the outline in with the thinned icing, using a spoon or squeeze bottle. Be generous With a spoon gently push the icing into the corners and at the points.
• Allow the icing to dry for at least 2 hours. After your cookie has had time to dry, you can add additional decorations or writing on your creation.

I had some extra sugar extra cookies so we dipped them in chocolate and served them at the shower!

First Post First Baby Shower Cake!

For my first post I thought it was fitting that I wrote about the first cake I decorated for real. I am not one of the most creative people but I can bake well so I figured I would give it a chance and make a delicious cake that hopefully looked well for my officemate's shower. I made a Onesie Cake that was a Chocolate Chip Cake with a Buttercream Frosting.

To make the Onesie Cake - make your favorite cake in a 9x13 in. pan. After it cools cut the bottom into triangles and then add them onto the top so that the triangular cutouts from the bottom make the sleeves. I also made a slight indent on the top to get the collar look.

I have to work on my decorating skills but everyone loved it and it was definitely a different type of cake!