Happy Thanksgiving: Pilgrim Turkey Faces

I wanted to wait until it was closer to Thanksgiving to post these, but I was so excited with how they turned out that I just couldn't!  Plus with Christmas taking over the stores already, I thought I would give Thanksgiving a chance!

Megan wanted to get cookies for her doctor as a thank you and wasn't picky with the specifics.  All she asked was for the cookies to be Thanksgiving-themed and have one cookie say "Thankful for you."  Sweet Sugarbelle, one of my biggest cookie icons, did a tutorial for these adorable turkey cookie faces.  I thought it was the cutest idea, but I wanted to take it even further and make them Pilgrim Turkeys.

 

 

 

 

Megan, I'm thankful for you!  Thank you so much for trusting me with your order and giving me the freedom to create!

Cat Birthday Set

I will start off by saying these are the most random cookies I have done to date, but if I'm being honest, I love them!

Haley wanted to order cookies for one of her best friends Katie's 17th birthday.  She didn't really care what they looked like, but she wanted them to be bright, colorful and include cats, Katie's favorite animal.  I also had to include solid black houses.  I wasn't given an explanation, but I am assuming some sort of inside joke.

When I was trying to figure out what I should do, I remembered the bunny silhouette cookie from my Easter Egg cookies and thought, "Why not do the same but with a cat?"  Also, I know this will instantly age me, but I loved Lisa Frank when I was younger and this set seemed reminiscent of that... maybe that's why I ended up liking it so much!

 I hope you had a purr-fect 17th birthday, Katie (beyond cheesy I know, but I couldn't resist)!

Painted Cookies: Fanciful Peacock

This month, Lila Loa is hosting another one of her "Challenge Yourself" for cookie decorators and this month it is PAINTING on cookies.  Now, I'm going to be completely honest: when I first saw this month's challenge theme, I thought to myself, "Oh well, I just won't enter."  But then I decided I need to take the bull by the horns and do what this month called for me to do: CHALLENGE myself.

Back in May, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a painting class at The Royal Canvas.  It was so much fun and the detailed and helpful instruction put my fears of painting at ease... well, that and the wine!  The overall experience was a blast and I highly recommend The Royal Canvas if you are in San Antonio like me.  During my class, I painted the "Fanciful Peacock," and I have to say I was pretty proud of how it turned out!

Then it hit me: I should try to reproduce the "Fanciful Peacock" on a cookie!  I contacted Cassie at The Royal Canvas and she was gracious enough to grant me permission to use the design.  Seriously, The Royal Canvas is awesome and you should go "like" their Facebook page!

I decided to paint the peacock and then do some feathers as accents.

Painting on the cookies was so much fun and I loved that I could incorporate so many colors without spending an eternity mixing up and bagging all the colors.  The "paint" is actually food coloring so these cookies are still 100% edible!

I now might just be a wee-bit obsessed with painting on cookies and can't wait to try out some of my other ideas!

Baby Shower Cookies: If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Big News! My friend Kim is my first returning customer!  You may remember me talking about her in my Firefighter Cookies post.  Her sister-in-law Jordan and her husband Michael are expecting a precious baby boy this summer and Kim was helping throw a book-themed baby shower for them. 

I first met Jordan at Kim's bachelorette party.  She was so fun and you know how sometimes you just meet someone and you instantly click?  That's how I felt with Jordan.  Now, if she only didn't live in College Station... But, back to the cookies.  Kim and I discussed several ideas and she asked if I thought I would be able to make the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.  I honestly was a little concerned because it was another one of those feared character cookies.  Also, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie just happens to be Jordan's favorite childhood book, so no pressure, right?!  But, this cookie journey has been about taking on new challenges and improving every day.  And, oh boy (pun somewhat intended), am I glad that I took on the challenge! 

To complement the mice (there's a statement I never thought I'd say), I had the idea to do onesies with a chocolate-chip cookie with a bite out of it.

The following pictures are courtesy of Kim from the shower.  She also made the super yummy chocolate-chip cookies to really bring it all together.  After all, what is the mouse without his cookie?



Kim with the beautiful mom-to-be, Jordan, at the shower.


Jordan, I am so excited for you to be Grayson's mom!  Little boys come with their challenges, but they are also so much fun.  I know you are going to be an amazing mom, but remember that it takes a village and fortunately you have an amazing, supportive family around you.  James can tell you from experience how much Aunt Kim is going to spoil that baby!

Firefighter Cookies

One of my closest friends, Kim recently lost her uncle.  He was a dedicated fireman for 35 years and even served as Battalion Chief for 22 of those years.  Kim wanted to give something to her cousin, Ginny, who has two boys of her own, to not only brighten their day, but also to help celebrate the life of Ginny's father.  Because of his service, firefighter cookies were the natural inspiration.

While I did not have the opportunity to know Kim's uncle and Ginny's father, I do know he was an incredible man who will be missed.  I hope these cookies can bring a smile to your face as you remember and treasure the time you had with him.

Happy Birthday, Tara: Kentucky Derby Cookies

Right around the time we moved from Houston, our good friends Steve and Tara moved away as well.  Their move was just slighty farther than ours and they ended up all the way in Minnesota! Tara saw my cookies on Facebook and wanted to know if I could make her some cookies for her birthday.  They are doing a birthday party/Kentucky Derby party. How fun is that?!

 

When I heard Kentucky Derby, I immediately thought horses, roses, and big hats.  Tara sent me a picture of some other cookies she found through a Google search.  The picture she found just happened to be cookies done by Ali Bee's Bake Shop, a blog I admire and follow and aspire to be as good as someday. So I used the picture she sent me for inspiration (and a direct copy in some cases J ) and here is the result!

 

Royal Icing Roses on a horseshoe

The horses of course 

Jockey Silks

Roses are a must since it is "The Run for the Roses" after all.

Hats - the bigger the better!

One of these days, we will have to make the trek up to Minnesota to see y'all.  Hope you have a wonderful time at the party this weekend and sip a Mint Julep for me!

Easter Egg Cookies

I'm not crazy about hard-boiled eggs.  Love dying them and decorating them for Easter, but eating them afterwards? No thanks.  My mom usually makes deviled eggs out of them, but that just takes something I'm not fond of, hard-boiled eggs, and adding two things to it that I hate, mayonnaise and mustard.  Because of this, I found it necessary to create some Easter eggs that I would actually enjoy eating! 

It was also the perfect opportunity to test out a new chocolate cut-out cookie recipe.  I fortunately unfortunately messed one up, so I was able to try it and it passed with flying colors.  My official taste testers, AKA my family, will let me know what they think tomorrow.  Although, my dad willingly ate my Easy Bake oven concoctions when I was a little girl, so I think it is safe to say he doesn't have the most discerning palate when it comes to sweets. :)

 

The whole collection

That grubby little hand belongs to my sweet son, James.  Making and photographing cookies with a 13-month old around is not the easiest task.  He is like a vulture!

I think it is safe to say I will enjoy eating these Easter eggs significantly more than the deviled eggs that will come from our dyed ones- sorry, Mom!

Easter Bunny came early!

I love pasting cookie cut-outs together to get a desired shape or word.  I had previously done this for my sister's 30th birthday cookies and loved how easy it was to make a more impressive cookie.  I wanted to make an Easter bunny, but not the bodiless, floating head, but the whole bunny.  To do this I used the teddy bear cutter, beheaded him*, and then added on the bunny head.  The result was a bit adorable if I don't say so myself, and he is one dapper bunny dressed to impress!  

The carrot in his hand is made from left-over icing piped on wax paper, dried overnight and then peeled right off



Every-bunny needs some-bunny sometimes

                             

Close-up on that adorable mug

 

I brought these to our playgroup to wish everyone a very "Hoppy" Easter (too much with the puns?).  The best part of making cookies is definitely watching people enjoy them. Despite all the time and effort put in to making them, at the end of the day, it is still a cookie meant to be eaten and nothing was better than seeing James's friends smiling as they were eating the ears.

*No animals were harmed in the production of these cookies