Cookies for my grandmother...and a sugar cookie recipe!

I woke up missing my grandmother today.

Not sure why, I just am.

So I decided to repost this.  

It was originally written for frosting for the cause last fall.

If your grandmothers are around, give them a great big squishy hug from me.

Thanks.

Irene Janette Joan Dulcinia Dale Crystal Bridget.

Not many people are quite so fabulous that they need so many names.

My grandmother was one of those people.

She was magical.

Paula Deen with a crystal ball.

Martha Stewart with a wicked sense of humor.

Lucille Ball, without the cigarette, convinced she’d be discovered 

and whisked off to Hollywood at any moment 

(and yes, she had her head shots ready and waiting).

She taught me more things than I can count...

Diamonds go with everything, 

every outfit needs jewelry, 

and pedicures should always be red. 

Most importantly, 

she taught me how to make even the smallest moments special.


Sandwiches are good.

Sandwiches eaten outside while looking at a pretty view - better.

Ice Cream is delicious.  

Ice Cream in a tall, footed, pink soda fountain glass, 

eaten with a long, silver ice tea spoon - that’s dessert.

Cake and cookies are great. 

Cake and cookies on a tall pedestaled cake plate, 

served on antique china - now you’ve got a party.

No occasion was so small that it didn’t deserve a little fanfare.

She had a hard life, like most ladies of her generation.  

Her antique china may have been mismatched, 
but she knew that didn’t take away from its beauty.

While I was in college, we found that my grandmother’s headaches were brain cancer.

A few months after her diagnosis, she came to California 

and got to stand at the gates of Paramount Motion Picture Studios...

She’d finally made it to Hollywood.

We lost who she was before she lost her life.

Brain cancer and its treatments did its damage to her personality.

But...she never lost the twinkle in her eye.

Perfume and jewelry ‘til the end.

I miss her every single day.

....still can’t find her crystal ball.

In honor of my grandmother and her love for all things pretty, 

I’d love to share our family’s sugar cookie recipe with you!  

These are the traditional ‘rolled and cut-out’ cookies that we have made for decades

 and decorated for Christmas.  

This is the recipe that ‘started it all’.  

Now there’s a blog and cookies going out the front door almost everyday!  

My grandmother would have been thrilled with the whole production.

Sugar Cookies

preheat 375 

2 3/4 cups flour 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup room temp butter

1 cup white sugar

2 room temp eggs

1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl (or sift if you’d like) and set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar on med speed until well mixed.  


Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy.  


Stir in flour on low until dough comes together.  


Turn out onto a piece of saran wrap and form into a small round disk.  


Wrap tightly and refrigerate.  Let rest and chill for at least an hour, overnight is better.

Roll out on floured cutting board.  

Now you have some options. 

If you’d like crunchier cookies that are yummy without any icing, roll to approx. 1/8 inch thickness and bake 7-8 minutes.

For cookies that will stand up to a layer of royal icing (like the ones coming up in the decorating tutorial) roll to 1/4 inch and bake 8-11 minutes depending on the size of your cookie.  


Take them out before the edges brown. (this is really up to you, I like the edges a little over done and crisp.  It’s just a cookie for gosh sakes...do what you like!)

Cool on wire racks.  


Once cool, cover with a tea towel to hide them from children who will eat them before you get to decorate them!!!!

Rosie Ribbon Cookies

I have some fabulous girlfriends that participated in the 
Susan G. Korman 60 mile walk last November.  

These Rosie Ribbon Cookies were made as party favors for a fund-raiser.

Here’s how I did it!

Start with some square blanks, flooded with white royal icing.

....and A LOT of royal icing ribbon roses (I made these the day before)


For Royal Icing Ribbon Rose Tutorial go see
Sugarbelle and Ali Bee!

I made two different colors of pink for a little variety.

Here are the icing bags all ready to go!

I used the smallest leaf tip on the green and #1 writing tip on the yellow and  dark pink.  


The light pink was only used to make the ribbon roses...101 petal tip.

I practiced, a lot. 

 I had exactly the right amount of cookies, not a single extra, 

so I was a bit more careful than usual.  

I spaced out the roses into a ribbon shape, alternating the colors a bit.

I used green icing to glue down the roses,

then filled in the spaces between the roses with tiny leaves.

I certainly could have stopped there.  I couldn’t help myself though...

So with the dark pink and yellow...

I added little dots to fill in the ribbon shape.

and some little yellow centers to a few of the roses on each cookie.

And that’s it!!

I loved baking for you all!  

Hope you try to make these soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Lizy B






‘My entry into Fingerprints on the Fridge’s Feature Yourself Friday, sponsored by Appliances Online and Bosch Washing Machines’ (add a link to your party too!)

Baseball Cookies!

It's that time of year again for our family!

The Little League baseball season has officially begun!

This is an extra special year though.

After many, many seasons of watching Ethan's games,

cheering from the sidelines,

and getting to wear the 'mascot' jersey...

Jack gets to play Tee-ball.

He's pleased as punch!

So, this weekend was opening day, and of course...

there was a bake sale!

I've made baseball cookies before.

They were okay, nothing spectacular.

I needed to come up with a few new designs.

Baseball Fields!!!

These were fun...and sparkly!

(I do love sparkles!)

I used a party hat cutter that I opened wide,

then cut down the larger side into a semi-circle.

I piped, flooded and sugared the grass first, then filled in the dirt.

The baselines were added after they dried.

Jack noticed something after I bagged these up.

"Mom, where's the little line on the pitcher's circle where he puts his

toes when he throws the ball?"

Whoops.

Next came the ballplayers.

This was a great occasion to finally try some silhouettes!

I googled 'baseball silhouette clip art' to find some images that I liked.

I outlined with a PME #1 tip.

(I used my new Kopykake for the first time!!!)

All of these images has some skinny little parts.

I filled them in with thicker piping icing to try to prevent cratering,

then filled in the rest with flood icing.

I've had a few people ask about the different fonts I've used.

I love Keven & Amanda's site.  Lots of free fonts!

I like to print out the sayings I'll be using in a few different fonts and sizes.

(I leave lots of blank space on the page for 'practice space')

Then I just practice a few times.

Not much to it really.

Some of the fonts work out well.

Some...not so much.  They just end up looking messy.

But you never know until you try, 

and I'd much rather try on the paper than the cookie!

When I find one I like, I try to gauge the size and where it will fit.

I like the 'Home Run' writing and placement the best...

but I liked the silhouette the least.

Too much cratering in the middle.

So he was cut from the team....sorry man.

The other two were added to the line up and I cranked out a few dozen!

Do you like the edges!!

I saw these on The Sugar Tree Bakery's facebook page!

She made some beautiful nautical cookies that had this detail along the sides!

Click HERE to go see them!

I knew that would be perfect for baseball cookies!

It looks just like stitching!

So there's my new baseball team set!

Oh wait!

Can't play baseball with out the balls!!!

Have a great season everyone!

I'll let you know when Jack hits his first homerun!

Thanks for stopping by,

Lizy B

Fishing Cookies!?!

Here's a little 'inside view' at how cookie conversations usually go...

This particular conversation occurred in downtown L.A., 

while on a buying trip with my girlfriends, Lisa and Chris.

We were in a huge floral supply shop, in the cellophane bag aisle.

My arms were filled with 6 bags of multicolored shred the size of bed pillows....

Me:  "Lisa, isn't Griffin having a birthday soon?  How is he already turning 13!!!!"

Lisa:  "I know, its crazy!"

Me:  "Does he have big plans with his friends?"

Lisa:  "He wants a fish party!  Like, real FISH!  

He wants to go out with his friends and go fishing!!!!"

(I should add that Griffin is an awesome nature boy and is known for being a fisherman.

They practically jump out of the lake and into his lap)

"You can make fish cookies right?  Maybe a fishing pole....a fish...?

Do you have time?  Would you mind?"

Me:  "How perfect!  He'll love that!  

Of course I can make fish cookies for him!

I'd be thrilled!"

(and yes, I am always excited to make cookies for my friends' kids.

No one in the world appreciates fancy cookies more than munchkins, even at 13)

Soon after, we paid for our supplies, piled in the car and started heading to our next destination.

That's when the whole 'fish theme' started to sink in...

Me:  (silently in my head so no one could hear the 'crazy talk')

"Fish!  Fish!

What the heck!!!!"

(I'm not sure why I panic every time I create a set for the first time, but I do)

"Do I even HAVE a fish cutter!?"

(no, I did not.  But I was able to order one in time)

"What color is an actual fish anyway?

Greenish, I guess, like pond color maybe?"

"Oh no....don't they have shiny scale things?

How the heck am I going to do that?! 

(I sprayed the body with Wilton pearl spray before adding details and fins)

"Fishing pole....fishing pole.....I must have a cutter that looks like that."

(nope...no pole.  I had an extra baseball bat cutter that I mangled

beyond recognition)

"....and there's that thingy on the end....the floaty thing.....

what's that called?"

(turns out...its called a floater.  Luckily, it looks just like a baby's rattle.

I did have one of those)

"...and Griffin always wears that great hat whenever he goes hiking with his family.

I can put that in there too."

(please don't tell him, but this is a purse, I just cut off the handle)

"What are those feathery things on the hooks?  Don't those

hang on the hats?  I guess I'll just google those."

 (it's suppose to be a feather....just pretend 'k?)

"okay...at least I have a plan.  

Hopefully they'll turn out okay."

Happy Birthday Griffin!

So that's how it goes, more or less.

First comes the occasion with a theme.

Then excitement...followed by panic.

But, with a little brainstorming, a lot of googling and flipping through clip art,

an idea starts to form....and then the fun begins.

Thanks for stopping by,

Lizy B

For the love of Star Wars....

I didn't just make the droids....

almost the whole Star Wars family came out to play....

I used one of Sugarbelle's tutorials for the crossed light sabers!

Hers were cupcake toppers!  Super cute!

I just left out the stick and used them as accents.

Yoda and the Death Star are also from Williams Sonoma,

just from two different sets.

 I think kids like the Death Star best because its one of the biggest cookies!

It turned out to be my favorite too!

Know why?

Its all one color!!!!!

I needed all these for the rest of the cookies!!!!

Certainly not the largest variety I've ever needed...

but enough that I wish I had a little icing fairy to magically mix them up.

If you have a Death Star, 

you know there must be a whole bunch of Storm Troopers running around.

(I didn't make Darth Vader.  These were for little people and,

honestly, that much black food coloring makes me a little nervous....)

If Star Wars cookies you are making,

then have Yoda you must....

I'm thinking I'll just say these are Yoda's cousins....

Y'know....they don't look exactly like him,

 but close enough that they must be in the same family.....

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Then came the Wookie.

I'm not entirely sure what happened to Chewie...

Sometimes I like to listen to a movie in the background while

I decorate cookies.

Can't really say 'watch' since I don't really look up too often.

Although I'm not positive, I'm pretty sure I had one of the Twilight movies

playing when I was finishing up the Wookies' faces....

...and now they're all vampires.

Whoops.

To make it up to him I made him a Millennium Falcon to fly around in...

These were for Gavin.

Happy Birthday Little Jedi!

Thanks for stopping by,

Lizy B