The Christmas Cookies are Here!!!

Let's start the holiday off with a little humor, shall we?

What does Santa say to Mrs. Claus right before he leaves on Christmas Eve?

  That makes me laugh every time I read it. (I realize I'm probably the only one laughing...but that's okay)

Christmas cookie season has officially arrived!

Here they come! (These cookies are now available in my Etsy shop!) If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
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Call of Duty Cookies

Call of Duty, Black Ops 2....Cookies.
That is officially the strangest sentence I've ever typed.
If you have a 'gamer' in your life, you most likely know about this game...and how it just came out a week ago...and it's the coolest thing ever...and about the map-packs and zombie gear... and nuketown...
Oh my.
Like most mothers out there, I'm completely freaked out by the whole thing.
But if you can't beat 'em...join 'em, feed them cookies,  and insist they have 'A's in all their classes if they are even  going to think about turning on their Xbox on the weekends.

I thought I'd give you a little window into life with a tweenage boy, ready?

Me:  Hey Ethan, so this new Call of Duty game you're playing, what's it about?  

Is there a town that's been 'nuked' and are you guys running all over it shooting stuff after the war?

Ethan:  No, nuketown has nothing to do with Call of Duty.

Me:  but...What?  

Then why does is say nuketown on all the stuff, and there's even a missile in the '0'.

And there's a radioactive symbol.

Ethan:  Well...yeah. But there wasn't a war.

Me:  Then why is it called Nuketown?

Ethan:  It's a fake town where they test missiles.

Me: So nuclear missiles blew up everything and now you're running around shooting people?

Ethan:  Uh huh.

Me:...isn't that what I said?

Ethan:...(shaking his head and looking at me with pity) It's okay Mom.

The cookies rock.

Yup...that's life.
Now I'm thinking I should have made a Call of Duty cocktail for myself instead.

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What Happened at Cookie Con.....

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to spend 4 days with a group of incredibly talented cookie ladies.
I've mentioned once or twice that you have to be nice to make cute cookies and this weekend absolutely proved that without a doubt.
Welcome to CookieCon!!
(hosted and produced by Karen and Mike of Karen's Cookies)

This giant ballroom was our cookie home for the days we were in Salt Lake City.
Here we are listening to our presenters introduce themselves  and the first of HUNDREDS of giveaways from our generous sponsors!
Presenters
Julia Usher - Recipes for a Sweet Life Elizabeth Adams - Arty McGoo Maryann Rollins - The Cookie Artisan Alison Stinnett - Ali Bee's Bake Shop Callye Alvarado - Sweet Sugarbelle Glory - Glorious Treats Pam Sneed - Cookie Crazie Lisa Snyder - The Bearfoot Baker
Sponsors
Plastics in Print The Cookie Thing Kopykake Americolor The Cookie Cutter Company Nielsen-Massey American Tradition Cookie Cutters Country Kitchen Sweetart Spices etc. Designer Stencils Julia Usher CopperGifts.com Karen's Cookies Foose Cookie Cutters BRP Box Shop Kool Cookie Cutters Fondarific

I won Julia Usher's new book from Julia herself! (...she even signed it!!!)



We spent the weekend laughing and chatting and  finally meeting other bakers and bloggers that we only know through the internet.

Arty McGoo (left) lights up a room just as brightly as you would imagine her to.
(I'm in the middle)
And Miss Pam (right)...she doesn't know this yet, but I've adopted her.    Uh-huh, I have.
She's my new sister and we're going to decorate the world with Christmas trees together. They will be decorated with cookies.  
Her cookies will be covered in glaze, mine with royal icing,  and they will live in harmony and create world peace.

Here's Callye, Miss Sugarbelle herself!

She's lovely and gracious and sweet as can be.

...and we totally have baby boys that were born on exactly the same day of the same year!

I have no idea what that means...but how fun is that!?

I'm sure they'd be best friends forever if they'd met and would talk for

 hours about how much they just want a package of Oreos!

Miss Lisa!  The Bearfoot Baker!

Love her.  Just love her.

She's great.

I might even camp if it meant hanging out with her!

I met lots and lots of people...just not enough photos!

Too much laughter.

We left the hotel now and again.

Delicious dinners, shopping and .....

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

They were amazing...and I'm hoping they said a prayer for the crazy cookie ladies.

Know why?

We had to clean up this room after demo day.

The cookies were gorgeous....

tablecloths, not so much.

Karen and Mike are already planning the next CookieCon!

Hope you'll join us!

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Happy Holiday Weekend!

Hope you are all enjoying your weekend with friends and family  as much as I am.

We'll be decorating our tree just as soon as Jack stops giving it hugs.

Thanksgiving cookies...Make a Wish!

A few days ago I was in Target,  wandering around aimlessly enjoying a peppermint mocha  intently focused on my shopping list, when a super cute greeting card caught my eye.


I didn't quite get it at first... then about ten steps later I started giggling and had to go back!

It's a wishbone!!!



Too cute.
I had to turn it into a cookie!

Then I shipped them off to my cousin Laura and her family.
Because I miss them.
And I wish they were here.

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Oh those Turkeys! Who knew so many people wanted to make them? Because you asked...here you go!

Oh!  And I have a new shopping button!!!
It's over in the sidebar...its pretty and navy blue and says "Lizy B's Favorite Things"!
It links to an amazon store where I've put together items I used in my tutorials.
Does that sound good? I get lots of 'where did you get that' emails, so I thought it would help!

Let's make Turkeys! (Just a warning....there's a lot of pictures.) You can pipe this little guy's body freehand if you'd like. I use some guides because I hate dislike piping circles and ovals. I have the worst time trying to keep them even.

  I use a boo-boo stick (or a toothpick), a circle cutter, an oval cutter and a regular sized decorating tip.

Oh yeah...and a cookie.  This turkey is really a seashell.

My oval cutter is about half as large as my cookie...1 1/2 inches.

Place it in the middle, almost at the bottom.

Don't forget to leave space for the little turkey toes.

Trace around the inside of your cutter with the boo-boo stick.

You've got a turkey body!

If your cookie is on the soft side you could just push on the cutter

and make a little indentation.

But then sometimes this happens.

Ouch.

Grab a decorating tip and place it where the head would be.

Make sure to overlap the circle and oval a bit.

Push down and rock back and forth (gently) to make an impression.

Almost there!

I use a 2 1/2 inch circle cutter for the tail....

...and trace inside with the boo-boo stick.

Yes...there will be lots of crumbs.

Brush them all off with a soft brush!

There he is!!

Hmmmm...Tom's looking a little pale though.

Time for some color!

(all colors are Americolor gels)

With light brown piping icing 

(a little chocolate brown + a drop of gold + a drop of black)

and a number 2 tip...

1. outline the oval

2. outline the top of the circle

3. outline the bottom curve of the tail

With dark brown piping icing

(a lot of chocolate brown + a little black + a little gold)

and a number 2 tip

1. outline the middle curve on either side of the head

2. outline the outer edge of tail.

Let that all dry.

For the tail feathers I used flood consistency icing in squeeze bottles 

1. dark brown (see above)

2. dark red (super red + maroon + a little chocolate brown)

3. orange (orange + terracotta)

4. ivory 

But use any colors you like!

Flood tail with dark brown and immediately pipe colored stripes.

Drag a toothpick through all three stripes, starting at the outer edge.

I like to start at the 'valley' of each little scallop.

Let it dry.

Don't touch!

Fill in the body with light brown flood.

Give him a nice round tummy.

It might crater a bit, but I kinda like it.

Let dry.

Fill in sides a little less than the tummy.

(wanna guess what's next)

Let dry.

Fill in the head, make it nice and round.

Letting him dry well (I try to give him an hour with a fan) between steps

helps to create lots of dimension.

...and then it got dark and there were no more pictures...

so I'll walk you through the rest.

For the wings, use dark brown icing and a number 4 tip for the outer edge 

and build it up past the height of his middle section.

Then switch to a number 2 for the inside edge.

I've done the entire outline in a number 2, but sometimes the flood icing spills out.

Not good.

Flood with dark brown.

At this point, let him dry overnight.

The next morning, dress him up however you'd like!

Hat: black piping icing with a 2

Hatband, waddle and bow: red piping with a 1

Nose and toes: orange piping with a 1

Eyes: dark brown with a 1

Remember...no two turkeys look exactly alike,

so make them however you'd like!

Have a Happy Turkey Day Everyone!!

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