Christmas Lights Cookies!

Joe and I spent our first Christmas together in a  cozy little corporate apartment in Texas.
We made it as festive as we could  with a little live tree and our first few ornaments. Joe surprised me with tickets to see The Nutcracker Ballet and  we had a lovely date night with dinner out on the town.
But....after the ballet, we started our very first, honest-to-goodness,  family tradition without even realizing it.
Instead of going home after the show, we picked up fancy coffees and slowly drove through the neighborhoods, admiring all the beautiful lights and decorations.

 

We were hooked.

We've done it every year since then.

Sometimes in our pajamas, other times all dressed up after a fancy occasion.

Always with something warm and cozy to drink and christmas music.

Now we have a teenager and a munchkin along on the journey.

Some years they love it, some they don't.

(of course we still make them come along....it is a tradition after all)

(This is a 'confetti' cutter from Cristin's Cookies)

I've been pinning 'Christmas Light Scavenger Hunts' for this year's trip!

The idea for these cookies have been rattling around in my brain for years.

When I found these fabulous Christmas Postcards from HenPenDesigns on Etsy...

I immediately had to bake and decorate these!

I used the original image and a kopykake for the first set.
I've made a few more sets for gifts after these and just 'went for it'.

I miss the electric green, but definitely prefer the mini bulbs!

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!!

Just in time for Christmas...Giveaway!!!

One of my favorite cookie ladies wrote a book this year!
Lisa Snyder!!!  The Bearfoot Baker!!!  Yay!!!!

And....she's giving away a signed copy to one of my readers!

How awesome is that!

I love this book and I know you will too!

Lisa is my 'go-to' lady when I have airbrushing questions, or cutie pie animal face questions, or royal icing transfer questions....or just about any other cookie question really.

Not only does she always have a great answer, but she happens to be lovely and sweet and kind. 

I don't know anyone else who would go so far as to 

make a sleeping bag to keep her cookie animals warm!

SSSSHHHH!!!!

Don't wake up the bear!!!

Okie Dokie, here's the Rafflecopter!

You know what to do!

Good Luck,

Raffle will be over on Saturday!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Easy Swirl Sparkle Cookie Tutorial

Remember those cookies that Jack put his name on?
The swirly sparkly ones?

Here's how I made them, and how your munchkin can help you!

Start with a plain cookie. These have been flooded with white royal icing and dried overnight. Although I've never tried it,  I'm sure this would work the same on fondant, or even a plain cookie!

Cover your work area with parchment or wax paper and gather your supplies.

You'll need cookies, sanding sugar in the color of your choice, and matching royal icing.

I used red 20-second icing (a line drawn through a bowl of this icing with a knife will disappear in 20 seconds), in a piping bag with a #4 tip.

But...the consistency isn't crucial.  

Something between piping and flood is great.

Wilton even sells pre-made cookie icing in a squeeze bottle that would be good for this project.

The tip isn't very important either.  

The icing could be in a disposable piping bag, or even a ziploc.

Just snip about an 1/4 of an inch off of a corner and you're ready to go!

Start from the outside edge and pipe a shrinking spiral, ending in the middle.

The first revolution should follow the outside edge until it almost meets the beginning.

Here's the kids' part!

Dump sugar over the whole thing!

Not sure you covered it all?

Dump a little more on!

Carefully pick up the cookie and knock excess sugar back into the sugar bowl.

You did it!

Hopefully you and the munchkin did it together!!!

Something about seeing all those sparkles stuck exactly where they should be 

is a HUGE feeling of accomplishment.

Not to mention the thrill of dumping sugar all over anything!

 Now, there will be some extra sugar on the parchment.

Which leads to the other best part.....

watching all the sugar pour back into the bowl!

Just pick up and pour!

And start the whole process again!

These are simple and quick, but also charming and sweet. Perfect for kids with short little attention spans  who might not be able to handle a piping bag yet.

I've had a couple of questions about the font on this 'Merry Christmas' plaque as well. It's De Flandre!

Happy Baking!

Christmas Cardinal Cookies!

Living Locurto is one of my favorite Lifestyle blogs. Amy is always coming with fabulous printables and party ideas.
Last year I turned one of those printable sets, the Cardinal Bird Holiday Gift Tag Collection, into cookies! (it's one of my favorite things to do!)

...blue and red has always been a favorite Christmas color combo for me!

This is now my all-time favorite Christmas plaque!

Love those sparkles!!

This snowy background is super simple!

Just white wet-on-wet dots in different sizes!

Big thanks to Amy for letting me cookify her collection!!!

Be sure to pop-over to Living Locurto and poke around! Lots of fun stuff for the holidays!

Christmas Cookie Gifts with the Kids!

A couple times a year my munchkins like to help with the cookie decorating. Christmas is definitely one of them. Except....the fancy cookies that I make on a regular basis aren't exactly kiddo friendly. They end up with icing running off the cookie and all over their hands. Faces they draw with icing look more than a bit 'Dali-esque"
As a mom, I think they are fabulous and take lots of pictures. But the kiddos can get a bit discouraged.
So last year Jack and I came up with a solution....
Mommy would do the hard parts,  but Jack got to do something so that everyone knew he had helped!

He signed them!!!!

(and was beyond proud)

After flooding a round cookie and letting it dry overnight,

I handed Jack a food pen.

These are my favorite at the moment,

AmeriColor Gourmet Writers.

After scrubbing his little seven-year-old hands he got to work.

(We did the sparkly ones together the day before.

I'll show you those pictures next time!)

Something about getting to write on a cookie with a magic marker 

speaks to the little trouble maker inside every little boy.

Each cookie only took a few seconds, we did about 6 or so.

And lets be honest, that's the extent of a seven year old boy's

 cookie decorating span of attention.

So I finished up the ones with the icing letters...

...and he ran off to have another lego battle with his brother.
No tears, no frustration......no mess. Loved it!

I'll show you how he helped with the sparkly cookies next time!!!

Noodlehug Tea Towel Giveaway!!!

I have been waiting, and waiting and WAITING for this day!!!!

I get to giveaway one of my new favorite things!

To one of YOU!!!

Do you remember a while ago when I listed some fabulous  Etsy finds that your kitchen diva would love?
Well, a few of my favorite prints from NOODLEHUG were on that list, as well as a few tea towels from some other shops.
So...then I obsessed  was thinking that I would really love a tea towel with my  favorite Noodlehug prints....and I emailed them.
I couldn't help it.
I might have even emailed them twice.
and then...dun dun duuun....
They did it!!!!!

Oh my stinkin' heck how cute is that!!!!

I know what you're thinking...

How am I ever going to pick one?

That's where the genius of Noodlehug comes in...

YOU DON'T HAVE TO!!!!!

YES!!!!
All the prints on one towel!
You just wake up in the morning, have your coffee, decide what kind of day it's going to be,  and voila!
Fold that towel!!!

Love it!!!
Who's ready for the rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!!!
Noodlehug will send the winner a brand new Tea Towel ready for gifting!
(or keeping...let's be real)