Macaroons, Oh My!

I love to bake. It relaxes me almost as much as a long run, my kids enjoying doing it with me, and I get great satisfaction out of finding wonderful new recipes that are as pleasing to the eye as they are to the belly. Although I am usually up for a little baking challenge, I have to admit that I have been completely intimidated by one sweet treat for the past year: the Macaroon. I am not sure what it is about this bite-sized beauty that gets me so nervous but I have decided to face my macaron insecurities and test out one of Martha's recipes before the month's end. I will let you know how it goes. In the meantime, any tips? Any favorite macaron recipes? I would love to hear from you.

Snowman Cookie Kit

One of my all-time favorite cookie and sweet treat blogs, the decorated cookie, recently featured an ADORABLE Snowman Cookie Kit that I just had to share. Are these not the cutest things ever!

Meaghan created these Snowman Cookie Kits by making the individual snowman pieces and then wrapping them in cello bags and placing in a cute little box.

What a creative gift idea for the holiday and winter season. Snowman decorating would also be a fun alternative to the traditional cookie decorating for kids at a holiday party. Just make the snowman pieces ahead of time and let the kids have fun creating!

As always, Meaghan provides amazing step-by-step directions and pictures on how to create a snowman cookie kit over at her blog, the decorated cookie, here. She even includes a free link download for a snowman cookie kit label to help you complete your snowman cookie kit. Stop by the decorated cookie to check it out and tell Meaghan that I said hello!

Thanksgiving Countdown Ideas: Easy Acorn Cookies

The Thanksgiving countdown is on. Only 9 more days until Turkey Day. Are you ready? Over the next couple of days I will be sharing some easy, last minute Thanksgiving decorating, crafting, and food ideas to help put the finishing touches on your Thanksgiving celebrations.

Today I am featuring these Easy Acorn Cookies that I made with the help of my master chefs, Charlotte, 2 and Wyatt, 5. They are super easy to put together, require no cooking, and the kiddos will love helping out.

Here is what you will need:

- Hershey's Kisses
- Mini Chocolate Morsels
- Nutter Butter Cookie Bites (Mini Nilla Wafers will also work)

Assembly is easy and fun:

1. If using the Nutter Butter Bites, take the sandwich cookies apart and remove the peanut butter filling. Place textured side down on a cookie sheet. If using Mini Nilla Wafers, place on cookie sheet with the flat side up.

2. Melt a small bowl of Mini Chocolate Morsels. Place a small amount of melted chocolate onto the bottom of a Hershey's Kiss and the stick the Hershey Kiss onto the flat side of a Nutter Butter Cookie. The melted chocolate is acting as your glue. You don't need a lot, just enough to make the kiss stick to the cookie. Let cookies set for a few minutes, allowing chocolate to harden.

3. Turn over the cookie and use the same chocolate "gluing" method to attach a Mini Chocolate Morsel to the top of the textured side of your Nutter Butter Cookie. Again, only a small amount of melted chocolate is needed to glue your mini morsel onto the cookie. Allow the chocolate to harden for a few minutes.

4. Place Acorn Cookies in a festive bowl, serve, and enjoy!

{Halloween} Black Cat Cookies

Trade in your pumpkin and ghosts cookies for a black cat this year. Aren't these Land O Lakes Black Cat Cookies so cool! From their candy corn eyes to their cute little whiskers, these Black Cat Cookies are sure to win over your little trick-or-treaters. 

In addition to being super cute, these cookies are fairly easy to make and the kids will have a blast helping you decorate them. With all of the rainy days that we have been having lately, this recipe may get pulled out sooner rather than later at our house. Here is the Land O Lakes Recipe:

Black Cat Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

3  Eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Candy corn
Red cinnamon candies

Directions: Combine sugar and butter in large bowl; beat at medium speed until well mixed. Add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla; beat until well mixed.

Combine all remaining ingredients except candies in medium bowl. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture to butter mixture. Beat until well mixed.

Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a ball; flatten to 1/2 inch. Wrap each half in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours).

Heat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface, one-half at a time (keeping remaining dough refrigerated), to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 3-inch round cookie cutters. Place onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Using fingers, pinch up ears at top of each circle. Place 2 pieces candy corn onto cookies for eyes and 1 red cinnamon candy for nose. Press tines of fork on each side of cookie below eyes to form whiskers.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are set. Let cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire cooling rack.

* If you want your cookies to be served on a stick (see above picture), carefully insert popsicle sticks into the bottom of your cookies before baking.

Love it!

Carnival Mini Edible Designs

I am excited to announce that the Sheek Shindigs Etsy Shop is in the process of adding some great new products to help make your next Shindig one to remember! One of my favorite new products are these Carnival Mini Edible Designs. These edible decorations are flat-printed edible designs that can be applied to many food items (cakes, cookies, cupcakes, ice cream cakes) for a finished, professional look. They are prepared with edible food colors and absorb moisture from food products, becoming soft and melding with the food item that it is being applied to. They DO NOT contain: wheat, milk, eggs, fish, shell-fish (crustaceans) peanuts and/or tree nuts, are gluten free, and Kosher Certified.

So, what can you do with these fun, edible designs? Here is a suggestion: Upgrade your favorite small cookie!

White Chocolate Carnival Mini Cookies

1. Prepare your favorite cookies or use pre-made. TIP: make sure the cookies are no larger than 1.5” in diameter to fit into a chocolate or candy mold with 2” cavities.

2. Place Carnival Mini designs face down in the cavities of your candy mold.

3. Fill a parchment triangle with a melted chocolate to fill the mold. TIP: don’t use a metal tip in the bag, as its coolness will stiffen the chocolate too quickly.

4. Press cookies into the chocolate before it sets up; top off with melted chocolate if necessary. TIP: tap the entire mold on a counter top to level the chocolate.

5. Let set, and then remove coated cookies from the mold.

The final result is sure to impress!

Visit the Sheek Shindigs Etsy shop, here, to view this product and others, here. And don't forget to check back...more are coming soon!

Back To School (Sweet Treats) Idea Round-Up

Well, hurricane Irene forced us to head home a little bit earlier than planned. We are still enjoying our vacation time, only now we are enjoying it at home. With just a little over one week away from the start of school, I thought that I would share some of my favorite Back To School Sweet Treat Ideas with you:

Oreo Apple Pops:
What a fun way to brighten a teacher's day on the first day of school! Amanda of Shindig Parties To Go! created some fun, FREE Back to School printables as well a wonderful tutorial for these amazing Oreo Apple Pops and Pencil Vase. These would also be a great little treat for the kids to come home to after their first day back, don't you think?!? Thank you for sharing this, Amanda!

Image: Shindig Parties To Go!

Pencil Treats:
Adorable! Just grab some Rollos, scrapbook paper, foil, and a Hershey Kiss to create this fun little treat. I couldn't find the original source for this idea, but Everyday Celebrating offers a supply list and a few details, here. These would be cute for both teachers and students!

Back to School Apple:
One Charming Party is helping you send your kids back to school with a fun little lunchbox treat. Simply print out their bookworm printable, cut out and punch a hole into the apple, and string with a cereal "worm". You can get the printable and directions over at One Charming Party, here.

Image: One Charming Party



Rice Krispy Apple Treats:
Turn a traditional snacktime favorite into a Back to School treat! Gourmet Mom on-the-Go created these yummy Rice Krispy Apple Treats to celebrate the start of the school year. Click here for the recipe and directions.

Image: Gourmet Mom on-the-Go

Enjoy!

{Guest Post} Flower Pops From The Decorated Cookie!

Hi everyone, and thank you to Sarah for inviting me to guest post!

I was a cookie decorator at a shop for ten years. After I left to stay home with my daughter, I started my blog, the decorated cookie. There I share ideas for decorating cookies as well as marshmallows, cupcakes, and other crafty sweets. I'm also the Edible Crafts editor for CraftGossip, so I spend much of my days mining the internet for all of your crafty sweets, too. The idea I'm sharing today is similar to a craft featured in my second cookbook, which will be published later this year. So you get a sneak peek today.

I'm a huge fan of anything on a stick (a fact of which my Edible Crafts readers are well aware), so I make lots and lots of cookie pops. These flower pops are very easy to make, especially for first-time cookie decorators. Sprinkles cover everything (like mistakes). Even after years of decorating cookies, I frequently use sprinkles as a quick decorating tool.

Use these as personalized party favors or as placecards. You can insert the pops into a Styrofoam block that is covered with tissue paper to display at a party. Or, insert into a cupcake for cupcake toppers.

how to make flower cookie pop favors

you will need:*

sugar cookie dough
royal icing

circle cookie cutter

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

size "5" decorating tips

rubber bands

lollipop sticks

sprinkles or sanding sugar

paint brush

wax paper

green or patterned cardstock

scissors

glue stick

*You may use any recipe for cookies and icing you prefer, but I provided links to my recipes above. I used a 2-inch circle cookie cutter, buy you may use any comparable size under 3 inches. You'll need one bag, coupler and tip for each color you choose, and buy sprinkles in each of the same colors. Find the cutter, decorating bags, couplers, tips, lollipop sticks, sprinkles, paint brush, cardstock, scissors and glue stick at any major craft store. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor soft gel pastes, available in specialty stores and online (amazon.com carries these). I used Egg Yellow, Sky Blue, Electric Pink, Electric Green and Electric Purple.

step one: bake your cookies

Prepare dough according to the recipe, chill, roll out about 1/4 to 3/8-inch thick, cut out circles, insert the lollipop sticks and bake according to the recipe. Let cool completely. Tips: Make sure to chill your dough, as it makes it easier to insert the stick. Insert the stick at the center of the cookie's thickness, about half way into the cookie, and arrange on the tray so the sticks aren't touching.

step two: prepare your icing

Prepare icing according to the recipe, divide and tint your preferred colors. Prepare decorating bags with couplers and tips, fill with the colors and close tightly with rubber bands.

step three: decorate your cookies

Work with one cookie at a time. Pipe a circle on the cookie, then pipe back and forth to fill the circle completely. Immediately coat the cookie with a generous sprinkling of sprinkles in a coordinating color. Turn over to remove excess.

step four: paint the stick and add leaves

Pour a few drops of green food coloring on a piece of wax paper. Add a couple drops of water and mix. Paint the lollipop sticks green and let dry. Cut out a leaf shape on a folded piece of green or patterned cardstock so you have two leaves connected with a fold at the center (note I made a little "tab" so they wrapped around the stick more easily). Write a name on the leaf, if desired, and use the glue stick to attach around the lollipop stick. Let the cookies dry overnight.

Thank you everyone for letting me visit! Happy baking!

Meaghan