Twenty five years on this planet! It only makes “cents” to celebrate with a cookie for every one of those beautiful years. Happy quarter of a century, Kendra (she turned 25 in June. I’m a tad bit late in posting. It’s 2020 timing.)!
Our ‘deerly’ beloved eldest turns 30 today. Is there a story behind deer and our family? I ‘herd’ that it is so… These cute, aah.doe.able cookies were cut out using several fabulous and sturdy Ann Clark cutters. As the desired look was to have them be “fawning” over each other, I baked a base of chocolate chip cookie dough (double Nestle semi-sweet batch to make the “ground”- two 9×12″ pan size fit perfectly into a regular BRPboxshop cake box). Long cocktail picks that i added to the back of each deer (after front decoration was complete and dried) lent support to hold these delicate legged creatures upright. Stiff royal icing was used to cover the picks. Icing color was a mix of Americolor Ivory with a touch of chocolate brown. I had a little bit of extra dough/doe after rolling out 31 deer (always make one extra in case of accidents) so I added a few sayings from her early childhood to polish off the delivery.
It is my tradition to create a “punny” cookie set for my friend Kathy’s birthday. She has the mother of all green thumbs and her garden is a wonder to behold. Her produce has inspired many a cookie veggie tale. But lately, she has also been planting a veritable forest of trees on her property. Mother Nature is so proud.
Oh yeah. And she made me this incredible charcuterie board I used to stage the cookies!!
Made this flower bouquet for a special birthday last summer. Love the ease and simplicity that cookie flowers allow. Make as many or as little flower cookies as you want. Throw in some leaves for good measure. Change the colors or shapes to work any time of the year.
You know when you can’t get a song out of your head…? This particular one coincided a dear friend’s birthday and so the center cookie came to be created. I love the tall cake designs by Aime over at The Painted Pastry ; I took inspiration and put my own fall spin on several cookies for the set. The edible oak leaves came from talented Tammy Holmes. Lastly, what birthday would be complete without party hats and party blowers???
Let’s talk about mistakes. I work incredibly hard not to make them. But I did. In my haste (4 different sets were on our dining room table that day) to get a friend her birthday cookies on time, I totally misspelled a play on words. No pun pride that day. Luckily, it was a dear friend and I gave them to her anyway. She said she didn’t even notice (that’s how good a friend she is). Despite my spelling fail, the gourds in the set turned out beautifully and the pun was perfect for the season. And, here’s the most important part, the cookies are always tasty.
Bottom line, I just want to pass along a hug to those of you who like things just so, who strive for perfection. It’s frustrating when things don’t go according to plan but mostly it’s US that care so deeply about perceived imperfection. Others, not so much. Here’s to continuing on. May the rest your day still be GOURDeous.
So my amazing friend Lisa was fast approaching another birthday. How could I make her laugh and let her know that she is showing no signs of aging? By expressing my sentiments in cookie, of course.
This box of cookies was taken to a Croquet and Rose’ themed birthday by a party guest. Got to love a cute theme that rhymes! And what could go wrong at a party that mixes excessive amounts of wine with a large mallet and heavy, hard ball?
I may or may not have had to do some “research” about rose’ wine???????
For the last 3 years I have made garden themed cookies for my green thumbed friend (best gardener ever) Kathy’s birthday. Here is the 2016 version. Hope she found them to be ‘cool as a cucumber!’
I can tell I am (not so) quietly climbing the age ladder. Two friends turned 60 this year. Yikes.
Yogi’s wife wanted to remind him that he was 60 and still thrifty, frugal and fabulous… This family always has me smiling with their colorful and bold personalities so I hope they felt the love in my attempt to reflect that!
Some of these cookies were going to make their way to India (thus the henna theme).
The other big 6.OH set was shipped off to Stockholm. Stefan and I have been friends since university. We have visited each other as often as possible over the years. Stefan is such an excellent golfer that my first thought was to play up that theme but I opted for (english) puns about his birthday (wish I learned enough Swedish to use their idioms). The one portrait tile is in honor of 1981 Stefan, when I first visited Sweden. We ended up near the arctic circle to attend a traditional Swedish mid-summer celebration; Stefan had a big blonde mustache at the time and he wore a black leather jacket and cap as we danced the (not really ever dark) evening away!
Mama Mayer Bakery 