Gifts from the Heart

Posted in Christmas, cookies, custom cookies, decorated cookies, gifts by mamamayerbakery

So I have this wonderful card group that gets together for a rambunctious game of 500 every month. We have gone away on weekend trips together, shared our childrens’ ups and downs, and laughed loudly and gleefully while supporting one another. This was my last time to host/play (did I tell you that we are moving to Denver?) so I wanted to do something special for these lovely ladies. The cookie was a double play on words, as it was holiday gift giving season (Hanukkah and Christmas for our card clan) and I wanted it to be a gift from my heart.

They were made by allowing a base coat of white RI to dry overnight and then hand painting the packages with thinned gel (clear vanilla or vodka to thin). When that was dry, I used an edible ink black pen to outline. Took a bit of time but these friends are so worth the effort. Forgot to take a picture of the final presentation but you can see the tag that was attached.

Inspiration came from a picture I saw when ordering from Fashion and Compassion (helps women overcoming poverty & injustice in the US, South America & Africa). Hope your holiday season is filled with surprisingly pleasant gifts!

21Dec2014

Simple Santa

Posted in Christmas, cookies, custom cookies, decorated cookies, holiday by mamamayerbakery

I wanted to design some simple but sweet cookies this year involving Santa. Something geometric but not complicated. Here is that design!

These are the steps involved in creating them. Sorry about the poor quality of the first photos. One day I will make myself a photo booth…

I first made the “oval face” using a bit of ivory food coloring. That dried for 4 hours before I added his red hat.

While the red hat was still wet, I sprinkled on coarse, clear sugar crystals.

Then I worked on his beard. A quick coat of RI white with little round white non-pariels and voila!

I let this all set overnight (isn’t necessary if you are careful) and got to work on his face. A Q-Tip to add his blush and two simple wide eyes with black royal icing, Santa was complete.

The finished product! Ho.ho.hope you like!

26Nov2014

ACORNucopia

Posted in cookies, custom cookies, decorated cookies, dessert, humor, puns, thanksgiving by mamamayerbakery

Signed by George Washington on October 3, 1789 and entitled “General Thanksgiving,” the national decree by the fledgling government appointed a day “to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.” Later, on October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for the observance of the fourth Tuesday of November as a national holiday. In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday to the third Thursday of November (to extend the Christmas shopping season and boost the economy). After a storm of protest, Roosevelt changed the holiday again in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November, where it stands today (taken from earlyamerica.com).

Here is the cornucopia of cookies I am taking to our celebration. There are a lot of people coming, and with the pies and other desserts also being served, I felt like bite sized cookies were most appropriate. Hope yours is happy, fulFILLING, and nap worthy.

The cornucopia was big a** cookie!

Acorns with personality.

All the leaves are brown and the acorns are (not) grey (cue Mamas and the Papas)!

23Nov2014

All You Need is Love

Posted in anniversary, bridal shower, cookies, custom cookies, decorated cookies, engagement, favors, gifts, wedding by mamamayerbakery

The City of Brotherly Love’s (Philadelphia’s) perhaps best-known landmark is LOVE itself — the Robert Indiana sculpture is in John F. Kennedy Plaza, not far from City Hall. As an odd side bar, LOVE was installed in 1976 but briefly snatched away in 1978; popular demand brought it back to where it stands today.

Since the wedding was in Philly (even though ordered and picked up in Buffalo), all was right in the karma world.

31Oct2014

Happy Halloween 2014

Posted in cookies, decorated cookies, fun, halloween, humor, puns by mamamayerbakery

First the Halloween puns. Then the Mad Scientist party platter. Hope it puts a smile on your face. Or is that the candy talking?

FRANK.EINSTEIN

JARRED MY MEMORY

HALLOWEEN NIGHT AT THE POLICE STATION

POULTRY.GEIST

TP’d

Mad Scientist Halloween party

26Sep2014

Little Boy Blue (ok, teal…)

Posted in baby, cookies, custom cookies, decorated cookies, gifts by mamamayerbakery

Boy, oh boy, more beautiful baby boys!

Baby Lambros’s September 10th arrival left us starry eyed! His room is neutral with teal accents so that was the color inspiration for this cookie platter.

Here they are in process with the stork delivery not quite ready…

Boy oh boy, he’s here!!

Details of the bib and the bottle. Thank you Hillary (aka the Cookie Countess) for the stencil! Some day I will own an airbrush machine. Until then, it’s a fairly.dry.paint.brush for me!

Final presentation…

20Sep2014

Whimsical

Posted in cookies, custom cookies, decorated cookies, dessert by mamamayerbakery

Just a little whimsy of a hopping bunny and some late summer flowers.

I love using minis when you have to feed a larger crowd but still want to make those couple of bites special.

10Sep2014

Love All

Posted in cookies, custom cookies, gifts, sports by mamamayerbakery

Wanted these cookies to be a “smashing’ success. Hoped they would “net” an appreciative thank you. Realized I had met my “match” when the cookies got “served.” No, I don’t think these puns are “out of bounds”, they are definitely “in!”

The larger cookies were a simple design of thinned food color gel and (when dried) ink (black edible ink pen by Rainbow Dust).

Racket strings were made using PME 0 tip. Tennis ball color came from a mix of electric green, leaf green and a bit of lemon yellow. I let the royal icing just start to crust over and then poked them with open safety pin to create texture/fuzz.

5Sep2014

Harry Potter

Posted in birthday, cookies, custom cookies, decorated cookies, food, gifts, Uncategorized by mamamayerbakery

Every once and a while, cookies turn out EXACTLY like I imagined. That is the case for the cookies in this first picture. I wanted just the right amount of detail and aging to go along with the magic, mystery, and mischief that is Harry Potter.

A little bit of Ivory Americolor, my trusty Rainbow Dust edible ink black pen, a couple of good artist brushes and I was off to the races (or Quidditch?). Loved that I could find the recipe for Polyjuice potion! Is there nothing not to be found with a good Google inquiry?

The birthday girl’s only request for her Harry Potter themed party was to include all the house and Hogwarts crests. Oh and a snitch or Deathly Hallow sign too.