I have a confession. Our eldest turned 25 this week. Holy time passage! Look away for a moment and our babies are adults! Tori has found that lovely balance between working hard and keeping things playful and in perspective. But, um, the girl does know how to rock a celebration. With that in mind, I give you her ‘party animal’ birthday set. Hope all your birthday wishes come true, Tori!
I really liked the shape of these cookies. A cross between folk art and primitive design, I wanted their shape and texture to stand out. I drew the bunny outlines on card stock and then hand cut them out of dough by tracing the shape with a sharp knife. The color was a mix of Americolor warm brown and black. I flooded the whole cookie with 15-20 second royal icing, waited a minute, and then stippled the whole surface with scrunched saran wrap to achieve the texture look. While the base icing was still wet, I stuck in the whiskers (shredded wafer paper). Once that had dried completely, a black dot for the eyes was added and I shaded with watered down dark brown and a paint brush. The last addition was the painted pink blush for the ears and “cheeks.”
I had a few spare blank cookies left from another order so I added a different perspective rabbit and a carrot for this last pic.
Who said you can’t play with your food? Apparently, even religious holidays are not “sacred”??? And so it goes for Easter 2015. First an EGGStreme play on that Easter staple: the simple egg. Next I am YOLK-ing around with those wondrous little marshmallow fluffs they call Peeps. Sometimes our ‘peeps just steal the show!?
Peep Show (a 5×5″ double layer cookie!):
Happy Pi day my fellow geeks! Twice today, the calendar/time will read 3.14.15 9:26 (am or pm)! A perfect Pi day!! As always, my take on this “epic” Pi day is from a slightly different angle; hope these goes down as easy as pi(e). Oh, and have a relatively happy birthday Albert Einstein.
I confess, I have not read the books nor seen the movie. But the word play from just the TRAILERS alone was enough to CORRAL me into this cookie set. Just HORSIN’ around. Hope I haven’t offended anyone who loves the topic- Shades of Grey or equine…
Funny. All of my Walking Dead cookie orders have been for KID‘s birthdays. Like under 14. I am always SUPER appreciative of anyone who likes my cookie designs enough to request some but I figured The Walking Dead fans would be older???! The reason I mention this particular sidebar is the dilemma of coming up with ideas that are appropriate. That was particularly important for this order- the favors were being given out in school. Luckily, challenges that stretch the imagination are never a bad thing. Here are the resulting Carl-, Daryl-, prison-, zombie-fied cookies, “splattered” with a touch of humor, “not dripping” with gore. 
I sat staring at the shamrock cookie cutter in my hand, hoping for a different IRSIHistible design to magically pop into my head. Gratefully, I flashed back to Patti Paige’s/Baked Ideas‘ many clever and sensational out.of.the.box cookies (MUST buy her book “Can’t Judge a Cookie by its Cutter!”). Okay, look, some flashbacks are a positive thing. At least I hope YOU think so…. Here is my simple and funky wee leprechaun (and a little ‘how to’):
If you haven’t ever visited Buffalo New York, you really should. Not this week as it is bitter cold but go most any other (Chicago is colder and you’d go there…). No really, I mean it! The park system was designed by Olmstead (same guy that sculpted and landscaped Central Park, NYC). He also designed the grounds around the old mental asylum made from Medina red sandstone built by architect HH Richardson; it will knock your socks off. Explore the Albright Knox/Burchfield Penney ART Museum area or try ice bicycling on the Erie Canal in downtown (or kayak in the summer). Study Tiffany stain glass windows in our churches, learn the history of making Carrousel horses at the Herschell Museum, or tour one of several Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes in the area. Niagara Falls is a quick 30 minutes north; try the jet boat ride up the lower rapids in the summer. Feast at any of the many places Diners, Drive Ins and Dives has visited, eat Lake Effect ice cream, or go to the home of the original chicken wing, the Anchor Bar (some natives like Duff’s better– let me know which you think is best). Come celebrate Dyngus Day, tour Millionaire Mansion row decked out for the holidays, or sip your way through one of the many pub crawls.
To all of this, our family says a fond farewell. Our friends here are exceptional. We will miss you so very much. The moving van is loading, blowing snow and frigid cold and all.
Our next adventure begins in the new state of …. well, that’s a post yet to come.
Um. Essential to life. Right? What’s not to love about coffee? As I paid homage to tea, I felt it necessary to compliment my other hot beverage of choice. The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch koffie, borrowed from the Turkish kahve, in turn borrowed from the Arabic qahwa, a truncation of qahhwat al-bun ‘wine of the bean’.
Here’s how the cookies for my caffeine-addicted friend turned out.
Not all cookies make the grade. To prove the point, here are some ideas that I played around with that did not turn out as I had hoped. Whomp whomp. Please try to remember only the ones that made the grade. 🙂
Again with the small bites for many people. I’m hoping to spread cookie kindness like confetti tonight. Lots of food will be offered so these little guys will fit the grazing mentality. Here’s to a delectable and delightful start to 2015! Cheers!
Mama Mayer Bakery 