Ho.ho.hope your holidays have been good so far. It can be a stressful time of year, so allow me to “roll out” (like raw dough) some cookie levity.
Ho Ho Ho (technically, hoho hoho hoho)
Ginger.bread house. Too literal?
Seasons’ Greetings
Gifts from the Heart
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!
Simple Santa
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!
ACORNucopia
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)!
Thanksgiving Gratitude (with Attitude?)
My favorite holiday. Family, friends, food, and a long couch on which to take a nap. Oh, um, and a little odd sense of humor 😉
Trekkie turkey. Live long and prosper?
T.Hanks.giving thanks. (so sorry Tom Hanks. your acting and name are perfect.)
Decree of thanks to all who follow this blog. Especially thankful for our 2 daughters (without whom I wouldn’t be creating cookies or have learned how to blog.)
Lastly, I’d like to serve up some gratitude:
All You Need is Love
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.
Happy Halloween 2014
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
Little Boy Blue (ok, teal…)
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…
Happy Fall 2014
Enjoy the autumn colors and scents. Let the coziness of fleece and fireplaces begin.
Whimsical
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.
Mama Mayer Bakery 