Monthly Archives: February 2013

Yo Gabba Gabba Cookies

Syler turned 2 this last weekend! Last year I made these Monkey cookies from this post for his party. This year his birthday was Yo Gabba Gabba themed!

Last summer I first learned Yo Gabba Gabba when I made this very special cake for a very special friend of mine. Since then, I have been scared to make Yo Gabba Gabba cookies. Not only are the characters all uniquely shaped, but as a group they total 10 colors!

When Syler’s mom asked me to make Yo Gabba Gabba cookies for the party, I was relieved that she liked the idea of doing simple circle shaped cookies with just the basic elements of each character.

Yo Gabba Gabba Cookies

Each cookie was bagged and tied with tags as his party favors.

Mama said Syler loved his cookies!

As part of Lilaloa’s February challenge of Sketching your cookie designs before you cookie them, I thought I would share my sketches. I typically do these before a complicated set, or if I am not sure the exact shape of something (for example when I’m doing animals) so I can play with it until I am happy with the outcome.

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So glad Georgeanne had such a fun challenge for February and I got it in in just the nick of time!

I will post more of my sketches soon. Every cookier has their own way of doing things and I’d love to share my method in case it helps anyone else!

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16th Birthday Cookies & Cake Balls

Alyssah turned 16 this week! Her mom is an old coworker of mine and decided to trick her for her sweet 16. Alyssah was told that there was just no money for a birthday party this year… but in reality there was a huge surprise party planned!

We went with zebra, hot pink, and turquoise as the “theme.”

This was my first time making zebra cookies. I contemplated a few ways I could do it before settling on outlining each stripe and filling them separately.

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They came out better than I imagined, and each one was unique because I just free handed the stripes.

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The rest of the cookies were filled in hot pink and bright turquoise, with alternating mongrams, 16’s, and her name.

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Don’t they look cute together? I am in love with this set.

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Last year for Alyssah’s birthday I made these Red Velvet Cake Balls. Her mom asked for cake balls again, so this year I went with yellow cake and chocolate coating.

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I colored the chocolate coating black (or as black as I could) so that they would match the cookies. Then I drizzled the tops with turquoise and hot pink to match the cookies.

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Alyssah was so surprised at her party! Her parents told her they were going to her aunt’s house for dinner. All her friends were hiding under the tables and behind furniture so they could pop out as she walked through the door!

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Little Man Birthday Cookies

Silas turned one over the weekend and his crafty/creative/baking mama threw him a “Little Man” themed birthday.

I made the cookies!

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Valentines’s Day Cookies

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New Sugar Cookie Recipe & Method

I have mentioned before that I like my cookies to be thin. Like really thin.

Well recently I decided to make my cookies more uniform. See I never exactly measured before. I did the thickness by feel and look. It was always a guess, and sometimes one batch would be slightly thicker or thinner than the next.

My fellow cookiers on Facebook were discussing how thick they roll their cookies. I was shocked to see that most of them roll 1/4″ or even 3/8″. Mine were typically less than 1/8″.

When I baked these cookies, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about the super thick cookies. I rolled them 1/4″ thick using 1/4″ dowels. Lots of good cookie, but the icing to cookies ratio was just too low for my taste. I needed smaller dowels, so I went back for 1/8″.

The 1/8″ dowels made the perfect thickness for me. Not too much cookie, but thick enough to be sturdier than what I was previously working with.

(I took the photos when I was making chocolate cookies, but the method of rolling is the same.) I place the dowels on either side of my dough ball, cover it with a piece of cling wrap, then roll side to side, keeping my rolling pin on the dowels.

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In addition to my new roll method, I have a new cookie recipe that I have been using. I really loved my old one (from iambaker) but it was a very sticky recipe and I always had to knead a lot of flour into it before I could work with it. This recipe is also delicious, but it saves me that extra time. Also, it can be made and rolled RIGHT AWAY, without having to chill it, which has also saves me time.

***UPDATE***MAY 2013********************************************

I have changed the recipe I use again, so I wanted to throw it in here. It’s very similar to the recipes I used before from iambaker and Lilaloa…. just more of a morph between the two.

Here is a printable link.

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This cookie recipe has practically no spread, which makes it perfect for intricate cut-out designs. It would be a great recipe for my Unicorn Poop Cookies as well because it would hold the desired shape.

Cookie Carrie’s Sugar Cookiesadapted from Lilaloa

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 sticks salted butter (1 cup)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
4 cups flour
Directions:
1. Cream together butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.
3. Mix in salt and baking powder.
4. Add flour 1 cup at a time. No need to chill, just roll to 1/8″ thickness and cut into desired shapes.
5. Bake at 350* for 8 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

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Sea Creatures Cookies

Last year for my mother-in-law’s church crab feed live auction I made these cookies. This year I wanted to do something a little different, while still sticking to the under the sea theme.

I found this amazing set of cutters on the Wilton website. Included were so many “sea” creatures that I had a hard time narrowing it down to just a few!

I sketched out my ideas on paper first, but once I hit the cookie it was all freehand.

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I outlined in black to give it that cartoon feel. I just love how it makes the colors pop.

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The eyes I used the same technique I used on my Santa cookies. I love how googly-eyed it made them and it turned out perfect for these silly sea creatures.

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The next day I got an email from my mother-in-law telling me that bidding for my cookies was fierce, but that my husband’s grandpa persevered. I told him next time I will make him his own plate so that he doesn’t have to bid on them. Haha..

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