Category Archives: Cookies

March 13, 2012 · 8:00 am

So many cookies…

I have been busy busy making sugar cookies lately. Like really busy.

Just thought I would share some pics rather than go into tons of detail about everything… enjoy!

Above are pictures of bridges and hard hats I made. I work at a bridge building company and some boy scouts came to visit to learn about engineering. These were their take-home treats! The hard hats are trimmed baseball hat cookies.

Above are some monkeys I did for a little boy’s first birthday party. Brown food coloring and I are not friends. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

The circles and onesies were for a baby shower. Too many boys I tell ya, we need some girls!

The California’s were for my husband to take to work. He works for a company that makes camping and tour reservations for national and state parks. California parks just opened yesterday for reservations so he thought these would be a good addition to their potluck. He also works as an intern for the state of CA a couple days a week, so he brought a couple in for his coworkers there.

These were for a surprise “baby is coming soon” party we had for a male coworker. They don’t know the sex yet and s/he is due in March, so we went with green!

Made these bunco cookies for my grandma. The little guys are so fun!

These cookies were for Cody’s Catholic confirmation. The silver crosses were iced first, sprayed with Wilton luster spray, then the rest of the cookie was iced.. Very carefully, haha.

There will be more cookies and other treats coming soon…

PS. I have been so busy that I didn’t have time to do St. Patty’s Day cookies. 😦

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Tagged as black, blue, bridge, bunco, buttercream, california, dice, green, hat, icing, lustre dust, onesie, sugar cookies, tiffany blue

March 6, 2012 · 8:00 am

The Lorax Cookies (and Roundup!)

Ever since the first commercial I saw for the Lorax, I have been BEYOND excited for the release! My husband agreed (after much persuasion) to take me to see it on opening night (he wasn’t very excited about that). It ended up being a very late showing and I was too tired, so we waited until Sunday instead. It did not disappoint!

These cookies took me a while to get to because I was waiting on my mustache cookie cutter to come in the mail. Then I was busy. Like really busy. So (finally) here are my Lorax decorated cookies!

I baked the mustaches separate and iced both cookies. I set the mustache in place on the circle so that I could mark the eye placement with toothpicks. I piped the eyes, then glued the mustache on with some frosting. Then I realized his eyes were way too small so I piped them bigger.

To finish it off I colored the eyes with food color markers, added eyelids and a nose, and piped on the big bushy eyebrows!

So many others have joined in the Lorax treat fun, so I wanted to do a little Lorax roundup of the things I have seen out there. Some of these ladies are SERIOUSLY talented, so if you have time you should check out their blogs/websites!

Truffula Tree Push Pops by Emily of So Domesticated. How cute are these?!

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie by Ginny’s Cookies. Looks delicious!

Lorax Cupcakes by Hoosier Homemade. Love the bar-ba-loots!

Marshmallows by Meaghan of The Decorated Cookie. Have you ever tried drawing on a squishy marshmallow? It’s not easy! Meaghan can work these mallows like it’s nothin’. Love the 3 tiered trees!

Lorax Sugar Cookies (book version) by Paula of Vanilla Bean Baker. Look how perfect these are!

Lorax Decorated Cookies (movie poster version) by Marian of Sweetopia. I love the straws for the trees, it’s absolutely perfect! (and perfectly fluffy!)

Truffula Tree Decorated Cookies by Ellie’s Bites Decorated Cookies. So simple yet so perfect!

Lorax Cake Pops by Angie of Bakerella. I almost cried when I saw these. They are so perfect and I love them all so much! Wish I could handle a cake pop like this brilliant woman!

Truffula Tree Cupcakes by Courtney of Pizzazzerie. Perfection! She also has lots of fun party ideas whether for Dr. Seuss or anything else!

Thank you to everyone who let me link up their Lorax treats and share their pictures!

9 Comments

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Tagged as buttercream, icing, mustache, orange, sugar cookies, yellow

February 28, 2012 · 8:00 am

Chocolate Chip Pizookies

For anyone who has not experienced the pure bliss of a pizookie, this recipe is for you! A pizookie is a “pizza-cookie” that is served fresh baked, with a scoop of ice cream on top. (BJ’s Restuarant and Brewhouse is famous for them.)

I made these to bring to a friend’s house for dinner. There were going to be 3 couples there, so I made 3 sharable portions. I baked them in these cute little casserole dishes I bought at Michael’s for $1 back at Christmas time.

Chocolate Chip Pizookies – recipe adapted from Dollhouse Bake Shoppe

Makes 4 large pizookies.

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) + 1 tablespoon of butter, cut into small chunks

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

heaping 1/4 tsp salt

heaping 1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Beat sugars and butter until fluffy (at least a couple minutes). Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined.

2. In a separate bowl mix together flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add to cookie mixture until all incorporated.

3. Stir in chocolate chips by hand, then chill for a couple hours.

4. Roll the dough into balls and press a few into the bottom of each dish.

5. Bake dishes on a cookie sheet at 325 for 18-22 minutes, until puffed and slightly golden brown.

6. Set the dishes on a wire rack to cool for just a few minutes, then top each with a scoop of ice cream, and any other toppings you want!

I did make these when we went to a friend’s house for dinner… but completely forgot to take any pictures. So the next night I made the whole recipe again to take to my parents’ house for dinner. Forgot to take pictures again. Who does that?! Luckily there was some dough leftover the second time because I only baked 3, and there was just enough to make a 4th. So a few days later I made the last one and you better believe I took pictures this time! (Not that it would be torture to have to make them again…)

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Filed under Cookies, Misc

Tagged as chocolate, ice cream

February 24, 2012 · 8:00 am

Meyer Lemon Sugar Cookies

I made my usual sugar cookie recipe, with just a couple changes.

I cut the amount of vanilla in half

I added the zest from 1 meyer lemon (my lemon was pretty small)

I added the juice from 1 meyer lemon (lemon was small but had a lot of juice)

I made cookie disks like I did here, and baked for 8 minutes.

Once completely cool, I drizzled them with lemon icing:

Mix powdered sugar and a little bit of milk together with juice from a whole meyer lemon to syrup consistency.

The cookies turned out very mild lemon, but the icing was a little tart and a little sweet. They tasted light – almost like there were no calories!

Mini Reese’s Cookies

I had a poll on my facebook page a while back. Rolos vs. Mini Reese’s.

Rolos won.

But my secret? I really planned on doing both all along. I just couldn’t decide which to do first!

My biggest problem is I couldn’t decide what to make with them. I first got the idea to use them in something from Shelly at Cookies & Cups when she made these. I wanted to do something different because I’m not a huge fan of chocolate.

I couldn’t do blondies again, and I didn’t want to do the standard peanut butter cookies, because I don’t love peanut butter that much.

So what to do…

I thought of other things I enjoy with peanut butter and Muddy Buddies came to mind. Chocolate, peanut butter, perfect harmony.

Then I remembered these brownies. The basic ingredient is chocolate cake instead of brownie mix. And they are gooood brownies. So chocolate cake must be okay.

That’s it! Chocolate cake cookies! And then I realized. That is exactly what Shelly made. I made a full loop and ended up back in the SAME PLACE.

So here you have it. Chocolate cake cookies with Mini Reese’s.

Mix a boxed chocolate cake mix (I used Milk Chocolate flavored), 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup of vegetable oil.

Once the batter is all ready, add in the full bag of Mini Reese’s. Mix it up some more, the cups will break up a bit but that is perfectly okay!

Use a cookie scoop (or 2 tablespoons) to form balls and drop on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. These cookies will spread so keep them a couple inches apart.

Bake 9-12 minutes at 350.

These are super fast and easy. Whip some up and don’t forget to share!

2 Comments

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Tagged as chocolate, easy cookies, peanut butter, reeses

February 14, 2012 · 8:23 am

Heart Shaped Deep Dish White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

For the past few years, I have bought my honey a giant heart-shaped cookie for Valentine’s Day. (By giant I mean it was like 12″ across.) His favorite cookie is a white chocolate macadamia nut, so the giant cookie was always that. Now that I am doing my own baking, I told him he was not getting one this year. I asked him what I could make him instead. He wants damn white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Of course.

I had never made them before, so I was a little stumped. I decided to go with a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe, and just swap out the chips for white and add macadamia nuts. If white chocolate chip macadamia is not your thing, just substitute with regular chips and omit the nuts.

I recently bought myself a whoopie pie pan aka muffin top pan, and since it was during Valentine’s season, it is heart shaped! And since my honey isn’t getting his giant heart shaped cookie, I figured I would make him regular-sized heart shaped white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. Ugh this post is getting me tongue-tied!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies – recipe adapted from Dollhouse Bake Shoppe

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks butter, melted

3/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1 tbsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup macadamia nuts

Directions

1. Beat melted butter and sugars for 3-5 minutes on medium speed until light and fluffy.

2. In a small bowl, gently mix together eggs and vanilla. Scrape the sugar/butter mixture from the sides of the bowl and add the eggs. Mix until comined.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking soda. Gradually add to rest of ingredients until completely incorporated.

4. Stir in chips and nuts by hand, then cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

5. Roll dough into balls and bake on cookie sheet, OR press into the bottom of deep dish whoopie pie pan/muffin top pan.

6. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes. Edges should be golden brown and center should be soft and puffy. Let cookies completely cool on cookie sheet or in pan so that the soft centers will set up. (The centers will also sink a bit.)

Aww look, he’s got my heart in his hands…. awwww…..

Valentines Sugar Cookies

For valentine’s cookies, I always do the traditional colors, then throw in purple. This year, inspired by this beautiful set by iambaker, I decided to go light blue instead. Enjoy!

Love these sweet pink and white ones…

This one is my favorite!

Love the little bow on this one…

Can never go wrong with sprinkles, especially festive non-pareils!

My husband said the blue one below looks the yummiest… the big heart sprinkles on the pink one I found at the 99 cent store!

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Tagged as blue, buttercream, hearts, icing, pink, red, sugar cookies, valentine's day

February 10, 2012 · 7:30 am

Valentine’s Snowballs

My husband calls these ‘snowball cookies’ but they are also commonly referred to as Mexican Wedding Cookies.

I came across these made by the talented Callye of Sweet Sugar Belle, and decided I wanted to make some for Valentine’s day. I’m not so much a red girl, so I opted for the very lovely, very predictable, Pink!

I told my husband about them and he said “oh you mean snowball cookies?” I had never tried or seen them before, but apparently his mom makes them every year for Christmas. I asked her about them and she was happy to share her recipe. I compared it to Callye’s, and it was identical, except Callye’s had 2x more nuts. I texted my mother-in-law to tell her this and she said her recipe had been in the family for generations! How funny that they were the same!

I am pretty much obsessed with walnuts in my cookies, so I opted for the double amount.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened – or cut up into small chunks

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Food coloring (optional)

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups chopped nuts (I used walnuts… pecans and almonds are also a popular choice)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar for rolling

Directions:

1. Mix together butter and powdered sugar until fluffy, then add vanilla and food coloring.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together flour and salt, then stir in the nuts.

3. Add flour/nut mixture to butter mixture a little at a time until fully incorporated. The batter was very thick; I had to make husband stir it with a wooden spoon because my mixer couldn’t take it.

4. Form into 1″ balls, and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

5. Immediately after pulling from the oven, roll in powdered sugar then place on a cooling rack. After all cookies are baked and rolled and cooled, roll once more in powdered sugar.

6. Store in an airtight container with the remaining powdered sugar to keep them well dusted.

**I just realized after typing this that my mother-in-law’s recipe says to bake at 300 for 30 minutes. I am curious what difference that would make to these, since they have all the same ingredients. I will have to have her try these and tell me what she thinks?

Make something sweet for those that you love for Valentine’s Day! ❤

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Tagged as easy cookies, pink, walnuts

February 8, 2012 · 8:52 am

Under the Sea Cookies

My family loves going to crab feeds… we go to at least 3 a year.

I just recently learned that crab feeds are a Northern California thing. I had no idea that the rest of the world didn’t enjoy all-you-can-eat crab feasts like we do! I’m sorry people that live everywhere else… I feel very bad for you. A piece of my heart belongs to crab. ❤

One of the crab feeds my husband and I attend each year is put on by my mother-in-law’s church. They always have a silent auction as well as a live auction to raise money, and this year I decided to make some treats for them to auction off. (I thought it would be in the silent auction, but I was lucky enough to get my items auctioned off live. A little embarrassing because my husband’s grandpa kept trying to buy them, but I know it was out of love!)

The theme of this particular crab feed is “under the sea,” and there are cute decorations everywhere of not only crabs, but fish, frogs, and starfish. I made my cookies to match the theme.

I did shells with the same wet-on-wet technique I used here. Just do lines of icing right in the wet background…

Then trace a toothpick through to create swooshes. Technical term.

I also did some fun little bubbles…

Some bright fishes…

And some crabbies of course! So glad I decided to add sparkles to these guys. It really made them pop!

Here they all are, ready for the auction!

I also made a tray of cake pops. They’re not really anything special enough for their own post. I got a little crazy with the sparkles on these but I love how they turned out!

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Filed under Cake Pops, Cookies

Tagged as blue, buttercream, cake pops, crab, fish, icing, shell, sprinkles, sugar cookies, tiffany blue

February 3, 2012 · 9:14 am

Football Cookies

I made these for the superbowl of course… now that our team (49ers) is not playing, I really could care less about the big game. Seriously, who wants to watch a repeat of a game from a couple years back? Not I.

My parents are throwing a small party anyway, so I offered my already-baked-up football cookies to them.