Cookie Olympics

Ho-ho-ho. I really feel like if I got this post out before February, it's a win. It's not THAT late; it's only January!

Anyhoo, since I started making cookies last March, I've developed a lot of techniques and slowly (hopefully) have gotten better with each batch. Christmas is like the Cookies Olympics. I kept thinking, 'I've been training all year for this!'  And they came out okay! I'll keep training and see where I get next year. :) 

I was given the partridge in a pear tree cutter just before the holiday and got the design from Sweet Sugar Belle who is amazing, as always. The red/blue frosty themed cooks were probably my favorite because I loves me some red and blue.

 

Now that Christmas is over, I can start on Valumtimes!

RIP Halloween

You know, I'm never quite sure if I'm giving enough credit or homage to the bloggers, bakers and creative souls who share their recipes and designs to us online.  I always reference whomever shared a recipe or design I reblog. I hope knowing they're inspiring others gives those that share a sense of accomplishment at being amazing and awesome.

I say this now because this adorable design is an almost exact replica of these gorgeous tombstone cookies (which you can buy!) from sugarandflour on Etsy.  (Except mine are less professional or beautiful!)  I used the large Wilton tombstone cutter so these were really two normal sized cookies in one.  Now, some explanation:

In the federal government, the fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30.  So once a fiscal year (FY) is over, we celebrate! Good riddance! My office usually has an end-of-year breakfast party. My mom's office decided to have a RIP Fiscal Year 2012 party. I was asked to make some cookies for it and I was happy to because they're kinda Halloween-ish and this is my FAVORITE holiday ever.




This is the first cookie platter I've done and I was really happy with the whole graveyard thing.  AND the green filler stuffing (I MEAN, grass) worked perfectly at padding the cookies and keeping the icing from breaking.  Yay!

So here lies so and so.  Thank you to sugarandflour for sharing such a wonderful design!

London, a second (third?) home

I know I've mentioned on this blog before but I used to live in London about 10 years ago and loved it dearly.  Well, I'm finally getting back this week and I made some cookies a few weeks ago in anticipation.  When I think of England, I think the Union Jack, PG Tips and football!

Even though I lived there for years, I'm ashamed to admit I didn't do all the touristy stuff I should've.  Never went to Buckingham Palace or Westminster Abbey.  It almost seemed unnecessary.  I had to go to work and go to school and junk; I didn't have time to stand around with tourists! But I should have made time because now I'm one of those tourists.  Sort of.

It's a weird mix of seeing new stuff (The London Eye was just opened and SO touristy when I was there) and old favorites (omg omg Harrod's I love so muhuhuhuch). AND my 15 year old nephew is going to experience a new country for the first time. I'm so excited for him!

About the cookies, I tried a new technique of completely painting with coloring diluted with vodka (because it dries quick).  On the red roses, I used a color pen for the detail and softened it with a brush. It's a technique I'd like to play with a little more with better brushes but I liked it! Like little canvases!

So this Sunday, I'll be in London having Sunday roast then watching Downton Abbey.  UGH.  SO English!!  I'll check back in a couple weeks when I return!  Cheers!

Football is finally here!

My family is Texan and, as such, we are football people.  I went to UT who (sorry my dear Aggie friend, Kelly) have the greatest football team in the state (country WORLD; what? we Longhorns are a proud legion).

I grew up watching the Houston Oilers and was quite heartbroken when they were dissolved in 1998.  Then in 2001 we finally got football back in Houston and all was good in H-Town. (hey, check it out Aggies: even the Longhorn is the symbol of all Texans. IN YO FACE.)

So we do fantasy football in my family and another league with friends.  Being as excited as I was for the season, I made these for our drafts and was pretty pleased with how they came out.  The Texan was, obviously, the hardest and the only one I did by a template. I used a #1 tip and went verrrrrry slow. lol.  If I was to do it again, I'd attach the fragile piece to a solid backing before putting it on the cookie; it was VERY thin, didn't sit flat on the uneven cookie base, and broke easily.

The other teams were my friends' favorites which were fun to give out to them. I'd have to say, as much as I love the Texans symbol on everything, I think the footballs were my favorite.  Footballs don't even look like that anymore but they're just so precious!

The Texans are looking good this year but I'm a superstitious gal so I won't say anything more. Except ANDRE JOHNSON IS MY PRECIOUS DARLING.

Spider-Man! Does whatever a spider can!

Spins a web! Any size! Catches thieves just like flies!  okay enough of the theme song.  I found these amazing, beautiful, adorable Spider-Man cookies at Bake Greek and wanted to make them so badly but I held off.  I wanted to get a little closer to the release of The Amazing Spider-Man (July 3rd) and I knew they'd be challenging because I'd use the same technique of tracing the eyes through wax paper and applying them.  So there were measurements and all that jazz but they still came out different.  I won't rag on them because they're not exactly how I wanted but they're still okay.  I guess that's just how stuff turns out sometimes.

That spiderweb cutter is monstrous, though.  I mean it.  Like 6" inches, point to point.  It's like four cookies in one.  Good thing I only made two.

So. I've found I have a pattern to my cookie decorating.  I get through the mandatory ones and there's always stragglers that I'm never sure how to decorate.  This time it was the spiders.  Didn't want them all black so I did a few other colors.  Then, as I'm looking at them I think, well. How about some eyes.

I swear to you, the second I put those murderous, beady eyes on, my skin started to crawl.  What the hell??  It's just instinct.  I didn't even want to look at it.  It was looking at ME!  So I tried making them bigger.  GO BIG AND CUTE.  But it didn't work.  I actually considered for a split second making it accurate and putting a couple of those hideous eyes on it and shuddered at the thought.  I hate them so much, it makes me want to cry.

Needless to say, none of the rest got eyes.

So I'm going to see the new movie because Spidey is my second favorite hero ever! (Wolverine #1 baby!)  AND Andrew Garfield (the new Spidey actor) does a lot of his own stunts!  I love that.  He's so wiry and bendy! So I'm excited to watch him flying around! Wee!

Source: andrewgaarfields.tumblr.com

To him, life is a great big bang up! Wherever there's a hang up, you'll find the Spider-Man!

"Are you going to live in an igloo?"

I moved to Alaska when I was 10 years old and I remember quite vividly saying goodbye to my 4th grade classmates.  I remember showing them on the globe how far away Alaska was from Texas and one of them asked me, straight up, "Are you going to live in an igloo?"  I knew it was ridiculous but the fact that I still remember that question makes me wonder if, at the time, I wasn't quite sure myself.

I'm kidding. I laughed in their faces. Pfft. 10 year olds.

So even though I spent the rest of my youth here, moved away then would eventually return, I still don't think of Alaska as home. Isn't that weird?  I'm not FROM Alaska; I just live here right now.  That doesn't mean, however, that I deny it's beautiful landscapes or quirky residents or wonderful summers.  That's all grand.  But it's the damn winters...

But I digress.  I did not, as one might suspect, make these in response to the Texas cookies I shared with my fellow Texan family a few weeks ago.  I actually made them to share with my Alaskan coworkers at a bake sale being held at work.  I thought they'd appreciate these familiar sights over any old design (or especially Texas. Imagine: feeding Alaskans Texas cookies! The horror!)

I used Sweet Sugar Belle's recipe but I've made a few tweaks and they're working for me (learning my wonky oven temperature is the biggest plus).  This is the 8th batch of cookies I've made and I'm finally getting to the point where I've got a routine and it's getting easy!  Yay!

Ready for a bake sale!

Texas, Our Texas

There is something about being Texan that very few others experience. I'm not saying we're better or worse (okay, some Texans are totally better or worse people) but it's a unique and distinguishing identity. Texans are a proud people. I was raised with the endless mantra of how beautiful and separate and special Texas was. We moved to Alaska when I was 10 and brought the pride all the way here. You can never take the Texas out of a Texan.

In search of cookie ideas, I stumbled on some University of Texas themed cooks and, being my alma mater, I fell in love. I started planning Longhorns and little states and the Hook 'Em hand sign. Just as I was about to order the special cutters online, my birthday rolled around and my mom got me a set of Texas-themed cutters. It included this huge 5 x 5 state and I knew I had to make it ASAP. The Horns would have to wait!

I found these beautiful designs from Deb's Crafty Cookies and the search was over. I can't thank her enough for sharing the lovely design with us all!

These are the little Texases I had from who knows where. I love finding cutters I forgot I had!

Then came the search for bluebonnets. Now, again, as a Texan, fields of wild bluebonnets are such a staple in the land we're raised on that every time I see them now, my heart just swells. It's hard to describe. It's like looking at your childhood home and it brings up every safe and happy memory you ever had. So looking through bluebonnet pictures might have been my favorite part of this exercise.

I'm happy with how they turned out.  I stuck to Sweet Sugar Belle's sugar cookie recipe and, my favorite because it's been so good to me, Lizy B Bakes' royal icing recipe.

Now on to the next theme... Here's a hint: he's got a movie coming out verrrry soooooon... (spins a web, any size, catches thieves just like flies...)

Cookies for Mom

My mom specifically told me not to buy her anything for Mother's Day. I mostly acquiesced; I'd already bought her a card. But I know she likes the cookies I bring over for Sunday brunches so I made a batch just for her.

I also usually get her flowers so I decided on cookie roses instead of real ones.  These'll last longer (in the freezer)!

Happy (Belated) Mother's Day, to all moms!

LOKI'D

There's a moment when you're decorating that you survey your work and just throw up your hands and call it a loss.  I pretty much did that with these cookies but I have a pretty legit source for my frustration. The god of mischief has struck, determined that I not render him in cookie form. I guess he's not keen on being devoured by mortals.

First, I found these adorable action figures and immediately decided I wanted to make them into cookies.  I quickly realized they'd be the most difficult design I'd ever attempted and grew wary... Almost dreading the decorating, to be honest.  But I'd committed myself (and already made the cookies) so I couldn't back out.  So I went into it with trepidation.

But to back up really quick, as I'm mixing the dough, adding the flour to make it come together, my poor Kitchenaid starts straining with some severity. I turn it off, only to see the pin holding the head to the base almost completely worked out. I try to maneuver it back in place - hell, I took a hammer to it (not Mjolnir, unfortunately) - and still nothing.  And suddenly I realized what happened.

UGH. FINE. See if I make your cookies again, prankster!! (JK; I love you!)

So he broke my mixer.  I borrow my mom's to make the icing and decide to try a new recipe that looks super simple from the popular blogger's video. I make the colors and sit down to decorate and it is absolutely WAY too thick. I don't understand; it looked fine in the bowls! I give up and wait a day, go back and thin all the colors and start over.  Slightly better but now it's almost too thin! UGH, THIS ICING IS TOO FICKLE. And then I realized...

By the end of this whole ordeal, I'd mostly given up. They didn't come out as I'd wished but I've learned some things: that freakin icing is not for me.  And if designs look difficult from the word go, they're going to be freakin hard.

My one amusement from this batch was this.  The multiples of Loki!  It makes me laugh.  So many Lokis!  Which one is real?  I'll never not fall for that, right, Thor?

See the icing consistency from the first try (on the lightning) and the second day, after thinned on Mjolnir? 

Mjolnir turned out to be my favorite.  I used an edible marker/pen to detail it so it's the only one with any definition.  I attempted to detail Thor and Loki's helmets as well and they came out junk so I nixed that quick.

April 22 - Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  Not only do I super love Earth Day because of the awesome sentiment and the beautiful greenery that goes with it, it's also my birthday! In my quest to find ideas for designs, I came across some lovely cookies from a young lady who had a giveaway and declared Earth Day was someday in March and I went 'Nuh uh never!!'  It's always April 22nd!

April Showers!

So the cookie obsession continues and each time I'm trying new techniques (sugar coating, wet-on-wet flowers) and learning through trial and error.  I tried a new recipe (not these pictured) and they held their shape wonderfully but didn't taste great. They were kind of your typical bleh sugar cookie. I really like Sweet Sugar Belle's recipe however, as you can see (especially on the umbrella), they spread a bit.  Even in her notes, she acknowledges this issue and suggests adding a little more flour. I'll try that next time because I thought chilling the dough might help but it had no effect at all! Next time: more flour.

Cookies, Part Deux

Happy Easter!

In case you missed my Game of Thrones cookies post, I am kind of crazy into the cooks these days. Like, researching best techniques, buying all the tools, finding designs, etc.  This week was crazy baking-wise but I knew after the relative failure of the GoT cookies, I wanted to try, try again.  Easter was the perfect excuse!

I had better success on these but still not perfect. At this point, it's just about practicing. New techniques, seeing what works and what doesn't. My biggest issue was definitely the consistency: I was gun shy this time after the GoT royal icing was way too thin so for these I went a smidge too thick. I mean, they leveled off eventually (most of them) but I've watched dozens of tutorials and some decorators just squeeze it out of the bottle and it makes a lovely roundness and sets perfect and fast. That was the thing; I had to work it into place too much.  So.  Consistency still needs work!

(Bunnies love clover!)

Also, I used the same cookie recipe from Sweet Sugar Belle and they taste great but mine spread a little bit too much. Might be an oven that runs too hot.  Will experiment and report back!

As for the royal icing, I tried a new recipe from Lizy B Bakes and found it dried and worked wonderfully. I may just make this my go-to recipe!

Lizy B makes kind of amazing things so I was inspired by her design work, Sugar Belle's and many others.  I can wholeheartedly admit my own designs were the ones I liked least. HOWEVER, I will get better as I practice more and get more ideas from the brilliant bakers who blog and share their gorgeous work! (Thank you, thank you for sharing!)

A small note about the watermarks/blog name on the pics: I've never marked my pictures in the past because I thought no one would really take anything of mine. There's two reasons I'm doing it now. #1. It's kind of heartbreaking to see a picture you worked on setting up and making junk for being reused without credit. Like, my stomach falls out when I see one of my pics just randomly somewhere. So avoiding that feeling is a good thing.

And #2. I've noticed a few other blogs doing the same and realized, as I saved the picture to study later, it was a GREAT way to remember whose it was! I was cruising blogs, right-clicking away and when I went to study the pictures, there's the name of the creator right there! Now I can credit them easy! It takes the hassle off me to remember who made what and making my life easier is always a bonus! So that's that!

And everyone in my family got personalized egg cookies so, since my dad is in Houston, here you go, Dad! Love ya!

(The little chicky was my favorite!)

Game of Thrones: Winter is Coming!

Like most chefs I know, my cooking adventures too originate from seeing something and thinking, 'I wonder if I could do that...' I've seen hundreds of beautiful, intricate and amazing sugar cookies and I never thought twice about trying them. And one day it was just like, 'Hey... SUGAR cookies...'

Also, I'm crazy into Game of Thrones right now and I really wanted to geek out about it. Hence, decorated cookies. (The best part? At random intervals, such as coloring the red icing, I'd just suddenly think, "A Lannister always pays his debts." WEE!)

Happy Birthday, AMERICA.

YES, I am a week late for the 4th of July festivities. But, no, these cookies were not late. I made these two weeks ago in anticipation of a week-long vacation from which I just returned. So I have a good excuse and it's better late than never!

Quick story on how these patriotic treats came to be. See, I'm a big football/soccer fan and have been since I got into it a few years back in London. It was great rooting for the Three Lions (England's national team) but once I got back to the States, it had to be Team USA all the way! (Especially since we were such underdogs and needed support.) So this World Cup, I went all out and, what do you know: America flags, shirts, beads, etc all pop up in stores, right in time for our big games (and July 4th, but whatever).


My 5 year old niece saw me with all this America bling. A few days went by and we were visiting at my mom's house where she proceeded to bring me a set of patriotic cookie cutters that she bought at the store. I said, "What's this?" and she replied, "They're for YOU ... to make cookies. For ME." Oooohhkay! So I kinda had to at that point. I mean, it was sort of an order.

But truth be told, I love doing this stuff. It's not that much work and the final product coming out cute is worth every minute!

I tried a new sugar cookie recipe because I'm always on the prowl for the perfect sugar cookie. These came out nice and soft, held their shape perfectly and were hard to mess up (even after re-rolling). They never browned but did get crisp (though light) if I rolled thin enough. Keep them at a respectable thickness and they'll be nice and soft!

Also, the icing is from those tubes of Wilton "frosting" you buy in the stores. I struggled with the thought of royal icing and in the end, just made do with what I had. Turns out, that sweet frosting is really good on cookies. Think of those Lofthouse soft sugar cookies you get in the store. Mmm. But I piped on the lines and just spread the rest with a knife! It's all about adapting with what you have!


SUGAR COOKIES
Source: Williams-Sonoma

16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 piece vanilla bean, about 2 inches long, or 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and, using a small, sharp knife, scrape the seeds into the butter mixture. If using vanilla extract, add it now. Mix well.

In a sifter, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Sift the flour mixture directly onto the butter mixture. Reduce the speed to low and beat until well mixed.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 4 equal portions. Shape each portion into a ball, then flatten the balls into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. (The dough can be prepared up to 3 days ahead.) Let it soften slightly at room temperature before continuing.

Position a rack in the upper third of an oven and preheat to 350°F. Prepare 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out a dough disk 1/4 inch thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes. Transfer the cutouts to the prepared baking sheets. Gather up and reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies. Repeat with the remaining dough disks

Bake until the cookies are golden on the edges, about 8 minutes. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and let cool completely. Decorate the cookies as desired with colored sugars and decorating pens. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Makes 24 to 30 cookies, depending on cutter size.

And, P.S. I AM heartbroken by our results at the World Cup. But it doesn't lessen my love for our national team and players. They're still awesome and I love them!