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Written on May 13, 2012 by Kate

I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day. The boy, the pup, and I picked up my parents from LAX Saturday around midnight. It was a great way to start Mother’s Day. The Naughty One completely freaked out when she saw them. We are happy to have them back here after their hundred day world vacation, and hope to keep them around for awhile.

I’ve been away from the blog for a few weeks, but still have tried to carve out small chunks of time to bake. The boy’s baseball schedule and my job have been all-consuming this past month. We both can’t wait until summer vacation!

This week, the boy’s school is holding their annual silent auction. I was asked to make cookies for the beach themed basket and the “rain or shine” basket. The umbrellas are my favorites from this batch. The flip-flop cookies were a must for the beach basket. I think in the history of cookie baking, I’ve made more flip-flops than any other cookie. Last year I somehow found time to make The Hungry Caterpillar cookies for the auction. These are probably my favorite of all-time… that caterpillar turned out so darn cute!

Have you ever visited The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle baking blog? Callye is one of the most talented cookie decorators I’ve ever come across, and her blog is one of my favorites. Cookies are her canvas and royal icing is her medium. I made these rainbow cookies using my mini flower cookie cutter and large circle cutter and followed her rainbow photo tutorial as a guide.

Wishing you a great week ahead… Rain OR Shine!

cookies, Recipes

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Written on April 11, 2012 by Kate

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Hope everyone had a great Easter! We hosted our annual Easter brunch and had a great time celebrating with our friends. My parents were definitely missed this year. Really, what’s Easter without Grandma Bunny? They are still traveling the world and having the time of their lives… one more month left of their adventure before they get back home. We are in the midst of Spring Break this week and are both SO happy to enjoy a few days off.

Guess who decided to be part of our annual egg hunt? I’m pretty sure she also had the most fun. Regardless of the number of kids we have over on Easter, we still hide hundreds and hundreds of eggs. My girlfriend, Deb’s husband asked me if we really HAD to hide ALL of the eggs. Seriously, I thought he knew me better than that. The Easter egg hunt apparently has not officially ended, as the pup is still obsessed with finding eggs and bringing me a few each day.

I was able to find a little time to squeeze in some Easter cookies. I decided to keep it simple and made bunnies with carrots and chickadees with mini Easter eggs. Now that Easter is over, we are onto planning the next party. I can’t believe my boy will be eleven in a few weeks. He has decided to go big again this year. His original guest list had over fifty people on it (and I wonder where he gets that). I can’t complain; I’m just happy after all of these years that I finally have a child who likes to party! I knew the party gene was dominant!

cookies, Holidays, Parties

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Written on March 12, 2012 by Kate

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Hope you had a great weekend! The boy and I decided if we were going to make a St. Patrick’s treat this year, we needed to do it before our crazy week began. We came up with a few sweet ideas, and this is what he picked. I knew better than to argue with the boy. He loves to eat this (what’s not to love?) and it’s kind of become a tradition. I love it because it’s festive, takes little time, and requires very little brain power.

Here’s another thing to love… you don’t even need to measure. But if you must, the basic recipe is here. I just fill my large measuring bowl with chocolate chips (about 2 1/2 cups) and melt in the microwave. Be sure to stir every 30 seconds until fully melted, otherwise the chocolate will seize on you and make you wanna cry. I spread the melted chocolate with a spatula on a cookie sheet that has been covered in parchment paper, and then add whatever we want on top before it sets. For these, we added green M&Ms, mint flavored Oreos, and shamrock sprinkles. You can put the pan in the fridge or just leave it out for awhile it set. Once set break it up and you’re done. It’s that simple!

If you want a little more mint-spiration, and have some extra time this week, these mint cupcakes and whoopies pies are fabulous! If you decide to make the mint chip cupcakes, use my favorite chocolate cupcake recipe and this mint frosting recipe. And if you’re looking for a St. Patrick’s Day cocktail, this thin mint martini is perfect!

chocolate, cookies, Desserts Galore, Holidays, Recipes

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Written on February 13, 2012 by Kate

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Happy Valentine’s Day! This is one of my favorite days of the year. But this Valentine’s Eve I was given some bad news that I didn’t see coming. Don’t you hate that? If you know me well, you know I don’t do well with surprises. It’s one thing if you’re kind of prepared for not so good news, it’s another when it hits you completely out of the blue. So this year, there’s a little black cloud hanging over my Valentine’s Day. I’m posting tonight with my KJ in hand and a bag of chocolate-covered valentine pretzels that the boy and I made together, and already life seems a little better. (The power of wine and chocolate is amazing!).

In spite of the little black cloud, I’m trying to think good thoughts of sugar cookies, funny little wiener dogs, a boy that still considers his mom his valentine, and my friends and family who I love so much. I know that some things we don’t see coming are really blessings in disguise and I’m hoping this will be one of them.

Wishing you all a day filled with LOVE!

cookies, Holidays, Recipes

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Written on January 10, 2012 by Kate

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There’s never a dull moment around here. The boy has been sick again for the past two days, still not keeping food down. Hoping we get to the bottom of what’s causing this. In addition to being struck with more illness, it also happens to be what I refer to as “testing season”, my busiest time of year at work. Thank goodness for friends and family. They keep me sane. It’s probably for the best that I’m taking a break from my Kitchen-Aid. I have some catching up to do on posting cookie orders that I did right before Christmas.

This was an order for Sabrina, who was having a Willy Wonka themed party for her son’s birthday. Sabrina ordered Alice and Wonderland cookies from me last year for a baby shower. Sabrina comes up with great party themes… so many fun cookie options.

Below are photos of the cookies individually and a few helpful hints and links about how to make them.

The wonka bars were cut out with a cardstock template I made. The dark chocolate brown icing color was made using Americolor’s brown combined with a little of the Super Black to get it a deep brown, chocolatey color.

In a previous post, I shared two different ways to make these peppermint candies. I prefer the sparkly sanding sugar option!

I love making cookie lollipops! For a step by step tutorial on how to make them, you can read this post.

The golden tickets were also made using a cardstock template. In order to get the gold icing to sparkle, I used Duff’s gold graffiti spray. You spray it onto the cookie once the royal icing had dried completely. I love this product! It covered evenly, dried quickly. and made these cookies super sparkly! Wilton makes a similar product, which I haven’t tried yet. Both brands are sold at Michael’s and are reasonably priced.

cookies, Parties, Recipes

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Written on December 9, 2011 by Kate

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Be prepared… I’m going to get all sappy and dramatic for a minute before we talk baked goods. It’s been a whirlwind of a week and I am mentally drained. As I’m typing this, the Boy is in the other room doing Face-time with his cousin and laughing hysterically. It’s truly the best sound in the world. On Tuesday, the feverish boy wasn’t getting any better, so Matt and I brought him in expecting to be sent home with antibiotics. We shared with the doctor that the Boy has been throwing up in the middle of the night quite a bit over the past six weeks (and yes, I realize there is something completely wrong writing about vomiting on a food blog).

The doctor was concerned and scheduled the Boy to have an MRI of his brain on Wednesday… scariest few hours of our lives. We got through it together, and thankfully found out that that the scan was clear. The Boy is on day 8 of a fever and we’re still trying to get to the bottom of it (hoping it’s just the virus from hell!). Talk about putting your life into perspective in a matter of seconds. When it comes right down to it, the only thing that really matters are the special people in my life. Not only have I been blessed with an awesome family that keeps me grounded, but also a core group of friends who are there through life’s unpredictable twists and turns. What I hope the boy takes away from this is knowing that his dad and I will always be here for him. The bond that the three of us share is one of the greatest blessings in my life.

Okay… Now, on a much, much lighter note (I promise!), here are some of my favorite holidays recipes. Hope you’re baking up something sweet t!his weekend!

Peppermint Whoopie Pies

Snowflake Cookies

White Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Snowman Brownie Pops

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Peppermint Brownies

Chocolate Covered Oreos

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bark With a Secret Ingredient

Rice Krispie Cupcake Treats

Wishing you a weekend full of happiness!

A Few of My Favorites..., Brownies & Bars, Cakes, chocolate, cookies, Cupcakes, Desserts Galore, Recipes

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Written on December 3, 2011 by Kate

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Hope you’re enjoying the weekend! I’ve been home with a sick boy all weekend. Poor boy is missing an important baseball tournament ~ five games in one weekend and I don’t think he will make any of them. Every few hours he wakes up from the couch and tells me he is ready to pitch in the next game. He calls his dad to hear a play by play of what’s been going on, and then he goes back to sleep. What’s a mom to do? Needless to say, my detox from carbs has come to an end and the KJ bottle has been opened. See this peppermint bark above… I’m stuck in a house with a sick boy, his naughty dog, and this. Take pity on me please.

I made these peppermint bark cookies last holiday season after seeing a recipe in Gourmet magazine (original recipe posted here). I decided to try it again with a secret shortcut. This time of year gets crazy, so I embrace any shortcut in the kitchen, as long as it doesn’t compromise the taste. Thanks to Betty… Betty Crocker that is, these cookies are even simpler and equally as yummy as the original recipe.

Here’s how it all comes together:

The secret shortcut involves using a package of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix. The only other ingredients you use are a stick of butter, an egg, a cup of chocolate chips, and a few candy canes.

The dough comes together quickly with little mess. The trickiest part is smoothing it out in the pan. If you take a handful of dough at a time, flatten in your hands like a pancake and put it in the pan, it works much easier than trying to spread the dough. Don’t skip the parchment paper in the bottom. It allows you to lift it out of the pan and cut it into pieces when it’s done.

Once the dough bakes for about 18 minutes, sprinkle a cup to a cup and a half of chocolate chips on it while it’s still hot and let it sit for three minutes.

After three minutes, the chocolate chips have melted enough making it a cinch to spread on top of the cookie crust.

Immediately, sprinkle with crushed candy canes, and if you like drizzle white chocolate over the top. Put it in the fridge for a half hour or so to set and then cut into pieces.

These cookies can be easily varied. Switch out dark chocolate for semi-sweet, add Reese’s or Oreos instead of candy canes… the sky’s the limit.

I’m hoping to take these to a party tomorrow night with some of my girlfriends. Crossing my fingers the boy feels better, or I’m going to be stuck with two batches of this yumminess! Someone come save me!!

Click here for the printable recipe.

Brownies & Bars, Candy, chocolate, cookies, Desserts Galore, Holidays, Parties, Recipes

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Written on November 17, 2011 by Kate

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Seriously, a bowl of cherries doesn’t do much for me… but a bowl of rum-soaked cherries is definitely something to get excited about. I sent my parents off on their road trip with oatmeal raisin cookies (my dad’s favorite). Since I was already making oatmeal cookie batter, I found dried cherries in my cabinet and decided to experiment. These cookies were supposed to have chocolate chips in them as well, but in all honesty I was on my second glass of wine and completely forgot to add them. I remembered to add chopped up walnuts to the batter, which is a twist on my go-to oatmeal cookie recipe. The people at the Fisher Nut Company were kind enough to send me a whole variety of nuts to use with my holiday baking. The cherry-walnut combo was great. I really think the cherry-walnut, and chocolate combo would be even better, so you’ll have to let me know if you bake a batch.

The boy is in the play-offs for baseball this week, which causes lots of anxiety (for me, not him… he’s fine). Why my son decided pitching was his calling in life, I’ll never know. I try to remind myself that it’s just for fun, but watching the boy up there on the pitching mound is nerve-racking… not what I’d call “fun”. I think I now have just the trick to make it more enjoyable. If you’re at the game tonight and see me with a ziploc full of cherries, it’s our little secret that they’ve been soaking in rum, okay?

I will be back tomorrow posting some great Thanksgiving printables!

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies (Adapted from my Go-to Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 large eggs

1 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups oats (not instant)

1 1/2 cups rum soaked cherries

½ cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup chocolate chips (don’t forget)

Directions

Pour dried cherries into a glass bowl. Pour 1/2 cup dark rum over cherries (spice rum works too). Add enough water so that all cherries are covered in the liquid and let sit for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, kosher salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, set aside. Combine butter, sugar, dark brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla with a hand mixer on low. To cream, increase speed to high and beat until fluffy and the color lightens. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until no flour is visible. (Over mixing develops the gluten, making a tough cookie.) Now add the oats, nuts, and cherries; stir to incorporate.

Fill cookie scoop with dough. Drop 2-inches apart onto baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake 11-13 minutes (on center rack), until golden, but still moist beneath cracks on top. Remove from oven; let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

cookies, Recipes

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Baking my way through the trials and triumphs of life!

Category Archives: cookies

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies (Adapted from my Go-to Oatmeal Raisin Cookie Recipe)

3 cups oats (not instant)

Directions