Christmas in July Cookies

Its Christmas in July! I never had the honor of celebrating Christmas in July, but I know other people have. This makes me jealous and a little angry that my household did not celebrate it.

I shipped these cookies off for a Christmas in July celebration a few weeks ago. Candy canes, Christmas trees and snowmen, oh my!

My cookie and icing recipes here!

Kylie Sugar Cookies

So I'm an aunt now! Exciting, right?! My niece, Kylie, was born several months ago and unfortunately lives on the other side of the country! I still haven't seen her, yet, but managed to send some cookies her way! Of course, she can't eat them, but I'm sure Mom and Dad enjoyed them!

Here are the cookie and icing recipes I used.

Birthday Sugar Cookies

A super Happy Birthday today to my favorite Stepmom and yours!

To The Loverly: LADY JAY PEE!

I shipped off some cookies to her last week, and tucked them in for a nice trip across the country. I'm highly doubting they made it there in one piece, but LJP didn't seem to care as I got a phone call immediately after their arrival with a cookie already in the mouth =)

I used a birthday cake and a sunflower cookie cutter for these, along with royal blue and orange Americolor gel pastes. To make the dots on the birthday cake (I stole this from Bake at 350), you basically just need to make sure the base color icing is very runny and quickly after filling in, use the other color to make the dots. Bridget gives a MUCH better explanation here.

I got the idea for the sunflowers from Meaghan's book, Cookie Sensations.

You can find the sugar cookie and royal icing recipe I use here.

So, a VERY happy Birthday to you, LJP! Thank you for being such a wonderful part of my life =) Lots of Love!

Spring Sugar Cookies

Boy, our apartment has become sugar cookie capital of the world. Every time Spice and I want to send cookies to someone or make them for a special event, we almost always break out the iced sugar cookies.

Although it's a bit time consuming (which I just find fun), these cookies always get us praise. Not only do they look beautiful, but they really are delicious. So many decorated sugar cookies out there skimp on the cookie so that the decorating stands out. Lame!

These are the best of both worlds!

These were cute cookies. I think the colors were a little glaring, but to each their own!

One of the cookies had a little mishap coming out of the oven. Waste not! I just made him a little more special =)



The cookie and icing recipe we use. Have fun!

Baseball Sugar Cookies Part Deux

First off, Happy Easter!

Second, I disappeared last week. It was for a good reason, though. I was baking and decorating almost 400 sugar cookies for my friend, Rebecca's wedding favors. I sure had fun making all of these and was able to use a new technique I learned about too!

Over at Bake at 350, I learned that you can pipe royal icing onto wax paper, peel it off, and stick it onto wet icing on a cookie. While I was reading this post, I kept getting more and more excited thinking about the Yankees and Boston Red Sox logo I knew I was going to have to pipe onto a cookie. If I could be almost 100% accurate, I knew my life would be complete (well, relatively speaking). Given that when I did a test run of these cookies, I found that piping the logos directly onto the cookies made them appear pretty off-kilter. Imagine my excitement at my new use for wax paper!!

At work, I printed off pages of both the Red Sox "B", the Yankees "NY", and "R & S" letters. I made sure they were a dark color so that I could see them easily through wax paper. Then I taped the sheet to my work surface and taped the wax paper to the top of it. Using a size 2 tip, I traced and then filled each logo (about 130 of each).



After letting them dry overnight, I carefull peeled them off the wax paper and set then on plates to be used.

I'd made the cookies about a week beforehand to make sure I had them all baked before I started decorating. I ended up asking Meaghan over at The Decorated Cookie for advice on cookie storage and she told me that I could freeze both undecorated and decorated cookies for several weeks in the freezer. That made me feel a lot better about life in general. =)

After letting the cookies defrost in the plastic bags and tupperware I had froze them in, I layed them out on literally every open surface in our apartment. It was a cookie explosion!



Then I outlined each cookie, and filled them in as usual. Thank goodness Spice helped me fill some of the cookies or I never would have finished. Actually, I would have finished, there just would have been an all night cookies decorating excursion this past weekend.



After several cookies were filled and still wet, I placed one of the logos onto the icing. I couldn't believe my fortune because they looked great! The only issue I had was that the blue icing on the base of the Yankees cookies bled onto the white logo. Small potatoes.



Almost 400 cookies later, the bad boys were done. The next day, I stacked them up.



Miles upon miles upon miles of cookies. Ready to be bagged and taken away. Far, far away to Philly.



They turned out really well. My favorite were the Red Sox B's. I can't believe how many cookies I made and decorated. It was crazy to see them all lined up in bags ready to be hauled away for the wedding.



Hopefully everyone at the wedding will like them! Rebecca seemed to when she saw them! I used my usual sugar cookie and royal icing recipes here.

Wedding Sugar Cookies

I helped Spice with these guys all week. We made them for her friend's wedding shower this weekend. 40 of each kind: a ring, wedding cake and wedding dress.

So purty =)

Cookie and Royal Icing Recipe

Olympic Ring Cookies

I'm not huge into the Olympics, especially the winter games. I have respect for it, don't get me wrong! Lots of respect! Anyone who straps on two pieces of wood and flies down a mountain at 90 miler per hour gets my respect. No questions asked. I get a bit more excited about the summer Olympics because I am a gymnastics nut. By that I mean I have the entire gymnastics events on tape from the past 3 summer Olympics.

Bananie, on the other hand, LOVES the winter Olympics. She even organized an Olympic event with the kids where she works. She asked for some Olmpic cookies and with a few disclaimers I made these for the little tykes.

Happy (or sad) end of the Olympics! Now Biggest Loser will return and the Today Show will again be broadcast from New York. All is right with the world. =)

I'm reposting the sugar cookie recipe and royal icing recipe below for your enjoyment.



Cut Out Sugar Cookies from The Hungry Housewife

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and extract and beat to incorporate.

In a separate bowl sift together to flour, baking powder and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Divide the dough into 2 portions, wrap with wax paper and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

Remove the dough, roll out to 3/8 inch thick in between sheets of parchment paper and cut into desired shapes.

Place cut cookie dough back into fridge for 10-15 minutes. Bake cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Cool completely before icing.

Royal Icing from Sweetopia

3/4 cup warm water
5 tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2.25 lbs. powdered sugar

*If your meringue powder has no flavoring, add one teaspoon of clear vanilla. I've also used almond and lemon flavoring with good results.

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and meringue powder. Mix with whisk by hand until frothy and thickened, about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and mix 30 more seconds.

Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.

Using the paddle attachment on the lowest speed, mix slowly for 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.

Tint with desired food coloring.

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle, Valentine's Day is Sunday!

I made these cookies and shipped them out with my fingers crossed that they would make the journey across the country safe and sound. Just a little shout out to the parentals thanking them for loving me and for all they do to support me =)

Here are some things that I love, in case I forget:

My parental units

My friends

Snow

Thunder

Storms

Fireplaces

Sweatpants

Baking

Cookies

Frozen yogurt

Down comforters

Friends on DVD

Margaritas

Nacho night

Dancing

Ballet

My stepmom's pizza

Jilly, my puppy dog

Running

Dinner time

Spider solitaire

Being silly

Sore muscles

Dark nail polish

The train that goes straight from Queens to Brooklyn (oh, wait! It doesn't exist! You MTA douchbags...)

Blogging

Swimming

Red wine

Christmastime

Fuzzy boots

That's all I got for now! Happy Valentine's Day on Sunday!

Superbowl Cookies

Unlike most other bloggers out there, I, being the splendiforous person I am, post superbowl recipes AFTER the superbowl. It's my way of being a rebel.

And don't even think its because I procrastinate too much to make things ahead of time! Cause that's not the reason and even if it was, I would never admit it (except I would and it is).

I made these cookies with the usual recipes. And Spice even helped me decorate this time! Although I think she thought it was too stressful and I'll probably be on my own decorating from now on!

Cookie Recipe

Royal Icing Recipe

Spice and I journeyed to Hoboken, New Jersey to watch the superbowl at Spice's boyfriends' apartment. That pretty much came down to Spice, me and 10 boys. It was a good time =)

Once the boys sat down, they didn't move other than to refuel on food, of which there was a ton!

Spice and her bf gave a thumbs up to the Saints in the second half. Don't tell them they look adorable. I never do. =)

The boys seemed to enjoy my cookies. Just look at what Ryan is thinking here. And ignore the fact that I totally made it up.

Lastly, I had an epic adventure back home after the game last night. I'll share the hoola hoops I had to jump through to get to my front door later this week!

Baseball Cookies

I know it's not baseball season. I'm not THAT clueless about sports. Ok, maybe I am. But these aren't for me! My friend R is getting married in April and I am a bridesmaid! Go me! Actually, go R, but I'm pretty cool too! We actually have a pretty perfect team of bridesmaids. Spice is the party planner, our other friend is a stage manager, so she will be excellent at all the stuff the weekend of, R's other friend she has been BFF's with since childhood. And me? Well, I happen to be R's personal Martha Stewart. That's right. Be jealous.

My claim to fame at the wedding is going to be these cookies, which are to be the party favors for each guest. Weird that these aren't cute little groomsmen and brides all decorated in white, huh? Not really! R and her hubby to be are HUGE baseball fans and cheer for the Red Sox and Yankees, respectfully. Its quite a sight to see them cheering on their teams. Anyways, even Martha needs practice! So here are some cookies in preparation for the big day!



Cookie and the icing recipe. Go to town!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

The first of many!

Christmas cookies that is. Because, really?! What else do I do?


These were two batches. Aren't they perty? I used the regular cookie recipe and royal icing recipe I've used before.

Thanksgiving Cookies

T-minus 24 hours until Turkey Day!

Or, in my case, Lack of Turkey Day.

I've was never a huge fan of Thanksgiving growing up. Despite the fact that I like to eat, Thanksgiving food never really did it for me. I'm not a huge fan of turkey, I don't like those marshmallowy sweet potatoes and there are many other things I would rather eat than mashed potatoes and gravy. I used to pile my plate high with green bean casserole (please tell me you know what this is) and then eat a ton of pie (typical).

Nowadays I have expanded my horizons and with a little help from some great cooks (ahem, JP, ahem), I now have some dishes that I simply CANNOT do without! That's why I'm super excited this year to be making Thanksgiving dinner! Well, MY version at least. Several of my friends and I are getting together and each bringing our favorite dishes. I'm super excited to not only try out their favorites, but have mine all together in one place!

Needless to say, upon arrival at chez Sugar tonight, I will be baking and cooking up a storm until tomorrow morning. Get ready to hear all about my adventures next week!

These little gobblers were made for Annie Bananie and her family to enjoy. Or, more specifically, to keep the kids quiet. Or something.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

I used this cookie recipe and this icing recipe.

Leaf and Acorn Cookies

Nothing too special about these...except for the fact that they look freakin' phenomenal!

I made these for Annie Bananie to take to one of her classes. Apparently it was her day to bring something in, so I got to make it for her!

I was very pleased with how the decorating worked on these. I was going to try adding some sprinkles, but it proved a little too complicated. Especially considering these took me a good 4 hours to decorate! Haha. Being the huge dork that I am, though, I LOVED every second of it! My decorating skills still aren't perfect, but I'm getting there!

I used this cookie recipe and this royal icing recipe. Have a great weekend!

Halloween Sugar Cookies

I hope you had an excellent Halloween! Our party was so much fun and, of course, everyone loved the food. Including myself =) I definitely had a few too many cookies, made pretty apparent by the picture below where my friend India and I are about to eat the entire plate!


I had so much fun decorating these cookies and they turned out super awesome! I really liked the recipe I used for the sugar cookies. I made sure to refrigerate the dough overnight and then after I rolled and cut out the dough, I refrigerated it again before I put it in the oven. The result? They didn't puff out at all and kept their shape almost perfectly. Not to mention they were also delicious.

I used the same recipe for royal icing that I used before here. I used Americolor soft gels to color the icing white, black, orange and green.


Cut Out Sugar Cookies
The Hungry Housewife

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and extract and beat to incorporate.

In a separate bowl sift together to flour, baking powder and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Divide the dough into 2 portions, wrap with wax paper and refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.

Remove the dough, roll out to 3/8 inch thick in between sheets of parchment paper and cut into desired shapes.

Place cut cookie dough back into fridge for 10-15 minutes. Bake cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet for 8-12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Cool completely before icing.

Gingerbread Skeletons

Happy (almost) Halloween!!

To me, it's Halloween because we're having a party tonight! Woot!

I went a little decorating crazy this week....you will see what I mean the next time I post. But these boys were a last minute addition. Aren't they cute? And such a great idea!

My gingerbread man cookie cutter is on the small side, so it took me awhile to perfect the skeleton on the cookies, especially since I didn't have a tip any smaller than #4! I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out, though! And the cookie isn't bad either! Soft and chewy but still firm enough for decorations!

Gingerbread Skeletons
Epicurious

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
Royal icing

In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter together. Add molasses and water.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, ginger and allspice. Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet and blend until the dough holds together.

Cover and chill for 2-3 hours (I chilled it overnight).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface.

Cut shapes with cookie cutters and transfer to cookie sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Decorate with white royal icing.

Spider Web Cookies

AWWWW! Look at these little wittle cutie patootie guys! I just wanna musha wusha their cheekie weekies!

Ok. I'm done. In case you were worried, that is how I usually talk to puppy dogs I meet on the street. NEVER to children or babies. Just setting the record straight.

ANYWAYS...I am so excited about these cookies! Aren't they just adorable! I finally got some meringue powder so I could make good royal icing and it turned out just swimmingly. I was able to use the same consistency for both outlining and filling, which was nice. I should have let them dry a full 24 hours but I couldn't resist showing them around today!
I already posted the cookie recipe, but below is the royal icing recipe, from Sweetopia who has an excellent tutorial on decorating cookies here. If you are having trouble finding meringue powder, you can buy it on amazon.com or specialty baking sites.
Royal Icing
Sweetopia.net

3/4 cup warm water
5 tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
2.25 lbs. powdered sugar

*If your meringue powder has no flavoring, add one teaspoon of clear vanilla.

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and meringue powder. Mix with whisk by hand until frothy and thickened, about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and mix 30 more seconds.

Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.

Using the paddle attachment on the lowest speed, mix slowly for 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.

Tint with desired food coloring.

Sugar Cookies

As party favors for the wedding last weekend, Butthead and her hubby gave out cookie cutters to each guest. As resident Willy Wonka, I received one of just about every cookie cutter. As you could probably guess, I was OVERWHELMED with the urge to roll out some dough and cut it out with my new little friends. Needless to say, each cookie cutter alone is completely random and if you didn't know the bride and groom, you wouldn't understand why there is a hammer or a fleur de lis.

I also really wanted to try my hand at real royal icing, the kind where you outline the shape and then flood it with icing.

Success! I made sugar cookies and had so much fun decorating them! It was fun experimenting with the consistency of the icing to outline and flood each cookie and then go back and add some detail. I got a little impatient with the last step and didn't completely wait for each cookie to dry, but they turned out well anyways! I'm ready for Christmas cookie time now =)

I gave these cookies to one of my roommates to bring to work (she works on the Broadway show Billy Elliot) and they all LOVED them! I got a picture of a cast member partaking of some sugar cookie deliciousness.

Rolled Sugar Cookies
All Recipes

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.


Royal Icing
All Recipes

4 egg whites
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat egg whites in clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy (use only grade A clean, uncracked eggs). Gradually add sugar and lemon extract. Beat at high speed until thickened. NOTE: When dry, Royal Icing is very hard and resistant to damage that can occur during shipping/handling.