Sweet February

December is not the only month for ginger bread house cookies. 

They make a sweet valentine house on a mug of coco with a side of Peeps valentine hearts.  

With the help of my niece we used the Fancy Flours Ginger Bread house cookie cuter.

And the house is not complete without a ginger bread person.  

But where do you find a micro ginger bread person?  My sweet niece came up with this one.  

For our ginger bread person we used a Fox Run  3690 Micro Shapes Cookie Cutter Set like this one found on Amazon.  

We used the club shaped cookie cutter. 

To our delight it worked great!

For the legs all we had to do was make a micro cut at the bottom. 

We iced our valentines with Royal Icing along with red and pink sprinkles from Sweet Tooth Fairy .  

To package up our treats we used 

Wilton Mini Cookie Gift Plate Kits for the houses.   

They worked perfect to sit on the top of the mug with the coco in side. 

The bags were just the right size for the houses. 

My niece finished with practicing her calligraphy on a gift tag to tie it all together. 

May you all have a sweet day!

Fall Festival sugar cookies

St. John's Fall Festival is today and for the bake sale fundraiser I baked and decorated sugar cookies. 

I found the cookie recipe on Cooks Country page.    

When all was baked and decorated my niece and I placed the cookies in fall cup cake papers and clear bags then labeled them for the bake sale. 

We boxed them up and headed out to the Festival. 

Stop by the Festival they will be open until ten this evening.  

Don't forget to stop by the bake sale.  

What Can you do with?

What Can you do with the Limited Edition Oreo White Fudge Cookies, Sunny Seeds candied sunflower seeds and Nestle Toll House Morsels?

Why, a bouquet of cookie flowers!

Simply take your Toll House candy morsels and melt in the microwave (increments of 10 seconds, stirring in between, until melted).  You can pour the melted morsels in a decorators bag (be careful it's very hot) or leave it in the bowl and use a small spoon to put a small dollop in the center of each Oreo cookie.  Let the candy firm a bit, and only working on one cookie at a time because the melted candy hardens quickly, place candied seeds in the center.  You can leave this colorful flower as is or take an extra step by adding butter cream petals in matching colors.  

These are a great, quick, supervised project for Girl Scout Daisies or a school snack and easy to make.  They make a cute treat for the little ones to make for Mother's day or just to enjoy yourself!

Mother's Day

Inspired by the March 2014 Martha Stewart Living magazine, I tried my hand at making macarons for a treat for my Mother. To give them my own personal touch, I added a few embellishments of drizzling white chocolate over them and then adding pastel sprinkles. I also added a beautiful fondant rose and in between some rich chocolate ganache.

“A wish for Mother’s Day”

By Saundra Jackson   

A multi-tasking wonder

A woman like no other

A woman we all know and love

A woman we call mother.

On Mother’s Day we’ll thank her with sweet sentiments and flowers

For a lifetime of her loving care

In just a few short hours.

“I am just a mom” is what a mom might say.  

But her kids would beg to differ as they celebrate her day.

So here’s a wish for Mother’s Day to moms both near and far.

A wish that you will always know how wonderful you are. 

Wishing my mother and you and yours a Happy Mothers day!

Christmas Cookies in Ann Arbor

Just a short and sweet note on how I spent my day with my sister at Sweet Heather Anne's in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We took a Holiday/Christmas Cookies Class with Heather and her staff. If you ever get the chance, check out the classes she offers.  Below are a few of my photo ready cookies I did in class today.

 This was my first time doing cookies like these. With practice, I may be able to pull these off.  

I think I'm ready to start my Christmas baking now.  Have you started yours yet?

Tookie Turkeys Cookies

Tookie Turkeys Cookies

These easy-to-make cookies are simple and fun to make for the busy dad and mom, and not too complicated for little hands to do with some supervision.

You'll need:

• Oreo Double Stuff Cookies (package)
• Bag of gourmet candy corn
• Fondant in red, black and white (for eyes and waddle), or you can use candy eye's found at Hobby Lobby
• Bag of Hershey's Chocolate Kisses
• Orange chocolate melts
• Cookie sheet lined with parchment or was paper
• 2 small ramekin bowls
• Round cake tip

To make your eyes roll white fondant thinly, taking your round cake tip using the large end cut out the whites of the eye's. Roll out the black fondant thinly and taking the same tip use the small end and cut out the black of the eyes. With a touch of water, glue the black to the white of the eyes and set aside to dry. (An easier way is to use the candy eyes.)

Take an Oreo and slip four candy corns upside down about 1/4 of the way into the white frosting, they are the turkey's feathers.

Do this for all of your cookies. In a small ramekin bowl melt a few kisses in the microwave (increments of 20 to 30 seconds) stir until melted. On a parchment or waxed paper lined cookie sheet lay out your turkey cookies. Now take a chocolate kiss and dip the bottom end of the kiss in the melted chocolate; just enough to cover the bottom of the kiss; this is to glue the bottom of the kiss to the center of the Oreo. Do this to all of your turkeys.

In your second ramekin bowl melt a few orange chocolate melts (increments of 20 to 30 seconds) stir until melted. Now carefully take your turkey and dip the very tip of the kiss into the orange chocolate, this will be the beak. Place back on the cookie sheet to harden/dry (about 5 to 10 minutes) do this to all of them. While waiting, take the red fondant and knead working until soft. Take a pea size ball and work out a waddle. Then take a touch of melted chocolate and attach waddle to the beak. Do this to all you turkeys.

Now to finish off your turkeys, take the eyes, and a food safe brush, and brush the back of the eye with melted chocolate and attach them to the sides of the kiss. You can place them goofy if you so want to give them some personality.

Voila you've now got your very own flock of turkeys!

Notes:

The candy eyes I found were in a package of four Halloween sprinkles around October. If they are not on sale check out their facebook page for a coupon. Wilton fondant you can find in packages of four primary colors and are also available at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. Look for coupons for Michael's in your Sunday paper or sign up for email coupons.