Piece of Cake!

I was asked by my friend to come up with a cookie favor to honor her coworker, Kim, who is getting married next month. When I asked my friend if she had a theme in mind, she told me she wanted me to make a cookie to look like the bride-to-be's upcoming wedding cake. She said it was to be a three-tiered white cake with a burnt-orange ribbon and chocolate filigree all over.

From what I understood, I did a pretty good job in the replication department. It was a fun cookie to do, and it certainly made me start thinking about fall with those rich dark colors. it ALSO got me thinking that this is a scenario where I can ALMOST say that someones wedding cake was made to look like my cookies.... but I know that might be pushing it. still.... when you think about it... the cookie came first.....

I had one extra cookie left over so instead of the filigree, I made up my own designed 'cake' with polka dots and flowers. you know.. just for fun. I guess I'm just a fan of polka dots?


So here's to Kim and Joe! good luck with the upcoming nuptials and may you have a lifetime of happiness together! I hope your bakery does a good job replicating my cookies, too. (KIDDING!) Thanks also to Michelle for asking me to help with the shower.... it was fun to get to do something for you!

Elephants on Parade!

have you been to Erin Cooks' website yet? you should totally go there. she's like the mac-daddy momma of food love. recipes, pictures... and she's just the sweetest thing, too!

At any rate--- I couldn't have been more thrilled when Erin emailed me asking if I could come up with a cookie to send her to use for a baby shower she was hosting. She talks about it in her post on her blog, as well as shows links to the original invitation which was the root of the party theme. I fell in love instantly, and came up with a fun little cookie to send her way.


I just loved the blue, brown and green together! and that elephant! so adorable, right??? Each favor bag contained an elephant cookie and a thank you message, as well as a custom tag.


I love when I can create something that is the perfect little touch, be it in theme, color, design, or whatever. It's just a completely satisfying element to know I'm adding something special to someone's celebration. When I can do it for a friend, however? well.... that's pretty much why I do what I do.

Here's to Erin! thanks for letting me help create a cookie for your friend's special day!

Dr. Seuss Week

In order to celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday, my daughter's school hosted "Dr. Seuss Week", in which they had a chance to partake in something Seuss-related each day.

Wednesday seemed like a great day to bring in a Stepford-version tribute to the famous author, so after some arranging with her teacher, I created a platter of Green Eggs and Ham. The ham is, of course, not really ham. I molded some rice crispies treats and covered with a fantastic shade of green, then used my edible black marker to cartoonize it even more. Fondant must have been created with Seuss in mind.... looks like it came right out of the book.. including the fancy fork! The Ham was flanked by some basic butter cookies, including a handful of gluten free cookies for a child who had allergy concerns.




of course I couldn't stop there, and had to add another thing or two. Or, Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, to be more precise. Behold some chocolate cupcakes, topped with a very blue buttercream, garnished with blue cotton candy "hair".



together they made for a fun presentation, and the kids (all kindergartners, by the way) truly enjoyed celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday with a little party.



Once at the school and all set up, I also added 2 more final gluten-free cookies to my cupcake towers. While I did not make gluten free cupcakes for Thing 1 and Thing 2, I did create two decorated cookies in their names.


So here's to Dr. Seuss, and all of the wonderful ways he's sparked our imaginations over the years! Happy birthday!

Birthday and Beyond!

My kids never really got into the whole Toy Story hype, but with the newest installment out, they've definitely become a bit more interested in the characters. I mean... they're pretty much everywhere right now!

A friend of the family has a little boy turning 4 this year, and he is into the Buzz character. The mom asked me to come up with a cookie for him to bring to his preschool to share with friends... so how could I resist?

I got to work baking piping and flooding, and came up with an army of miniature Jay Lenos and Ben Franklins. I mean Buzz Lightyears.


Clearly my cookies are done by hand.. cause each Buzz was just a wee bit different from his other dozen brothers. Nonetheless... once they were put in their favor bags and wrapped with a ribbon and tag, I think they turned out kind of cute.

for his actual family party, the mom asked me to supplement the cake she ordered (NOT from me... waaaaah!) with some cake pops that the kids can take home as favors. Keeping in the whole Toy Story theme, I decided to do a mix of outer-space purple and little aliens. About 50 cake pops later, I came up with two centerpieces like the one below.

It was a fun project, and I was happy to get the chance to mix it up by doing both cookies AND cake pops. The tough part was figuring out which little alien to eat first. (can't you picture the little dude below saying "choose me! choose me!" no??? oh. nevermind, then.)

At any rate-- here's to AJ! happy fourth birthday!!! hope your day is filled with happiness that takes you to infinity and beyond!

Duke Blue Devils

I love my client, Jenny. She has the coolest ideas for me to make into cookies. (remember the Chucky cookies? totally her idea.)

At any rate, her office group was attending a meeting at Duke University, and she wanted to bring a hospitality basket to the group that was hosting, so she asked me to do something Duke-related.


I figured it was about time for me to learn a little local spirit since I live in North Carolina now... so I agreed to the project and came up with a basket full of treats. I can't say I'll be cheering for the Blue Devils any time soon, but I AM a fan of that centerpiece cookie and the way it turned out.

Thanks again to Jenny for the vision! I hope the meeting goes well and everyone enjoys their cookies!

Child's Play

Every once in a while, I get asked to do something a little.... DIFFERENT.

a little.... STRANGE? a little.... cookie with Chucky from the movie Child's Play on it???



yup. I was asked, and so I did. A whole basket of them, as a matter of fact. Apparently it was a hospitality gift for an office that just LOVES Halloween. Really-- I don't ask. I just do.

What can I say? I love a challenge! and I love people with a clear vision. Yes.. apparently even when that vision is a little blood-tinted and leaning towards the horror genre.

So Happy Halloween, and thanks Jenny for the chance to do something a little different this year! (PS... the knife was NOT included in the gift basket!)

Rock Star Baby

I love babies. Not necessarily HAVING them... the two I have are plenty.. thank you very much! but when other people have babies??? *sigh* love it!

now in terms of a business, it's also great when babies are born, cause that usually means one more family is looking for something for a birthday party at least once a year. (hey--- don't hate me cause I'm honest!)

My friend Angela was overjoyed when her friend gave birth to a little girl named Aubrey, and she asked me to come up with something special to celebrate her arrival. However, Angela informed me... Aubrey was not just an ordinary pastel pink kind of girl. With a nursery decor of hot pink and black, Angela wanted something a little more... ROCK STAR. So I went rock star.




Nothing says "my life is going to rock" like getting a metal tin full of cookies a couple of days after birth. especially when the tin is personalized and the cookies have edible glitter.



Throw in a few "announcement" cookies, and you've got yourself a one-of-a-kind gift.


By far, this was one of my most fun baby packages to put together, and I DO hope the mom thought it rocked, too.


Here's to Baby Aubrey! May the stars shine on you as you rock your way through life.... and thanks to your Auntie Angela for letting me be part of your welcome party!

Dynamic Duo

So there are these two boys in Massachusetts that I love. like, they are the bee's knees. of course, this COULD have something to do with how much I adore their mom.... but even on their own, these boys are pretty awesome.

so NATURALLY, when my friend Susie said the boys were going to have a joint birthday celebration with a batman theme.... I couldn't resist. I mean, if *I* couldn't be there, at least my cookies could.. right?

Each boy got their own personalized centerpiece cookie with a birthday message. Since Liam's older, I decided he should get Batman, and his little brother sidekick could rock the Bat-signal. (wasn't about to attempt Robin)

In addition to the centerpiece cookie, I made a couple of dozen bat signal cookies to put in favor bags.

And after creating my own batman cookie cutter....a couple dozen Batman-heads....

When all was said and done, each guest got a favor bag with a Batman and Bat signal cookie, tied with a nice ribbon and personalized tag. I even made a few cookies that were dairy and egg free for one of their friends.

Here's to MY favorite Dynamic Duo, Liam and Seamus! Happy birthday, Boys!

Holy Orders

This week I was busy making a BUNCH of cross-shaped cookies for a first Communion this coming weekend in New Jersey. Coincidentally, the class of student *I* teach is ALSO making their first Communion this weekend, AND our church is having a bake sale.

It was agreed that I would make 5 dozen cookies for the New Jersey affair, but I ultimately baked 75 cookies... allowing myself a decent margin should I have any mishaps. I figured any extra I made can be donated to the church for the bake sale... with that many first-time communicants on the loose, I figured the cross-cookie might be an easy sell.

Having learned from my own mistakes, I decided I would stick with a simple (and REPEATABLE) design. I was thinking all-white... with some texturization. given the sheer QUANTITY of cookies I was taking on, I knew my hands would be able to handle only so much piping. the idea of switching back and forth between colors would have probably broken me.

The crosses came out pretty simple looking, but those looks can be deceiving. I completed the cookies in about 5 stages. First I piped the 'outline' of each cross. Second came the flooding. that provided a plain white 'background' for each cookie. I let those sit over night so I'd be working on a nice firm surface the next day. (this would also be the best practice if I were thinking about using colors on top of the white. if the white is not completely dry, you will run a VERY high probability of the colors bleeding. I should know.)

Phase three had me doing the jacquard/scroll pattern on each cookie. I finally hit my 'groove' of this step around dozen number three or four. A VERY important reminder if you do something like this yourself is to go back over these cookies within a reasonable amount of time and 'trim' up the excess scrolling. This is particularly important for stage FOUR... where I once again piped the 'outline' of each cross.

SIDE NOTES:

without the 'trimming', the outlines ended up being either raised up or crooked, period. I also feared that with the raised up edges, they would be the first area of breakage when the cookies would be shipped. the textured cookies are adorable in all the various ways they can be done.. but cracko! first to go every time.

Also? Some may argue that the final 'outline' is not necessary, but personally i feel it lends a polished and profession touch to each cookie. Blame the engineer in me, but I like seeing definitive edges.

The final step for the cookies was to (after one more night of hardening/drying time) was to brush a luster dust over each cookie to give a pearlized sheen. (Note to self-- I NEED to get a bigger design brush.. using the little one took me FOREVER!)

During my 'down time' of waiting for the royal icing to dry.. I worked on the favor tags. I found some great pearlized green card stock that I used as the springboard for my design. (also why I chose to do the luster-dust on each cookie)

I printed the pertinent info on some heavy white card stock, then used one of those fancy-shmancy scissors to cut out and glue on to the green paper. Also? found a bucket of table confetti and glued a flower to each 'tag'. The flower confetti was also pearlized... so it was a perfect match.

Before I knew it, it was assembly time. Bag, tag, tie, pack. repeat 60 times.

I will also take a moment to note that the ribbon i used was squeezabley adorable. perfect color match, and just the right width. and who can resist a polka dot? AWESOME, I say!!

Finally, all 59 cookies were bagged and tagged. (yeah... one broke cause I'm clumsy and dropped it. I was bummed at first, but then I ate it. No sense mailing a broken cookie, and I was running low on energy, anyway. )

The most unsettling thing in this whole process for me is what came next... boxing up. Usually I shrink-wrap each cookie, but I opted for favor bags this time. I have no idea if they will 'behave' differently en route...but I definitely used about $20 worth of bubble wrap.

So that's it! the cookies have been mailed, and should arrive either tomorrow or Saturday. I toyed with the idea of driving them up myself, but my husband vetoed it on grounds of not being safe with the amount of time between MY class' mass and the one in New Jersey. I definitely put enough love in each cookie, so I'm sure the guest of honor will know how much we're missing her on her special day.

Love you, Laney-Bird! I hope you enjoy your cookies!

Going, Going, Gone

A friend of ours recently moved to San Francisco. ASIDE from being ridiculously talented (I swear, ONE of these days I'll get the new and improved Stepford site up and running! (Annie came up with what will be my new logo and helped with the new layout design.)) again.. ASIDE from being super-amazing and talented.. she's just a great girl, period.

As a little send-off gift for her, I made some cookies for her going-away party.

As with any new design I do... I draw it out on paper before I attempt to pipe. if I can't draw it, there's no way I'd be able to PIPE it!

a progress shot. if you're wondering why the techno-bright colors, I was matching the ribbons I had purchased to wrap the favors with. they were white with multi-colored polka dots. Hey.. the party was a day before Easter.. there weren't too may options to choose from when I went looking for ribbons!

Finished shot of some of the cookie favors. looking back, I think I like the solid-color framed cookies the best. a little less "busy", shall I say?

Once I completed all the round cookie favors, I set off on creating a larger, central display cookie. for that cookie, I wanted to pipe the Golden Gate Bridge to remind the party-goers where our guest of honor was headed.

Although I was happy with how the bridge piping turned out....



I'm kinda mad at my wording efforts. I'll throw you for a loop and do my "LESSONS LEARNED" segment a little early. The "Goodbye and Good Luck" piping was a little uneven. and in my opinion there was too much 'dead space' on the large cookie. It doesn't look so bad when the round cookies were flanking it...



but I certainly feel like I could have done 'more' with the large cookie. At the very least a bigger center design?

Nonetheless, I think the guest of honor enjoyed her special cookies, and it was a pleasure to see her one more time before she left. She will be missed here in the neighborhood, and San Francisco is lucky to be getting her.

Good Luck, Ann! Love you much!

Truckloads of Fun

So this week I took on a project for a little man that's very near and dear to my heart. My very good friend's little boy (and quite possibly my future son in law) is having his 4th birthday party this weekend.

The theme?

Monster Trucks.

Short on time and even shorter on 'monster truck' cookie cutters... I opted for a plain circle in which I could pipe monster trucks on.


little did I know what I was getting in to.

Undeterred, I did some research, printed out a few clip art images, did a few practice sketches in pencil, then dove in.



Some of the first ones weren't exactly the best, but eventually I caught my groove and came up with an acceptable design.


Final count was two dozen, and the birthday boy should receive them tomorrow.... with plenty of time to spare for his party on Saturday.


Final pictures.... here's to a "monster" good party....

Lessons learned? I still need to figure out my shrink-wrap methods. the backs of the cookies looked lump and bumpy, which is PROBABLY because I used too much shrink wrap.

also? if I ever get to a point where I'm charging people for cookies, I have to be mindful of the design and amount of effort each takes. This particular project was done out of love, so it could have been 100x more intricate and I wouldn't give it a second thought... but in terms of something that could be a paying job... I'll need to consider the amount of skill and time certain designs require. I'd be curious to compare my 'speed' to get cookies such as these done now, and let's say.. in another year from now.

Plum Pear Apple

some days, I've got it. other times?? not so much.

Last week, I really wanted to send out some packages that had been kicking around for a while. random love, thank you gifts, belated birthday presents, congrats presents, baby gifts.. you name an occasion, and I pretty much was needing to send something for it.


of all the packages I sent last week, one happened to be a congratulationary gift. Is that a word? if not... you heard it here first!

Anyho... a fellow blogger I enjoy reading recently launched her own company selling super-hero capes for children. Have you seen it yet? It's Pear Plum Apple Designs... and she really does make the most adorable hand-made capes.


As a little way to congratulate her company's inauguration, I decided to send her a little of what *I* like to do.. kind of like a long distance hi-five. I whipped up a batch of sugar cookies, and created one with her logo on it.




and since I had the icing and cookies made already, I made a few extra... one with her name on it, and a few little ones for her little boy, Mason.



LESSONS LEARNED: Although this was a fun 'gift' to make... I made a VERY big mistake. Erin's logo background is white. when doing a white background.. it it EXTREMELY imperative to let the icing dry completely before piping dark colors on top. Thankfully, I took pictures of the cookie the night I did it, because after sitting overnight, the plum, pear and apple dyes bled into the white background. ... as seen by the picture below.



another thing to be noted with white backgrounds... it is better to use a THICKER layer of the icing. Due to the size of the cookie, I baked a little longer to ensure it was cooked thoroughly. This caused some browning on the top of the cookie, which can easily bee seen through the icing because 1 - it's white, and 2 - I did not apply a thick enough coating.

one last (obvious) reminder... the thicker the icing.. the longer the dry time!!! so be patient!