Mummified Cookies

I know today technically isn't October, but I'm so ready for Halloween. I'm pretty sure everyone else in the blogosphere is ready for Halloween, as well. I've seen so much inspiration. Today, I'm sharing a little inspiration with you.


My original idea was to give a tutorial with pictures. Then, I found this really awesome effect that made the pics look spooky. I decided to forgo the pictures in the tutorial (the tutorial will go-on).  Here's what you'll need: round cookies royal icing in white and black #2 and #150 tips

Using the #2 tip, outline your cookies. This is basically a base. You aren't going to flood the cookies, but it's still a good idea to outline them. It gives you a starting point, and when you get to the mummy wraps, it serves in sort of the same way that the outline on a coloring page would.

Next, you'll fill two small circles with the white. Again, you'll use the #2 tip. When you are finished, go back over the white with the black. The black circles will be smaller. If you're willing to go a little further, you can make the eyes a bit crazy. 

Finally, you'll use the #150 tip to make the wraps. Here, you can do pretty much whatever you like. Don't do the whole cookie at once. I piped the icing at the top for each cookie. Then, I randomly piped more wraps, being careful to pipe one piece at a time. This prevents the icing from sinking in together. On some of the cookies, I piped straight across. On others, I piped diagonally. In the end, you should have a cookie that looks a lot like mummies. 

I loved making these. They were very simple, and they are perfect for Halloween. I think I'll make some more for the kids in the neighborhood near Halloween. Now, if only I could get more than three trick-or-treaters.  Happy October (since Halloween is so far away)!

Fall Inspired

So it's actually fall now, and boy does it feel like it. There's nothing like being able to wear long sleeves and shorts, love it! Long sleeves and shorts are second in comfort only to hoodies. I love hoodies, although I would say I'm more of a summer girl. Anyways, back to the post.

I know I haven't posted in a while. Actually I've been sort of MIA on the social media circuit, as well. I've been rather busy. I know that's not an excuse, but hey, a girl's gotta work.

Despite my long absence, I did make time for cookies. And guess what, they are fall inspired!

To tell you the truth, I'm not really a candy corn fan. I mean, it's edible, but I'm not going to go out and buy some. Nevertheless, I think candy corn is the essential fall candy. I also think it is cute. I've been browsing the blogosphere, and I've seen candy corn everywhere. I've seen candy corn banners, candy corn rice krispies, even candy corn goodie bags. So why not sugar cookies? Here's what you'll need: Your favorite cookie recipe Orange and Lemon Yellow food coloring egg shaped cookie cutter small knife Ready to learn? Roll out your dough, and, of course, use your egg cookie cutter to cut the shape of your cookies. I squeezed mine a little, so it wouldn't be too egg shaped.  Then, you'll want to section off pieces. The tip should be a little smaller that the other portions, and the bottom should be the largest. After you section it, set the separates aside, keeping like sections together. Color each of your sections with your food coloring. The middle section should be orange and the bottom is yellow. You can also switch it up a bit, though. I've seen "autumn mix" candy corn. It's got brown, orange, and other fun autumn colors.  When your coloring, use rubber gloves if you have to. Also, you're going to have to re-section the pieces. To do this, I just used a knife and cut sizes that I thought I would need. I used my tip piece to give myself an idea.  Next, you'll attach all your pieces. I basically just sat them really close to each other and hoped they would attach in the oven. It might be a good idea to use your rolling pin to combine each section. Bake the cookies, and let them cool. Then you can dig in!  Aren't these fun? I mean not only are they very festive, they are also easy to eat. Sometimes, I don't want a whole cookie. That's why these are perfect. They are sections, so you can just break off a section and eat it. Because of the sections, I wanted to call these puzzle piece cookies. They just seem like puzzle pieces to me. And, now I'm rambling. Sorry about that! Anyways, I hope you like the cookies. Happy Fall, and I hope to hear from you!

Cupcakes for Breakfast, Anyone?

Recently, Hubby had a request for cupcakes. I was kinda shocked, because he isn't a huge sweet eater. I shouldn't have been too surprised, because his cupcake was a little on the savory side. He requested the infamous Bacon Cupcakes.


 

I'll admit, this recipe isn't 100% mine. Actually, it's more like 10% mine. I did alter it from the original just a little bit. Here is the original recipe.

Let's get to it.
Print it here

Cupcake Ingredients: (makes 10-12)

• 1 stick of softened butter 

• Bacon grease from 5 slices of bacon

• 2 eggs

• 5 tbsp of maple syrup

• 5 tbsp brown sugar

• 1 1/4 cup of self-rising flour

• 1/4 cup of milk

• 1/4 cup of minced bacon

Cupcake Directions:

1. Fry the bacon on your stovetop. Set aside the grease to solidify. You can place it in the freezer to speed up the process, but don't leave it in there too long.
2. Preheat your oven to 350.
3. Cream the solidified grease and butter with a mixer.
4. Add the brown sugar and maple syrup. Mix well.
5. Add the eggs and beat until well combined. At this point, your mixture with be a bit runny.
6. Mix in 3/4 cup of flour.
7. Now, add your milk, mix, then add the remaining flour. Mix again.
8. Fold in the minced bacon.
9. Fill cupcake liners or your muffin pan, and bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Maple Glaze Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 cups of powdered sugar
• milk

Maple Glaze Directions:

1. Cream the butter and maple syrup.
2. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar to the butter. Mix well.
3. Add just a little bit of milk for the glaze consistency. The less milk you add, the thicker the glaze will be. You could even make it thick enough to be frosting.
4. Blend in the remaining powdered sugar to the mix to thicken it up a bit. 

**Drizzle the glaze over cooled cupcakes, and enjoy!

Hubby just loved these cupcakes. He said that I would definitely have to make more. To me, they tasted a lot like pancakes and bacon. 

Personally, I think this is more of a man's cupcake. I mean I've given them to both men and women to sample, and in my experience, men tend to like the more. Don't get me wrong, they are good. I'm just more into sweet than savory. Hubby is more into savory than sweet. 

Maybe your husband is too.

Help! I don't have a cookie cutter for that.

Have you ever wondered how people can make such cute cookies with cutters that you have never seen in a store? Well, I'm not sure how other people do it, but I'm here, today, to tell you how I do it.


Pictured above are a few of the cookies I've made without using a cookie cutter. I just started this whole baking all the time thing, so I don't really have a lot of cookie cutters. I mean, I have a bunch of Christmas ones and a few other random cutters, but nothing like the cookies I've made recently. So how did I make these? Let's find out!

First, a little background. When i was a senior in college, we'll say fall semester, I accidently stepped on my computer screen. This was about 3 years ago. At this point, my computer was 1 year old. It's a laptop, and I had it sitting open in the floor. Long story short, I got up, it was dark, and I stepped on my computer. *Crunch* Luckily, it was still workable. Now, 3 years later, I still use the same computer, albeit with a little zebra duck tape holding the screen to the keyboard. 
Because my computer screen will lay almost completely flat, it makes tracing super easy. Yes, that's what I do to get my templates. I just search for a picture I like online, then I trace it. However, I don't trace it exactly. Most of the time, I will make the picture a bit bigger in order to leave me room to ice the cookies. Sometimes, I use a zoom function to make the picture bigger. Trace it, then zoom out to get the details. 

Demonstrated on the example above, I sort of outlined the image. Outlining is good for scripts or really detailed images. 
I cut out the image outline, so the cookie will be a little bigger than I actually need it. Then, I place my template onto my cookie dough and use a small knife to cut out the image. 
As you can see, the image will turn clear. This is due to the grease in your cookie dough. It also makes the template sort of plasticky. These are very easily reusable due to the texture that the grease leaves the template in. Don't have anywhere to store these? That's okay too, because these are also disposable. And think, it only cost you a sheet of paper and a little bit of time. Not so bad, eh?

And that's how to make your own cookie cutter. Easy, right? I use this all the time, because to be honest, I just don't have the money to go out and buy whatever cookie cutter I need for, I dunno, a one time use, maybe. 
This is what works for me. I hope it works for you too!

And the Winner Is...

Hi there.

Recently I ran my first giveaway on the blog. I was so excited for football season to start, and I wanted to share my excitement. Football season is crazy here in the South, and tailgating is an essential part of football season. For our first tailgate of the season, I made Alabama vs Auburn Cookies. I also, gave away some cookies.

That's right, I made tailgate cookies for one very special reader. Guess who won. Why, it was Raquel from over at Organized Island!

Raquel requested UCLA cookies, so her request was my command.



So, I knew UCLA's mascot is the Bruins. However, I didn't know exactly what it looked like. I did a little searching, and I found this cute retro mascot. I just fell in love and knew I had to make it. I mean look at it, it's adorable! {Sorry, I know 'adorable' is probably not the word college football teams want their mascots to be described as.}

UCLA also has this really classic looking script. I decided that I would make that too, just for some variation. I'll admit, I'm not the best a bubble letters, especially cursive ones, but I thought these turned out pretty good considering. Plus, with the script, I was able to show the blue in UCLA as opposed to the yellow that was used for the bear. I realize that the bear is a bit complicated, so I've decided to give a step-by-step tutorial.

First, using a #2 tip, outline the cookie. Next, fill in the ears, eyebrows, and shadows at the top. You want to do this first so that you know where to place the eyes and mouth. This keeps you from drawing the eyes too big or placing them up too high.

When you are finished with the top shadows, outline the mouth first. Move into the eyes, then the nose, finishing with the smile.

Next, fill in the nose, and color in any shadows on the sides and bottom.

Now it's time for the yellow. Again, use a #2 tip. Carefully fill in around your shadows, ears, eyes, etc. Don't fill in the eyes or the mouth, because those need to be white.
For the white, continue to use a #2 tip. Fill in the eyes and the mouth to pull the cookie together.  Let the icing dry, and you're done. Drying should only take about 30 minutes, maybe less. 
Raquel, I hope you like the cookies, and I hope to see you back here soon!

CinnaMuffins...a New Take on Cinnamon Rolls

Recently, I had four days off from work. I know, four days, in a row! It was much needed. I wanted to make breakfast, something I don't get to do often. I wanted to make homemade cinnamon rolls, but I also wanted muffins. I decided I would combine the two.

BAM! CinnaMuffins were born.

These are very good with a cup of coffee or a glass of milk. You can eat them for breakfast or for dessert. I might even bet that you can't just eat one :)

So I guess you'd like the recipe, right? Print it Here

Muffin Ingredients: 

• 2 cups of self-rising flour
• 1/4 cup of granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup of light brown sugar
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400.
2. In your microwave, melt your butter 10 seconds at a time until completely melted. Set it aside to cool but not solidify.
3. Add the brown sugar and cinnamon to the butter. Stir.
4. Beat the egg in a medium bowl.
5. Add the granulated sugar, milk, and vanilla to the egg. Stir lightly
6. Add your butter mixture in two parts, stirring in between the additions.
7. Now, add your flour to the mixture.
8. Stir the mixture with a spoon until well combined. Do not beat your mixture, because you want it to be lumpy. This is what separates muffins from cupcakes.
9. Bake at 400 for 11-13 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

Icing Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 1 lb of powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• milk (for consistency)

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix butter, vanilla, and 1/2 of the powdered sugar until combined.
2. Add milk until you have a ribbon-like constancy. 
3. Add the rest of the powdered sugar to thicken the icing up a little.
4. If the icing is too thick, just add more milk.

Let the muffins cool, but not completely. You'll want the muffins to be warm for the icing. Using a spoon, drizzle the icing over the muffins. Here's a tip: If you used muffin liners, remove them before drizzling the icing. 

Because the muffins are so much bigger than cinnamon rolls, use a saucer to hold extra icing. That way, you can dip your muffin as you eat it. 

CinnaMuffins are a new favorite in my household. I'm sure you'll love them too!

Ahoy Matey

First of all, let me say Happy Birthday to Brayden, my friend's little boy! He just turned 4! Yay for Brayden!

Tiffany, Brayden's mommy, planned a Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed birthday party for him. She needed help with some cute cupcake ideas for the party, so I put my thinking cap on. I came up with cookie toppers for the cupcakes, and she asked me to make them.

I jumped at the chance to practice my cookie decorating (she made the cupcakes). Overall, I was pretty pleased with the way they turned out. They were kinda small, being toppers and all, but I think I made them work.

Here's the thing, I don't really have that many cookie cutters. I usually just find a picture I like on the internet. Then, I either draw it out, or print it. Then I use the paper as a template. It's pretty simple really.

For the cookies, I used 8 different colors, but only 4 different gel colorings.. The sword consisted of the same brown gel coloring, but the base used a bit more than the handle. I also used very little of the brown to make a skin tone for Jake. The map used black, red, and light blue. Jake also used red, light blue, and dark brown.

Note on the map: I made six, but none of them had the same pattern.

The treasure chests are probably my favorite of the cookies. I used the same color scheme for them as I did for the sword. I added a little black for the handles. Then, I used my secret weapon for the treasure. Remember that Sprinkles Canister I made a few weeks ago? I had stored the left over sprinkles from the Olympics Cookies I had made in it. Since I had used a few different colors, they were all mixed together. These were great perfect for the treasure!

Jake was probably my least favorite. I wasn't too happy with the way his facial features turned out. He looks kind of scary in my opinion. Oh well, I learned a lesson. Tiffany and Brayden loved him though, which is good.

Take a look at some of the pictures Tiffany sent me of the cookies on the cupcakes. Don't they look awesome? I loved how she used a teal blue color, and then brought it all together with the table cloth and treasure chest. So cute!

What do you think?

Are you Ready for Some Football?!

OMG! It's finally Saturday! By that I mean it's the first official Saturday of football season! Being from Alabama, we get super excited around this time. Let me tell you, we had this week ( a couple of weeks ago) that just felt like football season. You know that feeling, right? There was a crisp breeze in the air. I think other places in the world call it fall.

With all that being said, I decided to celebrate the coming of football season. I made cookies!

If you've read my profile, you know that I'm a graduate of Alabama, hence the elephant cookies. Roll Tide! Hubby, however, is an Auburn fan. I know, right? He didn't specifically ask me to make Aubie cookies, but I thought I would be nice.

The elephants were fairly easy. They are just your basic pipe-then-flood cookies.

Aubie was a bit harder. They were all piping. It took me forever to pipe the black, because I was looking at my template to get it perfect. No two cookies look the same. Overall, though, I was pretty pleased with them.

So, we are going to use these cookies tonight for our in-house tailgating. I say in-house, because Alabama plays Michigan in Dallas tonight, and Auburn plays Clemson at the Georgia Dome. We also don't have tickets to either of those game (though I would have LOVED to have gone to Dallas).

This brings me to the surprise. I'm hosting a GIVEAWAY!  I'm giving away 20 Tailgate Cookies for your tailgate party! The winner will just let me know their team, and I will bake cookies specifically for he/she. Doesn't that sound great?

To enter, you just need to use the widget below. It's simple really, but if you need help, just let me know.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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