Mama Mila Turns 80!

Ben's grandma (Mama Mila) turned 80 this past year so when everyone was in town for Christmas, we threw her a party.  My contribution was, of course, cookies!  I decided to simply go with "80" shaped cookies and then bagged them with ribbon and put them on a cookie tree.  The tree ended up being a great decoration for the party and the cookies were yummy favors for the guests!

FEATURED on "The Wedding Chicks"

One of my wedding cakes is included with a wedding that is featured on "The Wedding Chicks" blog... Check it out HERE!

Lemon buddies... like muddy buddies but lemony

I finally found a teaching job about a month ago and have, therefore, been a blogging slacker!  In the spirit of being busy and needing fast, easy recipes, I made some "lemon buddies".  They are a chex recipe like muddy buddies,  which is also called puppy chow, or white trash...but the lemon version is lighter and more sophisticated.

First, here is the original muddy buddy recipe.  It's very rich and very addicting... 

9	cups Rice Chex®, Corn Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1	cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2	cup peanut butter
1/4	cup butter or margarine
1	teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2	cups powdered sugar

1.	Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2.	In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3.	Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

And here is the lemon recipe... 

9	cups Rice Chex® cereal
1 1/4	cups white vanilla baking chips
1/4	cup butter or margarine
4	teaspoons grated lemon peel
2	tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2	cups powdered sugar

1.	Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.
2.	In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chips, butter, lemon peel and juice uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.
3.	Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; gently shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil to cool. Store in airtight container. Both take only 15 minutes from start to finish!

Cookies cookies everywhere

I got my first real order for 50 baby-shower cookies from a girl at Ben's company.

There were a few things I learned: 1) a batch of cookie dough makes about 3-dozen cookies, so make a batch and a half for 50 cookies 2) The price I came up with is right, I will no longer under-value my time; these were very labor intensive 3) No matter how much my hand hurts from squeezing, don't let Ben decorate any cookies; it's harder than it looks 4) Chocolate flavored fondant actually tastes good 5) Making cookies is fun! ...well, I already knew that one.

The baby shower colors were brown and purple and I was sure I could find ribbon to match but Michael's and Jo-Anne fabrics had pink&brown, blue&brown, yellow&brown, orange&brown, green&brown but absolutely NO purple&brown!  So, I just got purple ribbon and brown ribbon...

I thought the finished product looked quite trendy and the place to sell trendy things is, of course, Etsy.  So, everyone can now buy custom decorated cookies from "The Shy Cookie" on Etsy and I will ship them to you! Click Here!

Fall Flavors

Tis the season for everything pumpkin... lattes, donuts, frappes, ice cream, beer... and I LOVE it!

In honor of my favorite season and flavors, I decided to make some new cake recipes that will include pumpkin, apple-spice, and salted caramel.  YUMMM!  Any other suggestions?

First up, PUMPKIN spice cupcakes.  (picture to come soon... I can't find the camera)

"CriCut" cookies

I decorated a couple cookies with shapes cut out with my "CriCut Cake".  I used one of Wilton's "sugar sheets" and was rather disappointed.  They don't say the sheets are compatible with the cricut, but I don't imagine them working all that well with their little punches either.  I'm not sure if any of you have seen these punches but you have to buy one for every shape you want to make, that would take up A LOT of storage space.  Wilton has never let me down before, but I think they missed the mark with this one.  The sheets are too darn brittle; I guess I will just keep rolling out my own gumpaste for the cricut; it's cheaper anyway.

COOKIES!

Maybe I should specialize in cookies... I could do this all day!

There were a few different things I wanted to make for my portfolio.  First, I made some DC cookies since we're in DC now and that would be a cool thing for DC themed weddings or even business meetings.

Then, I decided to practice some cookies inspired by my sister's wedding theme and colors (kind of; I used more of a blue than a teal).

And last but not least, I thought it would of course be awesome to have "the shy cookie" spelled out in, what else? ...cookies!