Ode to Holiday Friendship Cookies

Sara was really excited about moving to Israel last summer,

but Chanukah without her friends was a real bummer,

She tried to think of nice holiday presents that could be bought,

But thoughts of e-cards and planted trees made her distraught,

Lucky for Sara, a much tastier option was just one click away,

She emailed prettytasty1@gmail.com and requested a tray, 

Menorahs, dreidels, and stars, a dozen cookies delivered by hand,

Love sent directly from Sara in the Holy Land.

Happy Chanukah!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow . . .

These snowflake cookies were made as a fundraiser for the Winter Gala at school. These cookies were frosted with whitened royal icing. When that dried, additional white royal icing was used to pipe snowflake details. The pearl dust sprinkled on each cookie gave it a life-like shimmer that you would see on a real snowflake.  Hope these gorgeous cookies help with the school fundraising effort!

Edible Scrabble

In the weeks leading up to the singles event we hosted in our home, I was trying to figure how to factor in some dating-themed cookies.  A memory of Scrabble cookies I had seen online served as the inspiration for this cookie centerpiece.  The Scrabble logo was copied using royal icing and then transferred onto the red fondant "scroll." The best part of it was finally getting to put our over-sized diamond rings to good use!     Look at the bottom picture to see how much was left by the end of the night!

Happy Chanukah: Put a New Spin on your Dreidel

Making the cookies, 45 minutes
Making the frosting, 20 minutes
Frosting the cookies, 1 hour
Eating your dreidel instead of spinning it, timeless.

Here's how it goes: Stiff blue royal icing to outline the cookie, followed by thinned royal icing to flood the pink, purple, and light blue areas.  Stiff white royal icing to finish off the letters once the first layer has dried completely (figure about 24 hours, give or take depending on humidity).  There's no losing when you play with pretty tasty dreidels.

Potted Pastries

It might be too cold to plant flowers outside, but it's the perfect season for making flower cookies indoors.  After cutting the flower shapes out of my sugar cookie dough, I stuck a cookie/lollipop stick in each one and baked it. Next came the fondant to cover the cookie and the royal icing to add some definition to the petals.  And the sugar crystals never hurt either ;-) Once the flowers were done, it seemed unfair to let them stay on the plate.  The mini terra cotta pots stuffed with two shades of green felt were the perfect display for these pretty, tasty treats.

Cookies Fit for Decorating

Unfortuantely, not all cookies are suited for decorating. (Just to be clear, all kinds of cookies are perfectly good for eating.) The sugar cookie recipe below is my favorite recipe for getting a perfect cookie that is frosting-ready every time.
Sugar Cookies
2 sticks unsalted margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
Cream the margarine and sugar together on a low speed for 2 minutes. Scrape down the mixing bowl and mix for another minute. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a seperate bowl, combine the baking powder, salt and flour. Add the dry ingredients in 2 shifts. Mix well after each addition.  Form the dough into a ball and refrigerate for at least an hour before use. I like to lightly flour my silpat mat before rolling the dough out on it.
Note: If you are making cookies that you intend to cover with fondant, skip the baking powder in the recipe. The slight expansion in the cookie due to the baking powder will make it more difficult to match the fondant cut-out to the cookie.

Cookie Cuties

Eight young ladies have joined me on a delicious 4-week decorating adventure.  During each 90-minute class at my house, we explore different ways of dolling up our cookies so they look (and taste) amazing.  These girls are so talented, I'm truly impressed by their weekly creations! Move over, Cake Boss, you have competition!