End of year teacher gifts.

Hi everyone and happy Friday! I hope you all are enjoying your summer! I know ours has been very busy and it's only been 2 weeks since school got out. I wanted to share some cookie jars that I made for all of my girls' teachers. I got the idea from my favorite cookier, Sweet Sugarbelle. I must say that she is my FAVORITE cookier around! Don't get me wrong, I have LOTS of favorite cookie makers BUT she is at the top of my list. Not to mention, we live within 2 hours of each other.

I used regular canning jars and filled them with my cookies. I made A, B, C, 1, 2, 3, apples, crayons, pencils, scissors and glue bottles. For my ribbon, I just found some at Walmart that I liked and tied it around the jars.

I can't tell you how much fun these were to make and let me tell you, I made a lot! Enough to fill 24 jars. The teachers had a fit about them! Some of the teachers didn't want to eat them because they said they were too pretty to eat. (What sweet ladies!!) Other teachers ate them before they left the school.

I must say, I think that the glue bottles were probably my favorite! I mean, I LOVED them all but there's just something about the glue bottles. Next would be the pencils and crayons.

I'm so glad that the teachers loved the jars and thanks to Sugarbelle for being kind enough to share her ideas with all of us cookiers.

Well, that's all I have for today. Check back in a few days for some cookies that I made for Zoey's softball team. Until then I hope everyone has an awesome Friday! Happy baking!
Kristy

Bunny Faces and Carrots

Morning everyone! Sorry I haven't been around. My Mom had some surgery and then my Grandmother had a heart attack so I have been busy helping with them.

I did finally get to make some Easter cookies the other day! Yay! I saw some very cute bunny faces over at Sugarbelle's so I thought I would try them first। They turned out so cute! They were lots of fun to do too!

I thought I needed to do some carrots with them and so I pulled out my carrot cutter that I have never used! Why I haven't used it is beyond me but let me just say I love that little cutter!

I had a lot of fun with these bunnies and carrots! Mostly the bunnies. Sugarbelle had a great idea when she made these! (Ofcourse her ideas are always wonderful!)

Needless to say, these cookies didn't last long around my house. Between 3 girls and my husband they were gone! Oh well. It gives me a good excuse to make more! Check back for more Easter cookies. Hope you guys have a great weekend! Happy baking!
Kristy

Donuts!!

Ahhhhh it's Wednesday! We are almost there. To another weekend, that is! If you have read some of my blog, you might have read where I grew up working (and eating) in my parents bakery. We owned.....a donut shop! I remember going and getting a hot chocolate frosted donut before school. YUMMM!!! Nothin better!

After I graduated I decided to stay and manage the store. Talk about long hours lol. It was like the Dunkin Donuts commercial where you see the guy getting up in the middle of the night and he says, "It's time to make the donuts!" We used to start making donuts at midnight. Midnight I say lol! Then our store opened a 4 a.m.! Yes people are out at those hours. On a typical Saturday we would sell about 150 dozen donuts, rolls, apple fritters, donut holes, etc.

In 2000 we decided to sell the store. My mom and I were worn out and felt like we were ready for a change.  3 years later we opened another store but this time it was a full service restaraunt. We kept it for a few years and sold it. I loved owning the stores and learned so much from them.  After a while you do get tired of food. Especially when you go home smelling like it. I do however have cravings from time to time for one of our donuts so I decided to make some!

These are actully cake donuts. Buttermilk cake to be exact!!


Here they are frying up. Wow, did they smell good!! Brought back lots of memories!


There are a couple that are done. I couldn't decide what flavors I wanted to dip them in. I had made chocolate (of course!), cherry, buttercream, plain glaze and cinnamon sugar. Yummmo!


Here they are all finished and ready to eat!!! I took some to our neighbors and she later told me that they didn't last long! They didn't at my house either! Well, I hope you enjoyed hearing a little about my past. That's all I have for today. I think I'm going to go get started on some St. Patty Day cookies. After all, it is March!!! (Did March sneek up on you too???) Hope everyone has a wonderful day!! Thanks for stopping by!

Kristy

Candy Cookies

Hello everyone! I have been baking for the past 2 days! Making cookies, cake pops and mini cupcakes. My favorite of all this were the cookies! One of my friends called me and asked me to make some cookies for her daughter's birthday party which was going to have a candy theme. Naturally I said yes!! I have been wanting to do some candy cookies after seeing some that Glorious Treats had done. They just looked like so much fun! The only problem was she called me on Thursday and needed them for Saturday and I didn't have a candy cutter. What to do??? I went immediately to Karen's Cookies and found she had the cutter but could I get it here before Saturday?? Then my husband comes in and asks me what I'm in a panic about lol. I explained to him what was going on and he said that he could probably help me out! What? He said that he would just make me the cutters I wanted. Seriously? (My hubby is pretty crafty! One of the reasons I married him lol.) So he went and bought the tin and started making them! A couple of hours later I had 5 new candy cookie cutters! He made 3 large ones (circle, square and rectangel) and then 2 mini cutters ( circle and rectangle).

So you wanna see how they turned out??

Then lastly I wanted to try something else that I had seen. The Decorated Cookie has a tutorial if you would like to see. There's one problem with these though. When the icing and cotton candy mix it breaks the cotton candy down and it melts. I have learned that there are different brands of cotton candy that work differently and break down faster than others. Another thing is they must be made and eaten in the same day. These for instance had broken down and melted within about an hour. :(  Cute idea from The Decorated Cookie but I just wish I could figure out a way to make it work for longer.

All in all I think the cookies turned out pretty good! Now I have to think about what I'm going to make next! You guys have a wonderful Sunday and I'll see you back here next time! Happy baking!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hi everyone and Happy Valentine's Day! I hope that you guys are having a wonderful day. I am done with all of my Valentine cookies and happy and sad at the same time lol. I have been working on lots of heart cookies but I didn't get to do all the ones I wanted. Darn it lol! Here are some that I made for a friend. There's nothing really special about them but they are kinda cute.

Part of my problem is that I have so many ideas floating around in my head about cookies that I want to make that I can't get them all done! Do you guys ever have that problem?? Now it's time to start working on Easter ideas. I have a pretty good idea about what I want to do but I like to practice on them to work out the kinks so to speak. Of course that doesn't mean that I won't have any mishaps for sure! I know that some little snag will appear somewhere lol. It always does lol!

So, I have a question for all you readers (if anyone is reading lol). How do you like your cookies?? I used to make them thin but I didn't like how the edges turned brown so I started making them thicker. I like them so much better this way! I haven't had any complaints about them being thick yet so I guess that's a good sign. They also are much more durable. Especially when you ship them. So how do you like your cookies?? Thick, thin, crunchy or soft??

Another day maybe we can talk about icing. I know everyone has their favorites but I'm interested in hearing what they are. For now I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's day! See you back here real soon!


Kristy

Dino-mite!

Good morning everyone! Today I have some more Valentine cookies to share with you. My cousin has two little boys and she asked me to do some cookies for their school parties. Next I tried to think what I was going to do! They are boys so I'm sure they would not like anything girly like pretty little pink hearts lol. Since I have 3 girls coming up with boy stuff is always hard for me sooo... here's what I came up with!

Little green monsters lol! I think they are pretty cute and they boys went wild over them! Yay!!! Not too bad for a girly momma lol. The funny thing is that after I got them made, Hannah (my 2 yr old) was eyeing them with a big smile. I guess dinosaurs aren't just for boys lol.

I must say that I got this ideas from Sugarbelle. She did a different dinosaur and I already had this cutter so voila! They are yummy yummy! Let me just say that I have had lots of fun with cookies this Valentine's but I am really excited to get started on other ones as well. Check back tomorrow to see what I made next! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Kristy

Valentine Corsets

Happy Saturday everyone! Today I have some Valentine Corsets to show you. I made these for my cousin along with the boxershorts and lovebugs. I think they turned out pretty cute! I definitely would do some things a little different next time.

I made some thicker icing and put it in bags and tried doing my outlining and some of the trim at the top of the corsets. Not real sure that I like the bags. It could be because I have gotten used to using the bottles. I just really like doing it all with the bottles lol. I also don't like how when you are using the bags, the icing seems to crack and break off easier. I may not be doing it right but that's what happened a few times with these.

For the most part, I'm pretty happy with how these turned out and they are pretty yummy too! I do know that I am addicted to making these little hearts lol! I just love making them and then adding little dots to it.
So what are your favorite ways to decorate cookies? Do you like using the bottles or bags? I'm just curious to hear what other people do and what their favorite techniques are.

Well, I guess I better go get busy doing my chores for the day. We are off to the Monster Truck Jam later and the kids are so excited! I hope you guys have a relaxing Saturday!

Kristy