Martha's Tuile Leaves

Ever since I saw Martha Stewart's tuile leaves in her cookie book I wanted to make them for Thanksgiving. Last year, I did just that! Unfortunately, I did not have a leaf stencil so I used a cookie cutter which worked out fine though the process probably would've went quicker and more smoothly with a stencil!

I added them to a plate of chocolate spritz cookies that I made trying out my cookie press for the first time. Here's how it looked:

Check out the recipe: here.

Lemon Cookies in Ice Cream Shapes!

Summer is winding down and as a last attempt to keep the summer spirit alive we made some fun lemon flavored sugar cookies in ice cream shapes. I fell in love with these new cookie cutters from Wilton (well, they were new for the summer). As much as I loved them, I couldn't justify buying them until I spotted them on clearance as A. C. Moore was transition to their fall items. Yay!

This time we added a teaspoon of lemon extract to the dough AND the icing. We wanted a bold lemony taste! Just add less if you are looking for a subtitle lemon taste (or just add it only to either the icing or dough). We didn't get too creative with the design sticking to the suggestion on the cookie cutter package. We just wanted to see if we could pull it off.

For additional posts about our sugar cookies see:
Happy Fourth of July!
Hoppy Easter!
Cookies Inspired by Barbie!
Purple, Purple, Purple
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Holiday Baking

Happy Fourth of July!

After seeing Martha Stewart make delightful fireworks cookies on the Today Show, we were inspired to try it ourselves along with some of our own patriotic designs (the stars). Also, we took this opportunity to test-drive our new mini cookie cutters (we used the star shape here). They were a big hit!

THE STARS:

 

THE FIREWORKS:

BIG FIREWORKS: Flood the cookie with just a layer of white royal icing. Then, using 2 squeeze bottles (one with blue, one with red), make about 3 circles over the white icing while it is still wet (alternating colors). Then, take a tooth pick and lightly pull out from the center (do that at least 4 times). 

LITTLE FIREWORKS: Again, flood the cookie with white icing and then just make a dot (or filled in circle) of color on top while it's still wet. Use a tooth pick to pull out from the center making a firework design.

Happy Birthday, America!

For additional posts about our sugar cookies see:
Hoppy Easter!
Cookies Inspired by Barbie!
Purple, Purple, Purple
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Holiday Baking

Half Moons

Okay, so do you call these Black and White cookies or Half Moons?

I've called these delicious little guys Half Moons my whole life and I get really annoyed when I see them labeled as Black and White cookies. So, I did a little research. Apparently, they go by a few other names as well, Half and half cookie and drop cake. These cookies are particular popular in Manhattan and Northeastern New Jersey where they are known as Black and White Cookies. It is in New England and Upstate New York that they are commonly known as Half Moons. So, I guess that's why I've always known them as Half Moons. Mystery solved. (Wikipedia)

Anyway, these delightful treats have always been my Italian bakery favorite. I'm usually a 100% chocolate girl but there is just something about the cakey cookie and the not one, but two frosting flavors. There is a recipe mini versions Martha Stewart's cookie book and it's also online here. I was thrilled to try to make them myself and they came out with the perfect consistency. I was very satisfied!

The only tricky part is frosting them because you do it on the underside which isn't smooth. You have to be careful to not get pieces of cookie in the frosting - especially the white. Trying brushing them off a bit before you start frosting.

I'll leave you with this YouTube clip from the Dinner Party episode of Seinfeld in which Jerry discusses the black and white cookie and says "Look to the cookie!" Check it out here.

Hoppy Easter!

Cute sugar cookies decorated for Easter! This time we put a little lime juice in the frosting for an added twist!

I must say the chick is my favorite! So cute!
Must add another photo!

For additional posts about our sugar cookies see:
Cookies Inspired by Barbie!
Purple, Purple, Purple
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Holiday Baking

Cookies Inspired by Barbie!

Have you heard!?! Barbie and Ken are back together! If you've been following their story, you're just as excited about this as I am. I've been a huge fan of Barbie since I was a kid, so I was incredibly excited for the chance to make these Barbie-inspired sugar cookies for a friend's party!

For additional posts about our sugar cookies see:
Purple, Purple, Purple
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Holiday Baking

Purple, Purple, Purple

A friend of ours LOVES purple, so for her birthday party we decided to make our basic sugar cookies in two simple whimsical shapes with two shades of purple icing. I love the way they came out!

For additional posts about our sugar cookies see:
Sugar Cookie Recipe
Holiday Baking

Sugar Cookie Recipe

We always get tons of compliments on our sugar cookie recipe. It's pretty basic--we wish we were able to credit someone for the recipe, but we've been using it since we were kids and have no idea where it came from. We just found it on an index card in our mom's old recipe box! Here's the recipe. It's a definite company-pleaser and there's an infinite way to customize these cookies for any occasion!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup shortening
• 3/5 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 egg
• 4 teaspoons milk
• 2 cups flour
• 1 -1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Oven temperature: 375 degrees

Makes about 2 dozen.

Cream shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Add egg and milk; beat until fluffy. Sift together dry ingredient; blend into creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. On floured surface, roll to 1/8 inch thick. Cut into shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 8 to 10 minutes.

Happy baking!

For some of our sugar cookie designs see:

Holiday Baking

Holiday Baking

Cookies

I'd have to say that our favorite holiday project is a toss up between making ornaments and baking/decorating sugar cookies! This post is all about the desserts we made for our family Christmas party this year! While perusing the Martha Stewart website (we were searching for royal icing recipes at the time), we found these cute peppermint candy looking designs! Martha used a hard candy-shaped cookie-cutter, but, being resourceful, we figured that the simple circle cookie-cutter would look just as cute! (Really, you could use/try just about any simple design you have!) Here's how they came out:

There's a great how-to with step-by-step pictures for the marbleized peppermint-candy cookies on the Martha Stewart website here. We also did more traditional star, snowflake, and tree designs!

If you'd like to try our sugar cookie recipe, we'll put it in an up-coming post!

Cake Balls

A few months back, we discovered Bakerella and her lovely cake pops! We instantly fell in love with the idea and her great designs. However, our first attempt at making them was slightly disastrous--it's a bit harder than it looks. Forming the cake base is easy, it's trying to get a smooth chocolate shell that's difficult. (That might depend on the type of chocolate used.) That being said, the cake balls are incredibly delicious! Instead of the pops, we opt to make the cake balls because they don't require a super smoothe coating (think chocolate truffles).

We have some topped with crushed peppermint candy canes and others with grated white chocolate to look like snow. How festive!

We tend to make something new every year. What are some of your favorite holiday dessert recipes?