Holly's Cookies & Sweets

Come on over.....

2010-03-28T04:49:00.000-07:00

and check out my new blog

http://www.becomingmrsallan.blogspot.com/

Married life has been busy and the baking has taken a vacation! Well, I'm still baking but juggling a household and a husband too. The new blog will capture the adventures of being newly married and have some trysts in the kitchen as well!

Enjoy!

Rolo Cookies...need I say more?

2009-12-22T10:44:00.000-08:00

I scan tons of cookie website. Everyone has a cookie recipe that they tweak and make their own. I saw this recipe with Rolos and found about 25 similiar ones on websites all over the place. I love Rolos..who doesn't?? next to Whoppers and Junior Mints, they're one of my favorites!

I went to Wal-Mart hoping to score some Holiday Rolos in red and green wrappers, thinking they'd be on sale with Christmas approaching quickly. No luck...I wandered around Wal Mart searching for Rolos...I ended up buying them out of their supply.

I can't help it...i'm a sucker for any chocolate cookie. I think I might need to buy stock in dutch processed cocoa powder

One thing I loved about this cookie...they all came out so perfect and uniform...a cookie makers dream

These got rave reviews. I've fooled around with alot of cookie recipes this Holiday season and I do believe Rolo Cookies were the favorite among co workers and courthouse employees.

Rolo Cookies
adapted from Recipezaar.com

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
48 rolos chocolate-covered caramel candies

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cream butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla.
Sift together dry ingredients. Slowly add to batter.

Take 1 Rolo candy and form a ball of dough around it. Roll softy in hands and place on cookie sheet.

bake for 10 minutes.

Homemade Marshallows

2009-12-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

Martha, Martha, Martha....what you've made me become! It wasn't too long ago that I was a naive 19 yr old at UMASS Amherst. my mom gave me a package of chicken that she bought because it was sale at the grocery store. I went home to my roomies in Puffton Village...and said, what does one do with chicken??? We put it on a baking sheet sans foil, and ending up with a hot baked mess. Now that I think of it....I believe we resorted to throwing out the baking sheet so we didn't have to wash it.

So, imagine to my surprise that a couple years later, I'm Tivo'ing Martha Stewart instead of taping Jerry Springer. I'm watching Martha making marshmallows and think to myself..I can do that. So I did.

I bought it, didn't have a use for it, and cracked it open to flavor the marshmallows

My poor Kitchen Aid at work. I'm convinced when I turn him on, that my Kitchen Aid groans and says to itself...again lady...given me a rest! He's starting to really groan and work when he mixes. Husband even tried to google Kitchen Aid Mixer maintenance...but came up with nothing :(

My pan, covered in last year's 1/2 off holiday saran wrap, ready to go

This is 24 hour old fluff...that magically hardens into marshmallows!!! (Ok..maybe not so magically but more like because of the 3 packets of gelatin!)

I cut the marshmallows, and then threw them in some powdered sugar

Here are the little ones before they went for their sugar bath

Voila! These were the hit of my Yankee Swap gift at work. I tucked these puppies in a box with some cocoa and nips..hmmm..that'll make a cup of cheer!

Homemade Marshmallows

courtesy of my new favorite lady, Martha Stewart

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray

3 (1/4-ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
Confectioners' sugar, sifted, for coating

Directions:

Lightly spray a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water; let stand for 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; boil rapidly for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and, with the mixer on high, slowly pour the boiling syrup down the side of the mixer bowl into gelatin mixture. Add salt and continue mixing for 12 minutes

Add peppermint extract and mix until well combined. Spray a rubber spatula or your hands with cooking spray. Spread gelatin mixture evenly into pan using prepared spatula or your hands. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and place, spray side down, on top of marshmallows. Let stand for 2 hours.

Carefully remove marshmallows from pan. Remove all plastic wrap and discard. Cut marshmallows into 2-inch squares using a sprayed a sharp knife. Place confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Working in batches, add marshmallows to bowl and toss to coat. Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Chocolate Ginger Bread

2009-12-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

The Husband was away...on yet another business trip a couple weeks ago. I've started looking through the cupboards to see what I can make with ingredients I already have...the two top contenders were...

I flipped through some cooking magazines and found a recipe for gingerbread...something I'm not a huge fan of ..but then saw the chocolate variation..hmm...did someone say chocolate?????

The nice fluffy batter turned into this treat that I HAD to immediately take a chomp at

Packed and ready to go for those sugar loving co-workers of mine..just call me the workplace Betty Crocker

A close up of these beauties....

Chocolate Gingerbread Bars
courtesy of Everday Food Magazine

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
1 large egg
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with a strip of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper. Dust paper and sides of pan with cocoa; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, ginger, pumpkin-pie spice, and baking soda; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, molasses, egg, and sour cream until smooth. Add flour mixture; stir just until moistened (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Using paper overhang, lift gingerbread from pan. Transfer to a cutting board, and cut into 16 squares. Before serving, dust bars with confectioners sugar, if desired. (To store, keep in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 3 days.)

Monkey Cookies...aka Banana Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

2009-12-13T14:09:00.000-08:00

Next up.....some Monkey Cookies as we call them in my house...probably because we're the proud parents of a little cat that looks like a monkey...so these cookies are in honor of our cat, Reese.

Here's Reese...

This was another easy cookie to make...lots of ingredients on hand..trying to decide between the "good" chocolate chips or not

This batter is so nice and fluffy. It combines all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and gives the cookie a nice golden brown tone to it

Another favorite tool of mine...my cookie scoop. I always thought, why bother, I can use spoons to scoop out the dough. BUT...using the scoop gives you perfect uniform cookies, or alot closer than you can do with 2 spoons. My favorite..the OXO meduim cookie scoop

Bill taught me a little secret to taking better up close pictures..so here's one.

Cooling on racks...

another close up!

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies! cookbook)

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 oz of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter with sugar and light brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mash banana and add to mixutre. Sift together all dry ingredients with the exception of the nuts and chips. Once mixed, fold in chips and nuts.

Bake for 12-13 minutes.

*these cookies spread...so space them about 1 inch apart to avoid a massive cookie!

Verdict......

I liked these cookies. I thought they were a nice version of a chocolate chip cookie. This is a variation of Martha's recipe, because I ran out of some ingredients and had to do some last minute subsitutions. We're huge fruit eaters in my house. While I love bananas, once they get a spot or turn brown, I turn my nose up at them. But, I will throw them in the freezer to use them for baking at a later date! I always have 3-4 in there, I thaw them for 10 minutes and they slide right out of their peel and mash up so easily.

Husband's vote....he thought they were okay. He said more banana....and liked the White Chocolate Craisin cookie better!

Up Next...Lemon Ricotta Tart

2009-12-13T13:47:00.000-08:00

As we all know, Christmas is less than 2 weeks away. I decided that since we have a lack of Christmas parties to go to this year, that this weekend I was going to test out some dessert recipes for Christmas dinner, since I've been given that assignment. It takes some time and effort but it's totally worth it to give a new recipe a dry run before you serve it to guests. You see...a funny thing happened over Thanksgiving. We were traveling to the Husband's parents' house up in PA. I was bringing a dessert. I decided to give a new recipe a try....Ina Garten's Pumpkin Marscapone Cheese Roll. It looked so easy to make...I watched Ina do it and she had no trouble.

Let's just say that after a long day in Juvenile Court, I came home the Wednesday before Thanksgiving (we were making the trek to PA on thursday morning). I fed the cats, did some laundry and launched into baking mode. I was so tired and my pumpkin roll didn't roll like Ina's. I got so frustrated and angry, I smashed my pumpkin roll. I had a bewildered husband, a smashed dessert, and 3 cats dining on a marscapone and crystalized ginger filling on my floor. I got in the car, drove to a local restaurant known for its desserts. They literally had 2 cheesecakes left, grabbed one and called it a night.

Moral of my Pumpkin Roll Gate as we call it...test your recipes...you never know what might go wrong!

So, here's a test run of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine's Lemon Ricotta Tart (recipe to follow)

There's really no dessert I don't really like that has fresh lemon in it...I love the smell of the ktichen after I zest some lemon!

I liked making this tart 1) because I got a tart pan with removable bottom at my bridal shower 2) I got to use my Kitchen Aid food processor...I feel like he feels neglected sometimes. Here's the filling of ricotta cheese, fresh lemon zest and juice and cream cheese and eggs

This tart and I almost got in a fight. I mixed the filling, put it in the baked crust and then saw the package of cream cheese sitting there. I had to scoop out the filling, put it back in the food processor and pulse in the cream cheese...I was cursing at Martha because I knew something was missing after tasting the filling and a couple of her recipes haven't been up to snuff that I've tried lately...sorry Martha..this was my fault.

The finished product cooling....

The first slice....

A close up to see the ricotta-ness

Lemon Ricotta Tart (courtesy of EveryDay Food Magazine)

6 dozen vanilla wafers

6 Tbsp unsalted butter melted

2 cups whole milk ricotta

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

2 Tbsp fresh lemon zest

3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375. In a food processor, pulse vanilla wafers. The 6 dozen should yield 2 cups of crumbs. Mix processed wafers with melted butter. Press into the bottom of a tart pan with a removable bottom. Place tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool.

In a food processor, blend ricotta, cream cheese (don't forget this!) eggs, sugar, lemon zest and juice together until smooth. Pour into tart pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until some brown spots appear on the top of the tart. Cool completely. Best served on the day its made.

Verdict.....

This was a pretty easy recipe. I didn't like the taste of the filling. I zested 1 1/2 lemons and juiced 1 lemon...this was a little more than Martha's recipe called for, but the filling was rather bland....not lemon zesty spectacular that I was expecting. I added more sugar but I think this tart fell a little flat. I was trying to be a good little Italian girl and make this for Christmas, as i remember Ricotta pie and cake growing up. But, while it was good, there was just nothing show stopping about it. The lemon tast wasn't super strong, but neither was the cheese taste. I would possibly make it again, but use even more sugar than the extra that I did add. Also, the tart baked for an additional 10 minutes tacked on Martha's rec of 30-35. The top cracked a tiny bit, but I was anxiously awaiting the creme brulee looking brown spots that never appeared and called it a day after 10 extra minutes!

Trying some new cookies....First up...White Chocolate Craisin Oatmeal Cookies!

2009-12-13T13:24:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've been using the same cookie recipes over and over again. I make a million sugar cookies each year for different orders, so I love it when I have the opportunity to play around with other recipes as well. This weekend, we trimmed the tree, relaxed, and I baked up a storm in the kitchen....first up...a recipe I got off a bag of Craisins...I love to eat them as a snack and had all indredients on hand.

The sweetness in the cookie comes from white chocolate chips...

This cookie had a somewhat healthy feel to it...as it had equal parts of flour and oats

The star ingredient...good old Craisins

This combo made for one thick batter....

So thick...I needed some husband assistance to mix it up...don't worry the liquor bottles were for our eggnog...not the cookie batter :)

Prepped and ready for the oven

A close up of the finished product

Recipe...courtesy of my Ocean Spray Craisin Package:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2/3 cup of softened butter

2/3 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 cup white chocolate chips

6 oz package of Craisins

Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs. Sift together dry ingredients and then slowly add to wet. Once mixed well, fold in craisins and chocolate chips.

This recipe made exactly 3 dozen cookies. In my oven, they took 11 minutes to make.

Verdict....

I thought these were okay. If I got a cookie that had a good amount of craisins and chocolate chips, it was good. However, the batter itself didn't have a lot of taste to it. I almost think it needed some plain sugar to sweeten it up a bit more. I had one cookie that was lacking in the chocolate chip department and it tasted bland.

Husband's review.....I made 3 different desserts this weekend. This was his favorite...he called them "snacktacular"

One thing I did like about these cookies...they don't expand while you bake. Therefore, you can fit a good amount on the cookie sheet and not worry about them baking into one another!

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

2009-12-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

Time for some more test cookies! Christmas is around the corner and I have two cookie swaps to attend. The weather's also gotten a bit chillier in New England...so it's not a bad time to have the oven up and running! This week I tried a double chocolate cranberry cookie. I love chocolate and find it hard not to make a chocolate cookie!!

This recipe started off with some bittersweet chocolate all chopped up

I creamed some butter and sugar until it was light and fluffy and added the dry ingredients to make a nice batter

Then, I melted the chocolate in my double boiler.

I let the melted chocolate cool for a bit, then into the Kitchen Aid it went...here's my trusty, over worked mixer in action!

A picture of the cookies fresh out of the oven and cooling on a wire rack

This cookie was a nice, rich chocolate cookie. The cranberries added a nice addition, but didn't overpower the taste of the cookie. If you love chocolate...this is a must try!

The New and Improved Rice Krispy Treat for Chocolate Lovers!

2009-11-24T18:05:00.000-08:00

This summer I started to experiment with other treats besides cookies. I made fondant covered Rice Krispy treats for a Rehearsal Dinner as well as a Wedding. It was fun to take a step back from baking sugar cookies in different shapes and designs and do something different. It was also nice to turn off the oven...especially when our central air decided to not cooperate and work anymore :).

I was cleaning out the pantry looking for canned and non perishable goods to donate to the food bank collection at work. To my surprise, I had lots of extra huge boxes of Rice Krispies left over from this summer's endeavors! So..I decided to mix up a classic.....

6 cups of good ole Rice Krispies

Instead of melting marshmallows and butter...I added some cocoa powder to the mix

The result was a cocoa rice krispy..which looked good, but wasn't enough for this chocolate luvah

I always have spare chocolate hanging around. I love to stock up when it goes on sale...you name it..milk, bittersweet, german, semi sweet...I got it. i melted up some semi sweet chocolate squares in my new double boiler (a genius invention that elminates my glass bowl over a saucepan)

I smothered the rice krispy treats with the melted chocolate....

Voila...a double chocolate rice krispy treat....the melted chocolate harded into a nice layer on top of the treats!

Just another shot of these puppies...it's actual not a horribly bad recipe either calorie wise!

The only downfall to this recipe..I felt like the cereal didn't last as long with all the additive. Be sure to keep them in a very good airtight container. I brought them to work in a Ziploc plastic container. Someone left the lid off for an hour or so and I thought it really did these in and they tasted a bit stale :(

Pumkin Spice Cake with Honey and Cream Cheese Buttercream

2009-11-24T17:54:00.000-08:00

MMmmmm....just typing the title of this new attempt is making me think of just how good it was! Canned pumpkin is in the stores now since it's the most wonderful time of the year! I was never a big pumpkin eater until I joined Weight Watchers a few years back. This might go be an obvious one...but I have a HUGE sweet tooth. While trying to lose weight, I needed some type of sweet to curb me over. I learned of a recipe for Pumpkin Mousse that was only 1 weight watcher point and I was sold. I taught myself to love Libby's Canned pure pumpkin and love baking and trying new recipes with it!

My new best friend, Libby.

I subscribe to Martha Stewart's magazine Everday Food. I have to admit, that while I love Martha, I've been serially disappointed with the recipes from this magazine. I'm loving the fact that they now put the nutritional info of the recipe, but time and time again, as I'm making the recipes, I can think of things that need to be added, or pin point that the ratios will be off. I saw a recipe for a pumpkin cake and decided to glam it up a bit with some of my favorite spices of the season! Hence....pumpkin spice cake!

Martha had a butter and cream cheese frosting to go on her pumpkin cake. Just looking at it, I knew it would be a very buttery mess as the only two ingredients were...butter and cream cheese. I decided to amp it up a bit with some powdered sugar to make it more like a frosting and some honey to give it a fall twist. I LOVED this frosting...I must say...it really made the cake and hit it out of the park!

Mmmmm.....Cookies

2009-11-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

I decided to stick with trying some new recipes. I received quite a few cookie and cupcake cookbooks as gifts at my bridal shower over the summer. So many recipes looked good, so I decided to go for the Cookies and Cream cupcakes. Normally I'd credit the recipe and cookbook I used. However, this recipe seemed off from the get go. I could tell as soon as I mixed the dry ingredients that the flour and sugar proportions were way off and I was going to make cupcakes with the consistency of hockey pucks! So, I modified it quite a bit and was somewhat happy with the results. The cupcakes were still a bit firm for my liking, but overall the result was still a hit!

And...it all started with some oreos.....

The batter looked so good with chunks of chopped up oreo....

The frosting was also a challenge. The recipe called for a stick of butter and a package of cream cheese....it was a very soft frosting that slid right off the cupcake. I modified it with some powdered sugar and of course didn't want the oreos to go to waste....so I added some roughly chopped cookies to the mix!

The final result...I wasn't a huge fan of the cupcake...but I must admit...this cookies and cream cheese frosting was to die for!

Cookie Orders Meet Real Life!

2009-11-12T14:51:00.000-08:00

It's so much fun to create cookies in my kitchen, package them up, tie up the treat bags, and then send them off to people. It's certainly alot of fun to hear if they were a hit after the event and comments that people make as well. BUT....it's so much fun to see pictures of the cookies "in action." I love to see pictures of how the cookies help make an event, whether it be a baby shower, wedding shower, engagement party, birthday party, or, in this case, a rehearsal dinner!

Here are some pictures of my cookies in action at Jen and Jay's rehearsal dinner! The dresses went with the pink themes of the wedding and the baseball themed Yankee cookies were a special treat for the groom. (I must confess...as a Red Sox fan, they were a little difficult to make :)

The cookies hopefully adding to the tablescape!

A few close ups of the individual cookies!

A special thanks to Jen for the pictures of the cookies!!!

Tis the Season....

2009-11-08T07:52:00.000-08:00

to try some new cookie recipes! It's November 8, 2009. That means 48 days until Christmas! It's time to start stocking up on chocolate chips, nuts and other sales at the grocery stores in preparation for the season of baking! One of my favorite cookbooks to browse through is Martha Stewart's COOKIES. She has alot of different recipes in there. I love to look through them and tab some interesting ones I'd like to try with post it notes.

On a somewhat quiet Saturday, I gave Martha's White Chocolate Chunk Coconut Chocolate cookies a whirl. The husband gave them a thumbs up saying they were "coconut-astic" and a "perfect combination of white chocolate and coconut."

Getting ready for the oven...

This was a chunky sticky batter with lots of cocoa, coconut, walnuts, and, of course, white chocolate chunks

Into the oven we go....

And..the finished product....

My thoughts on these....the name of the cookie is long. I love to bring treats in to my co workers. I found it hard to tell them what I brought in, as the title of this baked good is a mouthful. These cookies tasted better 24 hours later. Usually I like a fresh out of the oven cookie. I typically only eat one cookie of the batch (got to stay in shape). However, these were better the next day. I'm a chocolate girl...but I like milk and dark chocolate and not a HUGE fan of white chocolate. This cookie has a predominantly white chocolate taste to it and it's not for those who don't like alot of coconut!

It's been a while....

2009-11-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that it's November....September and October flew by...mostly because I was busy GETTING MARRIED!!!

On October 4 of this year, I took the plunge and am now a Mrs. That was followed by a pretty fabulous 2 weeks in Hawaii.

We've been home just over a week and it was definitely back to reality! After a millions loads of laundry, days convincing our cats we weren't leaving again, and settling back into work...Halloween and November snuck up on us!

Here are a few sneak peeks of what I've been up too!

a few shots of Hawaii...so hard to choose which ones to show..since it was all so beautiful!

With the holidays around the corner, my oven will be in overdrive soon! I tested some cookies today getting ready for some holiday cookie swaps...some pics, recipes, and tips to come!

Summertime favors!

2009-08-30T12:11:00.001-07:00

Although it's August 30 and it feel like fall, I figured I'd post some pictures from a summertime wedding I did...mostly to make me think that it's not the unofficial end of summer next week!

This was for a wedding in Newport. These favors were actually for the Rehearsal Dinner. The colors matched their invites and I glued a tiny star fish on them for that added ocean beach touch!

Awwwww.....

2009-07-15T18:51:00.000-07:00

Besides baking cookies and defending juvenile delinquents, lately I'm also wedding planner extraordinaire, as I'm planning to tie the knot this October!

Bill and I have been dating for 9, yes I said 9 years this summer. Last October 17, 2009, he proposed and I, of course, said YES! then I said it's about time!

Bill and I met in the summer of 2000. My sister, Heather, brought me to Newport as a graduation gift as I had just graduated from UMASS-Amherst. I met Bill, starting talking to him and clumsily spilled my can of Bud Light on him at the West Deck, a bar on Thames St. He offered to buy me another. I remembered his flashy outfit of a black shirt and khakis. I looked up and saw a guy wearing that holding 2 drinks, so I walked up to him and started talking...only to realize that 1) I probably had too many slutty red head shots that night (hey I was 21!) and 2) that this was not the same guy I spilled my beer on. Then I saw Bill glaring at me holding 2 cans of bud light.

Needless to say the rest is history. I moved to RI 2 months later to begin law school and we started hanging out. Bill and I lived in Newport for most of our 20's. Yes, I know it's hard to believe I'm the big 3-0! I love Newport, mostly because when I think of that city, I think of meeting my future husband there, falling in love, and creating the beginning of the rest of our life there. We shared a great apartment on Vaughan Avenue in the Fifth Ward section of Newport and after living there for 5 years, bought our home we're in now.

Why am I telling this story on my blog? This past Sunday we had our engagement pictures taken with our fabulous photographer, Melissa Robotti (www.melissarobotti.com) and I figured it might be fun to talk about something non cookie today :)

We met her in Newport and retraced some memories. On October 17, 2009, the night Bill proposed, he took me on a trip down memory lane. We started where it all began, at the West Deck. After dinner he took me to the exact spot that he predicts he first laid eyes on me. From there, we drove past the old apartment, then to Ocean Drive, and then to Second Beach in Middletown, where we shared our first kiss, and where Bill asked me to be his wife.

Here are a few shots from Melissa's blog of our engagement pictures. I love them all and I love how she captures the emotions in her photography.

Baby's 1st Birthday!

2009-07-03T05:45:00.001-07:00

So many of our friends have had little ones in the past couple years! There were two First Birthdays back to back this month! I had the pleasure of making cookies for little Jackie, who is the daughter of our friends, Susan and Mike.

Susan told me to make any type of colorful cookies. I had this cupcake cutter with the single candle that I thought would be perfect for a First Birthday!

I was a little torn on whether to cover the cupcakes in fondant or to use some royal icing, but opted for a fondant covered cookie with little cut outs to decorate the cookies and make them bright and colorful!

Here are some pictures of the cookies drying after they were decorated!

Wedding Whirlwind....

2009-07-01T13:17:00.001-07:00

The past two weekends have been consumed with weddings. We're at that age where, ever so slowly, all are friends are almost married! Every year we've had at least 2-4 weddings a year.

These past couple weeks have been no different, but there were two very special weddings! Our long time friends Bob & Sue tied the knot last weekend. My big sister, Heather, got married as well!

Here are some pictures of my sister, who looked absolutely gorgeous on her wedding day!

The new Mr. and Mrs.

The Bridal Party...I guess it's not too hard to tell who's related :)

Of course, another show stopper...the final product...I made 110 favors for the big day!

Almost final product!

2009-06-17T16:51:00.001-07:00

After 3 lbs of Rice Krispies, buying Walmart out of their stock of mini marshmallows, and about 6 hours in my kitchen armed with a bottle of PAM....

I managed to make 150 Rice Krispy Treats! They are covered with a square of purple marshmallow fondant and monogrammed with a simple M in lime green royal icing.

They're drying right now...letting the royal icing set and harden before they're popped into some treat bags and tied with some ribbon!

Samples!!!

2009-06-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased to say that I have a bunch of cookie orders coming up! I try to sample out the cookies for upcoming customers 1) so they can get an idea of their final product and 2) so they can tweak the design however they'd like!

My girlfriend Susan has a little one named Jackie who is turning 1 next weekend!! Susan and her husband are friends that lived a couple blocks away from us in Newport. We've since moved to a land far far away from Aquidneck Island called Exeter. Here's a little sample..unfortunately i just did the sample in colors on hand...little Jackie's cookies will be much more colorful..just wanted her momma to get a feel for the design!

It's been a while....

2009-06-16T19:02:00.000-07:00

my blogging adventures took a little vacation...but my cookie making hasn't. Today, I find myself up to my neck in Rice Krispies!!!! You see, my older sister Heather is getting married this weekend. Of course, what type of family wedding doesn't have favors from me :).

Heather wanted a monogram cookie..nothing too over the top, just square with her new last name initial on it. However, the cookie lacked a little bulk...so I figured to plump it up a bit..what better than a rice krispie treat! I love they way they look..and after 5 hours in the kitchen...130 rice krispie treats are now gracing my kitchen.

The treats are covered with a square of bright purple fondant. That's how far I got tonight...I'm tired after dealing with juvenile delinquents all day..tomorrow I will pipe the details in lime green royal icing to match the wedding colors....pictures of the final product will be posted soon!!!

Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail.....

2009-04-05T16:30:00.001-07:00

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on it's way! That's a song I learned probably in the 2nd grade or so (circa 1986).

This week I don't have any cookie orders to fufill. I'm guessing there are no showers, parties, etc this weekend since Easter's on Sunday.

In stead of catching up around the house, doing some wedding planning, or any type of yard work, I decided to bake some cookies and try out some new cutters.

I had a rabbit body and rabbit face and decided I wanted to try some 3 dimensional cookies with the rabbit face. Instead of just a level fondant overlay, I made some fat cheeks with additional fondant. Here are some sneak peeks:

I couldn't decide between freckles and whiskers...I think I'm leaning more towards the freckles...

While I slaved in the kitchen, one of our cats, Annabelle, took advantage of the nice weather and curled up in a good spot in the living room.

I have about 50 other cookies cooling out that will decorated later this week....

Cookie Cutter Sale!

2009-04-03T15:45:00.000-07:00

Most of my earnings have gone towards the Holly and Bill wedding fund. After almost 9long years of dating, we're tying the knot in October. Bill didn't take me up on my offer to fly to Hawaii and have a really really nice vacation and get married while we were out there as well. So, now we're having this way too big wedding in RI. So, I've been baking my bee-hind off trying to generate some extra money so we don't go in the red throwing this little party!

However...today I found a sale that I just couldn't pass up!!! I've been buying most of my cutters from Foose Cookie Cutters (www.foosecookiecutters.com). Take one peek and you'll see why i shop there...their selection is HUGE!!!

Here are a couple I can't wait to try out!

Ok..I may be a little early for Halloween!

I love the bikini...makes me think that summer's coming one of these days!

I loved this monkey...not sure what I'll use it for, but everyone needs a monkey cookie cutter!

Another reminder of spring!

Check them out...the code for today and tomorrow's 40% off sale is SPRING! What a deal..with all this week's orders I managed to buy around 40+ cookie cutters (shh don't tell Bill) AND give the limo company a deposit :)

The Most Popular Cutter of the Season....

2009-04-03T15:37:00.000-07:00

is the dress cookie cutter! People are going nuts over this cookie cutter and its hands down my most requested order! Here are some pictures for one large order of bridal shower cookies. The bride's colors are ivory and gold. I did one sample with a tiny hint of ivory coloring, but it had a strange look to it, so we went with white. Gold is always and interesting project. There's no type of dye or coloring to tint frosting gold. Instead, I use a product called Luster Dust, mix it with a tiny bit of alcohol and paint it over dried royal icing...quite the project but I think it's worth the result!

This is what 77 cookies look like! I normally put my cookie orders in cake boxes with a thin layer of bubble wrap. The largest cake box couldn't support 70+ dresses...so a xerox paper box it was!

That's alot of cookies!

I'm a Baking Machine

2009-04-03T15:30:00.001-07:00

I had three cookie orders for this weekend. I finally wrapped them up and they're out the door and delivered. This was the most cookies I had to make in such a short period of time with roughly over 200 cookies baked, covered in fondant, accented with royal icing, and bagged, tied and ready to go. Here are some shots of my busy kitchen...there were literally cookies cooling on every square inch of table and counter that we own!

Good thing Bill was in Texas on business...our dining room table wasn't usable this week!

Some close ups of engagement cookies...

and some shower cookies..the tiny little hearts had the couples' first initials and accompanied the large heart in the bag

Why You Shouldn't Decorate Cookies Late at Night

2009-03-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

I had quite a few orders this past week. Here's the perfect reason why you shouldn't decorate cookies late at night

It's sad to say, but as I went to bag and tie these, I kept looking at them and it finally hit me what was so off...

My Ravenous Baked Good Eating Cat

2009-03-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

Bill and I have three cats...they're like our kids. One of my favorite things about Bill when I met him 9 years ago was his fluffy orange tiger cat, Davie. Davie's our boy, and he also goes by the name of Smuggy McSmuggenstein, based on his smug looks he loves to give his dad!

Here's one of his best smug looks while he's curled up on our couch.

Now while Davie's usually a good boy..lately he's been a big Pain in the you know what. When we bought our house and moved to Exeter, the closet vet is a great place called Wolf Rock, whose vets take a holistic approach to their practice. The kitties were switched to all natural cat food made of meats, vegetables, etc. Unfortunately, this has given our ex-kibble crunching kitties quite the taste for "human food." Lately...Davie's choice of snacks has been freshly baked cupcakes. He leaves the cookies alone..maybe sugar cookies aren't his thing!

So while he may look sweet, fluffy and pet-able...he's been driving his momma nuts lately. I let 24 cupcakes cool on cooling racks and this rascal-y cat decided he was hungry and ate the tops off of them. (don't worry, I gave them to Bill and baked a new batch)

Davie also goes by another nickname...Snuggly mcFluffy (this is all Bill!). Now if Snuggly McFluffy knows whats good for him he'll lay off my baked goods. I've resorted to toting cooling racks into the spare bedroom now to ensure the cookies won't be nibbled on and it's making me pretty exhausted!!!

Heather's Shower!

2009-03-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

My big sister is getting married! Heather and Steve are tying the knot on June 20, 2009. Today we celebrated these upcoming nuptials at a bridal shower. We were going for a more modern flare and really found a great spot at Vintage Restaurant in Woonsocket, RI. We grew up in Woonsocket and lord knows a place like this didn't exist when we were all living there! Vintage has this great upstairs that's divided into two different rooms- one side is a lounge/bar area, the other was a dining area. After we ate, we transitioned into the lounge are to watch her unwrap all the gifts! Of course...yours truly did the favors! Our bridesmaid dresses are purple, we found a great invite with a bride and 3 purple dresses behind her. Our whole theme centered around the purple dresses!

Here are the favors before I wrapped them. A white dress for the bride and purple dresses for everyone else.

Here are the bridesmaids with the bride...my other sister Heidi, Heather's future sister-in-law Carrie, myself and Heather

My Mom and the Bride to Be

A shot of Vintage. This is the dining area where we ate

Here's the cake (from the Cakery in Woonsocket, RI) and the favors all wrapped up.

Busy Cookie Weekend!

2009-03-29T17:44:00.000-07:00

Ok...I must admit that I had no idea what a Backyardigan was until I got this order for a 3 yr old's birthday party...but I quickly learned after googling them! Here are some Backyardigan cookie favors with Pablo..the little blue character

Here are some cupcakes with Backyardigan character finger puppets!

Love is in the Air!

2009-03-18T18:50:00.001-07:00

Maybe it's all the engagements that happened over the holidays or the upcoming summer weddings...but I've had tons of requests for shower cookies and engagement party cookies!

Here are some sample cookies I made for a black and white polka-dot themed engagement party. I experimented with the bride/groom cookies and wish my pictures were a little better...I was hurrying out the door to package these and get to work on time!

I think the small bride and groom were my favorites!

Here are some other designs to go along with the white and black theme..

I may not be Irish.....

2009-03-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

But that doesn't mean I didn't go buck wild making St. Patty day cookies!

Here are some pictures of some basic Shamrock cookies made for some special pre-schoolers...

Boxed up and ready to be delivered..

Cookie orders are rolling in...

2009-03-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

which means every night I've been busy prepping fondant for orders! Here are some shots of me busy in the kitchen last week that Bill snapped!

I knew these huge purple bowls leftover from my UMASS Amherst days would come in handy again! They're perfect for mixed the mashmallowy mess of fondant!

Nice green fondant for St. Patty's Day!

My cute apron...Thanks Mom!

Bridal Showers Galore!

2009-03-02T06:36:00.001-08:00

It's going to be wedding season soon...and that means many bridesmaids are out there planning spring bridal showers!

Bridal Shower favors are some of my favorite favors to do! Maybe because I'm getting married myself this Fall or because my sister is getting married in June!

My co-worker, Elizabeth, is in a wedding the same day I'm in my sister's wedding (who knew June 20th was so popular!)

Here are some pictures of the samples I created for Elizabeth!

The most popular cookie cutters for showers and weddings are typically the dresses and cakes. The only special request for these cookies was to have the accents in a hydrangea-blue type color. I think I got pretty close!

I also gave a shot at an umbrella and the little wedding bells...I wasn't wild about them, mostly because they were smaller cookies...guess I'm just a fan of a big beefy cookie! If you're going to indulge..you mind as well go big!

Here are some finished products ready for my customer!

Bridal Shower Favors....

2009-03-02T06:20:00.000-08:00

My Mom's been doing a great job of getting me potential clients! Here are some samples I created for a bridal shower for one of Mom's friends.

Cookies fresh from the oven just covered in fondant.

Decorated and personalized for the bride and groom!

I also added some tiny little heart cut-outs with the bride and groom's first initials.

A close up of the final decorated cookie--thanks for the doile help, Mom!

The packaged final products!

Somebody's Grandpa's Turning 90!

2009-03-02T06:12:00.000-08:00

Here are some samples for a 90th birthday party! (woo-hoo angela's grandpa!) I always find masculine cookies harder to do...all the pretty icing colors are always different shades of pinks, purples, etc..which wouldn't fly for grandpa's birthday cookies!

Cooking with Mom...

2009-03-02T05:53:00.000-08:00

I'm up in Western, MA visiting my mom and stepfather, so what better activity to do with mom than bake some sample cookies! Here are some prep pictures with more posts of what we accomplished to follow!

The fondant cut outs waiting for some hot cookies!

Sugar cookies anxiously awaiting their fondant covering!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting..and the Final Product!

2009-02-26T13:27:00.001-08:00

I love to experiment with different frostings. When I first started out I always used the Wilton buttercream recipe that was provided in my cake decorating classes. It's crisco based (it made me cringe at first too..to think that all the yummy frosting on cupcakes and cakes is largely made of crisco???)

Once I began experimenting, it was like opening a whole new world. I love trying different frosting recipes. I now primarily used true butter based buttercream. I've always wanted to try a swiss meringue frosting. It sounds pretty fancy so I thought it could be fun! Here are some pictures from my first go at a Caramel Swirl Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Plus..what frosting can't be good with vanilla caramel sundae topping in it!

Here are some pictures of the final product! These were taken in my office at work. Once again my co workers were my taste testers. I almost forgot to take a picture of my creation! The cupcakes were topped with crushed heath bars!

The overall opinion--while I thought this was a very butter rich frosting..some loved it and thought it was a great match the very rich chocolate cupcake! One I'll definitely make again!

Taking a Cookie Vacation...with Cupcakes!

2009-02-26T12:57:00.001-08:00

Before I focused mainly on cookies, I loved to bake and decorate cakes. I took some classes to learn the basic techniques and fell in love with it. However, being in my late 20's with no kids, it was difficult to find enough reasons to go all out, bake, and decorate cakes on a regular basis. I slowly started to bake and decorate cupcakes instead. I love to find really different flavor combinations and also like to use some more in depth and difficult recipes using quality products.

After mixing the flour and cocoa powder, I chopped some bittersweet chocolate to melt and add to the batter for an extra rich chocolately taste.

To make these cupcakes extremely rich...butter was melted with the chocolate in my make shift double boiler.

This batter was very thick! I could tell it was going to make an extremely dense chocolate cupcake and it also made it very difficult not to lick the bowl!

and...Voila! Some intensely chocolate cupcakes..

Royal Icing Accents...

2009-02-12T17:33:00.000-08:00

Royal icing is the hard frosting accents used on cakes and cookies. It's made with meringue powder, or powdered egg whites, and powdered sugar. The beauty of royal icing is that it hardens with in minutes, and is espcially handy with writing and other decorations on cookies. It's whipped up in mixer and while using it I keep a damp paper towel draped over the bowl to prevent it from drying out.

Below are some pictures of the decorated and finished products...the cookies are sporting some silly phrases and personalized for some friends.

While I love to decorate....this is the part I'm not a fan of...the clean up

Having some fun with Fondant.....

2009-02-12T17:19:00.001-08:00

I had some extra fondant after making some rice krispy treat wedding favors that were decorated with fondant and monogrammed with the bride and grooms initials. I make my own fondant..mostly because it tastes so much better than anything store bought. After it's made, I wrap it in plastic wrap and store it for at least 24 hours to harden it up. Once I'm ready to use it, I place it between sheets of parchment paper to roll it out. The parchment paper is a great trick..the fondant (since it's made out of marshmallows) tends to stick to surfaces very easily, which can create a sticky situation!

Once the fondant is rolled out, I use cookie cutters to get the exact shape to cover the cookie.

Fondant can be adhered to the cookies using a little bit of corn syrup, or if you're pretty organized in the kitchen, you can have the fondant cut outs prepared and place them on your warm cookies that are hot out of the oven. This works so well with my homemade fondant since the marshmallow fondant melts with the warmth of the cookie and sticks perfectly.

Valentine's Day = A Really Good Reason to Bake Cookies!

2009-02-12T17:04:00.001-08:00

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I skipped the chocolates, flowers, and cute little cards and decided instead to make some cookies for my co-workers. My fellow co-workers are the frequent recipients of my creations. I'm not sure if I should call them recipients, the test market or guinea pigs. But, they're always willing to try some treats! Below are some photos of making some good old sugar cookies!

Once the dough is made, I split it into two portions, refrigerate and then prepare to roll it out on a floured surface.

I use different cookie cutters to make my cut outs and then re roll the dough and start all over. It's best to try and get as many cutouts as possible on the first roll out of your dough.

My final product...some heart cookies ready to be popped in the oven!

Making Fondant....

2009-02-10T17:10:00.000-08:00

All of my cookies are made with home-made marshmallow fondant. You can buy bricks of fondant at craft stores, but the taste always turned me off. The coloring of store bought fondant always rubbed off on my hands and clothes while decorating cookies and it really made me wonder what the stuff was made out of. I found some recipes for marshmallow based fondant and tweaked it until I came up with a version that works perfectly for me!

I start off with mini marshmallows that are melted down.....

After the marshmallows are a sticky concoction.....

Some special ingredients are added along with lots of powdered sugar to create a playdoh like consistency. The fondant is wrapped in plastic wrap and stored for 24 hours before I roll it out and use it.