Ahhhh I'm melllllting

I'll admit it, pinterest has the most fabulous ideas for fun baking adventures.

I saw these cookies on pinterest and decided to try my hand at making my own little spin on them; and I think they turned out rather fabulous.

Behold my melted snowman snickerdoodle cookies.

Pinterest recommended store bought sugar cookie recipes but I don't make anything out of a box and I really wanted some snickerdoodles so I decided to try, and they turned out just as well.

We'll see if they make it all the way over to Chris and if he agrees with cuteness factor.

Basically after I let the cookies cool off I iced them, not very pretty since it's supposed to look like they are melting.

Then I used jumbo marshmallows and sprayed a plated with cooking spray and microwave the marshmallows for 30 seconds.  Just long enough for them to start to puff but not double in size.  When I took them out, I sprayed my fingers with cooking spray before taking the marshmallows off of the plate.

Then I place them on top of the icing and pushed down so they look a little flattened, as if they are melting.

Next, I just decorated as I wished.

**Please ignore the piping arm...I stuck my thumb in it right before I took the picture so I messed up his arm.

But here's a picture of the snowman, grinch and reindeer all together :)

Reindeer Cookies

If these aren't the cutest Christmas cookies I've ever seen, then I don't know what are!

(I saw these on pinteret and altered it a little bit and decided to to make them with a peanut butter cookie because I love peanut butter)

Adorable!

I made these adorable festive cookies using a delicious peanut butter cookie recipe that I found online (a new favorite...much creamy than my other one!), mini chocolate covered pretzels and M&M's.

I used mostly red M&M's for the noses and any color for the eyes. The eyes in the pictures are brown but any color looked cute, I like the blue a lot as well :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

*3/4 cup peanut butter

*1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

*1/2 cup shortening

*3 tablespoons milk

*1 tablespoon vanilla

*1 egg

*1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

*3/4 teaspoon baking soda

*3/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 375°F.

*Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat until just blended.

*In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

*Form dough into 1-inch balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until set or just beginning to brown. 

*Remove from oven and immediately (and gently) press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer's antlers. Press two brown M&Ms in for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose. 

*Allow to cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 



You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch

I have found a new favorite cookie of this holiday season.

Behold my masterpiece...

Ahhhhh! Isn't it the best Christmas cookie ever?

Ok so it's not your usual holiday cookie, but i LOVE it!

I think it came out adorable.

And so grinch-like.

So basically I used a sugar cookie recipe and then the wilton comfort grip cookie cutter mold in the SANTA shape.

Next, I made a batch of wilton buttercream icing which I used for the coloring.

I used the kelly green icing dye color for the bottom half of the grinch and the the no taste red dye for the top half.

Next, I piped the furry part of his hat with a star tip.

I used the golden yellow colored dye for his eyes, which I kind of made into upward,slanted shape to give them that evil eye look.

Finally, I piped the lining of his face with a small circular tip.  I made the lines of his face based on a picture I was looking at and then just went from there.

I have to say,  for my first time making any type of character, I think I did a pretty decent job.

 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.

A day to be thankful for everything that you have been blessed with amd remember that you are luckier than others in life.

I am so thankful to have a husband who loves me more than I ever thought was even imaginable.
Who loves me through everything, even on our bad days.

Who has shown me the true meaning of love.
I'm lucky to be able to lucky such a selfless man.

A man who is willing to give up his family time and his holidays so that other men and women can be with theirs.

Even though it's hard, I couldn't be any prouder of him.

I'm thankful for a strong and supportive family who stands behind me and believes in everything I do.

Without them, I would not be the person I am today.

I'm thankful for my true best friends who have stuck by me through the good and the bad times.

Who have made me realize that real friendships don't need to be the kind that have to be seen everyday.

I'm thankful for every lemon that life has thrown my way because it has made me the women that I am today. 

And without challenges, life would be boring and easy.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas



A day off from work and I baked. ALL. DAY.

Ahhh. I just love to bake. and decorate. and make cute little things.

These were my first Christmas cookies of the season and I think they turned out fabulous.

It also helps that I have icing bags, tips and icing colors to make the decorating look a lot better.

Obviously, those are just a couple of them, but I adore them.

I used the Wilton Comfort Grip Cookie Cutters.

I also used a new sugar cookie recipe that turned out amazing.

They're soft, chewy and very tasteful.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients

*1/2 cup butter

*1/2 cup shortening

*1 cup sugar

*1 egg

*1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*1 teaspoon almond extract

*2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

*1/2 teaspoon baking powder

*1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions

*In a mixing bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.
*Add egg and vanilla and almond; mix well.
*Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture.
*Shape into 1-in. balls.  Place on greased baking sheet; flatten with a glass. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

**I only cooked mine for exactly 10 minutes and they came out perfectly.  Also, I added the almond extract to the recipe.  Feel free to take it out of the recipe but I think it adds great flavor to the cookies.  Another thing,  if you are going to use this recipe for cut out cookies, I would strongly suggest freezing the dough for out 20 minutes or so before you start to roll it out.



Cupcake Pops

Cupcake Pops

I have these super adorable snowman cupcake MOLDS that I got last year.

They are in STORAGE. Kind of like everything else I own. haha.

So i went off I went on the hunt for some other cute Christmas themed, cupcake MOLDS.

Which I could not find. ANYWHERE.

Instead, all I could find were cupcake pop molds.

So, I gave up my dream of making my adorable snowpeople cupcakes again this year.

And I relented to making cupcake pops.

After much pouting, I have to admit.

Because those darn snowpeople were so cute!

Anyways, this is the mold I used.

It's a wilton mold; I'm a fan of Wilton products.

So, you have to be careful when filling up the cavities because if you fill them up too much, they get way too puffy and they don't deflat.

Also, you have to make sure that the lollipop stick is completly covered because if it isn't covered all the way, when it done baking the cupcake will swivel around on the stick.

As you can tell, I went out and bought new icing bags and new decorating tips so these are much prettier than my pathetic attempt at thanksgiving cookies :)

I also got a new box of Wilton icing colors, which makes decorating so much easier.

Anyways, I baked red velvet cupcakes, which I have posted the recipe on my blog in the past.

I have found that when you are doing decorating such as I did in the above picture, buttercream icing is the easiest to work with.
I like the Wilton Buttercream Icing Recipe.

It's a stiffer icing which makes decorating easier.

I've also found that when I'm decorating, to get the icing to appear perfectly even and smooth I dip my knife in a bowl of warm water and then the icing that works the best.

A little tip that my mom taught me :)

Wilton Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

*1/2 cup shortening

*1/2 cup softened butter

*1 teaspoon vanilla

* 4 cups confectioner's sugar

*2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

*In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer.

*Add vanilla.

*Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry.

*Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

*Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.For all of you who are dying to see, here are the snowpeople from last year :)



Halfway

EEEEEKKKKKK!!!

We've made it to the halfway(ish) mark of this deployment.

FINALLY.

I can only hope that these next three months go by quicker than these past three months did

because...

I want my husband back.

I want him here in Florida with me.

I want to do so many things with him.

But mostly because I miss the heck out of him, day in and day out.

Especially with the holidays right around the corner.

Especially since I've moved here.

Deployments were a little easier for me when I was back in Virginia, surrounded by my friends.

This deployment has been so hard.

Maybe it's because we are newlyweds and there are so many things we should be doing.

Being separated by war is not what I had in mind during the first year of our marriage.

But hey, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade.

And that's what we've done.
We've made the best of a icky situation and remained strong.

But at the end of the day, when I lay down, all I really want is my husband laying next to me.

So, I cross my fingers that these next few months fly by quickly.