Chips and Salsa Cookies {Tutorial}

Cinco de Mayo is kind of a big deal where I'm from.   There are all kinds of events in all of the surrounding communities to celebrate.  There are festivals, music, and of course, my favorite, Mexican food!

I decided to celebrate cookie style.  I've posted these cookies before, without instructions and received several inquiries about how I made them curved. So, I thought I'd show y'all before the big day!


Since I knew I would be making these more than once, I went ahead and had the Bern-Dogg cut dowel rods to fit my sheet pans.

If you don't want to go through that all that trouble, foil works too {THANKS MARYANN!}


Next, I prepared the "chips".  I used my lemon poppy seed cut-out recipe. 

When it was time to bake them, I spread a piece of parchment paper over the dowels and then placed the cookies over the dowels.

I always bake these a little bit longer than normal to make sure they stay firm...about eight or nine minutes.  It is VERY important that you let them cool completely before removing them.   If not, they will break. I actually left mine alone for a few hours.


When the cookies were ready, I prepared a fruit dip and tinted it guacamole green.  I used Americolor soft gel paste.  The combination was three parts avocado, one part egg yolk yellow, one part leaf green, one part warm brown.

For the fruit dip, I like this recipe from Kraft.  All I did differently was add well-drained pineapple.

I also cut up strawberries and kiwis for the "salsa".  When I did this in January, I had to sweeten the fruit, but now that spring is near, it didn't need it.

You can serve everything separately and let your guests construct their own...


Or, you can serve them hor'dourve style.


Regardless, they will be a hit!

They may look a little different, but they taste just like fruit pizza!
I hope you will give these a try, they are WONDERFUL!

· button cookie tutorial, chips and salsa cookies, cinco de mayo, lemon poppyseed cookies, superbowl ideas

Angry Birds Cookies Part 1 {Pig}

Since Easter is about to come and go, if you haven't snagged these from Target, you better do it quick.  Besides being cute Easter cutters, I also used the bunny to make the first cookie in my Angry Birds collection.


If you don't already know what Angry Birds is, don't feel bad.  Neither did I until my seven year old son enlightened me.  Long story short, it's a cell phone game where killer birds are on a mission to destroy little green pigs hiding in random structures...

Okay, maybe that makes the game sound a little violent, but in reality, it's very cute and from what I hear, VERY addictive.

To make the Angry Bird Pig I used the bunny cutter from my Target Easter set, and trimmed him up a little.


After allowing my cookie to completely cool, I prepared my icing.  For this I needed:
  • black icing for piping outline
  • red, white, lime green, leaf green and black flood icing

To begin, outline the cookie as shown.  Then, using light green flood icing, add the snout and use black for the insides of the ears.


Let the first steps set for about five minutes, then using black flood icing, quickly add eyeballs, and nostrils.  If you are worried about bleeding, skip the black areas and add them LATER after the cookie is completely dry.

To finish up the flooding steps, fill in the remaining areas with leaf green flood icing, and add a small drop of red for a mouth.  Let dry overnight.


To finish up Mr. Pig, use food color markers to add the final details.
I outlined his eyes and mouth, and went around his snout with green, although it was okay without it {I tend to get a little hung up on details like that}

When you are finished, you will have this little guy...

who happens to be cookie #1 of this set.

For Part 2, Click {HERE}

Easter will be here tommorrow! I hope everyone is safe
 and spending time with the people they love the most!


· angry birds, button cookie tutorial, decorating, Easter Cutter, How-To, pig

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday!  If you have children or grandchildren, chances are you're VERY familiar with his books.

They are a pretty big deal in my house.  We own all of them, and doubles of some, so there was no shortage of inspiration on my end!

To celebrate what would have been Dr. Seuss's 107th birthday, I made cookies.  I let the kids pick some of their favorites...

Green Eggs and Ham was the winner, hands down.


I love these little cupcake toppers...these were so easy to make!


It's no secret that I am not much of a cake baker, but thanks to TidyMom's good timing I found a recipe that is perfect for me.  The cool thing about this particular recipe is that it makes a little sturdier batter that's easy to scoop into the liners.  Usually, I make a drippy mess, but not with this recipe. 

Go check out TidyMom's  "doctored up cake mix cake".  It's perfect for cupcakes and she even has an icing recipe if you need it. 

And the best part was, Bern-Dogg and the kids thought I was a hero!  My little family WAS so thrilled to have something besides cookies to snack on!


For the cookies I used a re-shaped mini-dog bone cutter *I LOVE DOG BONE CUTTERS* and a wonky flower fondant cutter.

I like to use bamboo forks for cookie toppers because they are taller and sturdier than toothpicks.

I roll my cookies a little thicker for this {between 1/4 and 1/2 an inch}, insert the fork, and bake.

And if you don't feel like making cookie toppers, my pal Mique at 30 Handmade Days designed this adorable cupcake flag.  Just click on the image to get yours!  They are quick, easy, and look great!


My kids and I picked a few more favorite Seuss characters to go with the green eggs and ham. Mine were the hats.


Evan liked them all, so we narrowed it down to a few recognizable characters, making sure not to forget the elephant {Horton} for Belle.

I also made ISH for my brother, Bryce.  It's a long story, but he knows why =)


And of course, Caleb picked the fishies...


Here's the whole Seuss family.  Funny, they look a little like us =)



Happy birthday, Dr. Seuss!


· button cookie tutorial, cookie cupcake toppers, cookies, Dr. Suess

Sew Lucky Printables and Button Cookie Tutorial

This week my friend Mique and I teamed up to come up with cookie favor ideas for a "craft night".  I loved this cute little printable and the colors she chose.  {click on the photo to get yours}


For some reason, button cookies can be hard for even an experienced cookier to get right, so, I came up with this step-by-step tutorial on making button cookies.

I actually have two metods of making these...the other uses the "Oh, @#*!" icing, but that one is a little more advanced, so we'll start like this.

These are the materials that you will need.


First outline your cookie as pictured below

If you aren't quite comfy with making circles freehand, never fear, I have a tip

Button holes are where things can get a little bit complicated.  A little something I always forget to do is mark the center.  This ensures that you don't get lopsided buttons.


When the outside ring is completely dry, fill the middle.  At this point, you will need to let the cookies dry for at least a few hours. {notice my photos went from day to evening}

When the cookies are dry, use a PME 1.5 tip to pipe the thread.


Now listen up, this is important info.  I think one of my all time favorite tools is the 1.5 PME tip.  If I was a cookie Jedi, it would be my light saber {oops, I think my geek just showed}

But seriously, this is a cool toy.  I have a collection of them, and I value them more than jewelry.  I always tell Bern-Dogg if our house was on fire, after the kids, they are the next thing I would grab =)

If you would like to get your hands on some, check Karen's Cookies or Global Sugar Art.

· button cookie tutorial, printables

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