Paint Your Own Cookies

 

Tomorrow is the big dress up day!  I love seeing all the kids dressed up.  Here are my paint your own cookies I made for some treat bags I put together.  Each cookie set has two cookies, an edible paint pallet and a paint brush.  It is a fun little activity and then you get to eat the results!

I sent a dozen or so down to Gman and his cousins so they could paint their own cookies.  I made chocolate cookies, vanilla royal icing and used some templates I got from The Cookie Countess.

So, have a happy Halloween, don't eat too much candy.  Don't forget to set your clocks back on Sunday morning, and I can't believe this, but it's November!  

October 30, 2020  Sunrise 9:34 am  Sunset 5:33 pm  Temp H 15/ L 9°F

Strawberry Hot Chocolate Bombs and Halloween Preparations

Strawberry Hot Chocolate Bombs

 

I don't know where this week has gone, I woke up Monday morning and now it is Wednesday!  Work has been unusually busy this week and I've had all kinds of things to do in order to get ready for Halloween.  I've made hot chocolate bombs, paint your own cookies and now I'm working on some truffle stuffed chocolate frogs all for our little trick or treaters.  

Chocolate hot chocolate bombs ready for bagging.

I love seeing all the kids in their costumes, of course in Alaska it is hard to see the costumes under their coats, hats, gloves and boots.  But you get the idea (with most of them) and those little boys always think they are so tough and/or scary and the little girls are alway so beautiful in their princess costumes. (YES, I am generalizing and not all boys or girls dress up in those gender typical costumes, give me a bit of grace.)

Mummies  for Mummy Milk

We pull our fire pit to the front of the house and have a fire going all evening, people stop and warm up.  We also have hot apple cider out front and Dave and I stay outside and visit with everyone as their kids stop by for candy.  It  is such a fun evening.  This year we will have to do it a little different.  We will have the fire going but Dave and I will sit back by the house and let parents warm up, to maintain social distance.  Candy bowls will be on a table and kids will help themselves, and hot apple cider will be available, but it will be strictly serve-yourself.  

Dried Strawberries decorate the 
strawberry hot chocolate bombs.

The strawberry hot chocolate mix makes a ton, so I made some for trick or treat bags (we have about 12 special kids I make bags for) and the rest of the mix will go into Christmas treat bags.  If I have more time I'll post my process to make bombs then, or you can search it on Pinterest (that's what I did).

Hot Chocolate Bombs packaged and ready for
trick-or-treaters

I love Avery printable labels.  

I just run them through my printer.

Chocolate truffle frogs, ready to hop in your mouth!

Happy Halloween! I hope you enjoy more treats than tricks.

Pink Hot Chocolate

1 cup Nestlé Strawberry milk mix

1 1/2 cups powdered milk

1 (3.3 oz.) pkg. instant white chocolate pudding mix

2 cups white chocolate chips, or white chocolate bomb shells

marshmallows

Mix strawberry milk mix, powdered milk and white chocolate pudding mix.  If not using white chocolate milk bomb shells, freezer white chocolate chips.  Once frozen blend until finely ground.  Mix white chocolate into strawberry mix.  

To make strawberry hot chocolate.  Mix two tablespoons with 6-8 oz. hot milk or water.  Top with marshmallows.   

Pour hot water or milk over the bomb

Out pops marshmallows and a delicious cup
of hot chocolate.

1 year ago:    Moose in the Morning and Keto Black Widow Cocktail

7years ago:  Cranberry Liqueur

October 28, 2020  Sunrise 9:27am  Sunset 5:40 pm  Temp H 23/ L 10°F

Decorating Fall Mini Cookies

Fall is in the air here.  When ever you talk to someone they say, "Boy, it sure feels like Fall."  I know fall doesn't officially start for a while, but here in Alaska the trees are turning yellow, the nights are cooler (no frost in Fairbanks yet), and gardens are getting cleaned up and put away for another year.  Snow will dust the ground soon, and we will all settle into our winter mode.

I decorated these Fall mini cookies to embrace the season!  I mixed a brown sugar and spice cookie dough from Bake at 350 and added a little pumpkin spice mix to the royal icing.  They smelled wonderful, like grandma's fall baking.

Minis need a simple design, there are so many in one batch of dough, so I made polka-dots, swirls, and used some fun sprinkles to jazz things up.  It was a fun way to welcome a new season.

I got these mini cookies from The Four Box  the decorations are copied inspired from the video tutorial that is attached to her page.

All these from one batch of dough.

1 year ago:    Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
3 years ago:   Natural Body Scrub
5 years ago:   Work Travel and the Perfect Dirty Martini
7 Years ago:   Stuffed Pork Loin and the Good Try

September 12, 2020  Sunrise 7:23 am Sunset 8:03 pm  Temp. H 57/ L 40°F

Paint Your Own Cookies and Weekend Chores

It's been several months since I've made sugar cookies.  With social distancing and everyone a little on edge, I didn't want to make a bunch of cookies I couldn't give away.  Well, Fairbanks has had about a dozen total cases and we went 14 days without a new incident (update: we've had some more positive cases since I wrote this) I thought I would make some cookies and give them to the neighbor kids and send some to Gman.  I made paint your own cookies and figured it would be something for them to do.

I just made basic sugar cookies added a teaspoon of berry extract and 1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles.  Then I frosted them with a lemon flavored royal icing. 

After I flooded the cookie, I used a stiff royal icing and outlined some flowers, butterflies, rainbows and ladybugs. 

Once they were dry I wrapped them up and sent them on their way with disposable brushes and these cute little food color pain squares I got from The Flour Box.  It was a fun, relaxing way to spend a couple of hours decorating cookies.

Dave, on the other hand, is at war with the voles in the yard.  They ate about 1/3 of the front yard and Dave was not having it.  He set 47 traps throughout the yard and is hoping to get rid of them before they move inside.  He loaded the traps with peanut butter and every morning and evening he "walks the trap line" to see what he got.  I think I had more fun than he did last weekend.

1 year ago:    Shredded Beef and Spring Cleaning

5 years ago:  Summer Salad

7 years ago:  Cherry Tart and the Weight Loss Challenge

May 6, 2020  Sunrise 4:57am  Sunset 10:40pm  Temp H 63/ L 37°F

Chocolate Sugar Cookies for Christmas Platters

Christmas time is my most favorite.  The house is all decorated, the outside has a million lights (I tease Dave and say you can see our house from space), and my nativity is up outside.

I kind of have a thing for nativities.  I have 5 of them for inside and one big one outside.  Dave added to my collection this year with a nice one from Costco, only about 100 million people have it, because Costco, but I love it and was so pleased when he brought it home.

This week I made Christmas cookie platters.  I made chocolate sugar cookies and I really liked the dark cookie peeking out from behind the green frosting.  I use this old cookie cutter that used to belong to my grandma Stejer.  She alway used to send us boxes of cookies around the holiday and now I need to start doing that for my grandsons!

My Grandma Stejer's cookie cutter.

Well, these cookies went to work and they were gone in a flash!  Delicious and beautiful.

Chocolate Sugar Cut-Out Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
8 tbsp. butter, softened (one stick)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 large egg

In a medium size bowl whisk flour, cornstarch, salt and cocoa powder together.  In a mixer beat butter with sugar for 3 minutes until fluffy and light in color.  Add egg, vanilla and vegetable oil.  Mix well.  With mixer on low, add flour mixture with a large spoon, until flour is just incorporated completely.  Roll dough to 1/2 inch thick between two sheet of parchment paper.  Cut desired shapes and place on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Bake cookies for 12 minutes.  Be careful, it is hard to tell when these are done because they are already so dark.  Decorate as desired.

5 years ago:  Early Christmas Gifts and Candy Cane Cocktail
7 years ago:  Roasted Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Oregano


December 14, 2019  Sunrise 10:50 am  Sunset 2:40 pm  Temp H 12/ L 2°F

Grandma's Naughty Dinosaurs

Gman and his dad showed up Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.  Gman's mom has to stay home because she is too far along in her pregnancy to fly.  I think it is very generous of her to let her family leave her for the 4 day weekend, but she says she is looking forward to the time home alone.  I sent her a big tub of flavored popcorn for her to snack on while she binge watches something on Netflix.

I had big plans on posting over the weekend with my Thanksgiving keto options, but once that little guy showed up all my attention was on him.  So, I'll post some holiday favorites after the Thanksgiving feast, but before Christmas when I'll be making most of these again.

While Gman was visiting, the naughty dinosaurs were at it again.  They snuck out of their little cage during the night and got into all kinds of mischief.

They got into the waffle mix, so we had to have waffles for breakfast...

One night they partied and opened the paper poppers...so we had to pop the rest of them in the morning.

This is the look my husband gives me when he thinks I'm
getting carried away with all this fun!

I guess I wasn't good with pictures because there were two more mornings, one morning they brought this giant egg that had all kinds of dino activities in it and one morning they had some Paw Patrol temporary tattoos Gman likes, so we put on tattoos.

I also didn't get around to posting my Thanksgiving cookies.  I made pumpkin spice sugar cookies and decorated some pumpkins and some slices of pumpkin pie to give to friends.  

Thanksgiving cookies for the decorating cookie challenge.

Pumpkin pie cookies ready for giving.

Cookie boxes for friends.

Each place at our table had a cookie name card.

And now we are full into the season of eating...I hope you had a filling Thanksgiving and have a peaceful holiday.

1 year ago:    Antipasta salad

3 years ago:  Oreo Cheesecake and Teasing the Baby Boy

5 years ago:  Easiest Roast Ever

December 6, 2019  Sunrise 10:32 am  Sunset 2:50 pm  Temp. H -10/L -11°F

Shark Cookies

No, it's not Shark Week and we aren't about to watch Sharknado.  Gman loves sharks, so I made shark cookies for him and I mailed him some.

It was important work, and I did this while Dave was outside splitting and stacking 2 cords of wood, by himself.  Because I'm helpful like that.

So I hope the Gman enjoys eating his shark cookies and now I'm trying to decide on some Thanksgiving cookies to decorate just in case Dave gets more wood delivered.

1 year ago:    Dinosaurs

5 years ago:  Hot Spiced Rum Apple Cider

7 years ago:  Flourless Chocolate Cake with Nutella Buttercream

November 19, 2019  Sunrise 9:39 am  Sunset 3:31 pm  Temp H 14/ L 11°F