Why I love blogging, TERESA, Doggie silhouette cookies, and Seattle, Seattle, Seattle!!!

{Be warned...a very wordy post, with lots of personal pictures. But, there ARE cookies, too!}

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  My very favorite thing about blogging is not anything I ever expected or anticipated.

My very favorite thing about blogging is that it has brought some really amazing and true friendships into my life. ♥

For Mother's Day two years ago, Mr. E surprised me with a trip to visit my very first blogging friend, Cheryl from TidyMom. It was so much fun that I decided then and there that visiting bloggy friends in real life must be continued.

When we were thinking about a spring break trip, we decided on Seattle. Yes, warm, sunny Seattle.  Neither one of us had really seen the city, and kiddo had never been to that part of the country.  And guess who just happens to live there?!?

TERESA from Blooming on Bainbridge!!!

Now, Teresa and I had gotten to the point of texting each other, oh, about 247,000 times a day.  It was high time we met...and we DID!!!

We had a wonderful dinner together in Seattle and had a groan-worthy, unbutton-the-top-button-of-your-pants dinner at Teresa's home on Bainbridge Island.  (I waited until we were on the ferry back to Seattle to do the unbuttoning...you don't want to be TOO weird when meeting a blog friend.) We were so busy gabbing that we didn't take many pictures.

You know how Teresa is the sunniest, funniest, happiest girl on her blog?  Well, she's that x 1,000 in person.   And her house?  Oh, it's only the cutest place ever.

{Psst...See that handsome man with the cool glasses in the picture with kiddo and & Mr. E?  That's Teresa's husband.  I swear, bloggers have the best husbands.  I just love him.}

Oh, and y'all...Seattle is a foodie town.  Great food is everyWHERE!  Take a look at this salted caramel cupcake from The Yellow Leaf Cupcake Co. 

But, the BEST food we ate all week was at Teresa's house on Bainbridge.  Chicken Pot Pie, Mashed Potatoes, all kinds of appetizers, Ina's Chocolate Pudding.  Mr. E is so spoiled now.
And I'm chubby.

Let's talk about Seattle...or, our home away from home, the Pan Pacific Hotel.
This was our view:

{No, I'm not kidding.  That's the Space Needle.  How cool is that?!?}

I'm pretty much in love with this hotel.  From the location (in a hip little neighborhood where Amazon is making it's new home), to the service (impeccable), to the WHOLE FOODS MARKET downstairs!

Foodies...if you are planning a trip to BlogHer Food in June, you might want to consider the Pan Pacific! {Y'all...they have free wifi.  They know better than to separate a blogger from her wifi.}

{A few more pictures...we didn't stay in the suite pictured up top, but I thought you might want to see it.  I'm going to dream about it. The lobby is also very chic and modern...wonderful seafood restaurant and a Starbucks attached (this is Seattle after all!).  ALL of the rooms come with BIG soaking tubs and sliding doors that open up to the room.  After a long day of walking around Seattle, relax in the tub with a glass of wine, and enjoy your view of the Space Needle.  Of course, I did not do this since kiddo was with us, but I imagined it. ;)}

As far as what to see....I could go back and spend a month or so in Seattle just exploring.  Well, exploring and EATING.  Space Needle, monorail, Pike Place Market, the ferries...there is SO, so much to do!!!

Now to the cookies...

If you know Teresa, and you should, you'll know her ADORABLE Wheaten Terrier doggie, Doogan.

So, I stole a picture of Doogan from Teresa's blog ;), and printed it out.

Then, the day before I made the cookies, I placed the printout on an upside-down cookie sheet and covered it with waxed paper.  I outlined and filled the picture, just like I would on a cookie.

For the cookies, I used Callye's method of turning a scalloped circle cookie into a scalloped oval.  (I love this!)  The cookies were outlined and filled with light turquoise icing.

After the cookies had been drying for about an hour, I peeled the Doogan silhouettes off of the waxed paper and gently placed them on the cookies.  (The cookies are still wet enough to hold the silhouette without disturbing the icing.) Then, the cookies dried uncovered overnight.

Since I was visiting Teresa (the queen of pink and gingham), I had to tie her cookies up in some big pink gingham ribbon. ♥

Seattle Spring Break...I recommend it.

{...especially with your sweethearts.}

I'll leave you with one more (can you stand it?) picture. It's blurry, but I think it's my favorite.

Leo the Lion (cookies)

 
So, my sister, Molly, recently had her third baby. Her third boy, I might add.  Her third boy, all of whom are ages 4 and under.

{I'm not a psychic, but I see lots of Legos and Hot Wheels in her future.}

Meet Leo...

{I know, right?  Not only is he beautiful, he's the sweetest baby ever.}

These cookies were really heavily influenced my i am baker's lion cookies.  (Amanda uses a glaze icing on her cookies and they have *the prettiest* shine, don't they?}

Want to make them?  You'll need:

• circle cookies
• royal icing in AmeriColor Egg Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Deep Pink and Super Black
• decorating tips in #1 and #2
• disposable icing bags
• toothpicks
• squeeze bottles
• AmeriColor Gourmet Writer, black
• a baby named Leo ♥

 
Sketch it out first, if you want.  I usually do.  And I make a note of whether I need colors to outline (O) or fill (F).

 
OK, let's get decorating.  Pipe a circle in the darker color with a #2 tip.


Add ears.


With a toothpick, scrape away the separation between the ears and the face.


Outline the mane.

Thin the two yellows with water until they are the consistency of thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a rubber spatula and pour into squeeze bottles.


Fill in the mane with darker yellow.


Fill in the face with lighter yellow.


Drop on darker dots for the ears on the wet icing.

Let the cookies sit at least one hour.


Using a #1 tip, add the whiskers, eyes and mouth in black icing.  Add the nose in pink.

Let the cookies dry overnight.


The next day, add little dots on the face with a black food coloring pen.


{PS....whenever I think of lions, I think of Mr. TidyMom.  He let me bottle feed a LION, y'all.  And the lion's name?  Leo.}

Welcome to the world, sweet Leo!  We love you!

Frosted (JUMBO) Animal Cookies

{image from Mother's cookies}

When my friend, Teresa, from Blooming on Bainbridge mentioned that she loves Frosted Animal Cookies, a little light bulb went off in my head. 
{PS...if you've never visited Teresa's blog, go now...they say Disney World is the happiest place on earth; they're wrong.  It's Teresa's blog.}

Why not make my own *larger* version of them?

See, I love Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies.  When kiddo was a toddler, I lived on a diet of Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies and Vanilla Coke.  Then I weaned myself off of them and started my current diet of Starbucks Pumpkin Bread and Iced Decaf Vanilla Lattes.  Much healthier.

I didn't have all of the correct shapes for the cookies; I did have an elephant cutter, but the rest, well...I improvised.

We have frosted animal bunnies, ducks, giraffes....

....and the all-important frosted animal stegosaurus.

For the flavor, I wanted to be authentic. So, I checked a bag of Mother's Cookies to see what flavor they used to make them so delicious.  Vanilla? Almond? Lemon? Butter?  Turns out, what makes them so delicious is just plain ol' sugar. I couldn't find any flavoring in the ingredients whatsoever.

Or maybe it's the sprinkles.

So here is my not-so-authentic version:


Lemon Cut-Out Cookies

3 c. unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. sugar
2 sticks salted butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp. grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.  Set aside.

With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and cold butter until fluffy.  Add in the egg, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.  Beat until combined.

On low speed, add in the flour mixture in 3 additions.  Scrape the bottom of the bowl as necessary.  Knead together the dough as needed by hand as it will be very stiff.

Roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes about 3/8 to 1/4" thick.  Place on parchment lined sheets.  Freeze 5-10 minutes on the sheets before placing in the oven (this will help prevent cookies from spreading).

Bake 9-12 minutes, depending on cookie cutter size.  Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Lemon Royal Icing

4 TBSP meringue powder
scant 1/2 c. water
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.

Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine.

Add in the corn syrup and lemon juice

Increase speed to med-high and beat for about 5-10 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.
 
Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings. (I used AmeriColor Gel Paste Food Color in Bright White and Deep Pink.)

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Remember last week when I visited my friend Cheryl from TidyMom? She wrote a great post about our visit.  Even though it was our first time to meet, I felt like I had known her for AGES!  We talked from the second I stepped off the plane until the second she dropped me back off at the airport.

Cheryl is just what she is on her blog....fun, funny, creative, smart, beautiful...I'm so  thrilled to be her friend.  She also has an adorable husband and 2 beautiful girls! (AND, her cupcakes are delicious!)

Oh yeah, I also bottle fed a 750-pound lion.

If you have a bloggy friend, I highly recommend making the effort to get together in REAL LIFE!

Ewe Tube

I'm not sure what got into me.  I saw this cartoon on a card at Target:

...and thought, "that needs to be a cookie!"

Maybe it's the videos at University of Cookie.....or the vlog post for TLC.....maybe it's just 13 years of being married to Mr. E, Pun Master. 

I hope you'll forgive me!

Here they are on You Tube learning about cookie decorating....

...and making new friends...

...and now ready for their close up on Ewe Tube.

I'm sorry. Truly.

{Can you think of any more pun cookie ideas?  I think facebook might be a little creepy.}

Pony Party

I know, I know, the Kentucky Derby is over. I still had to post them because...

a. I promised a few twitter friends that I would (I could never deny my twitter friends!), and
b. don't you think they would be cute for a birthday party?

My dad belongs to a group that holds a Kentucky Derby fundraiser each year. (You can read more about it in this post...it's a great event.) This is the 3rd year (or 4th?) they've ordered cookies for the event...and for the week prior to the Derby, our house is covered in horsies.

To make some ponies of your very own:

• In royal icing, outline the "saddle" in the color of your choice with a #2 tip.
• With another #2 tip, outline the shape of the horse in brown (AmeriColor Chocolate Brown).
• Thin a contrasting color royal icing and the brown to the consistency of maple syrup; let sit several minutes covered with a damp dish towel. (Details on how to thin royal icing are here.)
• Run a rubber spatula gently through the icing to pop any large air bubbles and transfer to a squeeze bottle.

• Fill in the saddle area, using a toothpick to guide into corners.
• Fill in the horse in brown, using a toothpick to guide into corners.
• Let sit at least one hour.

{You can see I've lost my natural light from the pictures...sometimes decorating cookies is an all day, or multi day, project.}

• With a #2 tip, add the detailing in the contrasting color and go back over the outline of the saddle.
• With a #2 tip, add the mane, eye, tail and hooves to the horse.

• Let dry overnight.

Giddy up!

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There is a new video over at University of Cookie! Renee of Kudos Kookies shows the basics of PAINTING on cookies. It is very cool and a whole new way to decorate cookies. Be sure to check it out!