Paint Your Own Cookies

'Paint Your Own' Cookies are absolutely a thing.

Think about the last time you gave your toddler a handful of M&Ms. Did he swallow them down, or just suck on them for a minute before spitting that rainbow mouthful on your kitchen floor? 

Mmm-hmm. 

As we parents know, M&Ms have a lot of pigment sitting on their candy-coated shells. 

You can use that power for good and not evil, by using M&Ms as an edible paint palette. 

It's nearly as easy as it sounds. You just use a paintbrush to dab some water on the candy. After a minute or so, you can pull the dye right from the M&M and paint it onto a cookie. 

It's really fun! 

And so, I present to you-- Paint Your Own Cookies!

SET #4 Princess cookies!

Set #5 - Paint Your Own Animal Cookies!

After that initial set of PYO princess cookies, I went a little crazy and bought a TON of stencils on Amazon. This isn't even all of the PYO's that I have!!

(Hello, my name is Jenna, and I have a problem with binge-buying cookie supplies.)

More cookie pictures coming soon!

-Jenna

The Cookie Thing

After the kids are in bed and asleep, the house is quiet. 

Then I run to the living room to eat, read, and rest. 

On one of these quiet evenings last October, I lazed on the couch to drowsily scroll Facebook. After an hour, I felt an epiphany coming--

My. Children. Are. ALL. SLEEPING!!!

It hadn't hit me quite this way before. My kids are all sleeping, which means that nighttime isn't just for rest. This is my time to DO STUFF. 

I was also 20 weeks pregnant at this point, so I knew that my quiet nights would end in just 20 more weeks.

What was I doing, wasting time on Facebook?!

THIS WAS MY CHANCE!!

I decided, then and there, that it was time to make good on an old goal. 

See, a year ago, I had taken a class to learn the basics of sugar cookie decorating. Sugar cookies are popular right now, and giving away sugar cookies is a lot easier than giving away entire cakes. 

On top of that, you can mail cookies. My family lives in Alaska while we live in Connecticut. It would be nice to be able to send cookies for birthdays. 

On that October night, I challenged myself to make a set of sugar cookies every week until the baby is born, in hopes of getting good enough to do local baby showers or weddings. 

After two months of cookie-ing, I'm finally ready to show you the product of my 10:00 PM-2:30 AM cookie nights. 

SET #1: Blue Butterflies!

SET #2: Froggy Faces!

SET # 3 - Dinosaurs!

More to come!

-Jenna

On Making Christmas Cookies

Hello friends!

Today's December 1st, thus opening my very favorite season of the year. 

To celebrate, I want to share some of my favorite sugar cookie recipes and tricks. It's Christmas Cookie season, after all!

Let's start with a recipe. 

This one is the Gold Standard for sugar cookies. You'll notice that it uses powdered sugar instead of granulated-- don't worry, that's just part of the magic. 

This recipe also recommends using emulsions, which basically means a fancy version of extract. You can use plain old vanilla and almond extract. 

Bake these cookies until they juuuuuust begin to turn golden-brown on the edges, or until the tops are no longer shiny. 

If you're looking for a gingerbread cookie, I recommend this one.

Now let's talk about frosting. 

When you're working with sugar cookies, you have two basic frosting options. 

Royal Icing or Glaze-

This type of frosting will harden so you can stack the cookies on top of one another. This is the normal icing option for sugar cookies. 

My favorite hardening recipe is called Sweet Hope's Frankenfrosting, which is half royal icing and half glaze, making it the best of both worlds. It hardens like royal icing, but still has the taste and soft bite of a glaze. (Note: I increase the meringue powder to 3 Tablespoons).

Buttercream- 

This is the soft, yummy frosting that you find on cakes. This type of frosting will NOT harden, so you can't stack cookies without creating a mess. 

HOWEVER, you can't beat buttercream for taste. When you pile soft buttercream on top of a soft cookie, ohhhh my. You've got the stuff of dreams. 

Because we're friends, I'm going to share my Super Secret, Jenna-created, Lick-The-Bowl-Clean recipe for buttercream. 

Jenna's Secret Buttercream

2 cups salted butter (note: use cold butter)

1/2 cup vegetable shortening 

2 teaspoons vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar

Cream together butter with vegetable shortening. Add vanilla, mix until light and fluffy. 

Add in powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating after each addition until frosting is well-mixed and fluffy. 

Decorating!

Now you've got a great cookie and a batch of frosting--  how do you decorate?

Generally, the best way to decorate a cookie is with a piping bag and tip, so you can squirt out frosting in a design. Once you've got the right materials, it's actually easier than using a knife and it's much more attractive. 

Here's a video showing how to pipe roses-- this is one of the easiest frosting techniques yet always gives a stunning look. This works best with buttercream frosting. 

Royal icing, however, needs to be watered down a few drops at a time until it sort of pours from your spoon in the texture of molasses or honey. You can spread this frosting onto your cookie with a knife, dip the cookie's top into the frosting, or squirt frosting onto the cookie with a piping bag. 

Here's a video showing the basic flooding technique for royal icing. 

It takes some practice, but you can do some really cool things with royal icing. 

Merry Christmas! 

Go eat cookies!

-Jenna

Jenna's Book Reviews

I know what you're thinking. 

"Jenna, can you give us quick updates of what you're reading, but in an enjoyable, entertaining way?"

Why, yes, I can!

For your viewing pleasure, here are Jenna's Book Reviews.
---------

#1

Wuthering Heights should be renamed, "If y'all Had Just Listened to Nelly, Everything Would Have Turned Out All Right."


#2

"Boromir, can you stop whining for like five minutes?!"
--The Fellowship of the Ring


#3

*Me, snacking on popcorn* "Okay everyone. You may now, through facetious dialogue and drama, proceed to wreck each other's lives."
-- Northanger Abbey


#4

In the Department of Mysteries...
Bode: "we've got another request for a time turner."
Croaker: "*groan* not another one!? What's the excuse this time?"
B: "it's a kid from Hogwarts who wants to take more classes than will fit in a normal schedule."
C: "A teenager?! No. Absolutely not. A powerful magical instrument with the capacity to change wizardkind should never be handled without-"
B: "It's for Hermione Granger."
C: ...
B:...
C:..."It's hers. I'll sign the form today."
-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
---

Remember on the first day back at Hogwarts (year 3) when Harry waited outside McGonagall's office so she and Hermione could talk? He only waited a minute, then Hermione came out beaming and they went to dinner.

Later we find that McGonagall taught Hermione all about the time turner during that short space. 

Why did Harry wait for only a minute?

Because the two girls went back in time right there, giving McGonagall ample time to tell Hermione all about the time turner. 

When Harry left the office to wait, the past Hermione and McGonagall could step out from their hiding spot and go back into the Great Hall like nothing had happened

#5

*Other people* "You are so precious."
*Me:* "That word doesn't mean what you think it means..."
-The Two Towers

#6

"An In-Depth Look at All Kinds of Unhealthy Relationships..."
-Sense and Sensibility
-------------------
Seriously though guys:
-Edward and Lucy
-ROBERT and Lucy
-Mary Ann and Everyone Else
-Brandon/Brandon's brother and Eliza
-Elinor and Mary Ann
-Mrs. Jennings and her parrot
AND SO MANY MORE.


#7

HOW TO READ The Lord of the Rings trilogy:
1. Watch the first movie. Ignore the book.
2. Read the second book, skipping any and all paragraphs lacking quotation marks. Fully understand why people were so bothered when I referred to myself in third person as a teenager
3. Block out a weekend and read every word of The Return of the King. It contains the secrets of the universe.
I'm still reeling.


#8

Voldemort (singing in a minor, yet jazzy key): "Gotta hide my horcrux, gotta hide my souuuulll..."
But...where?
"In a cave in the ground, in the middle of the lake, oh I'll keep it there!"
But does it need more?
"A potion! That potion I brewed, I brewed when I was four!!.. (teen)"
More?
"Oh wait there's more!"
(Switches to emo rock)
DEAD BODIES, SUNKEN BOATS, BLOOD BLOOD BLOOD!
(Pulls out hat and stick for jazzy finish): And that's where I'll hide my soulllllll!"
Nagini (applauding with tail): "That was great, Master. Where will you hide the other horcruxes?"
Voldemort: "The others? IDK, maybe I'll throw one in Gringotts and give another to Lucius, he's pretty cool. And maybe stick one under a shack and the last in that secret room in Hogwarts that millions of other students have also used. It'll be fine."
-The precursor to The Deathly Hallows.
(Anyone else ever thought that Voldemort sort of gave up after hiding the first one?)


#9

A little girl learns that courage is being terrified to death but doing it anyway.
Also-- don't go through the door.

--Coraline

*Years ago I worked for at a law firm and one of the attorneys, in passing, mentioned that one of his favorite books is Coraline. That's all the encouragement I need, so I checked it out and read it through in one sitting. And oh, my!! It's fast-paced and interesting, and just the right level of creepy/adventure to keep you tangled. Highly recommend for anyone wanting a good, scary story.


#10

Q: What is Anne Shirley's least favorite vegetable?
A: Carrots. (Ba dum tss!)
--Anne of Green Gables

**Did you know that Anne of Green Gables is book #1 in an 8 book series? Believe it or not, the books get better as they go along. The audiobooks are fabulous-- I check them out on Libby to put on while I'm doing the dishes or folding laundry. If you're looking for a new book, check them out!

-Jenna

Birch Tree Wedding Cake!

Hello hello!!

There haven't been a lot of posts lately-- it's been rather crazy over here.


1. We moved in June

2. Joe began a new job

3. I took up a new hobby -- making sugar cookies. Pictures coming soon!

4. We are having a baby boy this March!


Between all that, there hasn't been a lot of time for updating the ol' blog.


But recently, we went to Utah to be a part of my sister-in-law's wedding! She asked me to put together the cake, and here is the result! I've done tiered cakes before, but this was the first honest-to-goodness wedding cake I've done.

Joe's aunt baked the layers, and I put together the cake! Teamwork makes the dream work. 

Here's the video showing the cake all the way around

Hope you like it!

--Jenna