Little League Baseball Cookies

These cookies are for a little league team called The Bombers and their end of the year party.  Their uniforms are maroon and grey, so I made a few jerseys with a B on them.  My favorite cookie, though, is the baseball 'bomb'.  It's a super simple cookie--I just wish I had a basic ornament cutter, that would have saved from from hand piping circles.  

Go Bombers!

Smurfs!

Talk about an order taking me back!  I loved doing this smurf 6th birthday platter.  I can't believe the smurfs are popular again, it's so much fun.  I loved sitting in front of the TV on Saturday mornings with my dad and brother watching the cartoons and Smurfs were definitely one of my favorites.  My mom hated the voices, but they never seemed to bother me.  

My trick for characters is to make royal icing transfers.  I don't have (nor can I afford) a KopyKake projector, so I print the characters out and pipe the outline onto wax paper.  It doesn't give me much help with the details, but the outline is the crucial part anyway.  Then, I let the transfers dry, and while the flooded cookie is still wet (2-3 minutes dry time), I place the transfer on to the cookie.  This way it sinks in a bit and doesn't create an unpleasant crunchy top.  I mixed in some 6s, cupcakes, presents, and wish cookies to round out the platter.  Happy 6th Birthday Em!

Summer Time Cookie Tray and Pops

I really loved doing these bright fun cookie pops for a end-of-year- party for a kindergarten class.  The accompanying platter was for teacher gifts.

 Beach balls are a great beginner cookie, because they are just circles, and the white outline icing helps to cover any mistakes.

Caramel Cups (with a Recipe!)

Whenever I'm making cookies for an order, if there is a type I haven't made in awhile, I always make a practice batch.  This way, I can be sure how many the recipe makes and if it need any tweaks.  Also, I pass the cookies on to my husband's work friends, so I get brownie (pun intended) points there too.  I'll try to include a recipe when I do a post on different types of cookies.  If you haven't heard of caramel cups or caramel tassies before, they are a unsweetened pastry crust, filled with caramel, topped with a swirl of buttercream.  Yum!

Caramel Cups Recipe 

Adapted From Taste of Home  

Crust:

1 Cup softened salted butter

6 oz cream cheese

2 Cups all-purpose flour

Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth, add the flour gradually.  Stir to combine.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to make the dough easier to work.  Roll into 48 1in balls and place into a lightly greased mini muffin tin.  Use a tassie press or your fingers to make a well.  Bake at 375° for 15-17 minutes.  Let cool in the tray for a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

Caramel Filling:

1 14oz bag of caramels

1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp evaporated milk

In a saucepan (or microwave) melt the caramels and milk until smooth.  Let cool a few minutes and then use a spoon to fill each cookie cup.  You can also use a zip-top bag or pastry bag, but I've had better luck with a small spoon.  Let cool to room temperature.

Frosting:

2 Tbsp softened butter

2 Tbsp shortening (you can use all butter, but it creates a softer consistency)

1 Cup powdered sugar

1 Tbsp evaporated milk

Beat butter and shortening until smooth, add the powdered sugar and milk gradation and beat until light and fluffy.  Use a pastry bag with a star tip (or a baggie with the corner cut off) to put a dollop on each cup.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  

Just a note, I can usually get 1 1/2 batches of cookies filled with the amount of caramel listed, but I usually make an extra half batch of frosting for the 48 cookies.

Burgundy & Silver Graduation Owl Platter

This was a fun platter for a wonderful cousin of mine who is graduating from high school.  Her school colors are burgundy and silver, so I used luster dust on all of the gray.  Unfortunately, my (very) poor photography skills don't showcase the sparkliness of the silver!  I mixed the owls with some twelves (a 1 and a 2 cutter just placed against each other), some plaques, and a few mini stars.  Congratulations K!

Hydrangeas

I got to make several dozen light pink hydrangeas for bridal shower favors.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.  The nice thing about this cookie, is the colors are completely interchangeable (provided you're not too picky about matching nature exactly.) I'm making the same cookie in a few weeks in light purple with purple centers (rather than the pink with white centers).