Star Wars Cookies Part 2

Theo took a looong time deciding what he wanted for his birthday snack at school. He weighed all the options and considered his favorite foods (chocolate chip cookies and caramel popcorn were also contenders) before deciding on Star Wars cookies. (Forgive the terrible lighting ... these were the product of post-bedtime baking.)



Notice some new friends? I was fortunate to get the second set of cutters for my birthday ... just in time to make cookies for my favorite 9-year-old's birthday. (There's a set of vehicles, too, but I don't think they are nearly as fun.) I usually make these with almond flavoring, but there's a nut allergy in Theo's class, and I wasn't sure how severe, so I decided to play it safe. Turns out, these are just as good with vanilla flavoring.



Leftover dough made some tie-dye friends yet again. Most popular shape with the 4th graders? Yoda, it was.

Baking Monday - Brown Sugar Cupcakes

Another fun fall-ish recipe from Martha Stewart. The recipe says poundcakes, but these were definitely more cupcake-like in texture. I used the half-portion recipe found here.

The frosting recipe called for browned butter - very yummy. I stopped for about 10 minutes halfway through the frosting process to take Clark on a playdate. When I returned, the texture of the icing had changed from smooth and glossy (see below, right) to shiny and bumpy (below, left). Bummer!

These were one of Jeff's favorites - super buttery. 

Baking Monday - Apple Cider Mini Muffins

Fall is in the air! It was just the teeniest bit chilly today, time for jackets. We picked our first apples of the season. And yesterday, we stopped for cider and donuts, so there was cider on hand to make these autumn-inspired treats. The recipe has a long list of ingredients, but nothing too complicated, including apple sauce substituting for apple butter. I will definitely try them with half whole wheat flour next time (and there will be a next time, Dora and Theo loved these!) and will go easier on the cinnamon-sugar coating ... a light dusting is plenty. Super yum!

Baking Monday - Autumn Goodies

So, I'm thankful for word of mouth today! Two years ago, I got an email from someone who was searching online and saw these tiger cookies. She ordered cookies for her son's graduation party, and then again this year for her daughter's party. (And placed the order way back in January - way to go, organized mom!!) One of her co-workers placed an order for another graduation party, and a guest at that party placed an order for her Labor Day party last weekend. (And turns out that she is the aunt of my daughter's best friend ... ah, the fun of a small town!) So, one post turned into four baking orders, which makes me very happy!

I was also very happy when the hostess told me her party was going to be a "Welcome to Fall" theme ... autumn cookies are some of my favorites to decorate. I was really thrilled with how this assortment turned out.

She also ordered cake pops. I had made some (seven dozen!) for the graduation party back in June, and by the time she arrived at the party, there were only two left - both vanilla - and apparently everyone was raving about the chocolate ones, so she ordered all chocolate this time around. It's such a joy to get positive feedback from customers - including my daughter's friend, who told me at school last week: "I had your cookies at my aunt's party and they were delicious!"

Reading Lately

After a diet of magazines all winter, I have been very happy to have time to dive into lots of books this summer. Some favorites so far ...



This was a right place, right time kind of read ... a book about visiting old friends for the weekend, brought along when I was going to visit old friends for the weekend. I've been a fan of hers for a long time, coincidentally picking up Confessions of a Shopaholic before my trip to London - another right place, right time situation (and likely the reason I spent way more $$ than anticipated while I was there. I ate more chocolate, too, but blamed that on Harry Potter.)



Great read, great story. Totally reads as a movie. I mentioned to a friend that I was surprised this book wasn't a YA title, and she pointed out that they wouldn't get all the references. Ooops, right. I'm old. Jeff listened to the audiobook (read by Wil Wheaton - perfect), which I'm guessing would be just as entertaining.

This IS a YA title that I would fully expect to start showing up on school curriculums. Fantastic book. I finished it this weekend and Dora picked it right up. Read it with your kids, it's a terrific story. 

Baking Monday - Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

Because I have an affection for cookies that look like other foods, I picked up this linzer cutter a few years ago, looking forward to making pretzel cookies. Today was the first time breaking it out! I opted for one of my favorite chocolate cookie recipes with chocolate glaze and sugar sprinkles.



Which turned out pretty cute, but since I know from experience that these cookies taste a zillion times better with mint-flavored glaze, I decided to make some of those, too. I wanted to differentiate the plain chocolate from the mint, so that glaze stayed white with chocolate jimmies instead.



Verdict: Yeah, mint is definitely the way to go, but the kids really loved these all around. The cutter looks small, but the dough puffed up to a perfect pretzel-size cookie.

And also? Chocolate cookies are incredibly hard to photograph nicely!

Patchwork Camera Strap

Hey, look! I made a cover for my camera strap!

I had an evening this week with nothing immediately pressing to do and decided to work on something fun. I looked through my sewing folder on Pinterest and picked this project. The tutorial is great - the only thing I did differently was to quilt the batting onto the scrappy piece before sewing it to back piece.

Clark liked the final product except for the two striped blocks ("too boring"), Dora thought the colors were "too brown," and Jeff said "boy, that will really man it up."



But I say - so cute!! I love projects that can be done in one sitting, and I had fun picking out fabric to go together. (And extra love for projects that can be done with materials already on hand, yay!) I also made a couple of key fobs - the green one first because I love that fabric, but then realized that it didn't match my key chain (hah!) so I made another one with the striped pattern.

My keys are always falling to the bottom of bags, so this has really come in handy this week. Would anyone like the other one? Leave a comment if you are interested - it's up for grabs!