Sesame Street Cookies

I LOVE THESE COOKIES! They're covered completely in glitter. Really, what can go wrong?

I made these Sesame Street cookies for a second birthday party. They were due the day after another huge project, so I got started early and made royal icing transfers a few days ahead of time so I would be able to take my time and make them as perfect as possible. 

First, I traced the shapes with black royal icing onto wax paper. I used a picture underneath the wax paper so I could follow the lines. 

Flood with icing on one section, dump on the glitter, and wait a few hours for the icing to dry. 

 

 Don't you love edible glitter?

Brush the excess off (I use a makeup brush designated for food, not cosmetics) and fill in the rest of the colors

I tie my pastry bags with twist ties so I can put them down and not worry about them exploding and making a big mess.

When they're dry, you can just peel them off the wax paper. 

Flood a cookie with any color icing and, while the icing is still wet, plop the decoration on top.

There was a little bit of bleeding because of the intense black and because they sat for a few days, but I love how they came out. 

The glitter gets everywhere, but it's worth it. 

How can you resist?

DIY Cupcake Bar

As part of my sister's party, which you saw last week, I also made a DIY cupcake bar. Take a look!

We had chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. 

Lemon curd and chocolate ganache glazes. 

Tons of frosting!

And, of course, toppings

It was a big hit with the adults and the kids - everyone made a cupcake and ended the night hyped up on sugar. I think it made a special party even more memorable!

Carrie's Dessert Table

A few months ago, my little sister turned 18! Of course, a party was in order, and parties mean desserts.

  

 

Mini cheesecakes: chocolate oreo, chocolate raspberry, and vanilla bean raspberry. 

 Cake pops! These were super chocolately and, of course, covered in sprinkles.

Some fabulous chocolate covered strawberries.

Note the cute little tags. These matched perfectly with the invitation and the party favors.

 Yummy chocolate truffles.

Super tart lemon meringue pies. Because they're smaller they have to pack even more of a lunch. Some had a classic pie crust and other had pecan crusts.

 These are so much fun to make and even more fun to eat!

 My dad made this great stand for me.

Happy Birthday!

Paw Print Cookies

While making the pig and mud cupcakes I showed you a few weeks ago I also made a few cookies for my vet. Dr. Shane takes great care of our dog and rabbits, so I wanted to show her that I appreciate how much love she gives our pets by making her some sweet treats. These pawprints were so easy and came out even cuter than I expected!

 

Did I mention that she was just about to have a baby but still found time to call and ask how the doggy has been feeling?

I dropped these off at the office in a pretty pink box.

The next day, I got a call from the vet asking for two dozen sesame street cookies for her other daughter's second birthday!

She wanted them the day after the wedding I spent all summer working on.

So, because I'm crazy, of course I said yes. But that's a story (and some pictures) for another day.

Berry Cheesecake

I made cheesecake when I was in LA this summer and thought I'd share the pictures to brighten up your day after all this gloomy snow.

After having company over all evening, I started this cheesecake at 11 pm and finished many hours later, but I'm so happy with how it turned out! My oven left a few wonky marks on top because the cheesecake rose quite a bit, but that's nothing some fresh berries can't fix!

I used a hybrid of this recipe and this one.

For the topping, I let the berries macerate in a bowl with some sugar and vanilla bean paste, then tossed them in some warm apricot jam to give them a little extra flavor and a bit of shine.

This cheesecake was sent to a party with my little sister, so I never got a taste, but I heard it went over well! Now I just have to make it again so I can cut myself a nice big slice...

Cowboy Hats and Cowboy Boots

I made cookies. They look like cowboy boots and cowboy hats and have edible glitter and gold luster dust all over them. What more can you possibly want?

Oh yeah. And I made 100 of them.

The cowboy hats were so much fun because I got to make each one a bit different and I love the sparkly gold detailing.

The cowboy boots, however, were quite a bit trickier and took FOREVER. Notice the gold spur and the clunky heel?

But they're cute, so it was all worth it.

Lots and Lots of Green Cupcakes

So, I made cupcakes a few months ago.  Lots and lots of them. And they were delicious. I've baked for years, but, because I always gobble up everything I make,  I've never tackled the transportation problem. To change that, I made about 200 mini cupcakes to bring to work so I could see how well these treats handled the ride and the summer heat. 

In case you can't tell, we had a color-wars type thing happening at camp that week. Can you guess which team my campers were on?

I'll give you a hint. Here we have some green velvet cupcakes dipped in sprinkles with cream cheese frosting.



And some vanilla bean green (no, not vanilla green bean) cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

If you spent this post imagining what 150 cupcakes look like at my dining room table at midnight, today's your lucky day.

They traveled beautifully and lasted all day in an air-conditioned room. I bought 1/2 sheet boxes and used a mini cupcake size insert so there were 48 babycakes in each box. Dumped them in my trunk, drove normally, and ta da! The only problem I had was preventing myself from taking that 5th cupcakes when there was only one left at the end of the day. After all, it really didn't make sense to take just one home all by itself, did it?