Summer Time Fun

Well, summer has definitely arrived here in KC with the temperatures being in the high 90s and 100s this past week.

So definitely time to make some summertime cookies! 

Instead of plain sugar cookies, I made chocolate chip ones! Something for variety and a good time to test out a different recipe. I used Sugarbaker's Chocolate Mini-Chip Cookie recipe that I found here. I was quite pleaesed with the taste and the way it rolled out nicely when shaping them. This is definitely a recipe I would use in the future.

Last year The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle had some great ideas on her blog. One of them was to use a butterfly cookie cutter to make a pair of flip flops. That blog always has great ideas of how to use cookies cutters outside in an outside of the box way.

Here are your swim trunks, bikini and one piece swimming suits! That's about all you can do right now in the KC heat  - swim!

Another neat idea Sugarbelle gave me last year was to use a cross cookie cutter to make a palm tree. I just trimmed off the top part of the cross. Isn't that clever?

Lots of bright colors and summer shapes! I'm having some girls over for dinner and I hope they enjoy them. I made them for a special cousin that is in town and hasn't had any of my cookies yet.

Happy Baking! And stay cool.

Jen

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Let's go KC Hawks!

What would our baseball season be without some baseball cookies?

They are a pretty good looking team, don't you think? The boys have all doing really well this season with Machine Pitch.

 OF course I think this little guy is the cutest!!!

Our summer baseball season is almost over, but have no fear....fall ball beings only a few weeks after that and we don't even stop practicing!

Happy Baking, 

Jennifer

Soccer Time

When we started our soccer season I of course decided that I was going to make soccer balls for all the kids! I came to find out that soccer balls were much harder to make than I imagined!

The unfortunate thing about these was that I wanted to take them to our end of the season soccer event - all 50 cookies that I made. Pass them out and get a picture of all the kids because we didn't get any team ones this season. But the event was planned on a night that we had baseball (with only a few days notice I might add and more than a month after the season ended) and we couldn't make it. That really made me sad after all the hard work I had put into it. I sent the cookies with another parent though. I hope the kids enjoyed them!

We didn't get any professional pictures, but I took these of my soccer "kid" after his last game!

 The most we got to do with our cookies was deliver them to a friend that was going to the party. And you can see the little trophy all the kids got.

Happy Baking.

Jen

Father's Day Yummy Desserts

For Father's Day I made some Yummy desserts...that were super easy but WONDERFUL. I had my little helper for these...and he was a professional taste tester as well!

There is nothing better than being able to lick the icing is there?

My first creation was this Oreo Cookie Cake. I'm always very impressed when my cakes come out super easy and in one piece from the pan! Worked like a charm this time!

This recipe was super easy and delicious - everyone that had it LOVED it. I PINNED It from this website Veronicas Cornucopia here.

 You simply use a box of white cake mix (or your favorite recipe) and add crushed oreos. That's it. The icing is just as easy - cream cheese, powdered sugar, oreos and whipped cream. That's it! Everyone raved about it. A different kind of icing than I had made before and it was wonderful. You to have to keep it refrigerated until you use it though.

 My second reason was the result of another successful Pinning here. From Delish.com. A wonderful "Ice Cream Treasure". Very simple to make. The crust is made of rice krispees, cheerios and brown sugar. The website didn't say to bake it, but I did put it all in the oven for about 15 min at 350 and it seemed to work just perfectly. Not really sure what it would be like if you didn't bake it. Then you can take any kind of ice cream you like and add bits of toffee like Delish did. It calls for coconut and nuts as well but my guests weren't fans of either so I skipped all that jazz..but that would be fabulous in it as well. 

I totally recommend both of these recipes if you want something easy, wonderful and serves a big group. 

HAPPY BAKING. 

Jen

Happy Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to the amazing Father's I have in my family. My Dad and my husband! And Happy Father's to all those out there!

Being a Father is an incredible job and not always easy. Like Bill Cosby said, "Even though your kids will consistently do the exact opposite of what you're telling them to do, you have to keep loving them just as much."

Father's brought many images to my mind.....here are some that I decided to make to honor my Father's in our family. 

I found the rainbow on Pinterest and had to make one. I love Pinterest, but the only thing is that sometimes when you try to find the source of a picture or what you are pinning, a valid one does not exist. Such is the case with this. Unfortunately I can't tell you where I got this idea from!

I found the sun on Glorious Treats website here. They made me smile when I made them --- and they also made me think of DAD. 

Dad's bring lots of sunshine and rainbows to the world of a child. That is what my Dad and my husband have done and are doing each day. 

Some golf cookies in honor of my husband.....this being his latest hobby. I loved the idea of making a little golf scene using a circle cookie cutter. I found that inspiration on Sugary Sweet Things Blog here.

Doesn't every Dad or Father like Beer? At least in my house they do.....I'm all about raising our glasses in honor of Pat and my Dad on Sunday! Cheers!

T-shirts are hard for me to do...they are still a work in progress....but it still sort of looks like something a Dad might wear!

We all know that the TIE is a symbol of Father's day...but do you know the background? 

As early as 1920, the custom of giving ties to fathers was symbolic of love and a joke. A man was often teased for his ugly tie that his wife gave him, as it was common for her to have no sense of taste. And poor Dad was left wearing an ugly tie in order not to hurt his wife's feelings. It still remains today that the tie if the traditional and classic Father's Day gift. 

Read more about Father's Day history on Browinelocks.com here.http://www.brownielocks.com/fathersday.html

Happy Father's Day to 2 very important Father's in my life. My Dad and my husband. You are the best Dad''s I could ask for. 

"Any man can be a father. It takes someone special to be a dad." - Author Unknown. 

Happy Baking, 

Jen

Welcome to the world Baby Boy!

There is nothing more special in this world than the birth of a child! A beautiful friend that I met clear back in grade school had her first child recently. I simply had to make something to celebrate this wonderful occasion. I really enjoyed making these to welcome baby Samuel into the world. Just a small token I could send the family to let them know how happy I am for them! 

Welcome Baby Samuel! You have been born into the most wonderful and loving family and have parents that are going to take such good care of you!

I looked through many websites to gather ideas for some fun baby cookies and came up with quite a few I think! The baby ducks I found on A Dozen Eggs bake Shoppe website here. I think the polka dots are just adorable for a little baby.

 I didn't have an elephant cookie cutter (guess I need one, right?) but really wanted to try to make one so I did this freehand after looking at a few different designs. With freehand you get a something just a bit different each time. Not bad for my first attempt!

I found these sweet baby faces made from a flower on Facebook - on Icings by Ang's page. I think they look so peaceful!

My baby bottle idea came from browsing through many pictures on Yahoo. I can't really give credit to any one person - I sort of combined what I saw. A simple design that I think is pretty neat.

Thanks to Ali Bee's Bake Shop for giving me the idea for this sweet baby face. She has so many cute ideas. I combined a few and made a few changes to what she did but want to give her credit.

My cookies are going in the mail and I hope they arrive safely and in one piece! 

Congrats to my friend and her family. 

"A baby will make love stronger, days shorts, nights longer, bankrolls smaller, homes happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for."

Happy Baking, 

Jen

Yummy Treats

 I haven't posted anything in a few weeks! I've actually taken a bit of a break and have been able to get some deep cleaning done around the house. I've also been busy with sports games and practices for Trevor. 

But here are a few yummy treats I have to share with you!

These CARMELITAS are super good! 

Gooey, yet wonderful. I found them on this blog. Click Here for the recipe. I did my own variation on this which includes caramel squares, oats and chocolate chips. I used low fat caramel sauce and white chocolate chips instead. Super good substitutions in my opinion!

These White Chocolate Blondie Brownies I found on a website I use all the time - All Recipes. Click Here. I'm a "blondie" fan and am always trying to find something that I really, really like. This is pretty tasty. My own variation was to use butterscotch chips on top instead of white chocolate chips since that was already inside. I left this a bit underdone to get more of a dense taste instead of cake like - just my preference! This was pretty tasty too.

Happy Baking!

Jen