Easter Sugar Cookies

Easter is almost here, so of course I had to continue the trend of making a batch of sugar cookies. This time I made two small sets, one with traditional Easter figures and another in the style of Peeps.

Here are the Wilton cookie cutters I used for the Peeps set. I just couldn't resist them! I saw them at Michael's and Walmart earlier this season, so I'm sure they would be easy to find!


That's about all the baking I've done for Easter so far, but planning to make a strawberry poke cake to bring to Easter dinner on Sunday!

St. Patrick's Day Sugar Cookies

I don't go to the pub or eat corned beef and cabbage, so for St. Patrick's Day I decided to decorate a small batch of sugar cookies, with mint flavored frosting.

I also did a bit of decorating around the house, but it was also to coincide with my husband's birthday, which was on the 15th. Not a holiday I usually go out of the way for, aside from wearing green, so it was fun to do a little more than usual. Have to celebrate my Irish heritage somehow!

Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

For Valentine's Day I decided to make my honey a batch of Valentine sugar cookies. I decided I would really like to make them with cherry frosting, because when we were dating in high school (many years ago) I made him a delicious batch of cookies with cherry frosting that I was never able to make again. For some reason, I was never able to find cherry frosting again, even though Betty Crocker still makes it, according to their website. I thought about making it myself, but all the recipes online had complaints about the frosting tasting like cough medicine. Not the tart taste I was going for!

I had decided I might have to settle on something else, so I picked up a can of Pink Lemonade to give it a whirl. When I opened the can to take a taste, the first thought was how much it tasted like real pink lemonade, almost as if they had just used a packet of pink lemonade Kool-Aid to make it. Lightning suddenly struck my brain and I suddenly had an idea! Why not buy a packet of cherry Kool-Aid and mix it into some vanilla frosting?! But would it work?? YES, it absolutely did! It was the perfect solution, so I was able to make my cherry frosted cookies after all. Here is the final result...



By the way, as it turns out, any flavor of Kool-Aid will work with frosting. I suggest using only half a packet for every 16 oz of frosting. Also keep in mind that it will tint your frosting the color of the flavor, so account for that when using this method. Experiment with adding it to white cake mixes as well!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!! I can't believe it's 2014. Another year come and gone, but as it is every January 1st, there is much to look forward to in the year to come. Always hope for new and exciting adventures, for change or progress, and new goals to be met. I love the promise of a new year, despite the fact that it means I am one year older. I am also one year wiser! That's the great reward of age. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and can use those lessons to help others. To contribute to problem solving and help those younger and more foolish to know better than we did. Well, at least we can say "we told you so!" :)

So what did I do this New Year's Eve? Well, went over my brother and his wife's house for a night with the family of playing games and eating junk food. Oh I know, I am a real party animal, but I did bring this creation along...a set of sugar cookies I made especially for the big night. My skills are still wanting, but I am new at this whole cookie thang and pretty pleased to be able to do this much so early in my self-taught journey of sugar cookie decorating. I hope to improve with each batch, but for now, I will bask in the glow of my current accomplishment. Hey, whaddyaknow? I already have a resolution for 2014! Hope you new year is greatly blessed!