Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Cookies in the Cupboard!

Here are some cookies I came up with tonight to welcome in the new year.

I really like the scalloped cutter and sanding sugar used for these two cookies, 

purchased through CopperGifts.com.

My Baby New Year cookies were made from a cutter given as a gift awhile ago 

and I'm so happy to finally use it!  

Of course, I forgot to give BNY (Baby New Year) his top hat, 

so I wrote on his diaper instead.  

Hope that will do. :)

The writing on this baby below gave me some trouble, 

but at least it fits and is somwhat legible.

My husband says he's going to feel weird eating a baby.

I told him to just close his eyes and pretend it's a gingerbread man.

Wishing you all the best in 2012!

BEST CHRISTMAS BOOK... EVER!

Yes, you are probably familiar with the Christmas classics - Twas the Night Before Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the like.  But have you ever heard of this book?  It really is the best Christmas book ever.  I say this because 1) my siblings and I used to fight over this book growing up and 2) because it's about COOKIES!!


The story in a nutshell:  Everyone LOVES their Christmas cookies and loves decorating them with sprinkles.  But so does the Snitcher, who snitches all the sprinkles while the town's asleep.  A little boy goes off in search of the missing sprinkles and shows the Snitcher the true meaning of sprinks. ;)  And it's told all in rhyme, like a Dr. Seuss book.  The illustrator used to work for Disney.


It's the best (did I mention that yet?)


My family had the paperback book growing up, and it has gotten a lot of wear and tear through the years.  It has also been lost for more than a few years as well, only resurfacing last year when my brother was helping our parents clean out some boxes.


It was then put in the family safe (to be VERY safe).  There was no way we were going to loose this book again.


Especially when the only place we could find it was on E-bay for a couple HUNDRED dollars.  (It was published in 1967, I believe, and out of print)


So you can imagine my surprise and delight when I opened up a package today and found it staring at me -- hardcover and mint condition!  I literally was giddy with happiness!


Turns out that the publishers recently re-printed it and now it is available for US ALL (cookiers and cookie lovers and cookie eaters) to own and cherish!


Here is Glide posing with the best Christmas book ever.
(and with my original Christmas stocking made by my mother 39 years ago -- so 70s!)

Here's Glide reading the best page in the book -- all the mothers singing and happy, rolling out their cookie dough.  Ahhh - I love just thinking about it!

If you want your own copy, Amazon has it for around $12!  Get it while it lasts!!!!

North Pole Cupcakes and Snowmen Cookies

Today was a non-stop day.  My two sons each had their class winter parties, both of which I played a role in.  (I like to be in control of things.  Especially when it comes to my sons' parties.  What mom doesn't?

For my kindergartener, I just made gingerbread cookies using Glorious Treats' recipe -- delicious and JUST PERFECT!  I brought them to school plain and the children got to frost them (plain buttercream frosting) and decorate with sprinkles.  This is a family tradition I had growing up - a tried and true, no-fail fun activity.  Easy.  Easy.  Yummy!

(you should have seen what I had originally planned on doing with them -- still decorate cookies, but a little more elaborate with thinned royal icing in tube bottles, all different colors, etc.... but I was trying to do everything this morning and nothing was going right.  I had to make a decision fast - I was determined to have the kids decorate cookies!)

It all worked out in the end, but it was a very busy party -- as kindergarten parties tend to be.  I didn't get any photos of the cookie decorating.  But believe me, they all had fun and they all ate the cookies!  My son didn't even wait to frost his.  He just wanted his plain -- gobbled them right up.

For my Second Grader, I made these cupcakes found at the decorated cookie.

I had to change mine a little, but I think I pulled off the original idea.

I also made snowmen cookies with all their names on them.  There are 27 children in his class.   27!  Yikes!  That's a lot of students.  That's a lot of snowmen!

For these little guys, I referred to Cristin's Cookies for the fun design.

Here's my guy with his party snacks:

Got lots of oooohhhs and ahhhhhhhhs from some parents at the party, 

which embarrassed me (just a little), but hey, this is what I DO. 

 I make cookies!  I make cupcakes!  I LIKE doing it!  It makes me happy. 

 Like I said - I love parties!

Snowmen make me smile!

These snowmen are all for the same order - actually they are part of a large 100+ order.  I have been dying to decorate snowmen and these are my first ever.  Last Christmas was when I first started decorating cookies and I had only done snowflakes, mittens, and gingerbread men.

These full-body snowmen use red, black, white, and orange (for the nose).  I saw a package of Ghiradelli chocolate in line at the store one day that had a picture of a snowman.  I sketched it out, taking notes of the colors, etc., and when I started designing these, I used the sketch as reference.

Then I started adding other stuff, like changing the color of the hat to black, changing the scarf, adding boots and sticks.  (I needed some variety!)

Very pleased with how they came out, truth be told. :)

Now, these next little guys aren't very little. I used my biggest circle cutter to make them.  They're almost 4 inches.

For  this design, I used (who I call) the "Great" Bakerella.  If you're not familiar with Bakerella, she is actually the queen of cake pops.  I refer to her all things cake pop related.  She recently posted a cookie tutorial, out of the blue, and I was in love.  I just HAD to make these snowmen (and women!) heads!

They are the easiest to do.  And they come out absolutely adorable.

It's hard to go wrong with snowmen heads!

Let the Christmas Cookies Begin!

It has been AGES since I've blogged!  I feel so guilty!  But life happens and with two active boys and a home-based business to run, my blogging goes on the back burner.

My Christmas cookie decorating has just begun!   I'm done with the baking (for the most part), so I wanted to share my first decorated batch with you.  A special thanks goes to Callye of Sugarbelle for the Santa Face tutorial, found here at inkatrinaskitchen.com.  It was just what I needed to decorate my first Santas of the season.

 Not one for following every single step (I tend to cut corners wherever I can), such was not the case with this design.  I really tried to do them just like the original.  The only things I couldn't replicate were the rosy cheeks and black candies for eyes (I didn't have either of these).  So my Santas are a little pale with black icing for eyes.

 But do you think you would have noticed if I hadn't told you?

 Check out these adorable gift trays!  I found them at a local grocery store for $1.12 each!  It was perfect for my Santa Face cookies.  Each fit 6 cookies beautifully.  I was so happy I found them!  These gift baskets are going to my sons' Religious Education teachers.

My only regret is that I probably should have made more religiously decorated cookies for them.  Oh well...  It's not the present itself, it's the act of giving that's important, right?