Pumpkin Cookies

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful day with the ones you love! It's been an amazing year as we were blessed with our little boy Sam and I can't even imagine my life without him. He brings us so much joy, happiness and laughter each day! I can't believe he is already 8 months old! We are so thankful to have him in our lives! I recently made these pumpkin cookies as a "thank you" to Sam's daycare workers. They take such great care of him while we work and I wanted to show them our appreciation with a little fall treat! This time of year you can't go wrong with anything pumpkin as far as I'm concerned so I thought pumpkin cookies would be super cute to show our appreciation.

I also packaged up some cookies and took them to the post office! I am a frequent visitor to our local post office and so from time to time I like to say thank you in the form of sweets! They are always so excited and appreciative when I bring them in some cake pops or cookies.

So on this day let's all remember to "slow down" (I know this is extremely hard for me) and spend time with family and remember to say "thanks" and be appreciate for all of the blessings in our life!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Cake Inspired Birthday Cookies

Today's post is dedicated to my amazing sister Emily! It's her birthday today and I wanted to make her some "cake inspired" cookies to show her how much I love and appreciate her! This past year she became an aunt or "Auntie Em" as we now call her to our little boy Sam! Let's just say we are so blessed to have her in our lives and Sam is one lucky little boy to have her as an aunt! I am not kidding when I say probably about 90% of his wardrobe for the first almost 8 months of his life has been bought for him by her! Emily is constantly sending me text messages during her lunch break of new outfits she has bought for Sam! And if she comes across one that has something to do with "aunt" on the front, well of course she is putting it in her shopping cart! So today, although we are 725 miles apart, I wanted to send her some birthday love in the form of cookies! Lucky for her, my mom (our mom) is down here visiting us right now and flying home today to hand deliver these special cookies!

The theme for these cookies came to me from our numerous conversations we have had about cakes we come across online from other bloggers that we absolutely love and that she always tells me, "you should try this sometime"! The common themes for most cakes that grab our attention these days consist of ruffles, ombre, or sprinkles! So what better way to celebrate the birthday girl than with some of her favorite cake trends replicated on cookies!

So first up is the "ruffle" cookie and "ombre"! If you are a long time follower of my blog you may remember my Valentine's ombre cupcakes here, with the recipe and tutorial posted on Half Baked here. Using a decorating tip #104 and varying shades of turquoise I created these ombre ruffle cookies! I used a crusting buttercream icing instead of royal icing for these cookies so that I could get the texture I wanted when creating the ruffles.

Every birthday needs sprinkles am I right? Rainbow non pareils are my absolute favorite! I love the crunch you get when you bite into the cookie! I think my sister is pretty fond of rainbow sprinkles too. Afterall, here is what she requested for her birthday two years ago! Today she is celebrating the big "29"! Enjoy the last year in your 20s Emily!

And finally another "ombre" cookie using a technique I have been dying to try ever since spotting these cookies on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle. All you need is a can of Wilton Color Mist and a piece of paper to spray the cookies in varying shades! Let's just say this took a little trial and error at first to get a feel for the spray can, but I finally got the technique down! Still need more practice though! Step-by-step photos are over on The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle so check it out!

I think these cake inspired birthday cookies turned out pretty cute and I can't wait for her to see them in person! I have also already taste tested them, and they are pretty yummy!

Happy Birthday Auntie Em! Hope you have a great day and enjoy your cookies! We will see you next month for Christmas! Sam can't wait to give his auntie a big hug and kiss!

Unscramble the Cookies...

This past weekend I did a fun baking project...it involved cookies in the shapes of letters, brightly iced in lime green, turquoise and orange (the colors of Sam's nursery). There is a hidden message within these cookies...can you guess what it says?

I then boxed up the cookies in some cute Martha Stewart packaging, wrote a little note from Sam (he's only 5 months now...so I had to help him!) and sent them off with my sister on a flight instructing her to be extra careful with them! The cookies were to be opened and unscrambled by my dad, "aka...Gpaw" as a surprise for his....any guesses before you scroll down to the next picture?

60th Birthday! Since Sam and I couldn't be there to celebrate with him in person, I thought it would be fun to send him an edible birthday wish! I love how the cookies turned out, so fun and vibrant! I came up with the whole color scheme from the colors we used in Sam's nursery.

My dad and step mom actually made all of Sam's crib bedding, curtains, a quilt and pillows so I thought it would be fun to do the cookie photo shoot in the nursery surrounded by all the bright colors and fun patterns! It was quite the task trying to photograph this little guy, he's such a wiggler these days and is just starting to sit up on his own.

I love the way he is looking at the cookies in this picture. He is definitely going to be a little cookie monster if he's anything like his mama!

Sam's exhausted after the shoot! Time to relax!This is probably one of my all time favorite pictures of him to date!

I talked to my dad yesterday and he absolutely loved the cookies! My sister took a video of him trying to unscramble the message and she said it took him about 6 minutes to figure it out! I'm still waiting on her to send me the video to watch! So Emily if you're reading this...hurry up and send please!

Also, if you are wondering about this absolutely adorable outfit Sam has on, it was given to me as gift from Carrie @ Half Baked. If you are a long time follower of my blog you know that I contribute to Half Baked with a monthly cupcake recipe! So how fitting was it for Carrie to send me this cupcake onesie with Sam's name on it and it matches his nursery too! She also sent an adorable bib that has the turquoise chevron pattern on it and say's "Mommy's Little" and then a picture of a cupcake! Thanks again Carrie for such a thoughtful gift!

Happy 1st Birthday Max!

Check out these adorable cookies I made and sent to my friend Laurie for her son's 1st birthday today! Laurie was decorating for the party in bright primary colors so I thought it would be cute to do the cookies in blue, green and yellow for little Max! I added a few polka dots and stripes to provide a fun assortment for the party guests!

Laurie and Max live in Florida and we live in Alabama so I've only seen her little guy once when he was about 3 months old! I was actually about 4 months pregnant with Sam when we met Max. So it has been a long time and he has changed like crazy since then. Hopefully Max and Sam can meet sometime soon, I know they would be the best of buddies! Good thing for iphones these days b/c we are able to send pictures back and forth of our little ones growing and changing so quickly!

We wish you a HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY MAX!

Polka Dot and Stripes 1st Birthday

Polka Dots, Stripes & Primary Colors...what a fun way to celebrate a 1st birthday right! I had a blast decorating these bright cakes and cookies recently for such a sweet little girl, Linnie Grace (how cute is her name!!!). Her mom contacted me about creating a cake, smash cake and some #1 cookies for her very special 1st birthday! She had the idea of polka dots & stripes and wanted the colors to coordinate with the location of where the party was being held...red, yellow, blue and green. To add a girly touch to the cakes I added some fondant ribbons around the bases of the 2-tier cake and some multi-colored buttercream ruffles around Linnie Grace's smash cake!

Happy 1st Birthday Linnie Grace!

Thomas the Train Birthday Cake

Here's a cake I made back in January for one of my favorite birthday boys...Joshua, who turned 4! This is the 3rd year in a row I've made his birthday cake! Let's just say he's giving me some good practice on boy-themed cakes since our little boy will be arriving in about 18 days and then for years to come I'll get to make his birthday cakes too!

Apparently Thomas the Train is the new trend with little ones these days, and I'm sure I will come to find this out very soon as well! I picked up a few Thomas the Train toys at the store to add to the top of the cake and then thought it would be cute to make some train tracks all around the edge.

The birthday boy was super excited when he came to pick up his cake!

He was wearing his Thomas the Train shirt in preparation for his party...how cute is that! Of course I had to get him a few toys to go with the party theme as well.

He loved his new Thomas the Train puzzle and book! Isn't that the best face ever! Love that little smile!

Happy Birthday Joshua! Sorry I'm just now getting your cake posted to the blog...I know you've been anxiously awaiting for it to go up!

I also made him some tractor cookies to share with his friends at school for his birthday!

Thumb Print Cookies for Santa

Christmas is only a week away...do you have your shopping done? Or more importantly the cookies planned that you will leave out for Santa this year? Thumb prints are one of my favorite holiday cookies and are super simple to make. I made them earlier this month for a sweet swap and have also taken them to several holiday parties. If you are pressed for time and need a quick treat, and better yet one that doesn't require a ton of ingredients or even getting out the mixer then this cookie is the perfect solution! Any they are super yummy too!

The cookies require four ingredients: melted butter, all-purpose flour, confectioner's sugar and salt all mixed together and rolled into balls.

Then just simply place your "thumb" in the middle of each cookie to create a space for the icing you will add after baking.

Thumb prints ready for the oven! Literally you can make up these cookies in about five minutes. This is a perfect recipe to get your kids involved in the kitchen for some holiday baking fun. They will love making Santa a special batch of cookies.

Once the cookies cool mix some confectioner's sugar and milk and tint your favorite colors and ice the center of the cookies!

Thumb Print Cookies
(makes 3 dozen)

For the cookies:
-1/2 lb unsalted butter, melted
-2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
-3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
-1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix well. Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Thumb print the center of each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Add icing when cool.

For the icing:
-2 cups confectioner's sugar
-4 Tbsp milk
-food coloring

Combine confectioner's sugar and enough milk until thick pouring consistency. Add food coloring to tint desired colors. Add icing to cookies.



What are some of your favorite cookies to leave for Santa?