Friday, March 5, 2010

Cookies and Cuties


So.... this incredible woman is my new hero.  She is amazingly talented and incredibly sweet.  I drool over her baking and marvel at her intricate, creative designs.  We have never met...but I email her regularly for advice....and she is always more than willing to share recipes, techniques, and tricks of the trade.    I loved her Easter egg cookies so much..... I had to give them a shot.  This entailed learning a new royal icing recipe....( you all know how long it took me to learn the traditional royal icing recipe)....so I was nervous.  But in the end....I love how the icing turned out...much shinier and tastier!  And the dots....so fun!!!    Here is what I came up with....


I used a mix of almond extract and vanilla bean paste in these....so that is why they are speckled!!!








And here is Miss Amanda's version:  (Unbelievably creative.... I am dying to attempt the nests myself)!  And by the way... I do know that Easter is still weeks away... I am trying to get some baking in before I have to unplug the kitchen aid and move everything out for the upcoming kitchen remodel.  It was scheduled for next week...but has been postponed till the week after next.....  The cabinets are lining the garage already.....and the knobs and pulls have already arrived.  I'm excited to see how it will look....but hugely nervous about how I will handle living through the mess.  I can already hear my kitchen aid calling my name....and it's not even time to put her away yet!

On a different note.......I try my best to be productive on Friday mornings.....I like to get sheets changed, the house cleaned (semi-cleaned) and sometimes Willie bathed.  I should have known that it was too quiet for J to be doing anything appropriate.  When I left the laundry room....I heard tiny fingers fumbling through my desk drawers.  



He had managed to open up a new box of paper clips and shake them out of the box and spread all of my saved business cards all over my desk drawer, while singing his version of the abc's.  He attempts to sing a few letters whenever he spots a letter on something...(whether it be in a book or on a license plate.)   I was just happy to see him smiling, even if it was a "look what I got into" smile.  Lately, he's been complaining of tummy aches every morning, and just not been himself... (even with his new dairy free diet).  Hmmmm, so maybe he is not lactose intolerant after all.  I'm anxious to meet with the specialist to see what she has to say.



No pictures of the Missy today.  We tried to get outside this afternoon to enjoy the warmer weather... and usually I like to take my camera....but today.... we just enjoyed the sunshine.  And I'm sure if I did have my camera.... I would not been able to keep my eye on the Mister.....Oh my....he's either kicking balls straight for the street....trying to figure out what to climb on to reach the bubbles in the garage, or putting pine cones in his mouth.  We should be in for an adventuresome spring!!!  Can't wait!

4 comments:

koki said...

Mister is just too cute for words. Happy almost spring! Cookies look professional - as usual. Xoxo thea

Unknown said...

Your cookies are beautiful!!! So I'm dying to know - did you like the new royal icing recipe?? I'm going to attempt St. Patty's day cookies tomorrow, so I checked out that blog you were referring to for the royal icing recipe. The corn syrup is what probably made them shinier. The first time I ever made royal icing I used corn syrup and they turned out so shiny. But for some reason, I haven't been using it. What did you use for your cookie recipe? I love that other recipe you told me about from Bake at 350. Sorry for rambling - this is probably too much info for a comment section!!

mom2four said...

Wow...I'm impressed again...and now, also hungry!

Diane Schmidt said...

your cookies look great! Thank so much for stopping by my blog :) I can't wait to scroll through and see more of yours!