Valentine cookie care packages

It is a fact that I am in PINK heaven this time of year.

I love sending care packages to my sons (Philly, Japan, and Washington D.C.) as well my family back in Iowa.

I am crazy about my two little nieces and baby nephew, and when I made these little love bugs, I had the girls in mind.

I used large heart sprinkles for the heads and a simple wet on wet swirl for the wings.

These little ones will always BEE in my heart!

Since I was on a wet on wet roll, I made an Ikat inspired design.

Pink lace is ever so sweet!

These hearts have sanding sugar used on the bows for extra texture.

How about some Mehndi inspiration?

One of my favorite things to do is crochet lace designs, and what better place than on a red heart?

And what could be cuter than some little heart cup sitters?

They make coffee, tea, or milk a lot more fun!

I have a really fun tutorial coming up next.

See you soon!

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Golf birthday cake and cookies

Yes, I am still alive.

After a little baking burn out, and quite a few home decor projects (repainted the trim on the mail level, repainted the guest room, gave chalk paint a whirl on my dining room set, reupholstered my dining room chairs, and added a touch of vintage French graphics on my buffet), I put together some golf goodies for Mr. Enchanted's birthday.

Aaaagh, the squiggly lines are killing me!

Cake decorating is definitely not my thing.  

The flavors, however, were spot on:

*The Barefoot Contessa's chocolate cake*

*Boston cream filling*

*Swiss meringue buttercream frosting*

Because of my being gluten free, I had to settle for a cup of decaf and a little frosting scraped up off the serving dish.  

Sigh.

And you knew there had to be cookies, right?

I have seen similar designs all over the web, so I can't take credit for the design (same with the cake - my touch of creativity was the cookie-on-stick additions).  I got such a kick out of the sand trap made with gold sanding sugar.  There is one on the cake too, just behind the argyle golf bag.  

I'm cranking out the Valentine cookies now, so stay tuned for some pink and red!

And happy birthday sweetie!

Gingerbread adventures

This should actually be titled,

LOOSING MY COOL AND SWEARING IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN.

Ah, gingerbread - I have such a love/hate relationship with it.

Let me start by saying it has been a very full couple of weeks at the oven.  Grown kids arriving, LOTS of cooking, baking, cleaning up from the afor mentioned, and oh yes, sinus surgery for Alec the day after Christmas.  That wasn't a fun recovery for him, so I took my soup making, tea brewing, medicating (him not me...), and gauze changing duties very seriously.  He was excused from the gingerbread extravaganza, and we decided not to have a competition this year.  You know, keep things friendly and fun.  I made the gingerbread pieces  the day before, and when we were ready to begin I realized that I had somehow forgotten to bake off backs to the houses.

Awesome.

Isabelle tries to make the best out of her backless house.

I piped my designs on the house pieces before attempting the construction phase.

Teddy was excited to get in on the fun since he spent last Christmas in Bahrain.

Brooke was in charge of one of the houses and worked with Teddy and Isabelle.  Genevieve was my faithful assistant.

Ever try to put a roof on a backless gingerbread house?

Both houses folded like a deck of cards...

I don't have a picture of my disaster, because I was far too busy 

SWEARING IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN.

Sigh.

I hung up my piping bags, poured a glass of wine, and waited for Mr. Enchanted to get home from work and see if he could manage a resurrection from the ashes with construction adhesive.  

Here are the happy results:

My FAVORITE element of either of the houses was the doughnut hole - cereal hat wearing - green eyed - pretzel stick armed snowman.  LOVED IT!

And I was beyond thrilled to see my shabby chic backless cottage standing!

Fab photo done by my son Drew and his new camera!

Cookie snowman by me and doughnut hole shrubbery and trees by Genevieve.

Cotton candy smoke coming out of the chimney.

Hard work is rewarded when seeing the house lit from the inside!

Love the crushed and melted candy windows.

I am so glad I only have to face this once a year...

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Cookie love for a military family

There is only one box of cookies that I am mailing out this Christmas.

They are going to a special family that I have had on my heart and in my prayers since they lost their son on September 1 of this year. 

This hit me close to home.

 I can only imagine the devastation felt, and how difficult the holidays must seem to all of the parents, spouses, children, and friends who are trying to make their way through loss at this time of year.  

You can better believe that I am counting my blessings.

There are a lot of terrible things that happen here at home and around the world, and I sure wish this enchanted oven had a really big magic wand to make it all better.  In a small gesture of support, I made some cookies that I infused with lots of love and prayers.

I am trying to take Mother Teresa's advice:

"Not all of us can do great things.  But we can do small things with great love".  

Would you like to join me in a small act of love?

Imperial Sugar has partnered with Operation Homefront, a nonprofit organization that provides emergency assistance for our troops, for the families they leave behind, and for wounded warriors when they return home.  From now until 12/31/12 Imperial Sugar Company will donate $1 to Operation Homefront for every Imperial Sugar Facebook fan, twitter follower, and Pintrest follower.  

Click here to see how easy it is, and pass the information along however you can - tweet, post, blog, or shout from the rooftop!

I think I will be making Mother Teresa's words my mantra for the 2013, and I wish you all a beautiful holiday.

Lisa

A very happy army homecoming

It has been a long year since we said goodbye to our soldier.  

Saturday night at Dulles International Airport was the scene of a 

VERY, VERY HAPPY and emotional homecoming.

I got my Christmas present early this year!

All my love to the brave men and women who are deployed over Christmas, and to their families who are missing them.  

And all my love and PRAYERS to the parents whose children have been lost to war or the senseless violence of last Friday.   

I think we are all holding our kids extra tight this week.

Snow globe cookie party favors

Here is the thing about my ideas, they are either epic failures or great victories.  I don't have a lot of middle ground in my kitchen.  

This one was a victory my friends.

And here is the good news; 

it is inexpensive, fun to make, and you can even do it without any baking!

Let me start at the beginning.  

I baked large round gingerbread cookies and iced them in white.  Next, I baked myself some cute little wintry cookies and decorated them.  Using traditional royal icing (2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tbsp. warm water, and 1 1/2 tbsp. meringue powder beaten for 6 minutes with a whisk attachment on your stand mixer) as the "glue", I set my little cast of characters on top of the large round cookies.  I also used a star tip on the royal icing to make a little "snow".  

Cutey patooties aren't they?

To give the snow globe effect, I simply placed a 99 cent clear  votive holder over the top.  The only thing that is potentially tricky, is arranging your cookie characters so they fit inside the opening of the votive holder.  

Can't you just picture these on a holiday tablescape?

Are you ready for the non baked version?

Purchase the large cookies, the clear votives, and then

cruise through the grocery store and find seasonal cookies and crackers!  I gave mine a bit of icing embellishment, but you wouldn't have to.  I am in loooooooove with the little gold fish penguins!!!

A little black and white icing is all you need because the feet and bills are already orange!

I didn't do it here, but if I were making these for a party I would make a royal icing embellishment around the base of the votive holder so it couldn't slip around - especially if they were for children.  

A sweet nibble, a candle holder that can be used after the cookies are gone, inexpensive, and CAN be made with goodies from the grocery store.  

I love a good victory.
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Minnie Mouse cookies

When an old friend asked me if I would make Minnie Mouse cookies for her granddaughter's 2nd birthday, I was tickled 

PINK!

I think I may have mentioned before that I do not own one of those kopy kake thingamajigs, so when I have to do multiples of images that are so recognizable, I have to be very careful to not make it look like Minnie and her 17 sisters who slightly resemble her.  You know what I am saying?

So here are a few Minnie Mouses - or is it Minnie Mice?

Sheesh.

Happy birthday Emma!

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