Lavender tea time cookies

I am beginning to dream of my garden.

*FLOWERS * VEGGIES * HERBS

One of my favorite herbs is LAVENDER.  I love it's clean scent, and the flowers are divine in the herb garden as well as landscape!

Today I am going to show you how to make sweet little tea cookies enhanced with culinary lavender and a simple royal icing treatment -perfect for a formal tea party OR a quiet afternoon spent alone with spring seed catalogs!

To begin, I made a regular sugar cookie dough.  After I had rolled and cut out the shapes, I gently sprinkled the tops with dried lavender.  Fortunately, I don't have to purchase edible lavender buds because I had harvested it from my herb garden and then dried it.  

If you have never grown it, I encourage you to give it a try.  It is extremely easy to grow, has a long bloom time, and requires next to no care.

I could have added it into my dough when mixing, but I didn't for two reasons.  One, I wanted to go very sparingly because lavender can easily overwhelm in flavor - a little goes a very long way!  Two, I wanted to see it on the top so it would give my cookies a textured background for the icing treatment.  

After baking and cooling, I gave each cookie a quick spritz of food coloring spray.

See the little flecks of lavender?

I did half in purple, and half in pink.

I didn't spray the entire cookie, only a diagonal spray across the center.  A quick tip about food color sprays:  try it on some paper before the cookie, because it has a tendency to shoot out some big blobs on the initial spray.

I made four different colors of icing -

LIGHT PURPLE  DARK PURPLE   GREEN   PINK

I used the green first to make the straight lines of the stems.  The first stems go from a center point up the cookie.

And then then go from the center point down the cookie.

See the blobs of color spray?  You wouldn't want that on your cookie!

Now you are just going to start adding dots of the two shades of purple.  

I used two shades because it gives the design more interest and depth.

Now with the pink icing, you make a simple ribbon - two loops, two  flowing lines, and a dot for the knot (hey, that rhymed!).

And there you have it!  

When you deconstruct a design into lines and shapes, it make the execution less intimidating.  You can make lines and dots, right?

I believe it is time for afternoon tea and dreams of spring!

I can't wait to show you what Mr. Enchanted just built me for starting seeds!  I will be posting it soon  :)

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The Shabby Creek Cottage

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Winter projects - chalk paint and more

Because I am a blogger, I felt compelled to jump into the world of chalk paint.  Hey, even we bakers have to leave the kitchen every now and then.  Because I was too much of a cheap skate to spring for Annie Sloan, I used one of the many do it yourself chalk paint recipes I found online.  

Armed with left over front door paint and plaster of paris, I tackled the inside of my china cabinet.

I left the outside of the cabinet a creamy white, and took a chance by using a soft aqua blue on the inside.  I was soooooo scared to use a color like that, but when I was finished, I LOVED it!  

It seems like the projects that scare me the most usually end up being the ones I like best.  

Anyone else like that?

Because I have never used "real" chalk paint, I don't know how mine compared.  I liked the end result, but it was really funky to work with.  It kept thickening up on me, and was a bit lumpy, but maybe that is normal.  

While I was at it, I also painted a small area on my buffet, which I then embellished with a vintage French graphic.

I used acrylic craft paint for the design.  

Because I had a little chalk paint left over and was on a roll, I also painted a mirror that resides in the guest room.  

I topped everything off with a coat of dark antiquing wax followed by clear wax.  You can see how the dark wax really gets into the grooves to make details really pop.  

While I was busy painting, Mr. Enchanted was making us a new/old farm table.  My contribution to the effort was to distress it using a hammer, screws, and keys (this was the fun part!), and then staining and sealing it.  Mr. E did an amazing job on it, and I am thrilled with the results!

A less glamorous job was repainting all of the trim in the main level of the house.  No pictures of that - UGGG.

I moved on to the guest room, where I repainted the walls a creamy ivory and rearranged the furniture.  

Amazing what a gallon of paint will do - can I hear an amen?

Next up, was a fabulous/ugly lamp shade I found at an antique shop for $3.  It was covered in brown ruffles and could have won a prize for lampshade most in need of a makeover.  I pulled off the ruffles and added fringed burlap trim and a few silk flowers, because the shape had a bit of had a millinery feel to it.

And now for the biggest and worst project of all - reupholstering the dining room chairs.  My first challenge was to find a fabric that would hold up well, not show spills, and not to have a very obvious pattern repeat.  Oh, and it had to have red, green, ivory, and robin egg blue in it.  AND, not cost a fortune.  After hours of looking on Fabric guru, I found the steal of the century for $7 a yard!

Thank goodness Mr. E gave me a ton of help with this project, and the end result was worth every minute of pain!

No wonder I didn't get any cookies done in January!

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Mockingbird Hill Cottage Thirty Handmade Days Feathered Nest Friday

One of my true loves - square cookie cutters

My set of square cookies cutters has become near and dear to my heart.  You see, I use them more than any other shape.

And the reason for this?  Well, it is not only darling with the little scalloped edges - it is also extremely versatile.  I can use a square shape for any holiday, occasion, or theme. 

Here, I stacked two heart cookies on top of my stalwart square!

Some royal icing roses climbing up the stack, make for a sweet Valentine nibble.

Do you want to know a secret about square cookies?

They are by far the easiest shape to outline (at least for this cookie baker).   If I am making a large quantity, I will always choose a square over a circle because I can make a clean outline with more accuracy and speed.  

Yep, it's hip to be square.  

I have owned this set for the last two years, and I have used them almost non-stop.  

True love!

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Abe Lincoln cookies

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABE!

Valentine cookie on a stick tutorial

Think pop tart on steroids.

I made these little dolls for three of my sweethearts, and the process is quite easy.  First, cut out your hearts - two for each pop.

Put the first heart on your baking sheet, and then cut a small heart opening in the center of the second heart.

Place about 1 1/2 tsp. of jam in the center of the first heart.  I always use strawberry jam, but you could use whatever kind you prefer.

Yes, my cookie sheets are looking battle worn.  One of these days I will try the baking soda/peroxide concoction from Pintrest to clean them up.  

Now place a lolly pop stick on top.  Put it up far enough to be secure, but not far enough to show.  If you do have a little showing through the opening, just put a little jam on top to conceal it.

Place the heart with the small cut out on top.

See the tip of the stick showing?  A dab of jam hid it.

Use the tines of a fork to seal the edges securely.

I used my normal sugar cookie dough, but baked a few additional minutes to make sure the top cookie got completely done.  I baked mine about 9 minutes at 350 degrees.  I started checking them at 7 minutes, and kept a really close eye on them.  Once they are out of the oven, keep them on the cookie sheet to cool for about 10 minutes.  This ensures a safe transfer to the cooling rack.

The decorating can be as easy or involved as you want.  If you don't want to embellish with royal icing, you can sprinkle the tops with regular or sanding sugar before they go in the oven.  I have done this before, and they look great.  To do a simple royal icing treatment, you could make little hearts or write the recipient's name.  I chose to make flowers reminiscent of Victorian valentines.

Tying a bright green ribbon on the stick, gives it an extra dose of color and interest.

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On the menu Monday

Savvy Southern Style
Ivy and Elephants

Now all you have to do is give it to someone you love!

Have fun!

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!