Decorate!

Do things ever go as planned?

I intended to write a cookie decorating tutorial for National Sugar Cookie Day but there just hasn't been time. We're leaving for vacation tomorrow so it's clearly not gonna happen.

However…When I was browsing through the cookies posted to the National Sugar Cookie Day Flickr group I found this awesome turorial by Marian from Sweetopia. She gives great, detailed instructions along with some fantastic resources. Thanks Marian!

Here are a few of my favorite places to find cookie decorating supplies:

Fancy Flours
Country Kitchen Sweetart
Sugarcraft

And here is a great tutorial for making gumpaste flowers by Mare from Meet Me in the Kitchen


Happy decorating!

The Ingredients

It's all about the ingredients…

Although I'm sure there's lots of debate about which ingredients make the best Sugar Cookies.

I believe real butter and PURE vanilla extract are the key ingredients to a good sugar cookie. I would like to say that I always use the finest vanilla, eggs straight from the farm, organic flour… all that fancy stuff. The truth is… I buy the best that I can afford and that is readily available. Occasionally, I'll splurge on a nice bottle of vanilla from a gourmet shop. Sometimes I'll get eggs from an uncle who has chickens. Usually… I go to my local supermarket to get both. Fancy ingredients or basic supermarket ingredients… either way, I'm happy with the taste of my cookies.

Here's my recipe:

3/4 c. butter (1 1/2 sticks)
2/3 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
2 TBS. milk
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Beat butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour baking powder and salt and beat until mixed well. Chill for at least 3 hours. Roll dough to 1/8" thickness. Cut with your favorite cookie cutters. Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes.

Cookie Making Supplies by sugarandmeringue on Polyvore.com

So… I planned on getting this post out last weekend…Tuesday at the latest. I've been looking for some fun "sugar cookie equipment and supply" resources to share with you. Well… I found lots of fun things… one link lead to another and… it's Friday night and I'm just now writing this post.

There are so many supplies to talk about, I decided to focus on non-edible equipment this time. I'll share resources for sprinkles and sugars and things like that later. I also plan to share sources for packaging supplies in another post.



Cookie Cutters:

I love cookie cutters! I used to collect them and only quit due to a lack of storage space. They're cheap and it's always fun to find a new shape

Bake it Pretty - (shown above)

Into the Oven - They have a few really fun shapes of copper cookie cutters including a Spaceman, Robot, Alarm Clock, Tricycle and Little Red Wagon. I might have to find a place to store these!

Off the Beaten Path - They have a huge variety of shapes and they're cheap! My favorite category is their "Old Fashioned" cookie cutters.

If none of these sources have the shape you're looking for, I found a tutorial at Juggling Frogs for making your own cookie cutters. I think I'll try it one of these days.


Aprons:

I love these handcrafted aprons made by Kerry of Practically Necessary.


I also found some great vintage aprons at Plaid Pony Vintage.
And here's some great directions for making your own apron at Bari J. (scroll down for a link to the PDF in the side bar)

Other fun stuff:

I can't bake without setting a timer and I would love to have these magnetic timers from
Wrapables



I can't believe all the amazing cookie photos that have been added to the National Sugar Cookie 2009 Flickr group! Check out the badge I just added to the right side-bar! WoW!

Happy Baking !

National Sugar Cookie Day – 2009 Kickoff!

July 9 is National Sugar Cookie Day. Last year, I created a flickr group and posted some of the photos that were submitted. This year, I'm a little more organized and, in addition to a new 2009 National Sugar Cookie flickr group, I've planned a month-long celebration including:

• my favorite sugar cookie recipe
• a cookie decorating tutorial
• lots of supply resources for cookie baking, decorating and packaging
• a cookie blogging & decorating contest & prizes
• special discounts at Sugar and Meringue

I'll start by giving you the contest details…

I'll be hosting 2 contests:

Contest #1

• Write a blog post about sugar cookies. Share a recipe, a memory, a decorating idea, your cookie cutter collection… whatever you want as long as it has something to do with sugar cookies. I'll be looking for the most interesting, touching, inspiring or prettiest post.

•. leave a comment or e-mail me at em_reiman@yahoo.com to let me know about your post.

• Your post must be written (& I must be notified) by July 12th

• The winner will be announced on July 18th.

The winner will get this vintage cookie cookbook, a decorating bag, two decorating tips with a coupler, a bag of fun multi-colored sugar, a set of Kitchen Aid measuring spoons, 2 vintage cookie cutters, some packaging supplies and a set of my recipe cards (NOTE: These prizes will only be shipped to US residents. If you're from another country, you can still enter. I'll try to come up with an alternative prize to send you if you are the winner.)




Contest #2

•Join the National Sugar Cookie Day 2009 flickr group and upload your best sugar cookie photos. Or, if you don't have a flickr account e-mail them to em_reiman@yahoo.com. My family and friends and I will choose our favorite photos. Then I'll let post a poll and let you decide the winner.

•Photos must be uploaded by July 12th to be considered for the contest.

The winner will recieve some recognition and a small prize.

How will I be celebrating National Sugar Cookie Day? I'm going to "The Cookie Jar". I'm not kidding… My great-grandparents' last name was Cook. They bought a cabin in the mountains in California back in the 50s (or maybe the 60s?) and named it The Cookie Jar. We've been planning this trip for a while and it's just coincidence that we'll be there for National Sugar Cookie Day but what an appropriate place to be! Anyway… the Cookie Jar has no phone service, let alone wi-fi so I'll be off-line from July 2 - July 12. I'll have something set to auto-post while I'm gone, I just won't be able to respond to any comments or e-mails until I get back.



I'm so excited to see how you celebrate National Sugar Cookie Day!

Join the National Sugar Cookie flickr group!

Garage Sale - Bake Sale

My son seems to share my entrepreneurial ambitions…

Recently, he has teamed up with a neighbor girl to start a detective agency. They charge $1.00 per case. Unfortunately, the detective business has been a bit slow lately so I thought I'd help him out with his money making efforts by letting him make some treats to sell at the garage sale we're having next weekend.

Turns out, he's been invited to spend the weekend at a friends house out of town so the bake sale will have to wait but we made some Puppy Chow anyway. (here's a link to the recipe). I thought it would be fun to sew the tops of the bags shut like real dog food. (I ordered the glassine bags from Bake it Pretty) The photos of the pretzel rods and rice crispy balls are from previous posts (Pretzel Rods, Something on a Stick) but we would have made them had we actually been having a bake sale.


July 9, is National Sugar Cookie Day! This Tuesday I'll be kicking off a month-long celebration leading up to the big day so please check back!

Have a great week!