2013 Cookie party!

This is a stock photo of what the cookie cutters can make. The set is no longer made but you can  purchase it on E-bay. It is The Williams-Sonoma Holliday Storybook Cookie Cutters set. For reference, the trees are actually about 4-5" tall



This is my post for my 2013 cookie party! I have started a tradition for family and friends that every year I throw a cookie party. This year will be 3D Christmas scene involving sleigh, reindeer, trees and snowman. I will add to this post as the event evolves. I am making the sleigh and reindeer out of gingerbread cookies and the trees and snowman out of sugar cookie dough. I will pre-color the tree dough green.

This is the gingerbread recipe that I am using. It is included in the cookie set.

Gingerbread cookies

(This recipe states it's lighter than those used for houses so suitable for small cookies. See my cookie party 2012 post for a gingerbread house recipe.

Have ingredients at room temperature before starting

Combine and sift together than set aside

5 c. flour
½ t. Baking soda
1T. Ground ginger
4t. Ground cinnamon
¾ t. ground cloves
1t. Nutmeg
1t. Allspice
1 ½ t. salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, using flat beater, beat on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale yellow (4-6 minutes)

                2 sticks (1 cup) butter

Add and beat for 1 minute

                ½ c. firmly packed brown sugar
                ½ c. granulated sugar

Reduce speed to low and beat in, until well combined (about 1 minute)

                1 c. molasses

Add and beat until well combined

                1 egg

Add the flour mixture in 4 portions, beating in each addition before adding more. Stop and scrape down sides of bowl occasionally.

Turn dough out onto floured surface and with floured hands divide into 4 sections. Shape each section into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap, parchment paper or other material and refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

Preheat oven t o400ºF (200ºC)

Remove dough 1 disc at a time and let stand 10 minutes. Roll out to ¼ “- 3/8” thickness and cut.

Bake cookies until lightly browned on the bottom (4-5 minutes for smaller cookies 6-7 minutes for larger cookies). 

Let cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before removing and placing on cooling rack. Trim cookies while warm as needed

12-22-13
Cookie party was a success (as it usually is). I found some silicone molds for $1.99 at our grocery store (Meijer's) so I melted Jolly rancher candies into them. the gingerbread men and snowflakes took 1 candy. and I used 3 for the presents to fill the bow space.

 And as for the cookies.... it was FUN! We had lots of candy to decorate with and a room full of creative people who have unique senses of humor is always a good thing.

 This one belonged to a friend of mine. Her and her husband love to do cookie stuff.

 This is my niece with her decked out tree

 

 Another friend has their sleigh running over some poor gummy bears!

 And my daughter made a full on cookie crime scene!

 

 For the candy decorations we had...

• colored sugar
• candy corn
• mints
• gummy bears
• gummy worms
• sour gummy worms
• chocolate covered raises
• spice drops
• pull and peel twizlers
• peppermint candies
• mini M&M's
• mini reses cups
• smarties
• candy pearls (in assorted colors and sizes)
• jelly beans
• icing
• buttercream frosting
• royal frosting

We may have had more, but that is what i can think of for now.

Cookie party 2012

I haven't posted in a while but I have been busy!

We just had our cookie party Saturday and it was a hit! This year we made gingerbread houses. we made up the dough and Anja cut out templates for the house parts. we collected lots of candy and edible decorations for the houses.

this was the gingerbread recipe

Heat to boiling point:
2/3 c brown sugar, packed
2/3 c molasses
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves

remove from heat, and add:
2 1/4 tsp baking soda

Pour this over 2/3 c margarine in a bowl. Stir until margarine melts.

Add and blend thoroughly:
1 egg
4 1/2 c sifted flour (approximate)

Knead lightly (10-15 strokes on floured board)
Divide into 4 pieces and form into flattened balls. Wrap in plastic and let cool a bit.
Roll out about 1/4-3/8” thick and cut out each set twice (dorky’s note, this is the house pieces). Note: Do not make the dough too thick.
Bake at 350; on greased baking sheet or parchment for 15 minutes.

*note - it originally called to let chill a couple hours but when I did that I couldn't roll it out for nothing and had to add water and butter my hands to stop it from crumbling. So we ended up mostly just cutting it straight after kneading.

For the Royal Icing I use the Wilton recipe that uses meringue powder. it's really easy to make. Just be sure not to over beat it. Also allow the walls to harden and set before "gluing" on the roof. Royal icing get's rock hard and is a very effective (and tasty) glue

the decorations we used:
pull and peel twizlers
mini and regular m&m's
pretzel sticks
mini candy canes
mini Nilla wafers
cashews
holiday "drops"
jelly beans
sprinkles
gummy bears
fruity twizlers
Jolly ranchers
peppermints
powdered sugar for snow

we melted the jolly ranchers in a low, 250ºF oven in silicone ice cube trays (the type that have sort of a gem shape to the bottom) to make gems. Lots of the people used them to make windows. We also melted the jolly ranchers on silicone pan liners so that they would spread out flat which is what you see as the roof tiles on one house and "stepping stones" in front. We melted the peppermints as well on the silicone liners. the silicone kind of grabs the bottom of the mit and it melted in really neat ways as the candy ran.

Christmas cookie party

So this year I invited friends and family over again for cookie decorating. But instead of regular Christmas cookies I made a cookie tree for each family to decorate. This ment I had to make 7 trees! I have a cookie cutter set that is 10 star cutters in stepped sizes and you make 2 of each and stack them into a tree.

Now I will suggest if anyone is thinking of making these trees. Start with making the smallest stars 1st. that way if you run out of dough or energy you can stop and have a smaller tree but still in proportion. I made the bottoms and than tops so was committed to making all the cookies in between. And it took me 6 batches of dough to make 7 trees

before we got started

Some assembly required...

MY ASS!!!!

My parents got the boys a play kitchen for Christmas. Robert was so excited that as soon as he unwrapped it he suddenly wanted to go home and didn't want the rest of his presents. He even started to shove the box towards the door.

So I got it home and opened it up. There couldn't possibly be more assembly required. All the pieces were connected together with runners. So just to start putting it together I had to cut it all apart!

But needless to say at least 2 hours and 1 beer later It was done and is well loved! So all the effort was worth it. The boys really love their kitchen and playing with food (which they have a TON of!)

And lets not forget the best part.... THE BOX!

And all that turned into this.... And the final product!

The last of the tree trimmings!

I have received what i think are the last of the decorations to add to the tree this year. for our Holiday Craft Exchange on the HGTV knitting and crochet message boards I received this really cute Christmas doll and the large colorful ornament stars on the tree which are made of yarn. and this year my youngest sons class made ornaments. The teacher took photos of the kids at one of their field trips and some how had them printed on clear plastic. then she cut them and tucked them inside clear glass globes and the kids added glitter. It's so pretty! It's hard to see the picture inside due to it being in the globe and clear it self but I did get it to show up.






I have recieved what i think are the last of the decorations to add to the tree this year. for our Holiday Craft Exchange on hte HGTV message boards I recieved this really cute christmas doll and the large colorful ornament stars on the tree which are made of yarn. and this year my youngest sons class made ornaments. The teacher took photos of the kids at one of their field trips and some how had them printed on clear plastic. then she cut them and tucked them inside clear glass globes and the kids added glitter. It's so pretty! It's hard to see the picture inside due to it being in the globe and clear it self but I did get it to show up.

Creating an angle

I have been making another pineapple lace angle. The pattern can be purchased at Crochet Memories. The pattern is very well written (as all of her patterns are). My only suggestion is instead of trying to crochet into the chain stitch just crochet into the space, it's easier.

You can click on any image to get a large detailed view.

So here are the stages. 1st 2 photos of the pieces simply off the hook and having nothing done to them.



this is my drying station if you will. I cut a paperboard cone and taped it on top of my large Pyrex bowl. Then wrapped another cardboard box with a plastic bag (turned inside out) for the flat pieces. The 1st time I did this I didn't pay any attention to which side of the bag was out. The ink didn't bleed onto the project buy why take any chances.
I am short on pins so I soaked the wings in Elmer's glue all - all purpose glue (slightly diluted with water) and pinned the wings. I took my blow dryer and held it on the wings so it would dry faster and I could use the pins for the halo.

Here is the angle body drying. There is a white pipe cleaner thorugh the arms for shaping and to help hold the trimmings when she is done.


12-7

She is finished! I used the glue nearly full strength so she is very hard! But this is going to someone else so she has to be more durable. The rose is just slipped into the "hands" and tied with ribbon. The ribbon is tied and not glued. I figure this will allow the owner to change the look if they desire to. Or replace the rose/ribbons if they fade.

Santa and kids

When I was growing up all the presents were from Santa. this is how my folks did it so when I had kids automatically this was also the way I did it. Tagged all the gifts from Santa. Well Anja is now 12 and we have a new way to do it. One gift per child is from Santa.

When Anja was little she loved the Christmas magic and we have never been over spenders but i tagged all the gifts as from Santa. The problem with this that I suddenly noticed is that it made her sad because she believed in Santa so she thought that I/we didn't get her anything cuz it was all from Santa. And not wanting to spoil the magic for her I couldn't say "but sweety we got you these gifts". She has never been a selfish child and we never spoiled her with a ton of gifts. But tagging it all from Santa made her feel like we didn't bother to get her anything.

So now there is a 6.5 year difference between her and my oldest boy. Our boys will be 4&6 Come January so we have the ability to switch it up with the boys to save them the feeling that "Mom & Dad didn't get us anything" one gift is tagged from Santa and the others (which will only be a few more each) will be from us.

We do focus on family and togetherness for the season and base most of our Christmas experience around building memories that will last a life time. But i want them to experience the "magic" also.

So, I'm just telling this story so that if anyone was also raised this way and has young children that "From Santa" is nice and the magic of the season is fun, but if over done it can leave the children we love most feeling sort of forgotten.

Just offering another perspective that I wish someone had told me before hand.

Trimming the tree

So the tree is up. The decorations are on, the popcorn is popped and strung. Here are some photos of the trimming. As you see our decorations are a mixture of collected ornaments throuhg the year. Some made by me others by the kids and other family members. And of course the angel was made by me.

The snowflake is done!

The snowflake is assembled and finished! I must say it is very pretty! in the stand it is 11" from base to tip. I'll have to update when the auction is over to post what it sold for. When I stiffened it I didn't dilute the glue hardly at all because this is going to someone else I wanted it to be as stiff as possible and it is very hard!