Beekman 1802 Cherry Pie Filling

Today was the day that I opened my jar of Beekman 1802 cherry pie filling from Target and made a beautiful dessert.

I had been looking forward to trying this product from my friends' (Josh & Brent, the fabulous Beekman Boys) line at Target, but it was when I came across my "slice of pie" cookie cutter that I knew I would be baking a pie soon. Sometimes I make things just for the embellishment!

The pie baked up beautifully and Dan just said that he's looking forward to tomorrow, when he can have another slice. I highly recommend it!

#beekman1802 #finddelight

Custom Cookie Cutters and Edible Art from Fancy Flours

So much of my happiness comes from completing projects from what I call my master plan. I make up something I want to do or try and then chip away at it until everything falls into place.  

In this case, I want to do more cookie decorating with edible wafer paper. Edible wafer paper is a potato starch paper printed with USDA-approved food coloring. It allows beautiful images to decorate cookies. Remember when I first tried it here?

And I wanted to amuse myself with these ridiculous (and I mean ridiculous in the best possible way) Marie Antoinette edible wafer paper images from my favorite baking source, Fancy Flours. 

When one wants to make Marie Antoinette-style cookies, one needs an Marie Antoinette-style cookie cutter. No small feat. A Marie Antoinette would be impossible to find but easy to make. Especially when you have a "Make Your Own Cookie Cutter" Kit and a husband with excellent handicraft skills. Look closely in the image above and you can see it. A cookie cutter that will accommodate a large head of hair and an enormous skirt.  Custom, indeed.

Fancy Flours sells the Make Your Own Cookie Cutter kit and the wafer paper, as well as a beautiful copper plaque cookie cutter that would also highlight the Marie Antoinette images if a custom cutter isn't in your near future. 

I have the cookie cutter, wafer paper and rolling pin packed! I'm taking it all to Florida and doing some condo-baking by the sea. 

What do you have in your luggage?

Baking Event: Christmas Cookies with Friends

Oh the grand plans we had for this event!  My friends and I were going to get ahead on our holiday baking.  It was to be a blitz of flour, sugar and salt.

I bought tons of ingredients, pulled out all of my sprinkles and made a pot of white bean chicken chili to bolster my friends after a long day at their real jobs.  

How did my first baking event go?  Well it wasn't a bake-tastrophe, but we didn't accomplish nearly what I thought we would. My three friends and I ate dinner together, talked all about the cookies we love and ended up with only 2 hours to actually mix and bake.  How did we think we could do this on a weeknight?   

Next year (yes, we've already decided to make it a tradition) we are going to pick at Saturday in November and really get to it.

The funny thing is that the one cookie we did mix and bake were so delicious that we ate them all.  The green "Spritz" trees were the best I've ever tasted. We mixed a double batch of this Almond Spritz recipe from Better Homes and Garden (add green food coloring to the dough) and used an electric cookie press, which was finicky, but effective, to press them out.

We had to press the button on the electric Spritz for just the right amount of time (experiment) to get a perfect cookie.  Once we mastered the timing, it was a breeze and we easily spritzed and baked 150 cookies.  Then we divided by 3 and packaged them in freezer Ziploc bags.  Then Dan and I ate or gave away most of our allotment.  These were so good I will make them again in the next week or so.

We also made to two batches of dough that we personalized with a variety of mix-ins.  The recipe can be made and frozen, then sliced and baked later.  Our base was Martha Stewart's basic vanilla dough.  The first batch was vanilla dough, so I added unsweetened coconut, white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.  I shaped the dough into a log and rolled it in large sugar crystals. Then I wrapped the log in waxed paper, slide it into a freezer bag and labeled it with the instructions (Slice and Bake at 350 degrees for 12-14 min.)  I can't wait to try them!

Our second batch of this dough we followed the direction in the recipe to customize it and make chocolate dough.  I had Valrhona cocoa powder on hand and we knew that it would make the very best chocolatey base. I had a lot of choices, but settled on white chocolate chips.  These cookies should taste delicious - plus a chocolate cookie will add some variety the cookie plate. Yum.

So it is December 3 and I have 2 frozen doughs and a lot of Gingerbread men. Not nearly enough for all of the guests I am having over this season.  I'd been preheat the oven and get back to work!

Fall Cookie Cutters

Look what I'm planning!  The cutest Fall cookie ever!  Okay, a moose doesn't really represent Autumn, but if I am going to make gingerbread dough for squirrels, I want to get a few gingerbread moose out of the deal.

If you don't know by now, I collect cookie cutters.  They tug at my "love of baking" heartstrings and I simply can't resist getting a new one when I'm in a shop.  My next challenge is finding a cute way to display and protect them. 

The sweet pine tree on the left is my latest aquisition.  I see thick shortbread trees made with pale green cookie dough, with a chocolate chip for the trunk.

Do you collect cookie cutters?

Leland Fishtown Tug Cookies

This fishing tug has long been the symbol of Fishtown and represents the charm and history of Leland, Michigan.  The town has been a fishing village since the late 1800's and this particular model of fishtown tug has been a working fishing vessel in the waters of Lake Michigan for more than fifty years.

For years there have been tug window decals, t-shirts and jewelry to help those that love Leland trumpet their affection for the town.  The Tug Stuff shop in Fishtown has the largest collection.  My favorite tug item is a 3-D silver charm for a necklace that I found in the Leelanau Historical Society gift shop.

Recently, a local bakery Sisson's started making tug cookies!  I highly recommend them for afternoon tea.  They make such a darling conversation piece.  As a baker, I wanted to have an entire fleet of tugs and I asked Dan to make me a tug cookie cutter (yes, I have a "make your own cookie cutter kit") to my specifications.

Tah-dah!  I love them!  We tried different variations (with a window "dent" and with a window completely "cut out") and on the cuteness scale, I still can't decide which one I like better.  Most of my first batch (shown above) had just a window dent.  For the next batch I make, I'll do some of each.  Aren't they cute?  

Now I have a cookie cutter to use for the rest of my life when I am up north and in the mood to bake and entertain.  These are certainly the perfect cookies for the Land of Delight.  

Cookie Cutter Find

What a find. All these cookie cutters for just 25 cents - no joke! I was at a trusty church rummage sale and I noticed that they had bagged antique cookie cutters into random sets. I saw this grouping and thought: a giant turkey (that would make a great crust cut out to bake on top of a pumpkin pie), Texas (where relatives live), a cow (my mom loves cows) - Sold!

I'm sure by now you know about my cookie cutter collection - I am pushing 275! I love them and my collection keeps growing. I arrived home last week to find a padded envelope in my mailbox. My dear friend, Barb, found an antique "Santa" cookie cutter that she knew I had to have. Isn't that the nicest thing ever? Thank you, Barb. 276

Lilly Pulitzer Cookie Cutters

For a limited time only, "cute" reigns in the kitchen!  Lilly Pulitzer designed a limited edition set of cookie cutters that I just had to have.

The shape of the palm tree, monkey and elephant cookies are pulled right from Lilly's famous fabric designs and I think they are a scream.  The cookie cutters are made of hot pink plastic and feature a plunger-like panel that pushes down and imprints the dough after the shape is cut.  I think the detail this creates in the palm tree (bark/leaves) and money (face/chest) are perfect. The next time I bake, I will dye the cookie dough pink and let the detail speak for itself - no frosting needed!

Come on Buffy, it's time to bake!

My Grandmother's Old Fashioned Rolled Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 Tablespoons 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Cream butter in mixing bowl. Beat in sugar, egg, milk & vanilla. Add flour, salt & baking powder. Mix well. Divide dough in half and wrap in waxed paper. Chill in refrigerator at least one hour. Use plenty of flour on board, rolling pin & cookie cutters to prevent sticking. Roll out dough 1/4 inch thick and cut out shapes with cookie cutters dusted with flour.  Bake at 375 degrees on an ungreased cookie sheet (or use parchment paper) for 5-8 minutes.

Country Living Fair 2010, Part Three

When I read the event schedule for the 2010 Country Living Fair, one seminar jumped out at me.

"Getting The Most Out of Your Cookie Cutters."

It has me written all over it, right?  With over 250 cookie cutters in my collection, I was happy to hear a lecture on one of my favorite things.

Did you know that there is a national Cookie Cutter Collectors Club?  

The demonstration turned out to be focused on cookie decorating (rather than collecting, like I had originally thought) but the instructor, Julie of Tin Treasures, did a nice job and had some great tips for both cookie baking and decorating.

Julie rolls her circle of dough out directly on a Silpat baking mat, cuts out as many cookie shapes as possible and then removes the excess dough from around the cookies.  This allows her to put the cookie sheet directly into the oven, eliminating the stressful step of transferring uncooked cookies from the board to cookie sheet.

Julie recommends "greasing" the cookie cutters by dabbing the circumference of the cutting edge with cookie dough and then dipping it in flour.  The tacky quality of the dough helps the flour to cling to the cookie cutter's edge and prevents the cookie dough from sticking during use.

She demonstrated that a plastic baggie can be transformed into an inexpensive piping bag by taping the corner (to increase stability) and sniping a small hole.  It pipes well enough to eliminate the need for special bags and tips, plus she always has some on hand in her kitchen.

Julie finished by highlighting ways to use unexpected candies as cookie decorations (taffy, fruit roll ups, licorice).  Simply cut the candy with scissors and secure the pieces to the frosting with Karo syrup.

While I was at the fair, I bought 2 vintage cookie cutters to add to my collection.  A fabulous rabbit and a formal coffee pot - love it!

Christmas Tea

Every year we have a small Family Tea with our mothers, aunts and their children. It brings the ladies together for a cup of tea and conversation and lets the cousins play together for a few hours.

This is my year to host and while many of you are nibbling on the remains of the cookies tray, I am beginning to bake!

See my strand of Christmas lights? I bought this copper cookie cutter years ago and was so happy when I found silver sugar to replicate the metal base of the bulb! This season, I saw Christmas light bulb cookies touted as a great hostess gift in House Beautiful and Oprah magazine. Don't you love how they look?

I hope you find a cookie on the cookie tray to "light up" your afternoon.

Cookie Cutter Spotlight

I thought that you might like to see...

My ever-growing cookie cutter collection has a "spotlight" in today's Detroit Newspaper "Cookie Cutter Collection has sentimental value"

Baker's Delight

Have you ever given someone a cookie cutter?

I have a huge collection of cookie cutters (easily over 250) and I can tell you where I got each and every one.

There is the giant tree from my friend Toni. A Dr. Seussian candy cane that my Dad was sure I had to have. One year, my brother even gave me the entire alphabet. When I sort through my collection, I remember everything.

The next time you see a display of cookie cutters, think of the casual bakers in your life and choose the perfect cookie cutter for them. Pick something unusual like a sweater or a house (My craziest cookie cutter is a sewing machine!).

They will think of you every time they use it, I guarantee.

Now that is a Baker's Delight.

Christmas Traditions

Every year, my husband and I spend a day in December baking and decorating my grandmother's sugar cookies with our 7 nieces and nephews. The kids (ages 17, 17, 15, 15, 13, 13 and 10) have been building this tradition with us since the oldest was only 4 years old and it really defines the holidays for me. There is Christmas music playing, "chocolate tea" (hot cocoa) on the break between baking and decorating and a general sense of ease. Rolling, cutting, baking and frosting is a long process, so the kids just relax and take their time.

This photo shows a few of the over 250 cookie cutters in my collection! A sweater (Caroline always makes one Fair Isle with rows of sprinkles, an ice skate (Emily laces it up with brown jimmies) and a sewing machine (This year William covered it with orange dots.) There are cookies everywhere.

The kids eat a few, keep a few and place the remaining on a tray "for dessert" on Christmas Eve, when we will all be together again (with their parents, and mine) to celebrate the holiday. I love this time of year!

Man and Wife

Can you stand it? This happy "couple" has been on my mind lately. I keep these cookie cutters on a table near the kitchen and every time I pass by, I imagine a different frosting outfit on them. At Christmas, I'll make them in gingerbread (with a red gingham ribbon tied at her waist). So sweet! I found them in a little gift shop, but lucky for you, these Swedish cookie cutters are also available online here. "I'd like to propose a toast to the happy couple!"