Snow Globe Cookies

It's cookie-time again, cats and kittens!

Two reasons... First, one of my amazing bosses at the dream-job, (there are six, and

all of them are amazing!) invited me to her home on Monday afternoon where she's

hosting her team for a Christmas dessert party and ornament exchange. Secondly,

there was no call from the Ranger this week, and I was beginning to feel a little

wobbly. By Friday afternoon I was climbing the walls, and decided I needed

something to do this weekend to help pass the time. Something tedious and

mind-numbing... A project that required my full and constant attention while

keeping me near the phone. And, creating cookies checked all of those boxes!

I occupied myself Friday evening by pulling out everything I needed to get started

first thing in the morning. I know... I have a lot of stuff. Every time we go away, I

leave a note in the oven willing everything in the kitchen to my friend and cat-sitter!

First thing Saturday morning, I whipped up seven batches of cookie
dough. See those happy specks of fragrant vanilla beans trapped inside
my dough? That comes from using vanilla paste instead of liquid extract!

The last time I created cookies, (see here) I experimented with rolling the dough

between plastic wrap before chilling it and found that it really worked well! The

dough rolls out easier when it's soft, (straight out of the mixer) and cutting my

shapes is easier when the dough is cold. Not having to work/roll the dough
before cutting keeps it stiff, and makes better cuts... What I call, a win-win!

Did you know that all roads to beautiful Snow Globe cookies lead to Kansas. Why
Kansas? Because that's where you'll find CopperGifts.com! If you want the
absolute best, heirloom-quality cookie cutters you call Beth, or order on-line!

Beth's snow globe cookie cutter is here, and CopperGifts offers a snow

globe cookie cutter set too. It come with everything you need to create

beautiful snow globe cookies. Huh, Bing? We love CopperGifts, don't we?

Bing's been watching me in the kitchen... In between naps, that is!

The secret to great tasting/great looking sugar cookies is to start

with a great recipe, use only the finest ingredients and cut with

fantastic cookie cutters. I've tested too many plenty of recipes

but after I tried Bridget's recipe, my search was over. Forever!

Now, you'll see me using other cookie cutters from time to time; however, when I

have a choice, I prefer to use only copper cutters from CopperGifts. They will

never bend, and no matter what the shape, they always give me crisp, clean

cuts. By the way... To minimize spread, I stick my cookies, (on my cookie

sheets) into the freezer for ten minutes before I put them into the oven!

And, that's all there is to it!

UPS just delivered my latest Pottery Barn order!

My store was sold out of the small mercury pillar holder so they ordered it for me!

Now my set is complete!

Someone just told me that I should just set the table on fire...

He won't be laughing at me when he finds coal in his stocking!

Now that my cookies are out of the

oven it's time to make our royal icing!

Just remembered I had one last sheet in the freezer... Time to re-heat the oven!
So back to Royal Icing... I weigh my sifted powdered sugar before mixing because
although it says a pound, I have yet to find a bag or box that actually weighs a pound!
Sometimes I use the paddle, sometimes I use the whisk attachment. Both work!

Perfectly!

Of all the tricks I've learned, my icing bomb is still the best time-

saver. If you would like to know more about it, you can click here

It's the perfect tip for a neat-freak like me!

It also lets me reuse my disposable pastry bags, which aren't as cheap as you'd think!

Let's go Red for some...

Glorious red Flood-icing!

To use on the base of our little snow globes!

You could make them any color but it's Christmas-time and I love red!

That's me... Referring to my own blog about the last time I made snow globes!

It was 12:25AM... I needed all the help I could get!

Especially since this party went on until 3:30AM!

But the Ranger still hadn't called so it wasn't like I was going to find sleep!

So Bing and I decorated until the sun came up!

Then, when our little paws could ice no more, we went to bed...

And, when we woke up, the phone was ringing!

It was the Ranger! He's safe... He misses

us... And, he had an address to give us too!

Suddenly, I can breathe again!

For a little while at least...

In the meantime, we'll just have to stay crazy-busy until he calls again!

For today, we have plenty to keep us busy!

Honestly, I labored less time giving birth to both boys,

combined, than I've spent making these cookies!

But I'm not complaining!

About the labor or the cookies... Because both were Labors of Love!

I know. It's getting deep... I better stop!

Oh, I have to tell you the story about my little snowman and Christmas tree sugar

decorations. So I decided to make these snow globes on Thursday... Meaning, no time

to order them from CopperGifts. So I check AC Moore and Michael's and struck out

at both stores. Then I remembered Karen, the lady that taught the cake decorating

class I took a few years back. I called, she had them - Yea! But her place is a bit of

a hike so I also called Dewey's - they had them too - Yea! But then an errand took

me out Karen's way so I stopped and picked up my little sugar decorations from

her. Karen sells all kinds of cake and cookie decorating supplies, and she sold

me 70 of these sugar decorations at .16 cents each - yea! But get this... Later in

the evening I was near Dewey's so I stopped in thinking I'd pick up a few of their

sugar lay-ons, just in case I needed spares. Guess how much? .75 each at Dewey's!

Now I love Dewey's. After all, I picked them for Mom's special birthday cake!

But .75 cents for a piece of sugar that's less than an inch long is C-R-A-Z-Y!

My friend Melanie would be so proud of me for choosing the bargain!

Not that I wouldn't have paid whatever it took

to make snow globes for my friends at work!

Seriously... How cute are these cookies!?

The decorating possibilities with this cookie cutter are endless. I could see

this as a gum-ball machine too. Wouldn't that be a cute birthday party favor?

I think so! Oh, before I forget... I received an e-mail from a reader asking me if

she really needs to outline first. I know there are people that flood-ice their cookies

without a hard outline, and I did that when I did the 600 Aveda cookies, but when

you're putting different colors together, I always recommend a hard outline first!

Especially when perfect matters!

Writing on cookies always cracks me up because it looks nothing

like your handwriting! The first time I wrote on cookies, (here)

it surprised me. Oh, crap! That's not right! Let me fix that...

That's better! How embarrassing it would have been to

present a cookie with the persons name misspelled!

Fortunately, dry royal icing is very forgiving and can

be plucked right off. Can you tell which one I fixed?

Please don't tell Lacey I had to re-do her cookie!

I love these little mittens. Again, you could decorate them a thousand ways!

I think my boss's kids will like them!

Even though they make me think of hitch-hiking elves!

Now that my cookies are all wrapped and we got

the call we've been waiting for, it's time for bed!

Good night, and Sweet Dreams!