Time Out:

My husband has to remind me all too often this time of year that "Halloween is supposed to be FUN!" It's not that I don't love having my party, and egotistically soaking up all the "oohs and ahhs" at the decor and food (I seriously eat that up. Feel free to gush all you want. It validates my efforts :) but sometimes as the date nears, and the panic grows, I focus way too much on what I'm not going to get to or what isn't the way I want it to be.

So yesterday I declared a TIME OUT! Mission: don't forget to ENJOY Halloween!

Step one: giant gooey graveyard cookie from Byerly's:



Can I say again how thankful I am that I passed my glucose test? :)

Hope you're all enjoying your Halloween preparations! I know I'm really looking forward to seeing all my guests in costume (almost nobody has told me what they are going as this year, so lots of surprises ahead!), reconnecting with some people I don't see too often, and making my neighbors wonder once again just who moved in to our quiet little house :)

Sweet Thoughts

I just drank a big gulp of expired milk, but I'm willing to look past it because I'm munching another one of these:




Mmmmm, monster cookie.

I'm in a particularly cheerful (and uncharacteristic) mood today, most likely because I slept for 14 hours last night. I will eventually regret that move and begin to stress double time about everything I'm behind on and should have been doing, i.e. I had hoped to have my menu nailed down yesterday and that is not quite the truth. Food has basically been my nemesis for 6+ months now, so I'm finding it hard to take joy in the planning. Also complicating factors is my inner Martha wanting to make adorable theme-related Cajun dishes, and my outward picky eater knowing I won't actually eat any of them :) Ahh, dilemma...

Luckily Cajun DESSERTS seem to pass my muster just fine, I'm currently contemplating these fine treats:

Pralines
Crockpot Bananas Foster
Beignets
Mardi Gras Cupcakes

(Cupcakes had to be in there somewhere, I can't resist. And luckily, neither can most of my guests!)

This is just the tip of the iceberg, of course, but hopefully it's a little something to look forward to - in just 18 days! Eek!

2nd Annual Cookie Exchange - YUM!

This post should have been up yesterday, but Blogspot thwarted my actions. Or maybe my Internet connection did. Regardless, I apologize. I had a WONDERFUL evening surrounded by friends, family, and COOKIES!

The 2nd annual cookie exchange was a big hit! I'm rolling in cookie ecstasy this morning, and I'm pretty sure my husband will gain 12 lbs this week. I had to fight him off to get some photos before he dug into all the goodies.

We had 13 participants, and agreed to make 1/2 dozen for each guest. Last year we did a full dozen and somewhere around the 8th batch my head started spinning like the exorcist, so I knew we had to scale back this time around. :) In preparation for the exchange party, I picked up 13 big cardboard Cub Foods boxes (just $1.09 each!) and labeled them with each participants name.



This keeps everything running smoothly - people bring their batch of cookies however works best (some had bags, some boxes, some even Rubbermaid tubs!), and when they arrive they deliver one package to every carton except their own. Sort of reverse trick-or-treat. Last year I used Costco bags, but they didn't have any in stock this season, and actually the Cub boxes probably offered a little more protection. Cookies were to be packaged in containers that the baker does not need back, like the 3/$1 foil tins I scooped up at Dollar Tree. But boy were my friends creative! These white chocolate cranberry cookies were in holiday goodie bags:



These plastic containers holding butterscotch coconut cookies are actually take out containers from our favorite Chinese restaurant, eNoodle Cafe:



These cute gift bags held chocolate mint cookies, and the recipe was rolled up with a chocolate mint candy cane:


One guest gave me a special hostess gift, putting her Russian Tea Cakes in a cute ceramic jar:


And speaking of cute, OMG are these not the most adorable sugar cookies ever?!?!? This is from the same creative mind that brought you the True Blood Cupcakes, and Alice in the House Halloween costume:

Love them!!! My mom emailed me late that night after opening all her cookies and said "they're like mini works of art!" I wish I had that skill with royal icing, mine always look like I used a trowel.

There were lots more AMAZING treats as well, from dipped cherry cookies to lime coolers, traditional gingersnaps and peanut butter blossoms (my absolute favorites), melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies, chocolate raspberry bars, and even divinity! I'm so impressed with this bunch of ladies, and we had a great night sipping wine and cocoa, catching up, and trying to keep cookies away from Norm (not all of that was successful).



My favorite moment of the whole evening was when I oh-so-gracefully spun around and knocked someone's plate out of their hand, sending food flying everywhere, and reacted with cat-like reflexes to catch most of the food in my hand. That food was salsa. Have you ever tried to catch salsa? I laughed for an hour on that one.

Overall it was a great night, the cookies are spectacular, and I'm starting to feel like it's the holidays now :) Thanks to everyone who participated, and Happy Holidays to all!

Teaser for my Cookie Exchangers...

Recipes to come later in the week, but I thought I'd give a sneak peek of what I spent the weekend doing - and let you all know that I recovered from my bakeFAIL on Saturday. For the exchange we're all just bringing 12 packs of 1/2 dozen each, all one variety - but since it's my exchange I try to do a little extra. Last year I did a lot of chocolate dipped goodies for everyone, but since pretty much everyone got them just a few months ago in the Halloween Goodie baskets, I decided to try some new recipes. My husband has pronounced all of these "AMAZING" so I'm feeling pretty good:

Apricot Cream Cheese Drops:

Chocolate Cappuccino Cookies:

Soft Lemonade Cookies:

Cookie Fail

Last year I crossed off bucket list item #36 , be part of a cookie exchange for the holidays. I accomplished it by starting my own group exchange with a combination of family and friends, and it was a big hit! So this year I'm doing it again by popular demand - and with even more participants. The exchange is Wednesday, so I've been grocery shopping twice and spent this evening trying out my recipes.

It was huge disaster.

It started out easy enough, I (thought) I had all my ingredients, my recipes, my tools...


Recipe #1: Apricot Creams.

First I did the classic baking powder/baking soda mix up. Had to scoop it out and start over, while hubby ran to the store for the other. D'oh.

Then I didn't do a very good job making my "rounded teaspoon" sized balls - the recipe that was supposed to make 6 dozen cookies only made about 3.

And then 1/2 of those burned, four minutes before they were even supposed to be done, as I hadn't realized the racks were moved so low in the oven (Thanksgiving). Double d'oh.



That was all the first recipe. The 2nd recipe - soft lemonade cookies went slightly better. I kept the soda/powder straight, and fixed the racks in the oven, but still made the drop cookies too big so they're not that pretty. But they do taste pretty good.



I think I'll take a tip from my mother and try to find some small ice cream scoops tomorrow, and use them to make more perfect and consistent batter drops. Something like this from Target would be good:


So for tonight I've thrown in the towel - I'm still eating the ugly cookies, but I want to be sure I make the prettiest most perfect ones for my exchange, so hopefully tomorrow will go better.

Another big night!

Wednesday was my last full day of work before the big day, (today is 1/2 day and then coaching) and sounds like the last dry day as well - right now it's POURING! Because of this I shuffled my plans a bit - I finished painting the base of the archway, but didn't deal with attaching the sides, since I'm scaling back to a more temporary and less weather-resistant model. I'd rather not be stuck parking outside for the rest of the week, so I'm waiting to put the rest together till Friday or even Saturday instead of putting it together and taking up my whole parking spot :)

But I still made a full evening of it!

I mixed, rolled, cut out, and baked FOUR batches of The Queen's Tarts, which are now ready to put together today or tomorrow. They'll get raspberry or apricot fillings. The process actually went really quickly, even with my ancient mixer. I was pretty proud of two things, first - this is all the dough I threw out:



Nice, right? Every last scrap I re-rolled an cut until I was down to just the tiniest part.

Then, after baking, I was pretty thrilled to find I only broke 3 cookies! That doesn't sound that impressive, but these suckers are fragile. I'll probably lose a couple more when I'm filling them, but so far I'm ahead of last time. Here are the casualties:



I wrapped all the baking up just before 9, and assumed I was headed off to bed (yes, I'm old, I usually crash BEFORE the news even). But then I had an inkling to put together a few goodie boxes, and ended up cranking out nearly 1/2 of them!



I love how they look, and boy are they packed with goodies :) I'm so happy everything fit! The box was the perfect size for all the goodies I wanted to include:



I'm not posting my next to-do list because it's 3 pages long + growing :-O Suffice it to say, I will be running around like the proverbial chicken sans head for the next couple of days, and will likely not get to everything. This will annoy me, but you will probably not notice until I decide I just have to tell you - I've been down this road before :)

Anyways, I'm probably going to be short(er) or updates for the next 48 hours or so, but after Halloween I promise lots of photos & tutorials on every aspect of how I "made" my Wicked Wonderland party 2009 :)

Tuesday's Accomplishments:

Well, I mostly kept up my crafty domination yesterday, though hubby and I took a break for burgers and milkshakes, which I really needed. I accomplished all of the tasks I had blocked out on my list for the evening, which is good, though I just didn't quite feel like everything came together the way I wanted it to. I have some perfectionistic tendencies (no, really?) so it's hard for me to scale back or settle, but with just 3 days to go now, that's going to have to be good enough.

I don't have photos, because I'm not ready to expose all these things yet, but here's what I accomplished:

-more spraypainting on the "looking glass" archway
-added text to the upper curve of the archway, outlined in glow-in-the-dark paint
-hung my "Cheshire Cat" stripes & words in the basement
-hung 3 sets of purple lights in the Cheshire Cat area
-washed a load of blankets (I'm anticipating a few overnight guests, so we're shoring up all our resources)
-painted a bunch of little wooden signs with a base coat of white
-went to Michaels, forgot the one thing I went there for but got a few other supplies
-ate a banana-fudge milkshake and bacon cheeseburger
-went to bed early

I could have accomplished more if I had more energy, but I'm still on track - and I actually feel pretty good this morning! I made it out of the house early, stopped at a gas station for Vitaminwater & a lotto ticket (I can dream) and still got to work on time.

Up tonight:
-final coat of spraypaint (hopefully)on archway - attach header & the foil curtain "mirror" center, sides - and DONE (hopefully)
-bake the Queen's Stolen Tarts

Since the cookies involve mixing, rolling, cutting, and baking, I'll be happy just to get that part done this evening. It's hard to judge how long a "normal" sized batch will take, since the only other time I baked them I did more than 12 dozen :) I'll wait to stack & fill them until I'm sure they're completely cool, maybe tomorrow. Which will be Thursday. Which is only 2 days before Halloween. EEK!

Holiday Cookie Exchange

I'm a little late for Christmas in July, but it occurred to me in going through my bucket list post that there are a couple things I've checked off but not featured on my blog. One was #36, be part of a cookie exchange for the holidays.

I think I first heard about this idea from my friend Al, whose family does one yearly and always sounded like great fun. I love to bake, though I'm not very adventurous and for some reason don't know how to bake most of my holiday favorites. A cookie exchange was the perfect solution - everyone can make their specialty, and leaves with a huge assortment!

I've apparently developed this motto in life, "if at first you don't get invited, then it's time to host your own!" This is certainly how I ended up hosting the big Halloween bash (years of scrambling for something fun, it finally became clear I needed to make my own fun!). Sometimes it gets annoying (doesn't anyone want to invite me to a New Year's Eve party, so I don't have to cook and clean on my birthday?) but usually it's a fun experience. It definitely was with the cookie exchange.

I started a few months before the holidays sending out emails to people I thought might be interested, and how I thought it should work. I asked everyone who wanted to participate to send me 2-3 types of cookies they'd like to make, and I'd choose the option that best fit the group in terms of avoiding repeats, etc. I ended up with a lot of interest - ELEVEN people!

I picked the date that worked for most of the group and was about a week before the holidays - this meant people would have their cookies for entertaining on Christmas and the week before. In retrospect, we might move it a little earlier next year, as more people wanted them for entertaining and the parties were generally in the week before that. But all groups will differ.

Everyone was asked to bring 10 dozen cookies (1 dozen for every guest other than themselves) packaged by the dozen in containers they didn't need back (i.e. saran wrap, pie tins, gladware). This didn't sound outrageous to me because I grew up with a mom whose basic recipes were all set for 12 dozen, but if that is more than you can handle you could always limit the number of guests, or bake only 1/2 dozen for each person. I also asked that every participant share their recipe, so we could each build a treasury of our favorites for future entertaining. For those who couldn't make it that evening, I asked that they send their cookies ahead of time, and they could pick up their assortment at the end of the evening or next day.

I got everyone a huge re-usable bag from Costco to take home all of their goodies, and even then they were very full bags! These are great if you haven't tried them - they come in a 3-pack for under $3, have two sets of handles, and are super durable. I use them all the time and I think we have about a dozen floating around out home & cars.
I tagged each bag with a name and set them up on two tables, so as guests arrived they could distribute their goodies into everyone's bags. Boy did it smell GREAT! We each introduced our cookie to the group, drank wine & cocoa, and enjoyed a few snacks and the festive mood. I was excited to show off my decorations for my first Christmas in our new home, and this was such a great opportunity!

As organizer of the exchange, I kept my cookie flavors a secret, and also made a few extra treats for everyone.

The cookies were linzer-style shortbreads, and it was my first time ever making them! This was quite an ambitious undertaking, not only are you making 10 dozen cookies (+ a dozen for yourself) but since they are a sandwich cookie you are really making twice that! I spent an entire day working on these, but they were worth it. There is a shortbread cookie on the bottom, raspberry or apricot filling, and a "window" shortbread cookie on top. I think they look like stained glass and are really beautiful.

And since I cherish my title as "hostess with the mostess", here are the extra treats I threw in for everyone:

Neapolitan cupcakes - two each of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla

Carrot Cake bites with cream cheese frosting and slivered almonds

S'mores on a stick, peanut butter balls, and dipped pretzel rods.

I probably won't be making quite as many side treats next year (sorry ladies!) but I've heard from several of the participants that they'd love to do it again, and a few who missed out were quite jealous! If you want to go all out, you can read this lady's guide on her crazy cookie exchange (it's apparently a competitive event!)For resources on recipes and ideas for cookies to try, I recommend Joy of Baking which is where I got my amazing peanut butter ball (AKA "Buckeyes") recipe.

We each went home with 10 dozen cookies + all the extra treats, more than enough to share at the office, relatives, and even re-gift. With so many different varieties, even if you didn't like one kind there were still plenty of other options. I know since I have very limited food likes, my husband certainly appreciated having goodies around I wouldn't normally bake.

Witch Hat Cookies

These are simple and adorable and TASTY, would make a good classroom or work treat and you come out looking like crafty sally with just a few minutes of work.

Supplies:
Hershey's kisses, unwrapped (you can buy them this way in the baking aisle now, or just do it yourself - but make sure you get them completely naked - foil is not tasty.

chocolate dipped or topped cookies - the original place I saw this used fudge stripe, but I think they look too big and throw off the proportions. I prefer the Keebler knock offs of girl scout cookies - they have grasshoppers (essentially thin mints), a peanut butter patty cookie, and a caramel patty cookie that are all great.

frosting in a piping bag with a small round tip - of a coordinating color.


use a small dab of frosting to secure the kiss to the cookie, and then pipe a simple band & bow for contrast & to cover up the seam. Voila!

Sugar Cookie Bouquet

Sometimes it's a sad fact of life that you just can't afford an expensive gift, but that doesn't mean you put any less thought into it. In those cases I like to turn to creative homemade gifts, so the recipient knows I took the time and effort to really think of them, even if my gift didn't have a hefty pricetag.

This was one of those budget-friendly but time-intensive gifts for my mother. It is a sugar cookie bouquet!

I rolled out my sugar cookie dough and cut large tulips with a cookie cutter. I baked them right on the skewers (which were foodsafe). They came out cute, if a little fragile - you couldn't exactly eat these as lollipops, they would fall off the stick. But for my first attempt and purposes, it was fine. I never use royal icing if I can help it - it looks pretty and dries hard, so it would be much easier to transport without smudging, but it doesn't taste as good, so I stick with creamier varieties. These were flat iced, and then outlines piped in fudge frosting.

I arranged them in a gift box on top of some tissue paper, and twist tied a few of the "stems" together to secure them in the box and avoid movement.

If I had to do it over again, I'd dye my stems green or find green skewers (remember food safe!), and spend more time experiementing with attatching the stems so you could deliver them standing up in a flower pot or vase.

Baby Face

In 2007 I hosted a baby shower (actually, a "sprinkle" - a 2nd baby shower that was more of a celebration and reason to get together than a gift extravaganza). We knew she was having a boy, so I decorated the cottage in "baby boy blue", and came up with what I think was a really cute design for baby face cookies and a round cake.

I took a cue from Charles Schultz and went minimal and cartoonish - I used the simple round shapes of the cake and cookie rather than fighting or trying to overcome them. I flat iced everything in a flesh-tone vanilla frosting, and used fudge frosting in a pastry bag with a small round tip (#2 or 3) to draw in the faces.

I stuck with a curl of hair, and varied the eyes and noses to cover a range of emotions. The cookies were sugar cookies, by the way.

The morning of the shower I ran to the party store for some last minute supplies, and ended up finding a balloon that matched my cookies & cake almost exactly! I hadn't planned it that way, but it all tied together perfectly.