Sugar (cookie) Buzz

Ethan enjoyed having his cousin, Alex, over to the house the other afternoon. Alex is Jim's sister, Gidget's, 8 year old son.

When faced with two, energetic boys, I like to have activities ready to keep their fleeting attention.

Ethan and Alex are 5 years apart in age, so it also comes in handy to have some activities planned to help them in playing together. They are close enough in age to have a lot of fun playing together, but far enough apart that their interests and play styles are different and can use a little guidance now and then.

This afternoon's activity was decorating sugar cookies. Why save these only for Christmas? I love simple sugar cookies and what kid doesn't like frosting and sprinkles?

I gave each boy a rimmed sheet pan with their cookies to decorate. The rimmed pans help control the sprinkles and sugar from spreading all over the table and floor. The frosting covered fingers get things messy enough, so I try to control the chaos and mess in any possible areas.

The boys got into the decorating, Ethan showed off his coordination by decorating with a sprinkle shaker in each hand. Ethan's cookies were full of Phillipsburg Panther spirit with his blue and gold sprinkle combination that he choose for his decorating.

The boys had several different shapes and colors of sprinkles to choose from, along with colored sugars and mini chocolate chips. The cookies came out colorful and fun. I think my little chef's did a great job!

We wrapped up Alex's cookies for him to take home and share with his Mom. Ethan didn't have many cookies left, as he somehow managed to sneak 3 cookies while I was cleaning up. Ugh - the resulting sugar buzz from all those cookies in his little body kept him wired the rest of the evening.

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Merry Christmas!

No, I'm not blogging on Christmas day. I'm trying to be organized and typing up this post early and letting it self publish. Hopefully, I'm playing with Ethan and his new toys and enjoying our family.

Knowing myself, I'm also stuffing way too many sugary goodies into my mouth right about now. I figure since I'm eating some calories on Santa's behalf Christmas Eve, some Christmas magic should be involved and those calories shouldn't count.

Every year I make sugar cookies and every year I remember what a pain they are. However, I strongly believe that you can't be a kid at Christmas and not have decorated sugar cookies.

I used this recipe for the sugar cookie dough. I made the dough a few days in advance and made a dozen cookies to make sure that I liked the recipe. Those cookies came out perfectly - soft, fluffy and the right amount of sweetness. I froze the dough and thawed it out when ready to make the cookies on the 23rd. This time, however, big cookie failure! The cookies did not want to come off the cookie sheets and they were very fragile. A lot of broken cookies ended up in the trash.

Cookie Fail

None of the candy cane cookies came off the pan and all ended up down the disposal.

After rolling out the dough, I painted them with egg yolks colored with a few drops of food coloring and thinned out with a small splash of water. I made red, yellow, blue and green. I just used water color brushes to paint the cookies. Ethan loves to help out with this step.

The painted cookies prior to baking.

After struggling to get the cookies off the pan, it was finally time for the fun part - decorating! Ethan helped decorate the cookies but I'm pretty sure more sprinkles and M&Ms ended up in his tummy than on the cookies. I used a simple butter cream frosting for decorating and a powder sugar glaze for coating.

We'll leave a nice big plate out for Santa, along with a cold glass of milk.

Top left snowflake was decorated by my favorite 3 yr old pastry chef.

Ethan gave them his stamp of approval and than was up until 11:00 p.m. from the sugar rush...ugh!

Christmas Baking

Tis the season to be jolly....and roly-poly.

I LOVE baking for the holidays. For weeks ahead of Christmas, I'll pour through cookbooks and blogs to find the perfect recipes. I always add some new goodies to my family's annual favorites.

This year, my baking plans for cookies and sweets will consist of the following recipes:

Oreo Truffles: This will be a new recipe for me this year. I learned about it on an online community forumn where everyone raves about the ease and tastiness of this recipe.

Spiced Carmalized Pecans: My Mom and sister's favorite holiday treat that I make.

Decorated Sugar Cookies: The recipe for these sugar cookies is delicious! Ethan loves to help with the decorating! Often, more frosting and sprinkles end up on him than the cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies: This recipe is called "The Chewy" and is from Alton Brown, a cook on the Food Network. This by far the best chocolate chip cookie that I have ever tasted! If you try anything from this list, make it this one.

I just ordered the new cookbook from The Pioneer Woman. I love her blog! She reminds me of my mother, who moved from Los Angeles, CA to our small, rural Kansas town. (The Pioneer Woman also moved from a city in CA to a cattle ranch after marrying her husband.) The stories throughout her blog and cookbook all seem very familiar to me. The photographs on her blog are beautiful and the recipes are simple, hearty and a crowd pleaser around these parts.

I plan on trying two of her recipes for Christmas this year.

Cinammon Rolls: These look so goey and rich! I plan on making these for Christmas morning breakfast. I'm hoping the recipe scales down well, as I certainly don't need seven pans of cinammon rolls.

Chocolate Cake: I plan on trying a new tradition this year for Christmas. In an effort to keep the focus on the reason for Christmas and to teach my three year old that it is about Jesus being born, I plan on having a "birthday party" for Jesus on Christmas Eve afternoon. I think this cake looks just perfect for our little birthday party. I'm sure that Jesus would approve of chocolate cake being served at his birthday party. :)

I'll do my best to review each recipe after I make them and to photograph the results to share with you all.

I'm not a natural domestic goddess, so I'll need all the luck I can get!