BBQ Cookies for Father's Day

The other day I found a flat, plastic BBQ mitt and spatula at the store (cake decorations) and instantly thought of cookies. Sugar cookies topped with royal icing, to be exact. Yippee! 

The cookie version worked out pretty well. I utilized the same gingham technique on the mitt (borrowed from Glorious Treats) that I used on my gingham picnic cookies. I added the stitching detail with a black AmeriColor Gourmet Writer. The spatula is brushed with silver luster dust, if you can't tell, and the wood grain handle is given detail with a brown Gourmet Writer.

Don't the mustard and ketchup make a cute pair? :) 

In the beginning they were faceless, but they looked so plain.

I knew I needed to add something.  It's amazing what a difference a pair of eyes and a little smile makes:)

To make these little guys I used a rectangle cookie cutter and cut the rectangle dough in half. At the top, I cut in from the two sides to represent the twisty part, and then the pointy top was cut out freehand and placed firmly on top.

Store-bought icing eyes and edible marker smiles finished them off, and there you go!

These sweet little fellas should bring some cheer to any dad on Father's Day, and hopefully will satisfy their taste buds too!  Make some for your own "Grill Master"!

Happy Father's Day to all the Dads out there!

Linked to:
Sweet Treats and Swanky Stuff 
Lil' Luna Link Party
I'm Lovin' it Fridays  
Inspiration Friday
Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday  
Weekend Wrap Up Party

Sweet and Salty "Ice Cream" Snack

Seems we all love ice cream.  For many,  it's the first sweet treat sampled as a baby.  It's usually served alongside birthday cake and is the quintessential summer sweet. Many years ago (when I was 21), I spent the whole summer living with a friend in Laguna Beach. We had an ice cream cone at Swensen's every single day:)  When my husband and I were young-marrieds, we may or may not have, each eaten our own pint of Haagen-Dazs ice cream every weekend once in awhile. 

With the warmer weather I have noticed ice cream all over the blogosphere...sometimes the real deal, and sometimes a treat that just looks like ice cream:)  This snack falls into the latter category.

The "scoops" are mini marshmallows dipped in candy melts and topped with sprinkles:) Of course, you can eat them just like this for a yummy snack.

In the past I have made clown hats and elf hats out of Bugles. They've been fun, tasty snacks. The other day I had a mini "Aha moment" when I thought of making tiny ice cream cones out of Bugles.  They're the perfect shape!  I dipped them in peanut butter candy melts and even used a toothpick to etch lines in the cones so that they would look more authentic:)

I found these cute bags at World Market the other day and knew they would be perfect for serving up this snack. Such a cute treat for a summertime get-together or ice cream social!

Sweet and Salty "Ice Cream" Snack

Ingredients: 

12 cups salted, popped popcorn
24 original Bugles
4 ounces Wilton peanut butter candy melts
8 ounces of vanilla almond bark
4 ounces each of four colors of Wilton candy melts
24 mini marshmallows
1/2 cup mini m&m's
1/4 cup multi-colored jimmies (sprinkles)
Wooden skewers or toothpicks
Sprinkles

Directions:
Ice cream cones:  Place some wax paper on a work surface. Set the marshmallows and Bugles on the wax paper. Melt the peanut butter candy melts.  Use a skewer to pick up a Bugle and dip it in the peanut butter melts until completely covered.. Hold the Bugle over the bowl and let the excess candy drip off. Set on the wax paper to dry.  Repeat with each Bugle. When they're dry, you can use a toothpick to etch diagonal lines in the cones to make them look more realistic.
Place each of the colored candy melts in a microwave-safe, small bowl and melt as package directs. Use a toothpick and dip a mini marshmallow in one of the colors (it's okay if it has a bit of excess candy on it, to make it look more like a rounded scoop). Set the marshmallow on top of one of the Bugles and hold it there for a moment. Apply the sprinkles.  Place the mini cone gently on the wax paper to dry. Repeat until you have 2 dozen mini ice cream cones. Let dry.
Popcorn: Line 2 jelly roll pans with wax paper.  Distribute the popcorn between the two pans.  Melt the vanilla almond bark and drizzle over the popcorn (or you may mix it more evenly with a wooden spoon if you prefer).  Immediately sprinkle with the jimmies and mini m&m's.  Lastly, place all the mini cones on both pans of popcorn.

ENJOY!

  

Linked to:

Crazy Sweet Tuesday
I'm Lovin' it Fridays 
Inspiration Friday 
Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday 
Weekend Wrap Up Party 

English Matrimonials for Berrylicious

When my friend Hani, of Haniela's, invited me to join in on a "Berrylicious" link-up, I was tickled!  The only problem was choosing just one berry recipe!  I finally decided on these English Matrimonials (I don't know how they got their name, even though I tried to find out).

Though I have never blogged about these bars, they're one of our very favorite treats, dangerously so! I simply can't make them too often, unless they're earmarked for someone else, otherwise my husband and I will eat them in short order:)  To top it off, they are literally ready for the oven in 5 minutes!

We were first introduced to these bars on one of our favorite weekend jaunts to Pacific Grove. This particular time we picked "The Old St. Angela Inn" as our Bed & Breakfast of choice for lodging. We discovered these very tasty bars in the guest's cookie jar, and were instantly smitten!  The inn had a cookbook for sale which included these bars, so I was happy:)

Don't let the unassuming look of these bars fool you; between the texture and the almond extract with the berry jam, they pack a powerful and delicious punch!

English Matrimonials

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup berry jam (I used my homemade strawberry jam)
1 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Lightly grease a 9-inch loaf pan.

Combine all ingredients except jam and almond extract. Pat half of the mixture into prepared pan.  Mix jam and almond extract.  Spread over oat mixture. Pat other half of oat mixture on top.

Bake 40-45 minutes or until light golden brown.  Cut into bars when cool.

Be sure to click on the links below to see all the fabulous blogs featuring the other beautiful Berrylicious desserts:

1. Joan, Chocolate Chocolateand More - Lemon Blueberry Pound cake

2. Charity, Foodlets – Strawberry - Banana Popsicles

3. Jamie, Green Beans & Grapefruit - Mixed Berry & Cookie Butter Clafouti

4. Hani, Haniela’s – Red Currant Meringue Cake

5. Katrina, In Katrina’s Kitchen - Frozen Blueberry Basil Lemonade Pies

6. Sue, MunchkinMunchies - English Matrimonials

7. Bia, Rich and Sweet - Blueberry Blackberry Orange Streusel Scones

8. Sam, SamsKitchen - Eton Mess Mini Cheesecakes

9.  Sherron, Simply Gourmet Photography - Mulberry Syrup

10. Ann, Sumptuous Spoonfuls  -  Strawberry Chia Jam  
11. Karen, TrilogyEdibles - Meringue Nest with a Bumbleberry Compote

THANK YOU berry much, Hani! :)

Linked to:

I'm Lovin' it Fridays

Double~Decker Necktie Cookies

Father's Day is just around the corner and these would make a wonderful Double~Decker Dad's Day Dessert! Try saying that, five times fast:)

Last year I made a necktie cookie pop, and decided to make a small version this year, without the stick.

Here's my little template for the neckties.  Usually I use a file folder to make templates, but I ran out of them.  For this mini template (about 2-inches), and a small batch of cookies, this paper template worked out just fine!

As you can see, for the shirt I used a onesie cookie cutter and simply cut off the bottom part once I placed it on the baking sheet.
The ties are baked also, before being adhered to the shirts, hence the "double-decker" name:)  My last post was also a double~decker cookie.  I may need intervention, thanks to Bridget:)

These cookies are a lot of fun and turned out pretty cute!  The ties are a little extra bonus goodie for dad:)

Double~Decker Necktie Cookies 

Ingredients:

Cookie cutters/templates 
Sugar cookie dough
Royal Icing 
Food coloring
Decorating bags and tips (#1, 2 &3)

Directions:

1. Whip up your favorite batch of sugar cookie dough, or other cut-out cookie recipe.
2. Use a shirt cutter (or onesie cutter & cut off the bottom part of the dough) to cut out your cookies and bake them up.
3. Make a little tie template (size it in relation to the size of your shirt), and bake up some tie cookies too.
4. Let all cookies cool completely.
5. Use your favorite royal icing (save some royal icing to adhere the ties to the shirts) and outline the shirts with a #3 tip (I have Wilton). Let dry for 15-20 minutes
6. Fill the cookies with royal icing. (I kept the icing white for the shirts.) Let that dry for about an hour.
7. Add the shirt details.  For best results, thicken your icing and use a #1 tip. (At first I was lazy and didn't do these two steps.)  The details look much better with a thickened icing, and thinner (smaller tip) lines.
8.  Let shirt cookies dry overnight.
9.  After icing the shirts, ice the ties (Tint with food coloring to make them any colors you fancy). Let the first layer of icing dry for a bit (15-20 minutes) before adding details (stripes, polka dots, etc...). Leave them to dry with the shirt cookies.
10. After the cookies are completely dry, add the ties to the shirts by putting some royal icing (not too thin) on the back of each tie and pressing it firmly, but gently, onto a shirt cookie.
  
Make these cookies for the dads in your life and they will have a tie-rrific Father's Day! 

Linked to:
Sweets for a Saturday 
I'm Lovin' it Fridays 
Inspiration Friday 
Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday
Saturday Seven Party