Using Up Holiday Candy

I am known far and wide by my sisters to have the best stash of candy on my kitchen counter.

Now, I rarely EAT that candy...I just like having the option to go out and grab a handful of M&Ms if I want them.

This time of year the candy is especially abundant with the after Christmas sales on Hershey Kisses, Reeses Cups and, of course, M&Ms. It's almost as bad as my wax paper/aluminum foil stash.

I had good luck with the Rolo cookies I found on Pinterest from Six Sisters' Stuff blog so I decided to try another one of their cake mix cookie recipes.

I had a handful of Andes mints and a box of Devils Food cake mix so I went with their Andes Mint Cookies. They turned out very yummy!

The recipe is super simple, just 4 ingredients.

1 box of Devils Food cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
Andes mints

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the first three ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. The batter will be thick. Roll dough into 1-1.5 inch balls (or whatever size you want them to be) and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 6-9 minutes (mine took 9 minutes but mine may have been a bit big). Pull out of oven and immediately place unwrapped Andes mint on top of each. I didn't have enough mints so I broke them in half. Let them sit for about 5 minutes (I put mine in the warm oven with the heat off and door open for a couple of minutes) so the mint melts. Swirl the mint around the top of the cookie with the back of a spoon.

Since I didn't have enough mints for another pan of cookies and had enough dough left for at least a dozen more cookies, I improvised.

I wrapped the cookie dough around a miniature Reese's Cup (about the same amount of dough as I used for the Andes cookies) and placed them in a greased miniature cupcake pan.I baked them for 9 minutes (might leave them in for another minute if I make them again). I had enough to make 12 of these.

And just because I could, I melted some leftover Godiva Gems chocolate on the top of about half of these cookies...just made them that much better!

Do you do anything creative with your leftover Christmas candy?

I still have two bags of Hershey Kisses on my counter...

Cookies, Clematis and Combines

Cookies

I was craving homemade cookies this weekend and I just watched the second episode of The Pioneer Woman's show on Food Network.

Because of the above, I made these...

I remembered reading about Monster Cookies on one of the blogs I frequent but it was before I started Pinning in and every recipe I may ever want to try. This meant I had to do some searching and I finally came upon PW's recipe on the Tasty Kitchen site.

If you have never used Tasty Kitchen to look up a recipe, I highly recommend it. Lots of great bloggers and others post their favorite recipes there.

Clematis
My sweet autumn clematis has started to bloom!

Can't wait to see it in full bloom!

Combines
As I was driving by the farm (also known as Grandma's house...even though my baby sister and her family live there now) and noticed this...

as sure of a sign that harvest is right around the corner as the turning corn and soybeans in the field around us! We were thinking that harvest was going to be late this year because all the rain this spring caused Dad and other farmers in Indiana to plant late. However, we didn't get much any rain in July and August so the crops have already started to turn. 

Looks as if they either plan to start with soybeans (the bean head is on the combine...the corn head looks more like fingers) OR they are just cleaning it up while they have some time.

Harvest was early last year and it went VERY fast so I only got to ride with Dad once the whole harvest...I'm definitely going to be in the cab more often this year...if I can persuade my nephews to give me a turn in the jump seat!

Holiday Baking...Spanish Peanut Crisps

I know what you are thinking...the holidays they are over. Well, technically we are in the midst of the 12 days of Christmas and New Year's Eve is just around the corner, so we can totally continue to bake under the guise of the holidays!

Thanks to the Great Cookie Exchange of 2010, I have several more cookie recipes to share with you, my friends!

Mrs. C joined our rag-tag group of cookie lovers at the Exchange. Now, I've known Mrs. C since I was a little girl. She taught school with my mom and continues to be a very good friend of the family. Mrs. C is known for her delicious Christmas candy and we were all expecting her Exchange offering would be chocolate covered confections. Much to our surprise (and delight) she included some cookies with her plate of candy!

One of the best parts of the Exchange was hearing the stories behind some of the cookies made. Mrs. C decided to pay homage to her Granny and bake some of the cookies she remembered enjoying as a child.

This butter cookie was as yummy as it was beautiful.

She decorated each of our snowflake cookies differently because no two snowflakes are alike!


Her other plate included a date roll cookies and a Spanish Peanut Crisp.
 

It's the Spanish Peanut Crisp recipe that I am going to share with you today. It's a crispy cookie...hence the name...that has corn flakes, oats AND Spanish peanuts - those ones with the redskin!

Mrs. C only brought one recipe card to the Exchange and I've already been notified by my aunt that I can't be hogging it much longer.

So, without further ado, here's the recipe for Mrs. C's (well, her Granny's) Spanish Peanut Crisps.

Spanish Peanut Crisps
1 c. butter
1 c. packed lt. brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 c. sifted flour
1 1/4 t. baking powder
1 1/4 t. baking soda
1 1/4 c. quick oats
1/2 c. finely crushed corn flakes
1 c. salted Spanish peanuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and beat well.

Sift dry ingredients in separate bowl. Gradually add to creamed mix. Mix in oats and corn flakes. Stir in peanuts.

Shape dough into quarter-inch balls and place on greased baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Linking to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Holiday Baking...Dainty Logs

I don't know exactly why I love these cookies so much.

Could be the butter.

Could be that there are chocolate chips on the inside and outside.

Could be any number of factors.

The fact remains...I LOVE a cookie named Dainty Logs...I'd marry it if I could, maybe not but I'd totally live with it for a while.

I'm not sure where my mom got this recipe but it normally is only baked around the holidays (though I've been trying to make it a year round cookie...check out its appearance at a baby shower this summer). I have NOT made any of these yet, but these delicious and easy cookies were my mom's contribution to the Great Cookie Exchange of 2010.

Go ahead and try them. I dare you NOT to like them!

Dainty Logs

3/4 c. butter

3/4 c. sugar

1 1/2 t. vanilla

1 egg

2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

2 c. chocolate chips

1 T. butter

2 c. finely chopped nuts (we use pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 3/4 cup butter, sugar & vanilla; beat well. Add egg and beat thoroughly. Stir in flour and salt. Mix well. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips (maybe just a few more than that, just sayin').

Shape dough into 2-inch logs. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Chocolate Coating:

Melt remaining 1 T. butter and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (can also use semi-sweet baking squares) over hot water (or in microwave). Stir until smooth and blended.

Dip each end of baked (cooled) cookie into chocolate mix and roll into nuts. If you don't like nuts, skip the last step and stick with just the chocolate cover.

Smiling at Randomness

"It's a Social Parade Friday!"

Are there things that happen in your everyday life that make you smile or even laugh out loud?

It happens daily to me and I always think to myself, "I should blog about that." But then life moves on and by the time I sit down at my computer the thought is gone.

Well, let's be honest. As soon as my smile fades, the thought is gone. Sometimes I swear there's a giant eraser in my brain. Once I tell myself to make a mental note, that eraser wipes it right away!

Oh well, today I have had several of these funny little thoughts that I HAVE remembered, so let's see if I can hold onto them just long enough to get them all in this post!

My Christmas cactus has NEVER bloomed at Christmas! It starts blooming around Thanksgiving and the flowers hang on until about a week before Christmas and then they are gone! I call it my Thanksgiving cactus.

After I eat a bowl of my white chocolate snack mix, I look down and it's like an M&Ms graveyard. In this mix is the only time I don't enjoy M&Ms!

After a long day of work in a cute skirt, tights and sassy boots, I look down and see this...

You just gotta shake your head and laugh...and not buy expensive tights because this happens more often than I should admit!

I called my mom today and she was baking Christmas cookies with my nephew because his school was closed due to snow. This reminded me so much of all the times she baked Christmas cookies with my sisters and me. It makes me happy to know that she's passing those traditions on to the next generation. And my dad is happy because he still taste-tests each batch claiming it's his favorite kind of cookie!

My only Christmas decoration currently up is the lovely wreath my boss gave me...it's outside where I NEVER see it.

Shouldn't I put it somewhere that I can see and enjoy it? Oh well, enjoy neighbors!

I think I had a couple of more things to talk about but that darn eraser got to them before I could...maybe next time.

Holiday Baking, Take 3: White Chocolate Snack Mix

One of my all-time favorite holiday treats to make AND to eat is my version of a white chocolate-covered mix. I just love a sweet and salty treat (as you can probably tell by the other items I've been featuring lately).

I found this recipe in a great cookbook put out by our local Extension Homemaker's Club several years ago. It features favorite recipes from local women and 4-H members and there is a great variety of easy dishes. A good 4-H recipe is golden around here and my family (with four girls) had our "fair" share. Someday I may share some of the Grand Champion recipes from my youth!

Now, back to the regularly scheduled post...

I made this mix as the third component of my offering to the Great Cookie Exchange of 2010. Remember how I told you that I got the recipe from that great cookbook? Well, said cookbook is a binder that allows you to take pages in and out. The page with this recipe was "out" so I made the mix from memory and Baby Sister and I did some improvising! I've since found the page so I'll share the recipe as written and let you know where I substitute.

Darn, got some white chocolate crumbs on my keyboard...friends, don't snack on this mix and blog at the same time. It only leads to trouble.

First, find the BIGGEST mixing bowl you have. I made this mix at my mom's and she has the BEST mixing bowls. I'm not sure where she keeps finding them (I think auctions) but they just keep getting bigger and prettier. This mix usually feels up my large mixing bowl...see the photo below, this bowl is HUGE.

Mix together 6 c. of Cripix cereal (I used Golden Grahams. Feel free to experiment), 3 c. of Cheerios (I used the multi-grain ones this time. It was either those or the chocolate ones!), 2 c. stick pretzels, 2 c. peanuts (I use dry roasted.), and 1 lb. M&Ms candies (I've used milk chocolate, peanut, mint, dark chocolate M&Ms, go with what feels right. I usually just use a little over a cup - I can't believe I'm saying this but the M&Ms are my least fav ingredient in this.).

Set that aside and melt 1 tray almond bark. I do this in the microwave and it's easy!

Pour the melted chocolate over the dry ingredients and stir. If your bowl is small, you can split the mix and chocolate into two bowls. Stir to coat.

Spread the mix on foil or wax paper to set. You may find some clumps of chocolate, just mix it around right there on the paper.

Be sure to sample it as it dries...the M&Ms are kind of melty (this is the only time I really like the M&Ms in this mix)...delicious. Once it's dry, break it up in manageable pieces and enjoy.

That concludes the look into my contributions to the cookie exchange. While at Mom's making my candy, my sister was baking her molasses cookies. We had a bounty of goodies on mom's table...

Stay tuned for a rundown of all the cookies I received in the exchange, plus a couple of recipes and stories attached to the treats!

White Chocolate-Coated Mix
6 c. Crispix cereal (or Golden Grahams)
3 c. Cheerios
2 c. stick pretzels
2 c. peanuts
1 lb. M&Ms candies
1 tray almond bark

Mix cereal, M&Ms, pretzels and nuts together. Melt the almond bark and pour over dry mix. Stir to coat. Spread on foil or wax paper to set.

Check out Holiday Baking, Take 1: Simple Pretzel Kiss Candies and Holiday Baking, Take 2: Sweet & Saltines Candy.

Linking up to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Balancing Beauty & Bedlam!

Holiday Baking, Take 2: Sweet & Saltines Candy

The Great Cookie Exchange of 2010 is supposed to happen later today at my mom's house. Unfortunately, it rained all day yesterday, temperatures dropped and snow is moving in. So, we'll see who shows up!

Party or not, I am prepared. Yesterday, Baby Sister and I finished up our contributions at my mom's house while she and my dad went to the Purdue men's basketball game (Go Boilers!). Kind of funny that two of her grown children were in her kitchen baking without her!

I love baking at my mom's house. She has good counter space and a big table to work on. It also brings back lots of memories from my childhood...lots of cookies (and rolls and bread and cakes) have been made in that kitchen over the years.

As I noted in my first holiday baking post, I decided on candy instead of cookies as my contribution to the exchange. I wanted to try Trisha Yearwood's Crockpot Candy after seeing it in a magazine but it takes three hours in the crockpot and that's time I just didn't have this week!

While researching the crockpot recipe, I stumbled upon another recipe from her Home Cooking with Trisha Yearwood: Stories and Recipes to Share with Family and Friends cookbook that got good reviews on several sites - Sweet and Saltines. So that became my second candy offering!

First, start by lining a large jellyroll pan with foil and lining up your saltines. The recipe also said you could substitute graham crackers for a sweeter treat, so I made a pan of each!

Next I melted one cup (2 sticks) of butter and a cup of light brown sugar.

And brought it to a boil for 5 minutes.

Then pour it over the crackers and spread evenly.

Pop it in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes or until it just bubbles. Take out of the oven and sprinkle one 12-oz. bag of chocolate chips evenly over the pan (the recipe said 8 ounces of chips but go crazy).

Once the chips start to melt, spread them evenly.

Pop the pan in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes until completely cool and chocolate has set. Break apart and enjoy! I cut mine in smaller pieces because I had small containers to put them in...and they are rich so a small bite is just right, in my opinion!

I do have one more treat to share with you tomorrow, but here's a sneak peek at part of my contribution to the cookie exchange! I will also share the other goodies I received.

Sweet and Saltines

Serves 20

40 saltine crackers
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (about 1¹⁄3 cups)

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a large jellyroll pan with alumi¬num foil and the saltine crackers.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour over the crackers, covering them evenly. Put the jellyroll pan into the oven and watch closely. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, or until just bubbly. Remove from the oven and pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. When the chips melt a bit, spread them over the crackers with a knife. Transfer the pan to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until completely cold. They will form one big sheet. Break up into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Substitute graham crackers for the saltines for a sweeter snack. Use 1 stick of butter instead of 2 for a crunchier, saltier cracker.

Use anywhere from 35 to 45 saltine crackers, depending on the size of your pan.

Recipe found at: http://blog.al.com/bn/2010/04/recipes_some_of_trisha_yearwoo.html

Holiday Baking, Take 1: Simple Pretzel Kiss Candies

One of my favorite activities around Christmas is baking Christmas cookies either by myself, with my mom or with my mom, sisters and nephews.

Growing up my mom made dozens and dozens of cookies in the weeks leading up to Christmas day. Our freezers - yes, I said freezers - were full of delicious treats all through December. My parents have two large freezers mainly to store the meat - pork and beef - that they used to get several times a year. Since Dad quit raising hogs several years ago, there's no more pork (sad face) so there's more room for cookies!

She would use these cookies as gifts for our teachers, for my dad's landlords, for our family and friends, and for dessert at holiday parties.

Now some of the cookies have endured...continually being made year after year, such as the Spritz cookies, Dainty Logs and Magic Bars. Some have been phased out as trends come and go. The butter cookies colored green and rolled out to look like wreaths with a cherry at the top (to look like the bow) haven't been made for years.

I'll be highlighting some of my favorite cookies as we start to make them this year.

However, I started with a newer addition to the Christmas cookie line-up that isn't a cookie at all, but a cute little candy-like treat. I have no clue what they are called, I certainly didn't come up with the idea myself, so I'm calling them Simple Pretzel Kiss Candies.

You need pretzels, Hershey's Kisses and M&Ms. That's it!

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You don't have to do this but I am lazy so I don't worry about chocolate sticking to the pan this way.

Lay out several rows of pretzels. You can use the mini twist or the waffle shaped pretzels. (Sorry for quality of the photos. All I had was my Blackberry.)

Unwrap some Hershey's Kisses and set them on top of the pretzels. I normally use the milk chocolate Kisses and M&Ms, but I thought I'd go crazy and try the dark chocolate Mint Truffle Kisses and mint M&Ms this time.

Put them in the oven for at least 3 minutes. Test if they are ready by pushing an M&M in the middle of one of the Kisses. If it doesn't go straight down as the Kiss collapses into itself, it's not ready. There's really no "baking time" for these, you just have to watch them.

Unfortunately, I forgot that dark chocolate melts differently than milk chocolate (a little more liquidy) and that the truffle Kisses have two layers so the middle part of the didn't melt at the same rate as the outside layer!

So I decided to NOT use the M&Ms with these and they turned out nicely without the extra touch.

Here's what the milk chocolate Kiss and M&M ones look like. Yummy!

These take a LONG time to harden back up so don't try to package them up too quickly!

The sweet and salty combination make these kind of addictive. If you want a different twist, substitute mini Rolos and pecans and you have a bite-sized turtle treat.

Baby Sister is hosting a Cookie Exchange this weekend and I decided to make several types of "candy" as my contribution and this was the first batch. I'm going to attempt a candy featuring Saltines - yes, the cracker - that was talked about at a recent meeting I attended, as well as some crockpot candy. I may whip up a batch of my favorite white chocolate covered snack mix if I have time.

Regardless of what I make, I have to have 10 dozen of SOMETHING by Sunday.

So, stay tuned!

Baking Up Some Chewy Goodness

I am a huge believer in cookies.

Cookies for breakfast (I blame my mother). Cookies for a mid-morning snack. Cookies for a late-night snack. You see where I'm going here, right?

I have plenty of tried and true cookie recipes, but I'm always willing to open the recipe book and welcome a new one into the fold. This summer I saw a recipe for "Chocolate Chewies" in the local newspaper that intrigued me. It was from a local baker and the idea behind all of the recipes featured was gourmet cookies at home. It only had 5 ingredients and no flour. I had to try it.

Since the recipe calls for egg whites and powdered sugar, the end product had a lightness to it that normal cookies don't seem to have. Just remember one thing when you are working with powdered sugar...it's powdery and can made a real mess if you get a bit crazy with the whisk!

The recipe called for toasted nuts - like walnuts - but I didn't have any so I just added extra chocolate chips. I also used Ghiradelli 60 percent Cacao (bittersweet chocolate) chips to punch them up a notch. Totally worth it!

This recipe is definitely going into the recipe book. And, Leah, these ARE making an appearance at the office this week!

Chocolate Chewies

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
5 ounces chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups toasted nuts (such as walnuts)
4 egg whites

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine sugar and cocoa, whisking well to combine. Add chocolate and nuts. Add egg whites, and mix until combined.

Scoop golf ball-size portions of dough and place on parchment-lined sheet tray. Bake for 25 minutes until the tops begin to show small cracks.

Makes 1 dozen cookies (or more if you scoop out ping pong-sized portions).

From August 20, 2010 Indianapolis Star

Party Planning, Part II: Action Figures, Cookies & Pink

Hello visitors from Follow Me Back Tuesday!

My hostess pack from House Party came last week for my Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3 premiere party. The season opener for SWCW is Friday night (September 17) on the Cartoon Network at 9 p.m. EDT.

My oldest nephew saw the action figures and went wild!

He honed in quickly on this one..

Captain Rex is his favorite character. He's already laid claim to this one but has to wait until Friday to get it!

I have talked on here already about this party and my baby sister's, aka Brat, baby shower and how I've been planning them. I have had some great suggestions from both old and new friends for both parties.

My college roommate told me that her son's birthday party later this fall is Star Wars-themed and she passed along these games: Pass the Death Star, Feed Jabba the Hut, Jedi vs Sith, Use the Force, Jedi Obstacle Course, and Meteor Shower.

I still need to finalize the menu and the games and the other entertainment for my SWCW party...so stay tuned!

As for the baby shower, it went off without a hitch this weekend. For the food, we decided to forego the cake and concentrate on cookies instead! We had quite the spread and they seemed to be enjoyed by all. Though we realized how easy it is to just pick up a cake from the bakery while we were each making several kinds of cookies!

I even tried to add some flair and used two of these 3-tiered cake stands and put a flower in the base of the middle and top tier.

Add a tablecloth, balloons, wildflowers and you have our decorations!

No shower is complete without some games. You can see the mommy-to-be judging the "babies" the guests drew on paper plates while their eyes were closed! In the background, you can see our Aunt Peggy passing the toilet paper.

No, we didn't use the toilet paper as hillbilly napkins. It was the second game...how many toilet paper panels around is the mommy-to-be's belly! Most people thought she was a bit bigger than she really is. Just in case you are curious, her belly measures 10 panels of Angel Soft toilet paper!


Then it was onto the gifts.

Now, I want to point out that I was sitting to the side the entire time so I couldn't see her face OR I would have told her that she had a piece of hair across her forehead! Oops...sorry Brat, but aren't the boots adorable!

See, there I am off to the side.

Isn't the quote behind her appropriate at a baby shower for a girl? I just know this baby will be smart, strong and bold! She has some great role models to help her down that path.

Of course, she got lots and lots of pink outfits. I think she said she got 25 outfits in total - not all pink, but the majority were!

Brat got 2 beautiful quilts made specifically for her baby girl. The one below was done by a friend of mine's mom after she saw my sis's blog post about putting together her nursery. She matched the colors of the room perfectly, according to my sister after she took it home and put it in the nursery.

So, one party down, one more to go...can't believe I chose to host two parties in one week!

It's Party Planning Time...

I have two very different parties to prep for over the next two weeks.

First, my baby sister (aka the Frugalista, aka the Brat) is having a baby in October so my other sisters and I are throwing her a baby shower.

I know what you are thinking. She's just a baby herself, how can she be having a baby! I still remember going to the hospital to meet this little baby girl that made her way into the world just days before my 8th birthday.

Actually, I'm super-excited for her and her HHBL. They will be great parents to a very lucky little girl. The Brat is having the first baby girl in our family. After having FOUR daughters, my dad hoped, prayed and loudly wished for a grandson for years. He now has 4 wild and crazy grandsons and what does he want? A granddaughter! The man is never satisfied.

So glad that the Brat - my dad's baby girl - is giving him his first baby granddaughter. Won't that be a great photo!

The other party is a kid's party to celebrate the premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 3.

My nephews are HUGE Star Wars fans. When we went to Disney World this summer, the older nephews were way more excited about the Star Wars weekend than meeting Mickey!

So they are so going to flip over this party! I'm planning to have up to 10 children under the age of 10, as well as at least that many adults, to entertain, feed and corral! The party will finish with the season premier of the cartoon series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

My party pack is going to have some fun party favors, including some Hasbro Star Wars action figures, but I want to carry the theme throughout the food, decor and activities.

Since food is the common denominator of the two parties, that's where I started.

I headed to my local Wal-Mart to grab some supplies! In addition to some fun Star Wars napkins and plates, I grabbed some treat bags for the baby shower. We are planning to serve bite-sized desserts and send a treat bag with some goodies home with everyone.

I want to try some fun decorated cookies/brownies and I'm not all that great with icing, so I wanted to practice before baking for the actual parties.

I decided to do to my test run with bar cookies instead of brownies - basically out of laziness - and used 2 tubes of cookie dough as my base.

Before I got started, I also stopped by my local Kroger's to grab some groceries.

You know the old saying, "don't grocery shop when you are hungry?" It's true!

I grabbed some honey BBQ chicken anytizers from Tyson (never had them before and have to say they are yummy) and one of my favorite quick and easy sides - Ore-Ida Easy Fries! I paired them with the healthy weight Green Giant veggie mix - black beans, edamame, sugar peas and carrots...yummy - and a fountain Coke Zero!

Overall, it was a quick and easy meal, except for one thing...I put my Easy Fries on top of my microwave cover dish (just too lazy to take out the cover dish) and this happened.

Oops! Guess I'm on the lookout for a new cover. At least the Fries weren't affected!

Now back to the party food trials. My good friend over at Going Jane sent me a couple of ideas for Star Wars party food. Her kids are HUGE Star Wars fans - fanatics, really - so she's the perfect gal to consult with. Her first idea was a Darth Vader shaped brownie using a bell-shaped cookie cutter and white icing.

Here's the first attempt...

Not bad, but I'll try again with brownies because the cookies cut awkwardly.

I also tried some butterfly and flower cookies for the baby show. Decorating is definitely not one of my fortes. I'll keep trying!

Any suggestions for food for either the baby shower or the Star Wars party? All are welcome!