The Cookie Puzzle: February 2013

Feb 27, 2013

Mini Puzzle Piece Cookies

OK.

So normally when I write a post,

I will chat a little about why and who the cookies are for.

But, this time, I am just going to jump right to the picture!

Aren't they cute?

Don't you just love them?

I do!

Honestly, between you and me, when I pulled

them out of the oven, I cried.

I actually sat on my kitchen floor and cried,

like a baby, weeping.

These cookies just said

"Autism" to me.

I have made mini puzzle piece cookie,

like A LOT in my cookie baking adventure.

They were cute!

I like them!

They were fun to make, but..something was all way "off" about them.

Maybe it was just me, but they did not capture

what I was looking for.

They just felt, well, they felt, dull.

Then

I made them using colored dough!

And my soul was at peace!

The heavens opened!

Angles sang!

And all was right in the world.

See the difference?

The ones made with colored dough just

POP!

OK...I was going to save these for April.

Why April?

Well, April is Autism Awareness Month.

April is special to me, to my son, to my family,

and to my blog.

But...I just could not hold these cookies

to my self one minute longer!

These cookies just scream

AUTISM!

They scream

LOOK AT ME!

They scream

NOTICE ME!

They scream

I JUST WANT TO BE LOVED!

And, that is a message that I just

could not keep to myself.

So....I set them free!

For all the world to love!

To be enjoyed!

To be embraced!

To be noticed!

I still have BIG, HUGE plans for

April, but until then,

enjoy these cookies,

I know I did!

Until next time

Hugs

Feb 25, 2013

Colored Dough Shamrocks...

Last week I told you about the fun

I had working with Colored Dough!

You can read all about it Here

I made these cookies

I had made these out of the left over dough from two other

cookie sets I had made.

Today, I will share the first set of cookies

I made with my colored dough.

I made SHAMROCKS!

I love these.

Using colored dough really makes a simple cookie POP!

Is is it too early to start working on St.Patrick's Day cookies?

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

What are you plans?

Then I combined the "left over dough" cookies with the Shamrock cookies

and took 8 million pictures.

Here are two of my favorite ones.

Fun fun fun!

Make sure you come back next time,

I will share with your the REAL reason

I decided to try colored dough.

Cookies that I am in love with.

Cookies that I am passionate about.

Cookies that make me smile.

Cookies that are the heart of The Cookie Puzzle.

Guesses?

Until next time

Hugs

Feb 23, 2013

Shortbread Bites....St. Patrick's Day Style

Happy Saturday Cookie Peeps.

I am not sure if you heard,

but my neck of the wood got a little show.

Well at little snow if you think

11 inches in one day a little snow.

So...with so much snow, I have been stuck in the

house for two days now!

Stuck in the house to me means

baking and watching Happy Days all day

on the Hallmark Channel.

Good Times.

Yesterday morning, I got out my

recipe book and started flipping through it

looking for something to make.

I came across something I had not made in a long time

Shortbread Bites!

I wish I could tell you where I got the recipe, but it is clipped out of

a magizine, and there is no source.

I used to make these all the time, at Christmas time,

adding red and green nonpareils,

and I got to thinking....

Why not make them for every holiday?

These are quick and simple,

only have 3 ingredients, plus whatever

colored sugar or nonpareils you want to add.

To give the St. Patrick's Day feel,

green nonpariels would be great,

but I did not have any, and since

I was pretty much snowed in

I used a mixture of light and dark green sanding sugar,

and they topped each one with a shamrock "sprinkle".

Shortbread Bites

Printable Version

Ingredients
1 ¼ cup Flour
3 Tablespoons Sugar
½ Cold Butter, cut into small pieces
1 Tablespoon Nonparelis or Colored Sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325. In a food processor with knife blade attachment, pulse flour and sugar until combined. Add butter and pulse until dough begins to come together. Transfer dough into a medium bowl. With hands, gently knead in nonpareils or sanding sugar until evenly blended and the dough forms a ball. On a lightly floured waxed paper, pat dough into a 8 x 5 inch rectangle, freeze for 15 minutes. Cut dough into ½ inch squares. Place squares ½ inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake cookies for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned on bottoms. Transfer to wire rack to cool. Store cookies in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 1 week, or freeze up to 3 months.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do, they are fun and easy to make.

I am linking up at Simply Sweets Saturday over at

Simply Sweets by Honeybee. Make sure you head over to

see lots of great posts!

Until next time...

Hugs

Feb 20, 2013

Colored Cookie Dough...it really brightens cookies up

Happy Hump Day!

I played last weekend with coloring my cookie dough.

I have seen several colored dough cookies, but never had tried it myself.

But last weekend, with a little time on my hands,

I decided to throw caution to the wind and give it a try.

They are just cookies, right?

What could possible go wrong?

If they fail...I could just hide in the closet and

eat them all, and no one will ever know, right?

I had a few concerns about trying colored dough cookies.

First, I was worried if the gel coloring I used would

alter the flavor of the cookies.

Second, I worried if my cookies would be "sweet" enough.

My cookies are not very sweet, on there own, which is normally

not a problem, because my glaze is sweet, and the cookie

and glaze together create the perfect amount of sweetness.

Third, I knew with colored dough, no glaze is needed,

so I needed to find a way to get "sweet" onto or into

my cookie dough, without glaze.

Ok...I know others will say, "Just switch cookie recipes"

Well..easy for you to say!

I don't like change.

I love my recipe.

I don't like change.

I could roll my cookies thinner.

I don't like change.

My customers love my cookies.

They don't like change.

So, I made my usual cookie recipe.

I divided it into 6 portions.

I added gel coloring to each portion, and kneaded it into the dough.

Make sure you wear gloves when you do this!

I did have to kneed a little more flour into the dough, to

make it less "sticky".

I then rolled it to my usual 3/8 inch thickness,

and cut out my cookies.

THEN....

I dipped the tops in sanding sugar!

Problem solved!

I used sanding sugar that matched the dough,

red dough got dipped in red sanding sugar, blue in blue, and so on.

Then I just baked as usual.

I was thrilled with the outcome.

They looked great!

Score!

They tasted great

Score!

I made several cookies, but they are for later posts.

I wish I could share...but...well...sorry.

How about a little sneak peak of the

colored dough cookies?

Would that make you happy?

Ok..you win.

These are the two cookies I made with the left over dough I had.

I love love love colored dough cookies!

I am so happy I tried them.

I am sooo bummed I did not try them sooner.

Stay tuned...more colored dough cookies coming in the future!

Until next time....

Hugs

Feb 18, 2013

President's Day Collaborative Project

Happy President's Day!

I am a complete History Buff..

I love everything about history,

especially Political History,

so when Anne of Flour Box Bakery,

sent out an invitation to join in on a

Collaborative Project to celebrate

President's Day, I jumped right in.

She asked 44 cookiers to

create 44 cookies representing all

44 President's of The United States of America.

WOW...what a fun project.

When I got my assigned President, I was a

little concerned, he is not that famous, he did

very little while in office, but I researched him, and

did my best to make him interesting.

My President was

John Tyler, the 10th President

Here are a few fast facts about President Tyler

He was born March 29, 1970, in Virginia.

He was a lawyer by profession

His term was April 6, 1841-March 3, 1845

He was not elected President, but became President,

when the elected President, Willam Henry Harrison, died,

just one month into his term.

He was often called "His Accidency" because he bacame

President by Accident.

His first wife, Letitia, died, during his term in the White House.

He remarried, while serving in the White House.

He had more children then any other President in history, 15 children,

While it did not become "official" until Noverber of 1845,

Tyler was instrumental at getting the state of Texas, into the Union.

Now that you know more then you ever wanted to

know about President John Tyler, lets have a look at

the other 43 Presidents.

1) George Washington by Sarah of Sweet Surrender Cookie Co.,

2) John Adams Nicole of Life’s a Batch

3) Thomas Jefferson Sarah of Songbird Sweets

4) James Madison by Georganne of LilaLoa

5) James Monroe by Anne of Flour Box Bakery

6) John Quincy Adams by Liz of Arty McGoo

7) Andrew Jackson by Tiffany of TheRedCooky

8)Martin Van Buren by Jill of Jill FCS – Funky Cookie Studio

9) William Henry Harrison by Christina Sweet C’s Bake Shop

10) John Tyler by Kim The Cookie Puzzle

11) James Polk by Debbie of D&T Designs

12) Zachery Taylor by Stephanie of Ellies Bites

13) Millard Fillmoreby Melissa of Simply Sweets by Honeybee

14) Franklin Pierce by Kris of So Cute Cookies

15) James Buchanan by Lene of Not Your Everyday Cookie

16) Abraham Lincoln by Debbie of Sweet Creations by Debbie

17) Andrew Johnson Liz of CookiesToGo

18) Ulysses S. Grant by Rebekah of Love at First Bite

19) Rutherford B. Hayes by Heather of Twins Plus One Goodies

20) James A. Garfield by Teresa of Sugar T's Cookies

21) Chester Arthur by Alyse of B.E. Sweet Treats

22) Grover Cleveland by Kimberly of Barefoot N Baking

23) Benjamin Harrison by Laurie of Cookie Bliss

24) Grover Cleveland by Kimberly of Barefoot N Baking

25) William McKinley by Susan of Sweet Williams Cookies

26) Theodore Roosevelt by Heather of SugarNosh Treats

27) William Howard Taft by Sarah of Sarah’s Sweet Shoppe

28) Woodrow Wilson by Cheryl of TheSugared Apron

29) Warren G. Harding by Shannon of Artfully Delicious Cookies

30) Calvin Coolidge by Stephanie of Ice My Biscuit

31) Herbert Hover by Fumie of A+Kake sweets

32) Franklin D. Roosevelt by Christine of Chris’ Creative Confections

33) Harry S Truman by Kim of Sugar Rush Custom Cookies

34) Dwight Eisenhower by Monica of Cookie Cowgirl

35)John F. Kennedy by CeCe of The Tactical Bakery
36) Lyndon B. Johnson by Jennifer of One Kookie Cookie

37) Richard Nixon by Jackie of iBakery
38)Gerald Ford by Georgeanne of LilaLoa,

39) Jimmy Carter by Jennifer of One Kookie Cookie
40) Ronald Reagan by Melissa of The Baked Equation
41) George Bush Sr. by Penny of Lucky Penny Cookies
42)Bill Clinton by Laurie of Cookie Bliss
43) George W. Bush by Sarah of Sarah’s Sweet Shoppe
44) Barack Obama by Teresa of Sugar T's Cookies

Now....how about a picture of
all 44 Presidents?