Jelly Bean Jar Cookies

Posted on April 9, 2014 by melissajoycookies

How can Easter be less than two weeks away and I’ve only made ONE new-to-me cookie design for it?! Yikes. Life has been busy.

I made these for my monthly blog stint on the website Bake It Up a Notch. I am assuming you have a few jelly beans in your cupboard right now and perhaps dough in the fridge, in which case you should be able to squeeze in time to make these jelly bean jar cookies. It’s a simple design without a lot of steps. This is always a bonus when it’s a race against the calendar. The hardest part will be not eating all the jelly beans before they get on to the cookie.

And speaking of jelly beans, here is a tiny tutorial on how I made them in cookie form:

Like I mention on the blog, minis are a great accent cookie to the big guys. For the complete tutorial, check out my post on Bake It Up a Notch by clicking here: Jelly Bean Jar Cookies.

I’m hoping to get in at least a few egg and bunny cookies yet, but if not, I will be more than satisfied just sharing these. Happy Spring!

Easy Bird Nest Cookies for Spring

Posted on April 1, 2014 by melissajoycookies

It feels like an eternity since I’ve posted something new on the blog. The last few weeks have been a flurry of school obligations, home life, and Cookie Con. The latter being the most fun and most exhausting. I think I have finally recovered from talking cookies for 3 days straight, yet the loot I amassed from the trip still lies in a pile on my table. I’ll get to organizing it. Eventually.

For now, I bring you the easiest bird nest cookies ever. Want to see how easy? I’ll show you…let’s begin! First we need a round cookie. One of my favorite cookie cutter shapes to use is this scalloped one, but a simple circle would work too. Bake and ice like so.

After about 20 minutes, you’re ready for the next two steps.

I made my icing a bit on the thicker side, so it would hold its shape once the sprinkles were added.

Now we can’t leave the nest empty! I go to my personal favorite this time of year…the Cadbury Mini Egg.

They are THE perfect colors, with those sweet little speckles, not to mention being super delicious and very addicting. Make sure to buy the big bag. Unless you have more self control than me. So finally…

Bird Nest Cookie with Cadbury Eggs by Melissa Joy.jpg

While the center icing is still soft, squish a few chocolate eggs in the middle of the nest. That’s it. You’re done!

Once the bird nest cookies were complete, I couldn’t help but think how charming they would be as place setting for an Easter or Mother’s Day table. A personal detail to make yearly occasions a little more special.

Spring is taking its sweet time arriving in my neck of the woods. By creating these easy nest cookies, it makes it seem like the grass is getting greener, my garden is on the verge of coming to life and I will soon be able to shed my down coat…someday soon. I hope.

This post linked to: Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons

St. Patrick’s Day Cookie Pops

Posted on March 10, 2014 by melissajoycookies

March is here! Finally! The winter may actually end now!!! I feel like time is a wastin’ for St. Patrick’s Day treats, so let’s get right to it.

Once I found these adorable paper straws in the dollar bin at Target, I knew what I had to do…

That whole photo booth prop thing we all can’t get enough of, and don’t even get me started on mustaches. They are everywhere and on every thing. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, eh? I’m all about fun, easy cookies for kids (both big and small) so these seem to fit the bill.

The hat and beard were made using these cookie cutters and a little creative trimming to get them just right. The mustache and bow tie shaped cutters I already owned, so no fuss there!

This is the base of the festive St. Patty’s Day hat. Leave each step of frosting to dry a bit before moving on to the next. Add the details of a buckle and clover when ready.

I did a similar step by step for the bow ties, to give the knot some definition.

I added a beard to the mix, and kept it simple by using only orange royal icing and sanding sugar. These would all be fine as they are, but who doesn’t love a cookie on a stick?

I had never worked with paper straws, so I took the method of “glueing” the stick to the cookie with royal icing from those decorators that have done it before. I did give the straws on the hats a bit of an angle, so it would have the proper placement when later used as a prop. Once fully dried, they were much sturdier than I thought they would be.

The kiddies are sure to have a blast with these, when everybody’s Irish on March 17th….

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Truffula Tree Cookies

Posted on February 22, 2014 by melissajoycookies

Anyone who decorates cookies knows the difficulties in making a character cookie. You get those eyes or ears just the slightest bit off and it can look like some deranged mutant, as opposed to the sweet creature it was supposed to resemble. Some people are super good at characters and way more brave than I to tackle it. I choose to take the less stressful route. There can always be something in a theme that can get the point across, and I am pretty eager to find it!

When I was first asked to bring cookies for our niece’s baby shower that was Dr. Seuss themed, my first thought was to make The Cat in the Hat. Or Thing 1 and Thing 2. They all have eyeballs. That was out. The invite had images from The Lorax, so I brainstormed. Maybe the Lorax himself? More eyeballs…but the trees. The Truffula Trees! No facial features. Fun colors. Still Seussical. That I could handle.

Armed with our copy of The Lorax and the invite by my side, I started by freehand piping the black lines of the tops of the trees on a round cookie.

Next I flooded them with the distinctive Truffula Tree colors. The trunks were made by shaping rectangles with a little curve before baking. Again, I lined them with black icing and filled in with yellow frosting. After they had dried overnight, I added the details with a FooDoodler marker. These food markers are the best and couldn’t be easier or more perfect for Dr. Seuss Truffula Tree cookies!

Then taking a slightly different route, I made some royal icing transfers. Basically, you pipe the icing design on wax paper, let it dry overnight, peel off, and place on your cookie. This is a great method if you are worried about screw-ups when piping directly on a cookie. You can make bunches of transfers, use the best ones, and move them around your blank canvas until you get a design you like. Simply “glue” the transfers in place with a dab of icing.

I forgot to make tree trunk transfers, so piped them on, let them dry, and added the details with the food writer. That little dot of icing at the top will give height to the tree tuft transfer. Wow, more tongue twisters. Must be all this Seuss talk…

Transfers give the cookies fun dimension too!

I wanted to make these a little more personal for the baby shower, so I added the baby’s name. Lucky for me, the parents-to-be have her name picked out and aren’t afraid to share it with the world before she arrives! Here are a few options I have for displaying the cookies for the party.

Coincidentally, we celebrate the work of Theodor Seuss Geisel every March 2nd, his birthday, as Read Across America Day. These cookies couldn’t have come at a better time for a tribute to him as well.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! I love your thick, black lined illustrations, your bright yet muted colors, and your crazy made up names that have become part of our everyday language. But mostly, I love your messages. Honest, simple, and true, for youngsters and for those adults who read to them. Thank you, Dr. Seuss!

This post linked to: Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons

Olympic Cookies

Posted on February 7, 2014 by melissajoycookies

While I am not a big sporting event type of person, I am completely obsessed with the Olympics. I’ve been counting down the days for this year’s winter games to start. I hear the theme song and get goosebumps. Scour the web looking for event start times. Making plans for what to eat for the opening ceremonies. The next two weeks are like my Super Bowl.

For a few days during the games I will be hanging with my besties and catching some of the action on cable. Yeah, that’s right…we’re old school over here. We have an antenna and about 10 channels. We still have a land line too. *GASP! Anyway, I wanted to bring cookies and an Olympic theme seemed like the right thing to do. Lacking a great, creative break though, I made some rings.

Did you know that a donut cutter is the perfect tool for such a thing? I may have gotten carried away in the amount rings produced, but it was so easy, I couldn’t help myself.

Keeping it simple, I busted out the paintbrushes and had a bit of fun. By watering down food coloring, you can paint on cookies that are frosted and dried over night. The splattering makes a mess, but it’s my favorite to do.

It doesn’t really matter to me who wins gold, but I will admit to always cheering the loudest for one country in particular; the country of Slovenia. My grandparents immigrated to the United States from this beautiful place after they were married. I was thrilled to visit their homeland several years ago, able to meet family still living there for the first time. It was an incredible experience and one I will never forget. So for Olympic events with Slovenians participating, I say, GO SLO!

I have trained and run a half marathon. It was a ton of work, took a lot of dedication and I only did it once. So when the Olympics happen, I am in complete awe at the amount of effort, drive and perseverance it takes to be a competing athlete. Add that to the fact the entire world comes together to play, all focused on a common goal, and it makes it that much more incredible to witness. I can’t wait to watch it all unfold.

“The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.” -Olympic Charter

I scream, you scream, for Valentine Ice Cream!!!

Posted on February 2, 2014 by melissajoycookies

A mom/son date night with my 11 year old will most likely involve ice cream. Never mind the temperature outside is in the negative digits. If there is a big bowl of frozen goodness with all you can eat toppings out there, he’s in!

Maybe next time I can talk him into a warm movie theater and these ice cream cookies? Hey, they’ve got two scoops!

Here’s a quick how to for a little ice cream love, using an ice cream cone cookie cutter and a couple hearts, starting with the dough like this:

Then do some cutting and pasting to put them together, like so:

Once baked, they are ready to frost! I decorated them in this order: Middle scoop first with sprinkles…

After that’s dried a bit, add top scoop and base of the cone…

While the top scoop is still wet you can add a candy heart garnish.

I bought these large heart sprinkles, but you can always make your own with royal icing. I pipe mine using a #2 or #3 tip on a piece of wax paper, letting them dry overnight on a cooling rack. Works like a charm and it’s a great way to use up left over icing!

Finish up with details to the cone and an ice cream scoop drip.

Of course I had to add extra sweetness with a few smiles…

These could be either one scoop or two, but who wouldn’t want a bit more love?

I don’t think ice cream is quite as satisfying in the middle of winter as it is at the height of summer, but spending time with my boy is what our date night is all about anyway. I at least make sure to heat up the car a bit first before we go.

Valentine’s Day Tic Tac Toe Cookies

Posted on January 27, 2014 by melissajoycookies

It’s my one year blogiversary!

Last January I produced my very first post, Valentine Dominos. One picture and a single sentence to go with it, mostly because I wanted to make sure the thing worked when I clicked “publish”. It DID work and I was so proud. I felt very minuscule in the sea of a bazillion bloggers, yet thrilled to be swimming amongst the biggest of fish.

I decided to start a blog as a way to get my cookie art out there in another medium, to be more active on Pinterest, and to share where Facebook lacks. I’ve let it grow organically and have enjoyed producing it more than I realized I would. I find that photographing, editing pictures, and writing are just as much fun as creating the cookies!

And I like my cookies to be fun. Figuring I started my blog with a cookie game, it seems appropriate to celebrate one year on the web with another edible form of entertainment. The Valentine Tic Tac Toe, Melissa Joy style.

There is still much to learn and ways to improve, but I am excited for what may lie ahead. I hope you will delight, comment and continue to be there to take the ride along with

(If you would like some guidance on how I make a tic tac toe board, you can check our my post for Summer Tic Tac Toe Cookies or Back To School Tic Tac Toe Cookies!)

Polar Vortex Penguins

Posted on January 25, 2014 by melissajoycookies

Surprise! It’s going to be unfathomably cold again! There may be no school on Monday! We’ve gotta stock up on butter and eggs! I feel trapped and I can’t stay in this house any longer!!!

I also can’t stop saying polar vortex. It’s one of those crazy buzz words that’s in the news continually. Like vitriol was, for a while. Or The Great Recession. And who could forget twerking….though most of us would like to forget that one.

With the polar vortex then, we will make penguins. I inherited this cookie cutter from my mom when she moved last year. It was too sweet to pass up and I created an easy 4 step frosting design. Let the frosting dry a bit between steps to get the definition of his body parts.

I drew on the eyes with my food doodler marker, but you could use icing to pipe his peepers instead.

It seemed fitting to cookie a few igloos too. I trimmed a large circle cookie to about 2/3’s. The doorway was layered with a smaller cookie, made by using a mini gravestone cutter. When the frosting is completely dry, add a little silver pearl dust to give it an icy sheen. I would have loved to use this trick by the ever talented Jill FCS, but I had completed these already! She’s a cookie genius, that Jill…

The entire set looked like this. It included the fuzzy hoods I made in this post, along with my favorite snowflakes and snowmen. I auctioned the whole thing off on my Facebook page to raise money for Alexis, who is another young lady fighting a battle with cancer. If my cookies can do some good, I’m all in, and thanks to generous, supportive people out there, we did VERY good for Team Alexis! Paying It Forward, one cookie at a time.

If you’d like to help pay it forward, you can go to Alexis’ facebook page, Team Alexis, to read about her story and find information on how to send her mail. She’d love to receive messages from every part of the globe!

And if you’re in a warmer climate, send a little of that heat this way too.

Melissa Joy Cookies

Pretty cookies with organic ingredients, and the stories behind them.

Olympic Cookies

Valentine’s Day Tic Tac Toe Cookies

Pretty cookies with organic ingredients, and the stories behind them.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: