Santa Gnome Cookies

Posted on December 4, 2013 by melissajoycookies

Coming off of the labor intensive gingerbread village I shared with you in my last post, these guys were a breeze to make! After some persuasion from a cookie friend {you know who you are}, here is a brief tutorial on how to create these rustic gnomes, all Santa-esque, in time for Christmas.

I first found a photo in holiday catalog similar to this design and made a quick sketch. Since it was influenced by an image, I didn’t have a cookie cutter exactly like it but knew I had some general shapes that would fit the bill.

I wanted a long, pointy hat and a fuller beard so I used these two and did a little cuttin’ and pastin’.

Notice I sort of shaped the dough a little longer and smoother to get the look I had envisioned. It’s all good, because they bake together nicely.

Now let’s get to the icing! First the white beard with sanding sugar and then the red hat. I did leave a small space between the two on purpose. The colors would bleed if they touched when wet, so I choose to leave a space to shorten the wait time. You do have to allow the top and bottom dry a wee bit before you pipe the nose though…

It’s best to hold off until the next day to add the patterns to your hat with a food coloring marker. You could always pipe the details on, but I liked the ease and freedom of the Doodler.

And that is how I made my Santa Gnomes!

I wanted a woodsy, folk art feeling with these cookies and I really loved the result. The patterns for my hats were inspired by my crazy talented brother-in-law who is an incredible artist. His drawings are made up of wonderful characters influenced by his surroundings in Maine. I cannot wait to brag him up once his Etsy shop is running. The kid is amazing!

Another holiday post completed and a few more for you when I get the chance…wonder if I could do the 12 cookie blogs of Christmas?

My 2-D Gingerbread Attempt

Posted on November 30, 2013 by melissajoycookies

Let’s start by saying these cookies were a total pain to make.

I almost quit on several occasions. There were so. many. steps. and so. many. cookies. I had pondered eating the entire batch from the get go when a couple days frosting turned into several weeks desperately trying to finish them. I swear, I am sticking to easy cookies for the rest of the holiday season.

These particular cookies started as a vision influenced by our Department 56 Christmas in the City village. It is a family favorite as far as the holiday decorations go. We jump the gun and start displaying it a few weeks before Thanksgiving and leave it up long past New Year’s Day. For the amount of time we spend setting it up {and spent on it}, why not enjoy it to the point of being not quite acceptable?

The love for our village combined with this image I pinned, triggered my determination to create cookies like it. Double that with a first attempt at making gingerbread and the resolve to enter another cookie challenge over on LilaLoa’s blog, yielded this final result.

Her challenge involved using the Pantone Fall Colors for 2013. I am not the best at mixing frosting color and don’t particularly enjoy trying to figure it out. I am either happily surprised or really ticked at what I’ve thrown together when trying to achieve something specific. I also would have never thought to use these hues for cookies. So yes, LilaLoa, this was a challenge for me in more ways than one!

Am I satisfied with the outcome? Meh. I thought of some more details I could add, but I think I’m just over them. And really, I’m just happy to have completed them in time. Barely.

Bring on the straightforward snowmen cookie.

A Family Wreath of Gratitude.

Posted on November 22, 2013 by melissajoycookies

Just a quick, last minute Thanksgiving idea for you! I caught a glimpse of this pin by Family Fun Magazine the other day and I knew I had to cookie it immediately. It is perfect for a family gathering, easy to execute, and a super way to get the kids thinking about what is important to them. Here’s our edible version of a gratitude wreath.

Food writers are so fabulous. If you make decorated cookies, I highly recommend they be in your arsenal. Make sure the icing is fully dry before you use them though, or you’ll poke holes in your pretties and that’s not fun. For this project, I made simple leaf shaped cookies and let the icing dry a day or two. When they were good to go, we got thankful.

And yes, my youngest is fond of (and obviously grateful for) pigs, but mostly in regards to his favorite stuffed animal friend that he has had for forever. His choice of gratitude did not mean bacon, like a cookie friend had maybe thought. 😉

Man, I better stop with the Thanksgiving cookies or there will be WAY more than my family can consume next week….

My Favorite is Thanksgiving.

Posted on November 17, 2013 by melissajoycookies

Thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday. What’s not perfect about a day filled with gratitude and food? I love how the whole day comes together in my little world: Macy’s parade, turkey trot, bonfire with the cousins and pink tea. This leads to pots on the stove, a brining turkey, and Grandma T’s autumn leaf dishes. Later when bellies are full, our annual watching of the best Newhart episode ever rounds out the day.

This routine never gets old to me. Yes, I am a creature of habit and tradition. Small bits have transformed over the years, like who shows up to run, the place we gather to eat or how I’ll decorate the crust on my pumpkin pie. More notable changes came with the passing of my Aunt a few years ago, my sissy and her husband moving to another state (Miss you, Sisar!), and the happy additions of new little cousins and spouses.

This year, the day will be a bit bittersweet. November 28th, Thanksgiving day, would have been my Nana’s 95th birthday. It’s been just over a month since she died and I’m marching on. I do get misty eyed lately if I enter a department store with the holiday decorations gleaming bright. My Nana adored shopping, so I can’t help but think of her. She could wander around one store for hours, most likely coming out with bag of something sparkly or heeled. Seeing the stores in all their Christmas glory for this reason gets me a little choked up.

So yes, this Thanksgiving will be different, but the constants will still be there and more notable than ever…reliving cherished memories, a gratitude for having all that we really need, and being fully aware of the love we share for our families. In my opinion, that’s more than enough to be thankful for.

A Brief Gobble.

Posted on November 10, 2013 by melissajoycookies

Here’s a quick post of cookies I made last year, before I entered the world of blogging and watermarks. Some are fall-ish, some are for turkey day, but all are meant to get you in the Thanksgiving mindset, and maybe give you a little inspiration to create some goodies of your own!

In case you were not aware, picmonkey.com provides fun editing tools that can make your pictures extra silly, such as this concerned turkey. My oldest loves to use it as well to create wacky photos, like placing a tiara on a picture of great-grandma or having brother sport a mustache.

I cut and pasted the dough together for these guys by using a large sunflower and a bowling pin cookie cutter. Sometimes you just have to dig around your stash to make things work. I’m giving thanks for being inventive and thrifty. 😉

I will most likely be bringing some sort of autumn themed cookie sweet to our family gathering in a few weeks. Do you bake something other than the traditional pumpkin pie to celebrate? In my opinion, other than the turkey, baked goods rank as one of the most important items on the Thanksgiving buffet. Mmmmmm, I can’t wait!

Fall Tic-Tac-Toe Cookies

Posted on November 6, 2013 by melissajoycookies

I love coming up with cookies that can double as fun for kids! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to try out other varieties of my Halloween tic-tac-toe cookies. My youngest got such a kick out of playing it with me, and yes, munching on the pieces, that making another set was inevitable. And necessary, since we ate them all.

This was easily done with the mass of mini cookie cutters I own and changing up frosting colors to suit the season. Behold, the autumn version of a cookie Tic-Tac-Toe game!

Even though mini cookies are, well, mini, the board itself is a huge six inches square. It had to be big enough that when a grid was piped, the playing pieces could fit in the spaces. I used a scalloped pastry cutter and ruler as a guide.

My son favors the baby acorn, but the little red leaf is my favorite.

I don’t think you can go wrong when you pipe 0r draw a simple, sweet face on a cookie. The cuteness factor increases tenfold, don’t you think?

I think this set would be super for Thanksgiving. It always seems to take FOVEVER for the turkey dinner to be done, so why not keep the kiddies busy with a game and a snack? Well, it’s not the healthiest of snacks, but some people do put marshmallows on their sweet potatoes, so I hardly see how a tiny bit more sugar is going to make a difference. It is a holiday after all…

These cookies most likely won’t last long, so I am bound to make a winter edition. I don’t want to rush that though. Instead I will enjoy the rest of the Wisconsin autumn while it here.

Happy Fall to you!

Remembering Nana

Posted on October 25, 2013 by melissajoycookies

A little over a week ago, my dear Nana passed away. She was almost 95 years old and although we knew it was coming, it still didn’t make it any easier to hear the news that day. I wrote about her and my grandfather in a blog post when we celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary this past spring, so I thought it fitting to make a small dedication to her here.

Since Nana’s passing, I have been flooded with memories of times spent together, recalling her mannerisms, her fashion sense, and her unconditional love for me, that only a grandmother can give.

We shared a love of dance. Her, starting as a child performer and later in life twirling with Grandpa, while I ended up studying dance in college, evolving into dancing with a company. This was a gift I always said came from her. It was no coincidence that four days after she died I found a book at a thrift store titled “NANA”, with the image of a dancer embossed on the front cover.

Nana had a passion for sparkles. The more bling, the better. Anything and everything. Always. A Facebook friend wrote after hearing the news of her passing, “Heaven just got a little more stylish.” So very true.

This weekend we will celebrate her life, and I was asked to make cookies for the memorial service. I struggled with what to create, but nothing seemed good enough. In the end I went with techniques and designs already out there in the cookie world, since my heart has been heavy and my mind not motivated. Thank you, SweetAmbs, for producing excellent tutorials in a decorating style that my Grandmother would have been delighted by.

I will miss you, Nana, and will forever love you. As hard as the sidewalk.

Halloween Old, Halloween New

Posted on October 14, 2013 by melissajoycookies

Cookie life ebbs and flows. Some weeks CRAZY, and then nothing. The down time is good because it gives me a chance to organize and regroup everything I’ve let slide. I can feel a little lost in these moments, burned out from trying to create, wondering if I will ever have the desire to cookie something again when the ease of baking pumpkin bread is so satisfying. It seems, without fail, I do. I haul out the mixer and this stuff happens.

Super easy chocolate sugar cookie treats! I like not having to use a lot of black frosting, so this recipe for a base works great.

My candy corn garland was sturdy enough to hang on the mantel, but I gifted them to a family at school. Random act of cookie kindness!

The boys and I made these a few weeks ago and they now grace our kitchen table for festive decor.

The Halloween Tic-Tac-Toe cookies are one of my favorites made this season! I plan on making a Thanksgiving themed board, so stay tuned.

Thought I would include some Halloween cookies from last year, before I started blogging, just for kicks.

I’m planning on shipping a couple dozen of these cupcake cookies to Door County, WI this week for BO’s big bake sale, which I wrote about here.

Well, I think I’m all tapped out of Halloween goodies for this fall, but you never know. Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is fast approaching yet most of that baking usually involves pie crusts instead of cookies. Mmmmmm, pumpkin pie….

Honestly, I have been wondering what designs I can come up with for Christmas. I am sure any cookie decorator will admit to that. Because you know, as of this post, there are only 70 more days until that jolly old elf comes down our chimneys. Just sayin’…

3D Halloween Cookie Craft for Kids

Posted on October 7, 2013 by melissajoycookies

With the onslaught of testing in our education system, I sometimes feel there is a lack of creative outlets for students during the school day. Craft projects, when I was a kid, were a part of our daily routine, not just reserved for art class a few times a week.

Making those projects are some of my fondest memories and it saddens me to know that these concepts are falling by the wayside. I’m not saying that the other subjects shouldn’t be concentrated on, but a balance would be nice.

With that in mind, I felt it was the perfect time to break out the glue and paper and get crafty. Only we’re using cookies for paper and frosting for glue and our creative brains will provide the rest! Here’s what you do…

Bake off your favorite cut out cookie in various halloween shapes and sizes. Mix up some frosting, grab the sprinkles and have at it. I put our frosting in snack size resealable baggies with one tip cut off a bit, to keep the mess at a (slighter) minimum.

Once our cookies dried, we assembled our scenes by using frosting to “glue” the shapes to the base.

Some cookies needed a little help to stand. I used a microplane to shave off the bottoms and extra support came from the aid of a toothpick.

Hey, who says we have to stay with a Halloween theme? My youngest made a green dinosaur out of the ghost shape and had a rocket crash into his house. And nothing beats a blue pumpkin. Way to think outside the squash, E.

I’ve decided our creations are part diorama, part gingerbread, and part 3D cookie-licious. Most definitely expressive and fun.

I think they enjoyed it, but I may have enjoyed it more.

Melissa Joy Cookies

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

My Favorite is Thanksgiving.

A Brief Gobble.

Remembering Nana

Halloween Old, Halloween New

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

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