Erin's Goodies

The Big 5-0

It’s my Dad’s 50th birthday.

He didn’t want a party and he’d never tell you what to buy him, so I made him cookies.

Happy Birthday Dad! xoxo

Engagement Cookies

I am thrilled to report that my little cousin is getting married!

She called me on New Years Day to tell me the happy news. He proposed on New Years Eve with “Marry Me” written in Christmas lights on their roof (insert the appropriate awww’s here)

In celebration of this very special occasion – she got cookies.

Cheers to Robyn & Tyler!

This year I made a very ambitious baking list. I had no idea when I was going to find the time to make and decorate these goodies (or find the freezer space to keep them) but you can’t keep a good baker down!

Naturally, the sugar cookies were at the top of the list, because I need hours to properly decorate or else I end up hating everything and Jason is forced to eat the “rejects”. The Reindeer and Snowflakes were my absolute favourites this year, followed closely by the ABC (Already Been Chewed) men (see headless cookie in the center picture)

The Candy Cane Shortbread was a blast to make! Anytime you need something smashed with a  rolling pin, you just give me a call! They held together so well for my first attempt ever at shortbread and they melted in your mouth. Merry Christmas to me!

And it’s not Christmas without Rum Balls! I used a new recipe for these which involved crumbled wafer cookies, and I was quite impressed with the added texture. I did have some assistance with the rolling-in-chocolate-sprinkles part (thanks, Jason!)

The last thing I was able to make from my lengthy list was Bailey’s Truffles. I’m happy to report that they were delicious but not something that I can see myself making on an annual basis.

So apart from missing a few other cookies and some squares, I don’t think I did too terribly with conquering my Holiday Baking List.

Now, bring on the eggnog!

Reindeer

Christmas Confections

Snowflakes

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s that time of year again – where we all gather together to eat our weight in turkey, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie (and somewhere in the midst of all that feasting, give thanks too.)

Of course I included my ever-popular (and increasingly demanded) sugar cookies – decorated as sparkling pumpkins, chocolately-topped acorns and these adorable little turkeys!

This year I also took a stab at Pumpkin-Swirl Brownies… picture a gooey combination of chocolate, pumpkin and hazelnuts!

I’m not sure which disappeared faster…

Get Along Little Doggies

I give you: Cowboy Cookies

This recipe hails from the October 2008 edition of Martha Stewart Living. [I am not a die-hard Martha fan, but I do thoroughly enjoy her craft and baking ideas.)

These cookies remind me of the kitchen-sink cookies my Gramma used to make, which involved any tidbits that happened to be in the kitchen when she was making cookies.

They’re comprised of:

• old-fashioned oats
• semi-sweet chocolate
• pecan pieces
• shredded coconut

I will admit that I made a blunder with this recipe – I forgot to add the brown sugar! *shakes her head in disbelief* How I managed to forget an ingredient, I will never know. Lucky for me though, the other ingredients are sweet enough to balance out the forgotten sugar.

Surprisingly still scrumptious!

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’ve been buying chocolate chips like they’re going out of style – what girl can resist a chocolate sale?

So with a multitude of bags in the cupboard, I felt that it was finally time to make chocolate chip cookies. I got this recipe from one of my Mom’s cookbooks and it’s about as basic as a recipe gets (which makes it one of my favourites!)

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup margarine
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• dash salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 pkg milk chocolate chips [my mom makes them with white chips and they’re delicious too!]

Mix all ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 325F for 8 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.

[side note: I kept these cookies in the oven for closer to 15 minutes – because 8 minutes was hardly long enough]

Christmas sugar cookies decorated on Christmas Eve with the gracious help of Jason (who turns out to be a whiz when dealing with sprinkles!)

I must admit that apart from the baking and icing of these cookies, I had little else to do with the decorating… which is a surprise, since that’s my favourite part!

The tiny light bulbs are probably my favourite; adorable AND you don’t feel guilty eating more than one.

Plate of Yuletide Goodies

[post by Jason]

Halloween cookies delievered to Jason at approx. midnight of October 29th, 2009.

Click for larger images.

Cookies in a Halloween Window Box

Pumpkins, Ghosts, Bats, Skeletons

Closeup... mmm, sprinkles... *drool*

A Neighbourhood of House Cookies

[post by Jason]

Delivered to Jason on Sept. 25, 2009. Tied up prettily with a green ribbon. He eated them all up. Picture is not so good, but the cookies were!

[additonal comments by Erin]

I made these sugar cookies as a housewarming gift. It was my first decorating experience with Wilton’s Decorating Icing (see picture) – and I must say, I was hooked.

I took this picture using my web cam, so the quality’s not the greatest, but I love how it looks like a little neighbourhood!