Cookie Recipe: Jammy Flowers

I’ve been on a cookie craze, wanting to make different types of cookies. Last week I brushed off some imaginary dust from my baking book “Cookies” by Pamela Clark, which I purchased a few years ago on sale at Barnes and Nobles and had never used. I asked my fireman what type of cookies he would like me to make and he asked for jelly cookies. By request, I baked Jammy Flower cookies.

Cookie Recipe: Jammy Flowers

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sugar
1 cup almond meal
It took my three days to get my ingredients together to make these cookies because no one knew what almond meal was, not even the employees at my local grocery store. Turns out another word for almond meal is almond flower, which my grocery store sold.
1 egg 1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/3 cup raspberry jam  I used blueberry jam instead
3 tablespoons apricot jam

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease baking sheets; line with parchment paper.

2. Beat butter, vanilla, sugar, and almond meal in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, beat until combined; stir in sifted flour.

3. Divided lemon zest between both jams; mixed well.

4. Roll rounded tablespoons of mixture into balls; place about 2 inches apart on baking sheet, flatten slightly. Using end of a wooden spoon (about ½-inch deep) into the dough; measuring spoon fill each hole with a little jam, using apricot jam for center of the flowers. The wooden spoon didn’t work for me so I used my pinch measuring spoon.

5. Bake about 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheets. Makes 26 You'll make more than 26; I did.

I left the cookies on the kitchen counter for my fireman to eat when he got home. At work I got a text from him saying, “They are so damn good babe!”

I can’t wait to bake more cookies. Luckily, “Cookies” by Pamela Clark offers quite an assortment of yummy cookie recipes. You can get your own copy of “Cookies” by Pamela Clark here.

Fire Wife Necklace For Bride To Be

I went to a bridal shower last weekend and this is what I made for Becky, the bride to be. Becky is marrying a coworker of my firefighter named Kevin. Her gift included a heart trinket box, a fire wife necklace, and a gift card to Victoria’s Secret. I stained a wooden heart box and wrote on it with a white paint pen, inspired by a DIY tutorial. I embroidered Fire Wife onto a charm for a necklace and attached a fire truck charm to it.

Becky absolutely loved her gift. She can’t wait to wear it when she officially becomes the wife of a fireman. I can’t wait to make a Fire Wife necklace for myself too!

This Year Cooking Will Be Fun

One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2013 is to learn how to cook. So, I was thrilled when I received this mini cookbook from Nicole for the Out With The Old, In With The New swap.

Nicole, who loves to cook, included simple recipes she uses all the time and uses and tricks for common spices in the cookbook. All the recipes were hand written. My favorite part of my new cookbook is the beautiful illustrations, which were hand drawn with pencil, paint, and color pencils. I also like the personal comments Nicole wrote with each recipe. For the Pizza Poppers, the personal comment said, “These are super easy, and dangerous for your waist line.” On the back of the cookbook is a list of Nicole’s favorite food blogs, which are “friggin great,” according to her.

I can’t wait to try all my new recipes. Here’s to making cooking fun!

Click here to see what I made for Nicole.

Completed Projects: Owl Wall Hook

I have two friends, Ms. Thayer and her sister Tawnya, who are into the owl craze. Every time I see owl tutorials or objects I think of them and how I can make them something owl related for their birthdays. Last year when a Hobby Lobby opened near town, I found these cool carved owl knobs and I knew I could use them for an owl project for my owl friend fans.

I came up with the idea to put the owl knob in a round piece of wood and make it look like it was perch in a tree. This idea was floating in my head for a long time. With Tawnya’s birthday this month I was finally able to bring the owl wall hook idea to life. My handy fireman and his new collection of tools helped me drill a hole in the wood for the knob to go in. We were both very happy with the outcome. I know Tawnya will love it. The again it is an owl.

I’ve never been a big owl fan but my friends and swap partners loving these nocturnal creatures and I’ve found myself making many owl themed projects and discovering that they’re pretty cool after all. Click here, here, here and here to see my other owl projects.

Grab A Prop & Frida-style Yourself

The homemade Frida photo booth was a big hit with everyone at my “Celebrate Life Frida Kahlo Syle” birthday party. I showed you how we made the backdrop with flowers made of tissue paper. The props, mustaches, unibrows and thought bubbles on a stick, were made by friend Debbie and owner of Snow Buddies Ink on Etsy. The props were inspired by Frida’s signature unibrow and mustache. Frida didn’t have a very noticeable mustache like the ones made but I knew the kids would love them. I laminated the thought bubbles that way my guests could write on them as many times as they wanted with a dry marker. Another popular prop used was the sombrero I borrow from my work friend, Ms. Thayer.

Each guests had their photo taken with my mini Polaroid camera. Their pictures were hung by the fireplace, like a garland of happy, silly, and pretend to be drunken guests. The fireplace was decorated with Frida and Day of the Dead items. Most were gifts from family and friends throughout the years. Can you tell my guests’ enjoyed the photo booth? I can’t wait to scrapbook my mini Polaroid pictures and send out thank you cards to all my guests with a copy of their mini pictures.