Somber Cookies

What you say? Another blog post?
It seems that the world is trying to conspire to keep me baking. My week was pretty busy trying to get the Sauna situation in order, and then I baked to distract myself.... In a one week period I made a Pikachu Cake, Cheeky Tulip cookies, Thank you Flowers/Butterflies, and now, these Somber cookies.

Why are they called Somber Cookies? Well, they are for a friend who recently lost her father. The flowers are an attempt at chrysanthemums, a flower commonly associated with death, also known as the God Flower. The butterflies symbolize rebirth and freedom.

 
 I feel that they also symbolize light in darkness, which is why I chose the colors grey (for the loss, white for light or the divine, and yellow for hope). Hilariously, and quite honestly, I love the color scheme, even through I used them with a specific meaning above, I could easily see this as my kitchen/living room colours.

These particular cookies were a combined gift from myself and my coworkers. When they were delivered, I got a smile, which makes me hopeful that the healing process is well underway.

All our love!

A sweet "Thank You"

Things are heating up here in the Fort. Building season is in full swing, and so is work on the property. This week marked a very special milestone (other than official groundbreaking), we got a SAUNA! 
One of our friends called me up last week, saying that her old sauna was in the way of her building project, and asked if we wanted it (on condition that it be moved ASAP!).

Today, the sauna was delivered after much fuss, and I could not be happier! To thank my friend, I did what I know best: I made cookies.

It is not as though money was an issue, but rather, generosity. I worked really hard to create cookies which showed exactly how grateful I was; the butterfly cookies are my favorite cookie, and the iris cookies were hand-cut (since I don't own the cutter).

After inspecting the work and asking a few questions (the sauna is going to be a temporary shed for the builders while they get things in order), Hubbie and I went out for a celebratory supper. It was very stressful working to get the sauna to our property, and it has been a long time coming to get an official start to our new home, but I hope this marks the beginning of a very wonderful adventure.... with a warm ending.

By the way, I want to paint the sauna Pink... just in case you were wondering :)

I love you a Latte

While these cookies were originally for a sick friend (one whom enjoys going for lattes with me), I couldn't help put think the theme was a little reminiscent of Valentine's day, which is quickly approaching.

The title: "I love you a Latte" is another one of those dorky things Hubbie and I say to one another. The response to the comment is always "I love you amore" which I guess drives home the fact that I am completely dorky in every aspect, and I am officially "ONE OF THOSE MARRIED PEOPLE." YUCK!


Anyway, the theme was of hope. Of course, beautiful monarchs and lattes seems a strange choice for hope, but friendships, like any type of love, are formed through a gathering. To be metaphorical, the Latte cookies symbolize a gathering, as coffee trips are wont to do, and the butterflies symbolize overcoming, rising above (in this case, sickess). Seeing as my friend is neither wanting or ready for metaphors, I figure posting here might explain my dorky choice.

Oh look... there's another ENGLISH MAJOR... with her useless degree flaunting bad spelling mistakes and internet journaling. Isn't she special. (-___-);

Back to cookies. This design is perfect in my opinion for Valentine's day as well. The Latte cup is not a cookie cutter I own, but a hybrid: CUPCAKE cutter with SQUARE cutter on the bottom = LATTE CUP cutter. HURRAY! I think finding new uses for old cutters makes my budget a little happier. Why not find another use?

And what about these butterflies? This is my absolute favorite 'pretty' cutter. Even the normal cutter looks nice. I got it online, and have used it many times. This time, I used it for the monarch butterfly: Outline the black and fill it in!

I actually think the colours of the Monarch are absolutely stunning! I also love the Monarch's story... how it flies to South America every winter, and only it's children will return. How does it know to do that?! What sort of amazing evolutionary mechanism tells it to do that... I still can't train my husband to make coffee. "THANK YOU!"

Mine is better anyway (╤ ◡ ╤)♥

So, here's to pretty cookies, friendship and love. Hopefully I will have some more classy analysis to blither about.
Until then!

Summery Ladybug Cookies

It is a hot summer!

I mean really hot! My running's been down, even though I'm training for my silly fall marathon... all I can feel is the humidity. The best part of living on the lake is the idea that at the end of a run, or of a long day, you can jump in the lake! It's perfect weather for swimming! Next year's Triathlon should be easy, right?

I hope everyone is beating the heat and staying healthy. When the heat gets bad, I pull out some cookie dough, cut a few shapes (7 min in the oven), then I decorate. Here's my latest, Ladybugs! (with tiny butterflies).

It's funny, I bought a mold for a ladybug a while back to make ladybug cookies for a then order, but I never much cared for the cutter. The cutter in question had legs. I don't know why, but I never cared for the legs on the bug, and no matter how I used the cutter, I never liked the outcome. Since I like to experiment with my cutters, I made a new ladybug shape using a round cookie cutter (for the body) and a Hershey kiss cutter (for the antenna). I like this design a olot more!< I guess the moral is that you don't always need a cutter. Many of the food bloggers out there seem to be doing this 'make a new design from an old cutter' trick. Basically, you have to look outside of the box. And while the lady bugs are not exactly 'outside of the box' or revolutionary, they still look adorable!

For the little butterflies, I wanted to use the small bit of dough I had left over. I just piped on white icing and then drew on the butterflies quickly with a food marker. Bite-sized fun! (Why do they call food fun?).

So, now I'm off to take a nap. That is the other great thing about summer... napping! I've got a lot of work ahead in the coming weeks, and I really should start planning for the new school year.
I guess I'm going to have to think about work soon... sigh!

Stay cool!

Frogs, Flowers, Fishes and... Ladybugs?

I SEE YOU...

Looking at me.... creepy~!

Lady bugs do not fit into the request I got... Flowers, Frogs, Fishes and Lady Bugs. I don't know why, but the request made me smile, especially since it was for a really nice lady I know. I was so happy to be able to decorate the cookies too, since it has been a while since I've made any!

I wanted to use bright colours. So beside the red lady bugs, I made bright yellow/purple fishes, and some bright green frogs. Together, they made quite the splash!

I realize this is more of a spring-type cookie, and given our warm weather, they seemed off, but I liked to look at the colours! I actually didn't get a good picture of the Lady Bugs (as you can tell with the faces), but you know what they look like :) I wonder what cookie I will do next?

Hey Lady!

This plate has long been an inspiration to cookie-makers. Maybe it is because the simle is so darn cute.... No surprise when I got a request for those ladybugs:

Little buggies drying on the pan..

Hopefully they make you smile too. I would love to try this one again! You know how you get ideas AFTER you've had a chance to play, well, one dozen cookies was not enough to get the idea perfect. I hope I get time to make these again!