What’s the best way to celebrate the birthday of someone special? Cookies, of course! Presents wrapped in bright colors are also welcome, but first come cookies, followed by singing off-key and finally come the presents. This order must be maintained because something sweet always shows the way to something spectacular.
Some of the people I love the most live too far away for frequent visits. My favorite way to connect with them — besides phone calls and Zoom sessions — is to bake for them. These sweet Deep Blue Sea cookies carried my hugs and kisses far and wide.
Do you have a special person in your life...someone who knows you and loves you anyway? If you can sit with that person for hours and not have to say a single word, if that person just “gets” you and you “get” him/her, well, that’s your lobster. With the amount of time I spend baking and decorating cookies, I’m always happy to find one that makes me smile and these quirky lobster cookies did that for me.
“You’re my lobster, sugar cookie.” Kasha
Summer always means a day (or longer) at the beach for me. This year all things Under the Sea tickled my fancy and the adorable clownfish inspired my cookie-baking tribute to ocean-dwelling creatures. These cute and colorful cookies were fun to make and delicious to eat. Don’t worry, I strictly limit my clownfish eating to the cookie variety so no clownfish were harmed during the making of these tasty bites. By chance I happened to find a clownfish cookie cutter, so I set out to populate my own underwater world with a nod to the most famous clownfish in history, Nemo.
It’s easy to feel invisible as your social interactions shrink to fit into a small box inside a 40-minute Zoom meeting. As thankful as I am to be able to connect online in this way with colleagues, friends, and family, I yearn for more. Surprisingly, my wish was granted by doing something for someone else. In return for my help, I have been rewarded with hours of exchanging ideas, life experiences and hopes for the future. I found out for myself the truth of the saying that “it's better to give than to receive.”
A new friend of mine was planning an event to congratulate everyone on her team for a job well-done and she asked me to make gold star cookies to honor them and recognize their efforts. I immediately thought that my shortbread recipe would be the perfect cookie and started planning “Operation Gold Stars.”
“Happiness is a plate of chocolate snowflakes... and someone you love to help you eat them.” Kasha
I’m fascinated (aka obsessed) with snowflake cutout cookies and this is a quick-and-easy way to decorate them when I have no time or have run out of “cookie decorating steam.” Yes, there are occasions when even I don’t want to spend all day decorating cookies. Sometimes I want (or need) to bake, decorate and package my cookies all on the same day.
This Christmas I made a lot of different cutout cookies...angels, snowy trees, ornaments, animals, clothing. But the shape that kept calling to me was the snowflake. So-o-o I made a lot of snowflakes: big, tiny, with holes, without holes, elegant, simple, even some dipped in chocolate! I just couldn't seem to get enough.
Summer means time at the beach...playing in the ocean, combing the shore for sea shells, burying your feet in the warm sand...ah-h-h. For me, baking and decorating “beach cookies” brings all that to mind. I wish you all a wonderful summer...even if it’s still December and there’s snow on the ground! A plate of beach cookies always brings summer into someone’s day.
