Continuing Education

Sounds like something we had to do in our former careers, but not now! Now it's for pleasure, and sure, a little education, too. Here's the results from a cookie decorating class Wendy took recently at Spun Sugar.

Best tip of the day? It's only a cookie, for crying out loud! Don't sweat the small stuff, people are going to EAT them!

Wedding Gift Surprise

Some good friends of Dina's were celebrating their union with a wonderful dinner in Mill Valley. It was a small, intimate event, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity to give a personalized gift (we thought it'd be nice to make some personalized wedding favors). Fine china and crockpots are great, but sometimes, it's nice to get something so obviously made just for you!

M +

A =

Yay!

Congrats M&A on a lifetime of happiness!

Quacky Birthday!

Happy Birthday A, our little friend in Los Angeles. We hope you like our kookies (maybe your Mom could prominently feature them in her next movie? Nah! We're just happy she's featuring them at your party!).

Yes, We Do Make Kookies, Too!!!

We've had a lot of non-Kookie digressions as of late, so let's get back on track!

As a thank you to Dina's son's preschool for a wonderful summer session, a batch of these were specially-made. The preschool is in an adorable red schoolhouse with white trimmed windows, just what you'd imagine a preschool should look like!

Baking for Pleasure

Inspired by Bakerella's awesome blog and her cake pops, this was Sunday's adventure:

Cake balls (cake mixed with frosting, formed into little balls, dipped in chocolate, topped with sprinkles. Whew!)

Looking super cute in their little to-go boxes (one for the babysitter, the other for the dogwalker who let Dina & Wendy in when Dina locked herself out of the house!).

The only thing is that the cake balls are pretty sweet. After all, it's cake, mixed with frosting, then dipped in chocolate! As Dina's husband said "Don't let the kids have too many of those. They're like speed balls."

So the kids actually didn't get any (yet). But they did get some whole wheat banana muffins!

Bad Kookie!

Almost like a naughty puppy, sometimes kookies misbehave. Bad kookie, bad!!

Went into the oven flat, came out with Aqua Net style poof, circa 1987.

Baking for Pleasure

Some of the best childhood memories are of family traditions. Maybe it was game night every Friday night. Or maybe it was Meatloaf Monday (thankfully, not a tradition in either of our households). In Dina's house, there's Pancake Saturdays (there also used to be Mango Shake Sundays until Dina realized that was more of a gift to her, than her children).

But we think that these traditions are pretty cool, so we're toying with the idea of Kupcake Sunday for our families. That seems like just the stuff that memories are made from, don't you think? And even though we spend our days making kookies, decorating, and trying (and trying and trying and trying) to perfect our kookie techniques, we still want our families to have fun baking memories.

Here's the first installment of Kupcake Sunday at Dina's house: Fruit Ring Kupcakes (Fruit Rings = organic 365 brand from Whole Foods), adapted from Froot Loop Cupcakes.

These look little because they are minis.

Little Fruit Ring kupcakes all in army formation.

Cockle Doodle Don't!

Things not to do when you're icing your roosters:

Don't get air pockets in your icing. Punctured piping is a breakdown.

"Keep your fingers off my face, thank you. Now I've got a dent."

"And what's up with the bad make-up job on my forehead? I need concealer #2, not #15!!)

Don't get impatient. This wayward eye got doused with rooster icing before his time.

This is our summer special, the Fake Bake kookie. No, actually, someone (who shall remain nameless) forgot to reserve enough icing to flood the kookie with the same color as the outline. Durrrr. To boot, she must've not dried her squeeze bottle thoroughly before adding the icing to the bottle, because a water spurt clearly happened on the top, or this lil' guy not only has a bad tan, but he also has a nasty streakline on his forehead (must've not wiped down the mist tan after getting out of the booth).

Baking for Pleasure

Another kookie-decorating bash the other day, and another need for some reprieve. So Dina baked Blueberry Muffins, and not only are they Blueberry Muffins, but according to Cook's Illustrated, they are the BEST Blueberry Muffins! Not sure why they are the "best," but they did call for making a little blueberry jam to swirl into the the muffins so you get some blueberry goodness in every bite.

The jam (and no, I don't mean jam as in an 8th grade slow dance song):

The batter-in-waiting:

Jammy goodness dolloped!

Swirl, or attempted swirl (only a misdemeanor here in California):

End product.

Seriously, though, these were so good that for a bit, Dina said forget kookies, I'm baking muffins now (or should she call them kuffins?).

Double Take

Is it a misshapen heart?

No, it's a rooster!

Cock-a-doodle-doo!!!

P.S. Excuse the imprecise piping; first time executing this barnyard staple.