Bits of Kibble- Cookies

I recently hosted a book club where we read the book Running with Scissors- a memoir written by author Augusten Burroughs.

 

In this witty and insane memoir Augusten reveals that his "family" likes to eat kibble- yes, puppy chow- as a snack because it is "tasty."  

I decided to make my own version of kibble for my book club guests to enjoy.  I made sugar cookies using my favorite sugar cookie recipe- and added a little bit of red, brown and orange food coloring, then made tiny balls of sugar cookie to make it look like kibble. Some of them have miniature chocolate chips inside to add a little bit of variety. These were a fun variety of sugar cookie and helped tie in some of this book's insanity to bring a bit of levity to our get-together :)

Cookies!!

I've been such a lazy blogger lately- I've been making all sorts of creations and not blogging them :( But Here are my most recent creations- the first two are cartoon-y robots, and the last picture is a set of brown and pink polka dotted onesies (for my sister's Sugar and Spice themed baby shower). They were made out of my typical sugar cookie recipe with royal icing.

Life's a Beach!

I decided to make some sugar cookies for an upcoming family reunion. The reunion will be held at the beach... so I thought some cute beachy creatures would be just the right theme.  I used the roll-out cookie recipe listed in my Christmas Cookie post, and the same royal icing using various flavors such as Lemon, Almond, Rum, Vanilla Butternut and Coconut. 

Shapes include: Dolphins, Waves, Flip Flops, Sea Shells, Beach Balls, Palm Trees, Suns, Sand Dollars, Starfish and Surf Boards. 

Christmas Cookies

Christmas Cookies!  Here are the recipes I used for my cookies- Thanks to the Cake Cottage's wonderful instructors, I have some amazingly simple yet YUMMY recipes- I made a couple of modifications (I included the recipes below with my changes) and they turned out super yummy and cute :)

I used a 1/3" depth for my cookies and they turned out great- the more thin cuts tended to brown more easily on the edges- but the bigger cookies avoided that fate! This was my first attempt at sugar cookies outside the classroom setting (I took my first cooking class last month- and it was sugar cookie decorating!). Here are a few pictures of my first Christmas Cookie Creations- enjoy!

[b]Cut-out Sugar Cookies:[/b]

Cream Together:
1 C Room Temperature Butter
1 C Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
OPTIONAL: 1/2 tsp any extract flavor (typically lemon or almond)

Whisk or Sift together:
3 C Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder

Add Flour mixture to creamed ingredients, 1 C at a time, mixing well. Dough will be stiff. Do not chill dough- it is ready for roll out! Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and roll out the dough directly on the paper, then cut the shapes out on the sheet- peel away the excess dough and cook the cookies right on the parchment paper (keeps you from having to transfer them- makes it much easier!)

Bake at 350F for 6-10 minutes.
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Gingerbread version:

Blend together:
5 C Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon (ground)
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves

Melt in a saucepan:
1 C solid white vegetable shortening (like crisco)
Add:
1 C sugar
1 1/4 C Molasses (dark or light)
2 beaten eggs

Cool melted mixture slightly and add 4 C of the dry blended ingredients. Then add the final cup. Roll out the gingerbread just like the sugar cookie recipe, but bake at 350F for 10-18 minutes.
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Chocolate version (Super yummy! But don't overbake!)

Cream Together:
1/2 C Room Temperature Butter
3/4 C Sugar
1 Large Egg
1 tsp Vanilla

Whisk together:
1 1/2 C Flour
1/3 C Baking Cocoa
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt

Add flour mixture to creamed ingredients. Knead on a cutting board with an extra 1/2 C flour and make sure to use all of the flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Roll out just like the sugar cookie recipe, but bake at 325F for 7-10 minutes.
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Royal Icing Recipe:
3 level TBSP Meringue Powder
4 C Confectioner's Sugar (Powdered Sugar)
6 TBSP Warm Water
OPTIONAL: Add any additional extracts- I like Lemon or Almond- about 1/2 tsp per 1 batch frosting

Beat all ingredients on low speed for 7-10 minutes with a stand mixer or 10-12 minutes with a hand held mixer until icing peaks form and the icing is no longer shiny. Icing can be colored with cake decorating colors after mixed.

*Make sure all utensils are grease free or it will not properly
*Make sure to keep royal icing covered in a bowl- it hardens quickly!
*Use full strength royal icing for outlining your cookies- then make flow-in by adding water a few drops at a time. You know flow in is ready if you drop a spoon full of icing back into the bowl and the traces of the icing disappears within 10 seconds.

Allow your cookies to dry for 2-4 hours before adding additional decorations or stacking.