Christmas Mickey and Minnie Cookies

Just a little hint at what theme the Christmas Eve table 

is going to be this year!

Grandma's little helpers came up to help decorate 

cookies!  I just had to grab a picture of them before 

we began and before they weren't quite as clean. 

I had the cookies baked and cooled and the frosting 

ready so their mom and I could get started.  

We wanted one for each place, so I did a double batch 

of cookies and frosting.  I got found with this delicious 

recipe from my friend Amy.

I discovered I can roll the dough out right 

after making it, between two pieces of parchment, cut,

place on parchment and freeze for 30 minutes and then bake 

for 8-9 minutes, and we are in business pretty quickly.  

I have two sizes and shapes of Mickey cookies, and a small 

bow mold.  

The bows added so much, so most of them turned out 

to be Minnie cookies.

My favorites ended up being the sparkly ones - 

no surprise huh?!!!

Well, come back later to see our table set for 

Christmas Eve, starring our favorite pals, 

Mickey and Minnie!  This table is for the kiddies!!

Ornament Cookies

These sugar cookies are so adorable

shaped like ornaments and topped with

edible glitter and a large silver dragee.

My daughter in law Audra made them 

for her two year old's birthday.

Pipe contrasting colors and draw a toothpick

through to get the great designs

For complete recipes see 

here.

Almost too pretty to eat, but we managed!

Here is some more of the party.  Adele had a

pink Happy Birthday tree 

for her party.

The beautiful pink cake was made by dipping

pirouette cookies in pink molding chocolate

and drizzling with white molding chocolate.

I love the effect.

Everything was finished off with a pretty

pink ribbon.

Audra also made these adorable

North Pole cupcakes.  You can imagine

they were a big hit with the children.

What an adorable party mixing in the

fun decorations of the season with the

birthday theme.

Icy Snowflake Cookies

I got this beautiful copper snowflake cookie cutter

from a friend and I just had to make and decorate

them.

The snow was coming down the day before

and it inspired me.

I chose to do white on white and white

with aqua.  These are almost too pretty

to eat.

For complete instructions click here.

Have fun making these beautiful cookies. 

I will be posting these cookies with

Foodie Friday,

Weekend Wrapup,

Sweets for a Saturday,

Made by You Monday,

Tasty Tuesday

Chocolate Covered Cherry Bars

Here is another Christmas cookie

recipe for you to enjoy. 

For Chocolate Covered Cherry lovers,

this is the ultimate cookie.  A chocolate shortbread layer

topped with a fondant like filling, a sweet maraschino

cherry and finished off with a layer of silky chocolate.

I dip a lot of chocolates at Christmas, as a matter of

fact we do a lot more chocolates than we do cookies.

Tomorrow I will start making chocolate centers and

then dip on Tuesday.  Everyone wants in on the act

now that they are grown up.

I used to start in October, but we ate them, then I

would do more in November, but we ate them,

then I had to do more.  Now I wait until the

first week of December!

(This is the little machine I bought for dipping chocolates -  "a few

of my favorite things".  I will tell you all about that."

We love to dip chocolate covered cherries but

they are quite involved and

this little layered cookie gives a lot of the same

taste.  I have included this recipe for those who love

the taste but don't want to go to all of the effort.

I bet this would also be delicious with a raspberry

 although I have never tried that.

The chocolate cookie base is cooked and cooled and then

the fondant is spread on top, followed by drained cherries.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Bars Recipe

Base:

1 C. flour

1/2 C. butter, softened

1/4 C. sugar

2 T. cocoa

Mix the above ingredients together in a mixer bowl and

beat on low until it forms a soft dough.  Press into an

ungreased 8x8 inch pan.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Remove and let cool completely.

Fondant:

2 C. powdered sugar

2 T. butter, softened

2 T. milk

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Whip the above ingredients together in mixing bowl.

Spread on top of the cooled chocolate base.

Drain and wipe dry 36 maraschino cherries.  Arrange

the cherries in six rows of six, pressing down a little

into the fondant.

Chocolate Covering

1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp. shortening

Place chips and shortening in a microwave safe bowl.

Heat for 30 seconds, stir whether it looks like it needs

stirring or not.  Melt again for 30 seconds.  Stir again.

Melt again for 20 seconds, stirring again and letting

the chocolate melt as you stir.  Do not overheat.

Spoon the chocolate on top of the cherries.  It will

puddle around the cherries and fill in so that all of the

fondant is covered.  Push it into place if needed to

cover all of the fondant. 

Chill one hour before trying to cut.  To cut, use a

knife run under hot water and wiped off to make a

sharp cut.

Click here for printable recipe.

Hope all you chocolate covered cherry lovers give

this recipe a try. 

I will be posting this cookie with

Seasonal Sundays

Just Something I Whipped UP

Foodie Fridays

12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

International Christmas Party

Nutcracker Sweets Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

The elves are out everywhere at

Purple Chocolat Home

now that Christmas preparations

have started. 

This is Leonard and he is the head chef in the

kitchen here at Purple Chocolat Home (you can kind

of tell because he dresses all in white).

He would like to invite you into the kitchen to

make the Nutcracker Sweet cookies that were

featured in our tablescape yesterday.

He and the other kitchen elves (along with Jessica

and Lindsay) cooked up some gorgeous

sugar cookies.

They have made a lot for you to try.  There should

even be enough to take some home with you.

The elves picked out the bright Christmas reds and

greens.  I think they did a fabulous job.

Hearts and candy canes, swirls and initials,

... it is going to be hard to choose.

I am going to choose this one.  I love the little flourish at

the center of the heart and the dots almost look like

red hots.

Leonard hopes you enjoyed your sweets today and

invites you to come back for more all through

December (boy are we going to put on weight!)

Why is he so thin?

(We made these the night before with our Young Women.)

Make a batch of these and add a little joy to your season.

These cookies were featured in a previous post.

Click here for step by step instructions.

I will include the basic recipes here.

Super Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 box Betty Crocker's French Vanilla cake mix

1 large egg

1/2 C. butter, softened, almost melted

3 T. flour

Mix all of the above until it forms a ball.  If it won't mix

into a ball, add a few sprinkles of water and mix again.

You do not have to chill to roll these out.  Roll out on

parchment paper (if desired) on the cookie sheet.  This

way you don't have to use any extra flour, or very

little and it makes re-rolling the scraps easy. 

Bake the cookies at 350 for 8 minutes.  (The original

recipe said 375 for 7, but I like the 350 better.)

Do not overbake.  You want the cookies to just

look dry on the top and not be brown.  Let cool.

Make 12-18 depending on the size of cookie.

Royal Frosting

2 1/2 T. meringue powder or powdered egg white

4 1/2 C. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

3/4 C. water

Beat the above for about 10 minutes.  ( I have cut the

frosting recipe in half from the original.  This should

still frost 2 batches of the cookies.)

Color as desired.  Place in squeeze bottles to apply.

The original post gives step by step instructions

on how to achieve the designs on the cookies.

Surprisingly easy and very delicious!

Click here for a printable recipe.

Oh, I have to mention I won a beautiful

silver spoon from Johanna.  Thanks

Johanna.  I can't believe she is sending

it all the way from Germany!  What

a treat to own one of her spoons.  Visit

her lovely blog, you can even get the

German translated. 

Posting with

Foodie Fridays, 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies,

Just Something I Whipped Up Mondays

Nutcracker Sweets Tablescape

YOU ARE INVITED TO

A

NUTCRACKER SWEETS

PARTY

Come into my dining room and have a sweet

treat with a part of my collection of nutcrackers.

The holidays are here and gorgeous jewel tones fill

the house. 

The colors  for this table

are red and green layered with white.

I am combining my red and green stemware and

a collection of plates around my very first

Christmas plates which I bought 25 years

ago from Spiegel catalog.

You might say these plates were the beginning

of my plate collection.  We still use these every

year.  I usually leave two tables set throughout

the holidays so we can enjoy the plates all month.

The plates feature holly and berries and are

called White Christmas.

I chose a collection of red and white nutcrackers to

feature on the table accented by rich red candles

and candle holders.

The table is underscored with a white 120 inch

tablecloth with a silver gauzy topper bunched

up in the middle reminding one of tissue paper

from Christmas presents.

The star of the table is the beautiful nutcracker

serving platter that stands tall above the others.

Beautiful sweets in red, green and white adorn the top of

the platter that he holds so majestically.

Nutcrackers of all heights and sizes are

invited.

A few tassles are thrown in for color and texture.

These majestic nutcrackers stand guard over

the dining room all season.

They stand six feet tall and are a magical

wonder to all of the little ones that come for

the holidays.

The dining room is already adorned in red with

the rich  red shaded chandelier.

The chandelier gets its own decor with greenery,

tassels and cording and additional ornaments.

Please take a gorgeous cookie

 for an appetizer.  They taste as good

as they look!

I will be featuring these cookies in my next post.

Come back to get the easy recipe.

I will be posting with

 Tablescapes Thursday

Feathered Nest Friday

Six foot tall nutcrackers - Costco 9 years ago

(My sister Jean was visiting from Texas.  We

saw them at Costco and I had to have them.

They were only about $250 each.  Then we

had to figure out how to get them home!

Joni reminded me that she came with her truck

to pick them up.  Thanks Joni!)

Nutcracker serving platter - Spiegel many years ago

Assorted nutcrackers - collected over the years

Red candleholders - Pier 1 a few years ago

Holly and berry plates - Spiegel 25 years ago

White chargers and green plates - Tai Pan

Red goblets - Costco several years ago

Green goblets - Tai Pan

Red sherbet dishes - Wal Mart

White linen and silver topper - linentablecloth.com

Red napkins - Tuesday morning