The Lego Movie

If you think that these cookies are for a children's party and going to the movie, you would be wrong.

I have wanted to see this movie ever since I saw the trailer. The fact that it gets great reviews only makes me more excited to see it. So I decided to get a party together to go with me. It's a party of 8 grown women, the youngest having just turned 20 today. We are going on Saturday. Two moms and their 6 grown girls! I decided t make us some cookie treats to take along. Here are my resulting cookies. I used a pair of plyers to revamp a skull cookie cutter that I never used. I used mini M&Ms on the rectangular cookies. Super easy and I had all the colors already made from something else so things went quite quickly.

I patterned them off the main character's face. 

Can't wait to see this movie and eat these cookies.

As usual I got to looking at the cookies and decided they needed dimension so I added to the hard hat. Much better.

When you have hearts and need footballs...

I had made a bunch of hearts for Bryan to take to Dr. Meckel on Tuesday. I didn't need them all but I wanted to make cookies for Sunday and the Super Bowl. So I came up with these. A way to use up some of the hearts. Thankfully the Broncos and Seahawks both have blue as one of their colors. I think they turned out cute. 

Jayme says we can eat the side that loses first. Good plan.

Thanking Dr. Oakes

Tomorrow we go for Bryan's 2 week check-up after his heart surgery. He wanted to take a thank you gift. I suggested cookies.

Here's what I did. I made the word thanks out of my William's Sonoma Letter cutters. I found them at an antique/flea market store. LOVE them. Not to mention they came in a cute lunch box tin. But I digress.

I patterned the hearts off of Bryan's pillow that they give heart patients so they remember to hug it to their chest when getting out of a chair, coughing or any activity that may stress their chest.

Poor guy I made him pose for me. He's a good sport. 

I did the arrangement and then decided that I really wanted each one individually wrapped. So I took it all apart and bagged the cookie pops up and put it all back together. 

Also made a tag out of a cookie. 

Cookies for neighbors who are kind.

With Bryan healing from open heart surgery it is impossible for him to clear our driveway. The other day we got about 3" of snow and I looked out late in the evening and our neighbor was clearing our drive. So kind. Bryan asked me to make a plate of cookies to thank them. OH alright! haha I love it when I need to make cookies.

Then I made a plate for Ashley to take to work.

When I was making Frosty (upside down Frankenstein cutter) I thought what a hassle to make a small amount of orange for the carrot and black for the coal. SO I made more than I needed and piped out a bunch of carrots, pipes and coal pieces onto parchment (do not use wax paper it sticks, use parchment!!) paper and let them dry over night. Now I have a little jar of snowman pieces when I want to make snowman cookies again! Love doing that. It really speeds up the decorating process when I need it. 

And a jar of little ones for some friends.

When I was at TJMaxx the other day I found that "Home Made" cookie press and am just loving that. I decided to make one cookie like that to put with each batch of cookies I make. 

Baby S'mores

I have an obsession with making tiny things. Last year we had a tasting party at Christmas time and it was delightful to create all that tiny food. Well, today I was pantry shopping to see what I had in there and take inventory and, well, in typical Patti fashion I saw these three things and decided to try making tiny s'mores. I lined the baking sheet with parchment paper placed the tiny cracker squares on it, placed one chunk on each and put them under the broiler just to get the chocolate soft. Watch them, you don't want it melted! Take the sheet out of the oven and press a mini marshmallow onto each one and return to the oven. WATCH them!! they can brown super fast. As soon as they are browned and a bit puffy take them out and gently press a cracker on top. There you have it a mini s'mores snack! I think they would be great for a kids party or to top a cupcake.

Gadgets...you know you love them...I do.

I was walking through Target and saw this Nostalgia Pie Bakery pie maker thing on sale. A really good sale. Such a good sale that it wouldn't kill me if it really didn't work. So I got it.

I happened to have a couple jars of Strawberry/Rhubarb pie filling that I had made the other day. 

So I made a double pie crust, rolled it out (thinner than I would for a normal pie) used the included top and bottom crust cutter and cut out 10 bottom and 10 top crusts. I poked the holes in the top ones but am not sure it is needed. The bottom crust is slightly larger than the top.

In the manual included with the machine it says they cook in 5-8 minutes. This is how they looked at 8 minutes. A bit raw if you ask me. 

So I cooked them 16 minutes and they turned out beautiful.

Things I learned: cook longer, fill to the top and a little over to round the top crust up into the heat. Was this a good purchase? In my opinion, yes. Bryan loves pie and this is a quick way to have a pie treat. I went ahead and made a batch of Peach/Blueberry filling to have on hand for the next time. If you don't make your own crust or filling then buy the refrigerator kind and canned filling. VERY quick.

Sweet Sushi

I do not take credit for this idea. I found it in a Kids Treats book I got at Kohl's. It turned out so cute I had to show it. 

Make a half batch or less of Rice Krispie treats, dark color fruit rolls, chewy candies in pink and green and Swedish Fish. 

Build it like real sushi. You have to work quickly or the rice mix cools and is hard to work with. Have your fruit rolls out and ready, your candies opened and flattened and then you should be able to build them quickly. I made two rolls then cut the rectangles out of the remainder. For those I cut strips off a fruit roll put a fish on top and wrapped it around. 

Packed them in a Bento box. 

Seemed appropriate.