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.

Red, white and blue

Just a little patriotic cookie decorating.

#jakelovesjill

I pre made the bouquets and that really sped up the decorating process. Let the flesh and white dry overnight then added the stenciled lace.

Drew on the guys details and filled in those areas allowing dry time between each one.

Used a stamp and food color with moderate success. Kept having to tell myself "they are going to be eaten!!"

Added more stuff.

Finished product

I made a total of 50 (25 each) for her rehearsal dinner. They all got eaten.

French Fries and Ketchup

For these I used my Pampered Chef fry slicer and sprinkled them with sugar before baking. Then for our Memorial Day lunch today I filled little cups with red icing to dip in and used some little containers I found in the dollar aisle at Target to serve them. Love how they turned out!

They are deceptive because you don't think you are eating lots of cookies but 4 fries equal a big cookie! CAUTION! Haha

Katelyn's Flowers

This is the second time I have pre-made an element to put on a cookie. I did the centers ahead of time and let them dry. I knew that the week I needed to decorate would be hectic (it got even worse) so I was wanting to speed up the process. Totally worth it!

Her school colors are yellow and black. Congratulations! Katelyn.

Graduation and an Apple for a teacher

Hudson is graduating preschool tonight. Fortunately he only has 12 in his class. He wanted "graduation hat cookies" to give his friends. Thank goodness I had just picked up Wilton's Graduation set.