Blue and White Easter Cookies

I've always love the combo of blue and white together.. in clothes, home decor, housewares... most anything.  When I saw the April issue of Martha Stewart Living Magazine using a beautiful blue and white color scheme for Easter cookies I was so inspired!  Blue and white are not the colors that usually come to mind for Easter, but I wanted to play with the idea.  I enjoyed working with the non-traditional colors, and I already have a few different ideas for next year. 

My sugar cookie recipe is posted HERE.

My royal icing recipe, as well as lots of decorating help is HERE.

Have a wonderful Easter! 

Praise be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 1:3

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Spring Rice Krispies Pops

There is a special place in my heart (or maybe stomach) for Rice Krispies Treats.  They are just so easy and delicious and most every time I make them I think.."why don't I make these more often?"

This week I wanted to make a batch, but I only had strawberry marshmallows on hand... so I make pink Rice Krispies Treats!  Then, since I love to dress up my desserts... I cut the treats into thin rectangles, pushed them onto 6" lollipop sticks, dipped in white chocolate and added some spring colored sprinkles.

Voila!  Super cute and super easy spring Rice Krispies pops! 

If you're feeling extra fancy, you can add a bit of ribbon to the stick.  Or wrap them in small cellophane bags to make cute favors, or perfect additions to Easter baskets.

Happy Spring!

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Polka-Dot Easter Egg Cookies

Looking for a simple Easter cookie project?  This is it!  With just a few colors of icing and a simple design that requires no waiting between steps, you can make beautiful Easter cookies to share with family and friends. 

I love polka-dots on most anything... clothes, ribbon, party decor and cookies! 

The only "secret" to this technique is that the icing you flood the cookie with and the icing you use to make the dots should be the same thickness (thinned to about the consistency of corn syrup, or shampoo).

Getting Started...

My sugar cookie recipe is posted HERE

My royal icing recipe and lots of decorating tips are posted HERE.

~ Easy Polka-Dot Eggs ~

1.  Outline cookie with a medium/thick royal icing (using a #2 tip).  If you plan to fill the cookie with the same color as the outline, fill immediately.  If you are using a contrasting color on outline (like above), wait just a few minutes before filling.

2.  Fill in (flood) the cookie with desired color (using a #2 or #3 tip).

3.  As soon as the cookie is flooded (and the icing has settled nice and flat), drop a contrasting color of icing in little drops (using a #2 tip) to create the polka-dots.

Allow cookies to dry (8-12 hours), and package as desired.  I found some cute polka-dot take-out style boxes at Party City (shown below).  And sweet mini baskets at Michael's.  Decorating directions for the chick and sheep cookies (as shown below) HERE.

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3-D Easter Bunnies

A few weeks ago, when I made a set of pastel Easter cookies, I wanted to see if I could make the hopping bunny shape (like above) really appear to be "hopping"... by making him (or her) 3-D.

I cut a notch out of the bunny, and also cut an extra cookie shape to act as grass for the bunny to jump over (and to hold him up).  I'm pretty happy with my first 3-D cookie experiment...

~ 3-D Bunny Directions ~ 

1.  (Before baking) Cut a notch out of the bunny shaped cookie (slightly wider than you think you'll need, since the dough may spread a bit as baking).  Also, use a knife or rectangle shaped cutter to cut a shape like a strip of grass.

2. Outline and flood both the bunny and the grass and allow to dry completely. (Complete the bunny ear and tail too-as show in THIS post- I just took the photo too early).

3.  Slide the grass cookie into the slot on the bunny cookie and use some thick royal icing to act as glue.  Embellish the grass as desired (adding some flowers could be really cute too).

The links to my Sugar Cookie and Royal Icing recipes are HERE, along with the full set of cute Easter cookies. 

'Hoppy' Easter!

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Decorating for Spring

Happy Spring!  I know I still owe you a post on decorating cookies (to follow up on the sugar cookie recipe post), but today I just wanted to share a bit of spring decorating.  Last week I followed the links to the blog of one of my readers (Jennifer) and found this fun Easter arrangement.  I've seen many similar ones before, but for some reason this time I was extra inspired by it. 

Yesterday, I was pulling the flowers out of the arrangements I made for Grace's Candy Party and thought I could rework it into a pretty new arrangement for spring.  I knew I already had two really pretty hand painted Easter eggs, so I went (to the garage) and got those.  Then I wandered around the house looking for white, cream or pastel colored containers.  Next, I went outside and looked in my front and back yard for some tree branches I could cut and add to the curly willow and bear grass that were left from the original arrangement.  We don't have a huge yard, but even the most humble of gardens usually contain several trees or bushes that could be trimmed a bit for this type of arrangement.  Once I had gathered the materials (vases, pots, linens and branches) that I already owned, I could then decide what I still need to buy.  I headed off to Michael's, and then was back home soon with the new items to finish my spring display.  I'd bought some glittery butterflies, a couple inexpensive beaded pastel eggs, a bag of moss (this variety is called reindeer moss), and a sweet little bird and nest.  Since the vast majority of the display was made from things I already owned, the total display cost me under $16.00.  

This general look would be beautiful altered just a bit for a fairy themed party.  Replacing the Easter eggs with more butterflies, then adding some mushrooms, stones or a pretty little fairy perched on one of the moss pots and you'd have a gorgeous fairy party centerpiece.  

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