Yum...... Mums!

My inspiration for these sweet little cookies came from all the colorful mums I've been seeing on everyone's front porches. So bright. So happy. So perfectly fall. Dontcha think?

You won't believe how easy they are to make too. No baking necessary. Assembly only. The hardest part is stopping yourself from eating all of the chocolate-covered sunflower seeds. I love those crazy things... yum.

For a complete list of ingredients and my simple tutorial, head over to Handmade Charlotte. (This is my first edible art project for them and I'm super-excited about becoming one of their regular contributors!) 

Stay tuned. There's more food fun to share.

Edible, Colorful, Christmas Tree Cookies

They may look too pretty to eat, but believe me, they're delicious. And easy to make. (I created some beehive cookies, based on this same idea, back in September for my Bea's birthday.)

Make your own little forest of sugar spruces for a holiday table or cookie exchange. The recipe and assembly instructions are available at SheKnows. 

I think they'd be super-cute, packaged in individual clear boxes or tubes, with a tiny snowdrift of sugar on the bottom. Hummm... maybe I need to get back into the kitchen and explore that idea for my office gift exchange?

 

Psychedelic Playdoh Cookies

I was baking some very colorful sugar cookies this week for another project, and rather than throw away all the scrap dough, I mixed it into a giant, psychedelic ball. It looked just like my daughter's stash of Playdoh.


I decided to go ahead and make cookies from it. They baked up pretty cool. And the kids at Bea's daycare loved them. Just hope they don't go home now and eat real Playdoh.

Pretty Pastel Pastry

See why I love macarons? They're just soooooo pretty. Especially when you can display them in these clear plastic tubes. I find lots of great options for clear plastic food packaging here and here.

Colorful Cookies

I needed a quick, easy dessert to bake & bring to a BBQ this weekend. My never-fail Kansas Sugar Cookie recipe came to the rescue - quite colorfully, I might add. Loved how they looked on my newly painted, 5-tier serving dish too. 

Bea's favorite: BLUE.

Here's the recipe if you're interested.

KANSAS SUGAR COOKIES
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 1/2 cups flour
1 tbsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
(lemon, raspberry, etc.)

Cream sugars with butter. Beat in eggs and oil. Combine dry ingredients. Gradually add to wet mixture. Stir in flavoring. Split dough into parts for food coloring. Mix each color separately. 

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 2 hours. Line baking pans with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on parchment paper. Press the dough balls flat using the bottom of a drinking glass, dipping the glass in sugar each time before pressing. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes.