Valentine’s Cookie Decorating Seminar for The Boy

Made from scratch and decorated 'to order'...

I am not one of those ‘class mothers’ who attends every party, PTO event, and nose-picking that takes place at school. I could be, now, in the off-season, but my son insists that he doesn’t want me there. Is he embarrassed? Probably. I guess that’s normal, though, right? 

It may very well be the embarrassment factor that makes him resistant to have me in his class. Or it may be the fact that he can’t be ‘himself’ when I’m there. Or at least the Thomas that he becomes once he plunks his little Converse sneakers on those school bus steps.  You see, my little sweetheart is me… me at 40. Except he’s 7. He shouldn’t have the snark, sarcasm and ‘who-gives-a-shit’ attitude of a perimenopausal woman.

And yet, he does.

And it’s all my fault.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas is a completely different person when he’s with me. He KNOWS I know his tricks. He KNOWS I’m not going to let him get away with all kinds of kid backtalk and I don’t condone him being a Mr. BossyPants. Our relationship is such that I encourage his independence and identity-seeking behavior as long as it doesn’t hinder my parenting. I’m the mother, which, by definition, means I’m in charge. We’re very clear on that. I tell him all the time… as long as I’m older than he is, I’m the boss. If the day comes that he is older than me, well… then we’ll renegotiate.

I may not be ALLOWED to come into his classroom for parties, but I CAN drop off cupcakes or cookies. “You can bring in cookies for our party but YOU HAVE TO LEAVE THEM IN THE OFFICE!

Ok, fine.

Last week I tried a new recipe for sugar cookies (the kind of dough you roll out and cut with all the cute cookie cutters you’ve accumulated even though you never make cookies like this) from Mark Bittman‘s How to Cook Everything (excellent book…I encourage you all to buy this one).  I whipped up a batch of Royal Icing using meringue powder, as suggested by my dear Judy.   That evening, after a quick dinner of Polenta with Gorgonzola and Baby Bellas, Thomas was schooled in the art of cookie decorating. 

Or more accurately, we schooled each other.  He learned about piping icing and making pretty marble designs and I learned about predicting where he’ll leave the icing bags, exactly when the icing will start to ooze out the top of the bag due to uneven squeezing, and how I’ll clean up the sugar sprinkles he’ll accidentally dump on the table and floor.

He mastered the polka dot effect and actually handled the pastry bag quite well.  He had a few criticisms regarding the consistency of some of the colors of icing.  I told him he can mix the next batch.  He said no, thank you. 

Thomas thought using a toothpick to make hearts was the coolest technique ever!   Notice the tongue implying deep concentration.

 

We made and decorated about 2 dozen cookies which Thomas has been enjoying each school day for snack.  This is probably my favorite of the night.

I’ll be making and decorating more cookies on Monday and bagging them up for each of Thomas’ classmates.  On Tuesday I’ll deliver them to school and leave them in the office as instructed.  Unless I feel like adding one more thing to the list of things my kid will eventually discuss with a therapist.  Then I’ll bring them right to his class!

P.S.  I won’t really do anything to embarrass my sweetheart!  I’ll be a good mommy. 

P.P.S.  I will gladly make and decorate custom cookies for your party, event, kid’s class, etc.  Email me (afarmgirl4ever at yahoo dot com) or contact me on Facebook for info on pricing and yes, I’ll ship if necessary! 

 

Ooops!

Did you get an unfinished post in your inbox? My apologies! I was writing and drinking coffee and watching It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (original version TYVM) and I guess my itchy pinky hit PUBLISH by accident!

As soon as I recover from my embarrassment at this faux pas (and the movie’s over) I’ll finish the post and get it right out to ya….

Thanks for your understanding, and I’m so sorry!

But at least you can see my creative work in progress, right? LOL

National Tater Tot Day and Gorgonzola Cheese Sauce

Every day when The Boy comes home from school  I go through the contents of his backpack and homework folder.  He has some kind of reading, math and spelling homework Monday through Thursday nights.  Last night, in cleaning out his folder for the upcoming week, I found a reading comprehension handout about a type of dog that does not bark. 

The question that required a written answer (as opposed to multiple choice) was “Would you like to have a dog that did not bark?  Why or why not?”

If there was ever a question as to Thomas’ maternal link, it ended with this:  “I would [like a dog that didn't bark] because it won’t be annoying.”

I love this child with every ounce of my being.

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Tater Tots with Gorgonzola Sauce

Did anyone else know that last Thursday was National Tater Tot Day?  How did I miss out on this glorious celebration of the tot?   That little nugget of starchy, greasy, salty goodness that made me buy school lunches when everything else on the tray looked and tasted like crap?  I need to get on some kind of mailing list that tells me when these holidays occur.  Anyone have a link? 

 I KNOW we have tens of thousands of pounds of potatoes lying around the farm every year.  I KNOW we have up to 9 different varieties of potatoes, each with their own unique characteristics and flavors and uses.  But sometimes you just want a Tater Tot! 

Please don’t be disappointed in me.  I’m sorry… I keep a bag in the freezer for those times when I really need a pat on the back from The Boy and want to be appreciated for being ‘that mom’.  Like last week.  I wanted to surprise him and we haven’t had desserts in the house since the holidays so I picked up a package of Klondike Bars. 

“You are the BEST MOM EVER because you got me Klondike Bars!  Except they make my teeth hurt.”  

“Ok, then don’t eat them and I’ll give them to Grandma.”

“They don’t hurt THAT much!”

The pat on the back ended with a kick in the tush, but still, all in all, I got smiles and thank yous.   What more can we ask for, right? 

My belated observance of  National Tater Tot Day was inspired by a recipe I’d seen nearly 20 years ago in “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Italian”.  I typically use this sauce to top polenta and sauteed mushrooms but since the bag of tater tots fell out of the freezer and onto my foot I figured they just wanted to be eaten.  The rich, flavorful gorgonzola proves to be a lovely counterpoint to the trashy cafeteria staple.   This sauce comes together in minutes and keeps in the fridge for a few days. 

Gorgonzola Cream Sauce
Makes about 1 cup sauce, which is excellent over any type of potato (waffle fries, anyone?), pasta, polenta or even cooked veggies (cauliflower would be killer!)
1T butter
2T flour
3/4 cup milk
1/2-3/4 cup gorgonzola, crumbled
salt, pepper and fresh chopped Italian parsley
additional gorgonzola for garnish

 

Melt butter in small saucepan. 

Whisk in flour, then cook over med heat, stirring, for about one minute. 

Gradually stir in milk, whisking until smooth.  Bring to a simmer and let cook until mixture thickens (kinda like pancake batter), about 3 -5 minutes. 

 

Stir in gorgonzola, salt and pepper and remove from heat. 

Garnish finished dish with more gorgonzola and chopped parsley.

A blog post that has NOTHING to do with Super Bowl snacks.

It’s been a bit of a crazy January around here.  I’m working on painting and redecorating (which means a trip to Paramus to get another slip cover for the Ektorp sofa… Oh, please!  Twist my arm to go to IKEA.) and that has left my home in a state of complete disarray.

Mealtimes are no longer planned.  In fact, it’s usually a glance at the clock at 5pm that reminds me I have a hungry second grader who needs a nourishing meal to fill his belly.  My pantry is stocked with easy-to-piece-together foods and once a week I make it to the supermarket for green veggies.  We even have some potatoes, onions and butternut squash left here at the farm so I have options, which is very good.

The other night I had some broccoli that needed to be used, so I defrosted a handful of shrimp and made a quick shrimp-broccoli stir fry.  The sauce was a mishmash of soy sauce, hoisin sauce, stock, rice vinegar, ginger, garlic, sesame oil and cornstarch for thickening.  Please don’t ask me for amounts… at this point I was lucky to have whipped up something before I got “OHMYGOD MOMMY!  I’m  STARRRVVIINNNGGG!  I haven’t eaten all day and I’m gonna faint if I don’t have dinner  NOW!”

Really?

I’m pretty sure that was you, my darling child, who inhaled a plateful of crepes this morning and sucked down a steaming (but not too steaming… of course.  BAER.) mug of green tea with local honey.  And I know I packed a lunchbag today, complete with snack.  Who was that for if not the fruit of my womb?  And if NOT for you, dearest, then I want to get paid for packing some other kid’s lunch.

[HOLY HELL!  I just had to push the computer monitor  further back on my desk.  I swear, you pass forty and the eyes just KNOW it's time to hit the crapper.]

So I cooked up this stir fry and we put it on a bed of jasmine rice.  As usual, I prepared too much food.  I had lots of rice and in contrast, I had very little interest in leftovers (let alone leftovers for 5 days). 

Rice pudding it was… but with a Thai twist!

Coconut-Ginger Rice Pudding
The amount of rice you need here is approximate.  I didn’t have quite 3 cups.  2 1/2 cups would be fine with this amount of milk.   If you have a bit more than 3 cups, feel free to add more milk to keep the consistency.
3 cups cooked jasmine rice
1/2 cup vanilla sugar OR 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 t vanilla extract (add extract at end of cooking time)
19 oz. can coconut milk
1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
1/8 t salt (big pinch)
1/2 t fresh grated ginger
1/2 t fresh grated lime zest

Place the rice in a small saucepan (this one is non-stick).  Carefully measure sugar and pour over rice.

Don’t watch tv as you pour the sugar into the rice or it will get all over the counter. 

Pour milks over rice and sugar.  Be sure to shake the can very well and scoop out every last bit of (flavorful) coconut cream.  Lesson to youngsters: pour quickly enough so that the milk doesn’t follow the side of the can and make a mess on your counter.   If that happens you may need to supplement with more cow’s milk

Stir in lime zest.

 

Grate fresh (or frozen) ginger and stir that into the rice mixture.  I like to get a ‘hand’ of ginger at the supermarket and peel it then pop it in the freezer in a heavy plastic bag.  When I need it, I grate it right from the freezer using a microplane grater (essential kitchen tool).  The ginger is very fine and it melds with sauces and baked goods wonderfully.

Place saucepan over medium heat and, stirring occasionally, bring to a simmer.  Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes or until the mixture is thickened and creamy. 

Serve warm or at room temperature topped with a bit of toasted coconut and some grated lime zest.

Or portion out the pudding into small ramekins or glasses, hang out for a while and wait for it to cool.

For a ‘creme brulee’ effect, sprinkle sugar over cooled pudding then melt/brown with a kitchen torch (not as crazy as it sounds…) or under the broiler. 

I love how the toasty rice contrasts with the sweet crunchy caramel.

 

 

Ladies, This One’s for You….

Have you scheduled your annual mammogram yet?

Well get on that!  There’s no time like the present…. You don’t want to waste a gorgeous day off in the spring or summer do ya? 

Do.  It.  Today.

Around the farm, this winter in particular, there’s not much going on. This is when we take care of things that we’ve had to put off because of that darned growing season.  So I’ve been seeing doctors, dentists, optometrists, and hair colorists (shhh…. don’t tell).  I’ve been cleaning and purging and sorting and organizing .  I’ve been choosing paint colors, patching nail holes and moving furniture. 

I’m becoming increasingly disgusted by the amount of cat hair-covered toys that are unearthed with each move.

While I’m packing his lunch for school, Thomas and I chit-chat about our upcoming daily activities.  Last Monday I explained that I was going for a mammogram. 

“What’s a mammogram?”

“It’s an x-ray of the breasts.  They take a picture of them to see what’s inside to make sure they’re healthy, but they have to squish them between two plates so they can get a better picture.  It’s kinda like a boobie sandwich.”

He was staring at me, mouth agape.  “Mommy.  That’s disgusting.”

“You didn’t mind it so much when it was a milkshake….” 

With that, he volunteered to feed the cats, brushed his teeth, tied his sneakers and was waiting at the door 10 minutes early for the bus.

All I Wanted for My Birthday was Virus Protection

Happy 2012 everyone! 

I’m sorry I’ve been out of commission lately.  It appears as though some little cyberbeast decided to take up residence in my computer and now that it’s fixed, I can get back to business.  Luckily, I only have to trade foodstuffs for top-notch tech work and with lots of time on my hands right now, I can cook up a storm (thank you Fletch)! 

Oh yeah, and I also celebrated my 29th birthday! 

Yes, again.  Shut up. 

We had a wonderful night and Thomas got to experience ‘hibachi’ for the first time.   If you could have seen his eyes when our chef made a flaming volcano out of a stack of onion rings!  The Boy tried everything but didn’t eat much.  I figured he must have eaten a big lunch at school, or that someone had brought in holiday cupcakes to share, since this was Dec 21.  Then he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Mommy, I’m not really full, I just don’t care for the spices they use and I’m trying to be polite.”

It took all my energy to keep my composure.  I nearly fell over trying to stifle the laughter!  It was so sweet, though.  We’d had a discussion a few days earlier when I told him where I’d like to take him for my special birthday dinner.  I told him that I think he’ll like the tofu and fried rice and vegetables.  He panicked, nearly to tears. 

“I’ll never find ANYTHING I can eat and I’ll have to go HUNGRY!”  

‘Royal’ly Cool Ideas for Cookie Decorating (Part 2)

So you made all your cookies and you got all your pastry bags full of various colors of royal icing, right?  I know, I know… You’ve been waiting patiently for me to tell you HOW to decorate the cookies.  WHY? 

How could you resist? 

If you have never, ever decorated a cookie before, I urge you to just dive in and get piping (that’s what you call it when you squeeze the frosting out of a pastry bag).  You’ll get the hang of it, I promise.  And I bet you’ll find that you get more creative, faster, and more confident by the time you’ve decorated all of your cookies. 

If you want a personalized cookie decorating lesson, well, you’ll just have to gimme a call and come by the farm.  Not an option?  Here are a few tips to get you going.  Happy decorating!

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‘Royal’ly Cool Ideas for Cookie Decorating (Part 1)

Yes.  I think that’s funny.  I’m lame like that.

I was doing some Christmas shopping at Michael’s craft store the other day and couldn’t resist the adorable assortment of cookie cutters.  

WHAT?  Michael’s has great percent-off coupons! 

I NEVER make rolled cookies and I NEVER have the time to decorate rolled cookies without a small child at my side. 

This week, I had the time.  And obviously I now had the cutters.  I know, you’re shocked.  My resistance is really low at Michael’s, Target, and Bed, Bath and Beyond.

It was cookie week on the Martha Stewart Show, and in between loads of laundry, sinks full of dishes, vacuuming, tree decorating and cat wrangling, I was able to catch a segment on decorating rolled cookies.  Well… that just clinched it.  It must be fate calling me to make my favorite ginger cookies.

Please tell me you clicked on the link in my last post and read BraveTart’s Holiday Cookie Survival Guide… So worth it!  Now that you have, and you’ve baked a ton of cookies, you may commence decorating. 

This leads us to royal icing.

The creative artsy side of me loves the idea of decorating with royal icing, too, but it gets messy.  The icing is made with only egg whites, powdered sugar and lemon juice (a little vanilla helps too) and it hardens completely within a few hours.  It’s the kind of stuff they use to make Candy Dots — you know, the ones on the paper strip?  The ones that would never come off that paper strip without a bit of paper but of course you’d eat them anyway and then spend a few minutes picking little bits of paper off your tongue? 

Yeah, well…this is the stuff.  And what an awesome “vintage” stocking stuffer homemade Candy Dots would make, no?

Basic Standard Royal (decorating) Icing
2 egg whites
1t lemon juice
3/4t vanilla or lemon extract (optional)
1 lb powdered sugar, SIFTED

Please, please, PLEASE sift your sugar.  These lumps will make you say all kinds of colorful words  if they get stuck in your pastry tip mid-squeeze.

If you don’t already have one of these cute little acrylic scoops, get one.  I use it all the time when recipes, such as this one, call for you to add the dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer GRADUALLY. 

Combine the egg whites, lemon juice and vanilla (mint extract would work, too, or maybe coconut or rum?  Whatever flavors work well with the flavorings in your cookies.) in the bowl of your mixer and whisk on med-low to start.  Gradually (there ya go with that scoop!) add the powdered sugar, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.  If med-low is too high and the sugar is flying up in clouds, turn the speed down to low. 

Once all the sugar has been added, scrape down the sides again and give it a good minute or so of beating at medium speed.

The icing is now ready for you to play with – separate into bowls for mixing up colors (gel or paste colors work better than the old drops you get at the grocery store, and they’re easily found in craft stores now) or just remove to a bowl and cover tightly so it’s not exposed to air.

Swirl the color in a tiny bit at a time - you can always add more if needed.

See? Perfect!

So my point…and I do have a point.  I have two actually. 

First, royal icing tends to dry and crust up quickly, so quickly, in fact, that it will inevitably clog up the tiny pastry tips  while your bags are resting between uses.  Anything that is exposed to the air will develop a crust.  Keep your royal icing covered, either with plastic wrap or in a tightly covered container.  If it’s already in the pastry bag, and while you’re working with one bag,  cover the tips of all your other bags with a damp paper towel .  If they clog up a bit despite your best efforts, just poke a toothpick in the hole and pull out the dried icing.

Second point regarding clean-up: food coloring and sugary icing can be messy.  Ok, they ARE messy, especially if you have helpers that are under 48″ tall.  You’ll probably end up with some tie-dyed fingertips.  It will make your life much easier if you assemble everything you need before you get involved in the next task (the fun part, decorating!)

 

One of the other things I saw on Martha’s show was this awesome trick .  This is essentially what convinced me that I can do this project without making me want to scream about the mess left behind.  With this?   There IS NO MESS! 

The video link (http://www.karenscookies.net) above shows this ‘technique’ but here’s a brief rundown on how it goes:

Lay a square of plastic wrap on a flat surface and spoon the royal icing into the center.  Fold the plastic wrap over, corner to corner, to tightly enclose the icing.             

Roll the icing completely in the plastic wrap…

then pick up the ends of the plastic wrap, holding one in each hand lightly, and spin it around until the ends are very tight.

Mix all your colors and wrap them in the same manner.

Prepare a pastry bag by inserting a coupler (unscrew and remove the ring  first) into the bag to determine where you need to cut off the tip of the bag.  If you use the disposable plastic pastry bags you can either chuck ‘em or rinse and reuse them because the little packet of icing comes right out, no fuss, no muss!  

Cut off the tip of the bag (bet you didn’t know THAT was coming, huh)

Push the coupler through the opening.

Hold the bag open and drop in one of your little icing ‘pillows’ with a plastic wrap tail hanging through the coupler.  Using scissors, snip off as much of the tail as possible.  Place a decorating tip on the coupler and screw on the ring to secure the tip. 

This coupler thingy enables you to change pastry tips (say from a plain tip to a star tip) mid-way through decorating without removing all the icing from your bag – which would be a total pain in the ass.  $1 and change gets you a coupler, and even if you only do a few cakes and cookies a year, it would be worth it to get yourself a handful so you’ve always got what you need.  

Give your bag a practice squeeze to make sure you’ve gotten out any air bubbles.  You DON’T want to discover them as your piping icing on a cookie. 

Prepare and fill all of your bags, then get ready for the fun to start!

Anybody Baking Cookies This Week? Read This.

Anyone who has joined us at our farm Open Houses knows that I know a little bit about making cookies. We set up a table of assorted snacks and drinks for our guests to nibble on while they shop around the barn. There are times when guests/ vendors bring something to share, but most of the time I make about 100 dozen assorted cookies. Despite the number of times I’ve been asked, I do not sell them. It’s basically all-u-can-eat while you’re here.

There are some tricks that I’ve learned over the 6 years we’ve held Open Houses, tricks that help me (all alone, a very good thing!) get a huge quantity and nice variety of cookies made in my small home kitchen in about 2 days’ time.

When I came across pastry chef Stella Parks’ blog BraveTart (She’s a regular contributor to Serious Eats) I saw that I am apparently not the only one who uses these tricks. (No, I didn’t REALLY think that I was, but it was nice to live in blissful ignorance even if just for a little while.)

If you plan on making cookies for giving or guests, please, check out BraveTart’s Holiday Cookie Survival Guide. The tips and suggestions given will make your life so much easier and they’ll make holiday baking much less stressful and more enjoyable.  [Hi Fletch!  <--- added to eliminate the 'widow']

Keep things as organized as possible by measuring out dry ingredients all at once, make your dough all at once, decorate all at once…. Assembly lines and factories are efficient because they do things this way.  You can too!

Give yourself as much room as possible to work.  I put the leaves/extensions in my table and clear every surface (even if that means putting junk into a laundry basket and hiding it in the bedroom).  Have out only what you need to do your work. 

Above, I have a pile of parchment sheets (reuse them as long as you can, the cookies don’t mind), a cooled cookie station, the cooling cookie racks and the cookie forming station.  Use a cookie dough scoop -  or ice cream dipper – so your cookies are accurately scaled.  Hit up your local restaurant supply house and they’ll have a huge assortment for you to choose from and they’ll most likely be better quality than you’ll get at WalMart.

The assembled cookie trays… yes they were HEAVY.  I make up these trays, then use other containers to store cookies to refill these on the snack table.   You can do the same if you’re having a big party.  No need to put everything out all at once.  The late-comers will appreciate a nice looking tray of goodies as much as the early birds.

The countdown is on, and I wish you happy baking!

Ice Princess

That was my nickname growing up. I even had a tiara which I wore to all family functions. It was cute, and although I was a moody skootch (Love that word – thanks, Denise!) I still loved my family to death and did everything I could to be helpful.

But there was a cloud of annoyance, irritation.   ”You want me to do WHAT with the kids? Ride the Sesame Street roller coaster? OH JOY!” Ask my aunts what they remember of me (the oldest of 6 very close cousins) and the rest of the kids at the Orange County Fair and they’ll tell you, “Kasha rolling her eyes and saying BOOORRRRIINNNGG every time the ride came around.” But I held on to those boys, pretended to enjoy, and they had a good time despite my 12 year old self being a tool.

And if there are 12 year old girls that AREN’T tooly much of the time, I wanna meet ‘em.  (That’s me in fourth grade… I even LOOK tooly!  Probably because Mom made me get a Dorothy Hamill haircut for the umpteenth time.)

But then the unfeeling, uncaring, cold-as-ice elderstateswoman of the family had a baby.  That changed everything.

Good God Almighty, NOT AT TWELVE!

As I recently told a  pregnant friend:  I just remember how wonderful it was being pregnant (I DO remember the crap like constipation, indigestion, nausea, lack of sex drive, increased sex drive, constant peeing, not being able to cut my toenails or wipe my ass) and knowing what was to come and NOT knowing what was to come and being so scared at the prospect….

Everything you know changes the minute they put that teeny bundle of helplessness in your arms.  It’s like nothing you ever imagined.  Just when you think they’ll never be out of diapers or learn to talk they’re whipping out their equipment and peeing all over the sidewalk. 

They also won’t shut up.  EVER…  Apparently we have a ‘chatting issue’ at school.  The Boy is having a banner year academically, but he’s keeping other children from doing the same because of his talking.  We’re working on it.  I even give him ‘time outs’ at home where he CANNOT SAY A WORD for ten minutes.  By that eleventh minute I swear he’s ready to explode.  But sometimes mommies need silence!

I'm sure he just said something completely hilarious and terribly inappropriate.

And sometimes mommies need to know that all of their sacrifices have been worth it because they raised a considerate and caring child.  Case in point:  it’s not uncommon to find my lovable little man, nearly up to my chin in his 7 1/2 years, stroking my hair and handing me tissues when I cry or kissing my temples when I have a headache.

Motherhood is a give and take, a wonderful give and take.  You give of yourself for decades, sometimes feeling as though it was all for naught.  Then the day comes when your child is a parent and  you find yourself being called grandma and all is right with the world.  It gives you a totally new perspective and positive outlook.  According to my mother, the only reason to have children is so you can have grandchildren.   

So in that spirit, I give you Mom’s Birthday Lemon Meringue Pie(s).  You see, my mother doesn’t like cake.  She does, however, adore lemon meringue.  Every year for her birthday I make TWO pies… one for us to share in a party-like atmosphere and another for her to inhale privately.  

Toldja --- two pies.

I was a bit disappointed with the results, however.  The pie looked great and was completely chilled but was runny even the next day.  That did not make for attractive slicing.  I vented my frustrations to mom telling her “I used your recipe (from the cookbook I stole from your house right from under your nose)” 

“Oh,” she said, “it was always runny for me too.” 

Forty years of watching Mom has taught me a thing or two about pie crusts!

Screw tradition.  From now on I’m going with my basic lemon curd recipe , a prebaked (homemade) pie crust, and meringue and calling it a day.  Sometimes you just can’t go back.

But you can relive a brief moment of childhood snacky goodness by rolling out pie dough scraps…

Spreading the mass with softened butter…

Sprinkling it generously with cinnamon-sugar, cutting out cute little shapes and baking them in a 425° oven for 10-12 minutes.

A perfect after-school snack that says “I LOVE YOU”

Happy Birthday Mom! 

We love you lots!!!