"Go Blue" Cookies

 Football season is upon us!  And as you can see, I live with a couple of true University of Michigan fans!  My husband went to U of M, as did my son.  I should mention, that my Mom is a "Michigan" grad, also.  So, I grew up cheering for the "maize and blue!"  I should also mention that despite my husband's efforts (just kidding!), my daughter went to Northwestern University, so we were "Wildcat" fans for four wonderful years!

                                               "Hail to the Victors Valiant"

                                               "Hail to the Conquering Heroes"
 

 

Despite early indoctrination....she made the right choice and went to......

                                                      Northwestern University!

But, back to the University of Michigan...to celebrate the start of a new season, a new coach, and hopefully a better outcome, I made "Michigan" cookies for my "boys.".

The cookies cutters I used included a football, helmet, megaphone, circle, onesie (which I cut off into a T-shirt), and a large rectangle.

Of course, the colors were primarily "Maize and Blue."

Here's a picture of my son after one of his University of Michigan Mens Glee Club concerts.

Sing to the colors that float in the light;
Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!
Yellow the stars as they ride through the night
And reel in a rollicking crew;
Yellow the field where ripens the grain
And yellow the moon on the harvest wain;
-Hail!
Hail to the colors that float in the light
Hurrah for the Yellow and Blue!

A very small football field.  Next time, I'll try to make the "Big House,"  haha!

         I had to include a Michigan button, football, and megaphone.  I remember the
          days when the cheerleaders were all men and used giant megaphones.

                                      "Hail, Hail to Michigan, the Leaders and Best"

                                           The University of Michigan football helmet.

                                  "Varsity, we're for you, here for you, to cheer for you!
                                               We have no fear for you, our varsity!"

                                     "Hail, Hail to Michigan, the Champions of the West!"

                                                  M-I-C-H-I-G-A-N  
                   

                                       Maize and blue, through and through!

After last week's game against Notre Dame, we are riding high!  Hope it lasts!

Happy Fall....have a great week!                      Go blue!

Cookie Cutters for the 4th of July

This past month has been a very family oriented month.  Also, a really wonderful month.  Number 1- My family and I drove to Minnesota to attend my niece's wedding on the shores of Lake Superior.  It was beautiful, the weather cooperated, and Duluth turned out to be a great place to visit.  There was so much to do and see!  Number 2- Then we headed to the "Thumb" for my nephew's (really cousin's) wedding.   Again, it was a beautiful wedding, the weather was perfect, and the reception in Bay City was great.  The best part was seeing so many members of the family.  My daughter, who lives in NYC, and my son who lives in Detroit, were able to come to both weddings.   In fact,  my daughter was able to visit Michigan for two weeks, actually 2 very fast weeks!  Number 3- We headed to the middle of the state for the 4th of July to celebrate my MIL's birthday.  Number 4- Then my daughter and I traveled back to another area of the thumb to re-connect with my aunt and cousin on my dad's side.  Number 5- Finally, we (my daughter and I) headed to Ohio for a few days to visit aunts and uncles and many cousins.  It was a lot of traveling in a month, but we had fun, and of course, we laughed and laughed!

Our 4th of July Party was a "potluck," and my  daughter and I decided to decorate some cookies for the occasion.  Now, that we're having so much fun with cookies, we are taking every opportunity to make cookies.  So, we pulled out the cookie cutter collection and decided on the following cookies:

My daughter designed a "pinwheel" cookie from the square cutter.  (She is very talented and creative!)  We had to make a hot dog for the 4th of July, because what is the 4th without a good old American hot dog?!?  Besides, my son loves hot dogs.  We decided on making ice cream cones, and sky rockets (using the birdhouse again and a small star that we bent a bit).  We used the small circle to make a few baseballs, mainly for my GREAT nephew who loves all kinds of balls, and the larger circle to make a flag symbol.   Oh, and last, but not least, a star.

We made the cookies and spent a couple of hours making the piping frosting and flooding frosting and ended up with a lot of different colors.  Next time, I think we will cut down on the amount of colors!  Then, it was time to decorate.  It took us quite awhile, but we really enjoyed ourselves, and we think that the cookies turned out pretty well...(yummy, too!).

Happy 4th of July!  As you can see, we tried to cover a real 4th of July celebration!

Ice cream cones!  Strawberry, orange sherbet, lemon, chocolate, raspberry, chocolate chunk, fudge ripple, and cherry swirl!  One of these days, I want to use different extracts so that the cookies taste like what they look like...if you know what I mean.  We found out that I really like to decorate the "food" cookies, and my daughter really likes to decorate the non-food cookies.  Can you tell which ice cream cone she decorated?  It's like those puzzles where you have to find and circle the object that is different.

A "close up,"  Can't you just imagine that it tastes like strawberry?

Hot Dogs!  Come and get your hot dogs!  I really had fun decorating these.   I tried to make a Coney Dog, but it looked as messy as a real Coney Dog...not so good for a cookie!

A "close-up" .... Mustard, ketchup, onions and relish..yum!

Here's my nephew ready to gobble up his "dog." 

Here are a few of our "sky rockets."  The "flares" were attached with Royal Icing and craft sticks.  The flag symbols were made from large circles,  and my daughter made the beautiful red, white, and blue exploding fireworks by "dragging" the flooding icing.

A "close up" of one of the rockets.  This one was made by me, the other two by my daughter.

As I said earlier, my daughter came up with the idea for "pinwheels" and made the pattern.  Then, we both had fun decorating.  She made five of them, I made one.  Can you tell which one?  (I made the one with the red dots and the the blue stripes).  This is her first time piping and flooding, pretty amazing, huh?

My GREAT nephew seemed to like his pinwheel cookie.  The stick definitely made eating it a bit easier!

More cookie "close-ups."

Yup, he definitely seems to be enjoying his cookie sitting with his "Noni."  He is soooooo cute! 

My daughter made the baseball... we actually had to look up the stitching design on the computer!

"My Pinwheel"

"Mmmm  Mmmm Good!"  (I had a hard time limiting my pictures of this little guy, to three!)

Here is a platter of the "Red, White, and Blue" cookies.

Finally, a mixture of cookies that shouts, "Happy 4th of July!!!"

Hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend and were able to spend it with close family and friends!  Summer is here...time to swim, cook out, read books, go to the beach, and enjoy every minute!  Oh yes, and time to eat hot dogs, ice cream cones, and cookies!

Cookie Cutters

I tend to like all things "crafty."  And, I like to cook.  Put those two things together, and I am as happy as a clam!  I started picking up cookie cutters when my children were little to use for special occasions, birthdays, school parties,  snacks at cub scouts or brownies, etc.  I usually just cut out sugar cookies and frosted them, and was always disappointed because they lost their shape, or after I frosted them, you couldn't tell what they were.  So, I put the cutters aside and concentrated on other things (cupcakes!).  Then, I saw some beautifully decorated cookies and wanted to learn how to make them.  I started my internet search and was amazed at the great cookie decorating sites that are available to learn, get ideas, and solve problem when decorating..  So, I jumped right in.  Since my husband is a "cookie monster," I decided to make him cookies for Father's Day.  After all, he is a pretty wonderful father!  This is my third try at this "new craft" and I am slowly improving.  But, my cookies don't compare to the amazing cookies on my favorite cookie website:  www.sweetsugarbelle.com.  After looking at her cookies, please don't judge me too harshly!

These are the cookie cutters that I used from my cookie cutter collection:  large rectangle, birdhouse, large and small heart, scalloped oval, tie, Michigan, and glasses.

And here are the cookies, ta da!  Happy Father's Day Sweetie!  You see, my husband is a scientist and we like to tease him about being a "nerd."  But my son, the engineer, is following close behind!

I used the "scalloped oval" as the "greeting" for the cookie tray.

Although my husband doesn't use a pocket protector, I am not sure it won't creep into his wardrobe one of these days!  This cookies was made by using the birdhouse upside down and cutting off the edges of the roof.

He has a pretty amazing tie collection.  This is like one of his Jerry Garcia ties.  See, he isn't such a nerd after all!

I just had to make a scientific calculator!  Talk about a ton of buttons.  I have no idea what most of them are for.  If I couldn't fit the whole symbol on the button, I just shortened it.  I am waiting for someone to tell me I did it wrong!  Scientists like things to be CORRECT!!  I made this cookie by using the large rectangle and then cutting it smaller.

The beautiful state of Michigan!  "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you!"

Yes, he wears glasses!  I didn't put the white tape between the lenses on this one.

My husband received his "Master's" from the University of Michigan.  So, we have lots of things with"Ms" on them in our house!  This mug was made using the rectangle cutter and trimming it smaller.  The handle was made using the large heart and small heart for the inside and the outside of the handle.

More Jerry Garcia inspired ties!

And yes, he does have a few "Michigan" ties, one even plays the "fight song!"

 

Needless to say, he was pretty happy with his gift this year.  I had fun, too.  He has two cookies left, both "Michigan" cookies.  I guess they are his favorite!

I will be sharing more of my cookie cutter collection as I attempt to improve my decorating skills!  If I get my act together, I am hoping to try some red, white, and blue cookies for the 4th of July!  

Hope you have a wonderful weekend...summer is finally here!