Showing posts with label Valentine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Valentine. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Hello Sweetie cutie patootie treats for Valentines Day


Valentines Day is one of my favourite days of the year. I mean how could I not love a day filled with hearts, love and lollies (candy).

This year I have come up with some cute heart cookie faces that were inspired by some Hello Kitty Pez dispensers I picked up at The Reject Shop and using a heart cookie cutter they sent me.

I'm calling them 'Hello sweetie!' My kids thought they were super cutie patootie and of course they adored the Pez dispensers.


I teamed them up with water colour and edible gold leaf decorated heart cookies to make a sweet set. Just add the Pez and some extra lollies and you have a perfectly cute little bundle.

Pink decorating set, pink twist marshmallows and pez from The Reject Shop

I also made up another set of cookies for The Reject Shop savvy blog using some of the baking products they have out at the moment. I was a bit smitten with the pink pastel squeeze bottles for decorating in The Art of Baking decorating set they sent me, pop on over to their blog HERE to read more.

Happy Baking



Hello Sweetie cookies 

Heart Shape Cookies (see cookie recipe below)
Heart Cookie Cutter (mine from The Reject Shop)
White rolled fondant
Violet, red and pink fondant
White food colour
Black edible marker
Pink edible dusting powder
Small Rolling Pin
Ball tool
Veining/Dresden tool
Brush and water
small thin brush
Another dry brush


^fondant dries out quickly, when not in use store in an airtight container or ziplock bag. To use fondant knead until pliable and smooth and roll out on a workbench dusted with cornflour (cornstarch). 

Knead white fondant until smooth and pliable. Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out fondant until quite thin then using the heart cutter cut out a fondant shape.

Brush water onto the cookie and adhere the fondant, use the rolling pin to smooth the fondant into place.

Take a small amount of red fondant a little larger than the size of a pea and roll into 3 tiny balls. Press the balls flat. Brush a little water on the top corner of the cookie and press 2 of the flat shapes onto the cookie - see picture above for example. Use a ball tool to press an indent in the center of the round shapes to make a bow. Press the third round shape into the middle of the other 2. Pain dots onto the finished bow using the thin brush and white food colour.

Draw eyes onto the cookie using an edible food colour pen. * On some of the other cookies I used black fondant to make bigger open eyes, you can play around and make the eyes however you prefer.

Pinch off 2 very small pieces of pink fondant and shape into lips, adhere to the cookie as per picture making a top and bottom lip. Press the ball tool in the middle to make the lips into a pucker. If necessary use the veining tool to push the lips into shape.

Use the dry brush to gently apply a little bit of pink dusting powder to the cheeks by brushing in small circles.


Sugar Cookie Recipe (makes 12 large cookies)

460 grams plain flour (16 1/4 oz all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
230 grams unsalted butter (8 1/8oz)room temperature
220 grams caster sugar (7 3/4 oz superfine sugar)# 
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
#use regular white sugar if you do not have caster/ superfine sugar

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium low, add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in the sifted flour mixture until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Line a few baking trays with parchment/ baking paper.

Dust workbench with plain flour and using a large rolling pin roll out the dough until around 1/2 cm (1/4") in thickness. If the dough is to hard you may need to work/knead it a bit until you can roll it out.

Cut out cookies shapes and place the cookies on the prepared trays. (Knead and reroll dough as necessary, if it becomes to soft you can pop it back in the fridge.)

Pop the cut cookie dough trays into the fridge to chill again for around 30 minutes until firm (or in the freezer for 10 minutes).

Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F) and cook the cookies until they just start to turn golden, around 15 minutes (less or more depending on cookie size).

Cool on trays for 5 minutes and then carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool completely prior to decorating.

- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.


Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the Children's cookbook Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! Published in the USA in 2011 the book is still available at Amazon and many online bookstores.

I was provided with product and paid to write the blog post featured over on The Savvy blog. The ideas created and words expressed are my own.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original ideas, photography and recipes Linda Vandermeer please do not reuse without permission except for non commercial purposes where you may use 1 image, give credit and link back to original post.

Monday, February 2, 2015

Deer Heart and Linzer Love Cookies


I love linzer cookies, The delicate buttery cookie sandwiched together with preserves is such a dainty treat and as you can see they are pretty as a picture.

Love is all you need Bowl and Mug from Mollegaarden (Krasilnikoff)

Although it is usual to decorate simply with the cut out shape showing the filling and maybe a dusting of sugar, I have decided to embellish each cookie with simple dots of royal icing adding an ornate touch without overwhelming the treat.

I have also modified my recipe to use hazelnut instead of the original almond lending a warmer, nuttier taste to the cookie which perfectly pairs with the raspberry filling.


The idea for the Deer Heart cookies has been in my head since last Valentines Day, as in truth the Deer Aimee cutter from Cakes by Bien is one of my favorite cutter ever. But I did find cutting the buttery soft linzer cookie dough a little tougher than when I use my regular vanilla sugar cookie or gingerbread cookie recipe and in the end I made half a simple circle cookie with a heart cut out. I'm not saying it can't be done, but it is a little bit of work removing the dough around the neck section and I can be a little bit lazy sometimes.

As it turns out the simple heart ones were the perfect little bite size, adorable and so much fun to decorate with the little dots of royal icing.


Hazelnut Linzer Cookie Recipe makes around 24 double filled deer cookies or 40 small circle.
Deer Aimee cookie cutter from Cakes by Bien. Circle cutter approx 4cm (1 1/2")

225 g (8oz) unsalted butter room temperature
100g (3 1/2oz) or 1/2 cup sugar * I used caster (superfine) sugar
1 large egg yolk
300g (10 1/2 oz) or 2 cups plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
80g (2 3/4oz) hazelnut meal (ground hazelnut)
Deer Cookie cutter and small plastic heart plunger or circle cookie cutter and medium heart cutter.

Filling - 1/2 cup raspberry jam (jelly)

Decoration - Royal Icing

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the sugar and butter at high speed for a couple of minutes until light and creamy. Reduce the speed to medium low and mix in the egg yolk, scraping down the sides as required. Add the flour, hazelnut meal, cinnamon and salt and mix at low speed until combined.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours until the mixture is firm.

Dust the workbench with flour and generously flour a rolling pin, then roll# out the dough and cut out shapes as desired.

# If you have difficulty rolling out this dough you can roll it out between sheets of baking paper.

To make the Deer Heart cookies, cut out the deer shape and then use a small heart plunger cutter to cut out a heart shape on the back of half the cookies.

To make Linzer Love cookies cut out circle shapes and use a heart fondant cutter to cut out hearts in the middle of half the cookies.

Place the cut cookie dough on baking trays covered in baking paper and chill for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and bake the cookies until golden (around 12 - 15 minutes).


Allow the cookies to cool on tray.

Place the raspberry jam (jelly) in a microwave safe bowl and heat at high for 20 - 30 seconds until it starts to bubble. Stir until smooth.

To fill deer cookies place jam (jelly) in a disposable piping bag and pipe onto half of the cookies (the ones without the heart cut outs). Gently press the remaining cookies onto the top using the jam (jelly) to stick the cookie into place.

To fill the heart cookies you can just spoon the jam (jelly) onto the top of half the cookies (without the heart cut outs) and press the other cookies gently onto the top.

To pipe decoration mix up pre-mix royal icing to piping consistency and fill a piping bag with a small round tip (I used 1.5 PME).

Pipe an eye and ear onto the deer cookies and a few small dots around the back/tail area.

With the heart cookies, pipe decorative dots around the heart cut out and edge of cookies.

Optional - To pipe decorative drop swags around the edge of the cookie, press the tip to the edge of the cookie and gently apply pressure to allow a length of icing to fall/drop down, carefully pull the tip around to the point on the cookie you wish the swag to reach whilst still applying the light pressure and press the tip to the cookie so the royal icing attaches to the edge of the cookie. Continue around the cookie until you have completed a full circle. Fill in dots between the swags around the edge of the cookie and then pipe a second smaller circle of dots on the top of the cookie.


Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Affiliate links may earn me money and contribute to supporting this blog.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 


Sunday, February 9, 2014

10 sweet treats to make for Valentines

Clockwise starting left top corner: Love me love me not macarons (recipe and instructions),
Raspberry marshmallow heart fudge (recipe), Lollipop macarons (instructions),  
Tim Tam cookie pops (Recipe and instructions), Sweetie Valentine Cookies (Tutorial)
Conversation heart macarons (Instructions), Strawberry and cream cheesecake in a jar (Recipe Link)
Love is in the air cake pops (tutorial), High heel cupcakes (Tutorial Link), 
My love is blossoming for you cookies (Tutorial)


Yup, over the years I have made my share of Valentine treats.

Actually I think pretty much half of the stuff I make would make great Valentine treats, probably more than half, so I've rounded up 10 popular sweet treats from the past couple of years, the links are provided above under the picture.



Oh, and after I did up the 10 Valentine treats picture collage I came across these cookies I have always thought were cute so here is the link for them as well:

Are you thinking what I'm thinking cookies (Tutorial link)



Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 


Monday, February 3, 2014

Valentine Oreos - no bake easy to make treats


Mr Sweet and I have been married for 21 years this April. I'm not one to push unwanted advice upon others, and I realise that a marriage spanning multiple decades is not on everyone's must have or even mildly want list but for the rest of you I will share one of my secrets.

I have never given Mr Sweet a furry toy or any type of balloon that declares how much I love him.

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's just not our thing and Mr Sweet seems to be happy with that.
However chocolate with hearts, and in particular easy to make treats that have Oreo cookies included in some way, do seem to be the way to my man's heart.

 


These no bake Oreo Valentine treats I whipped are pretty much store bought cookies, topped with some chocolate frosting and then a handmade fondant topper pressed on top.

They are easy enough for nearly anyone to make and pretty enough that they would even look great on a party table and you can replace the Oreos with a homemade cookie, brownies or cupcakes if you like.


No Bake Oreo Valentine Treats
I've made a quick you tube tutorial so click on the picture below to check it out before you read the instructions below:

You Tube tutorial:



You will need:
Fondant toppers (see instructions below)
Oreo cookies
Chocolate frosting
piping bag with star tip (I used #22)


Place Oreo cookies on a baking tray. Swirl on a dab of chocolate frosting. Press a fondant topper on top of the frosting.

Store in an airtight container until required. Up to 3 days.

Fondant Topper Instructions
You will need to make toppers at least one day in advance. You can make one type or a variety:

White fondant#
Red fondant#
cutters (specific cutters under each photo instruction)#
small plastic rolling pin#
cornflour (cornstarch)
brush and water

#Fondant, rolling pin and cutters can be purchased at online cake and decorating stores, ebay or craft stores.



Line a flat tray with baking/ parchment paper.

Heart Toppers
This is the easiest topper and you can find heart cutters at most supermarkets or discount stores.


Cutters required: heart cutter approx 4cm (1 1/2")

 Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out red fondant until quite thin. Cut out heart shape and place on prepared tray overnight or until set.

Topper 2
Cutters required:
carnation cutter 5cm (1 5/8th")
5 petal heart cutter 2.5cm ( 1")

Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out white fondant until quite thin.Cut out carnation shape and place on prepared tray.

Roll out red fondant until thin and cut out the 5 petal heart cutter shape. Brush a little water into the middle of the white carnation shape and press the red 5 petal heart shape into the middle. Leave on tray overnight or until set.

Topper 3
Cutters/equipment required:
round scalloped cutter 4.5cm (1 3/4")

heart cutter approx 2.5cm ( 1")
toothpick

Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out white fondant until quite thin.Cut out round scalloped shape and place on prepared tray.

Roll out red fondant until thin and cut out the small heart shape. Brush a little water into the middle of the white scalloped round shape and press the red heart shape into the middle.Using the toothpick press a hole into each rounded scallop on the edge of the white round fondant shape.

Leave on tray overnight or until set.

 Topper 4 (pressed fondant flower)

Cutters/ingredients required:
rose/ flower cutter 6cm (1 7/8")
red sprinkles

Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out white fondant until quite thin.Cut out rose shape and place on prepared tray.

Pinch off a small amount of red fondant and roll into a round Brush a little water into the middle of the white rose shape and press the red fondant into the middle and then flatten out. Brush more water all over the red middle and then shake red sprinkles on the middle of the flower.

Leave on tray overnight or until set. Once set remove excess sprinkles.


I've added this idea over at Tip Junkie's Tip me Tuesday:
Tip Junkie Handmade Projects

 Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores.

Original Ideas, photography and recipes by Linda Vandermeer do not reuse without permission. 


Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Sweet Love Stacked Cookies for Valentines


Just a quick post to show some pictures of these Sweet Love Valentines cookies I whipped up.

I'll be showing how to make similar stacked cookies at the home made wedding treats demonstration at the Bleeding Heart cafe in Brisbane on the 27th of April 2013. Click here for booking details (you'll need to scroll right to the bottom and it's called Wedding Favours with Linda Vandermeer0.


Also at the demo I will talk about making and baking cupcakes, demonstrate how to decorate cupcakes and demonstrate decorating a few different types of cookies (including stacked cookies). Handout will include cookie cutout recipe.


My book Sweets on a Stick will be available to purchase from the Bleeding Heart on the day :)


Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)
Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 


Sunday, February 10, 2013

This is our love story cookies


I had an idea for a cookie. I was going to make up the pretty shaped plaque cookie and write out our love story.


But after I started and wrote one out I found it a bit personal to share. Y'know not with you guys, but once it's out there I felt like it would no longer be our love story. Plus it was a lot of writing, and I'm not very neat :)

So I made the cookies blank in anticipation of all that is still to be..........and just added a little love.

I guess in the end I found the simpler version more striking and visually pleasing. The cookies in these photo's has a heart which was decorated by hand, but they look really good with just the plain hearts as well (I have a photo of the plain heart version on my instagram account back a few weeks ago).


Cookie cutters are from Ecrandal.Or you can search for plaque cookie cutters.

Anyway once again I didn't get to all the things I wanted to share before Valentines, so I'll just pop a collage of some of my fav past sweet loves that would make great gifts. Click on the treat name below the photo for the link to the original post and recipes or instructions:

Clockwise from top left (click on the names below for links to the original posts):
1. My love is blossoming for you cookies
2. Caramel Candy Oreo Pops
3. Love me love me not macaons
4. Caramel mini cheesecakes

This is our love story cookies - Simple instructions
I made a few large plaque cookies and then lots of 'filler' cookies which are the small hearts. The filler cookies are great as they are smaller which makes them easier to eat and make.


The cookies are sugar cut out cookies based on the recipe from Sweets on a Stick, but any good recipe will do.

Cut out the cookies with a plaque shaped cutter, bake as per directions, allow to cool.

Roll out white fondant until quite thin on a workbench dusted with cornflour and then using the same plaque cutter cut out the shape. Brush the cookie with a little water and adhere the fondant to the cookie, using a rolling pin to press it on gently and push out to the edges where required.


Roll out some red fondant and cut out a small heart.

Use a toothpick,skewer or fondant tool with a sharp edge to make small holes around the edge like in the picture.

Once you have them in the right spot press the tool in and wiggle it around to make it bigger so you can see the holes.

Then take the tool and press into the heart around the edge in between where each hole meets, it will make the edge look a little ruffled.


If you like you can use stamps to press in a message. I just hand wrote Love on mine by making lots of tiny little dots, kinda like a tattoo.


Pop the heart onto the middle of the white plaque cookie using a tiny amount of water to adhere it if required.


 Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:

Link to Amazon:

Or at Fishpond (free shipping Australia)
Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go! 


Sunday, January 20, 2013

Sweetheart Valentine Cookie pops


Some people don't love Valentines day.

Me - I'm all for it, although I guess waiting for a certain day to express your love does seem a bit odd. I'm really more a every day should be filled with hearts and love kinda girl.


Take for example these cookies, I would happily eat them any time of the year.


But they do make a sweet little display, which if your into the whole Valentines day thing is perfect :)


I make these cookies all the time, they are a favorite of the kids, we just like to mix it up and decorate them differently.


The design and recipe is based on the Sweetheart cookie pops from Sweets on a Stick (details below).

And of course you don't need to pop them on a stick, they are just as sweet if you make them as regular cookies.


Shop the photo vendors

Cookies based on Sweetheart cookies page 90 of Sweets on a Stick - details below
Pink food color used on cookies - Sugarflair dusky pink
Pink fabric background - Tilda Rosalie fabric
Small White Letter Rack - Early Settler
Pink Candy - Strawberry bon bons - The professors

Paper straws used to cover cookie sticks (cut in half)



Linda Vandermeer is a mum, wife, blogger and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores:




Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!

Sweets on a Stick also available at the Bleeding Heart Brisbane: contact details info@bleedingheart.com.au