Christmas Piñata Cookies

Merry Christmas y'all!

I'm back with a vengeance! School is finally done for good and I will finally have the time to dedicate to sharing my mindless crafting with the world!

This year, instead of Christmas cards, I decided to make Christmas cookies. Not just ANY cookies- I scoured the internet for ideas to really make these cookies the best! My friends deserve THE BEST!

Now I will share this with you!

These cookies are absolutely to-die-for. They taste wonderful and were easier to make then they look.

First, I baked a double batch of these no-fail cut out cookies that I found on this blog here. I copied it below. So easy. So yummy!

Best Sugar Cookie Recipe

PRINT

YIELD: 3 dozen cookies

PREP TIME: 30 minutes

COOK TIME: 6-8 minutes

TOTAL TIME: 38 minutes

Soft cut out sugar cookie recipe that keeps its shape and dough does not need to be chilled before baking- perfect edges every time!

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 Cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.
3. Beat in extracts and egg.
4. In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.
5. DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (closer to 1/4 inch rather than 1/8).
6. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack.

Now we prepare a batch of royal icing to assemble the cookies!

I used this recipe:

RECIPE

Now, using a smaller cookie cutter, cut the centers out of 1/3 of your cookies. 

**TIP** If you find that the cookies are too hard to cut through, microwave them at half power with a cup of hot water**

Trace the outline of a whole cookie and place your cut cookie on top.

Now fill them with sprinkles!

Pipe another outline of royal icing on the cookie to seal it and place the top cookie on

FROST AWAY! I even added the centers that I cut out of the cookies at the little heart in the front.

Wrap them in something pretty!! I downloaded these printable tags from HERE

ALL DONE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

DIY Photo Coasters!

Today, we are going to talk about an incident in my kitchen that is NOT edible.

This is a CRAFT!



...I know what you're thinking..."WHY are you posting arts and crafts on a cooking blog?!"


well, SHUT UP. It's MY blog and I made these in my kitchen, so it counts.

Plus, these gifts were a HIT at our annual ladies christmas bash!

EASY...CHEAP photo coasters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, for supplies, you will need the following:

 

 

• Photos of your choice. Printed on normal paper with a TONER printer. NOT the inkjets you have at home
• TUMBLED MARBLE 4x4 tiles. <---don't deviate. It won't work. They're like $2 at Lowes for 9 tiles
• Spongey brushes
• Golden brand Heavy Gel Medium
• Golden brand Matte medium
• A spoon

 

 

Step ONE!



Cover the entire tile with a thick layer of Golden matte medium. Let dry.

Step TWO

Cut out the photo with a little bit of a border. Cover them with the Golden heavy gel.

Stick the photo face down onto the dry tile, use the back of a spoon to rub ALL of the air bubbles out of the image.

Step THREE

 

 

Bake the tiles on a cookie sheet with newspaper lining at 200 degrees for 15 minutes

 

Step FOUR

 

Once the tiles are cool, use the soft side of a wet sponge to rub off the paper. The image will remain on the tile!

 

Step FIVE

 

Apply a few layers of Golden matte medium to the completed tile to seal it.

 

 

**WARNING: These tiles won't hold well against heat, so keep the steamy coffee mug away**

 

CHEAP.

 

AWESOME.

 

QUICK!

 

Enjoy!

 

<3S