smart cookies

It is graduation season and teacher appreciation week, and I am loving the “Smart Cookie” themes popping up all over Pinterest!

I was getting ready to file all these ideas away for future use (including my nephew’s kindergarten graduation), when I remembered that I get to celebrate and thank my daughter’s teachers this year! I am still getting used to the fact that I have a daughter… it has been 17 months, but it is still amazing to think there is another human… our daughter… living in this house!! It is truly unbelievable to experience how quickly time is flying by and how much we grow everyday.

our smart little cookie

The teachers at my daughter’s daycare have helped us parent-newbies learn so much about Samantha’s capabilities! This little kid is a rockstar because of the socialization and development she gets both at school and with her grandparents. I cannot say thank you enough to those that love and care for her while we are at work.

CREATE:

Confession of a *wannabe* crafter… This is not an original idea… there are smart cookie inspirations all over Pinterest. Just because an idea isn’t original doesn’t mean it isn’t fantastic!  I can’t wait to use and re-use this idea in the years to come!

Homemade Vanilla Wafers

My loving, sweet, adorable husband does not like chocolate.  Under the circumstances, I believe it is even appropriate to say that he hates chocolate.  He dislikes chocolate so much that he does not eat anything with chocolate in it… except for Mexican Mole!

As a baker, this has been a difficult character flaw, I mean trait, to accept.  As our dating days progressed into engagement and marriage, the issue of the chocolate lingered… no one to appreciate gooey chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven, a lifetime of vanilla ice cream, cuddling on the couch with a steaming cup of hot cocoa and homemade marshmallows alone… the tragedy of missed opportunities, as you can imagine, abound…

After almost four years of marriage, however, I determined there are a few surprising benefits (okay, two) to a non-chocolate-eating husband!

1.  There are many circumstances in which I am *forced* to eat 2 desserts; it is only polite.  If dessert at a certain dinner or event, for example,  happens to be chocolate, I politely devour mine and then do a quick switch of the plate when no one is looking to politely finish Allen’s dessert as well.

2.  I explore and test a lot of amazing non-chocolate desserts, which I might normally overlook!

These homemade vanilla wafer cookies are a fantastic example of a cookie I might never have tried if it were not for my chocolate-fearing husband and my heightened awareness of non-chocolate eaters.

These delicate, crispy, vanilla bite sized cookies will definitely make you think… what chocolate chip cookie?!?

Confession of a *wannabe* foodie… Although I do love to harass Allen for his disdain of chocolate, I do love all the non-chocolate desserts we discover!

Vanilla Wafers
adapted from the Retro Desserts Cookbook by Wayne Harley Brachman

INGREDIENTS:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
½ vanilla bean
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon lemon extract

PREP:
Preheat oven to 375 and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
Scrape the inside of half of vanilla bean, with a dull knife.  Gently rub the vanilla beans, by hand, into 1 cup of sugar until the vanilla beans are fully incorporated and the sugar is fragrant.

MIX:
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together: flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Re-sift these dry ingredients together 3 times!

In a large bowl, beat together the room temperature butter and the vanilla sugar for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Once the butter/sugar mixture is light and fluffy, beat in the egg, followed by the vanilla extract and the lemon extract.  Once the batter is thorouhgly mixed, reduce the speed of mixer to low.

Gradually, on low speed, add the flour mixture to the wet mixture until just combined.  Do not over-mix.

Drop rounded teaspoons of the dough on the lined cookie sheet.  In order to prevent the dough from sticking to the teaspoon, dip the teaspoon in water prior to scooping the dough.  Gently flatten each cookie slightly prior to baking.

BAKE:
Bake cookies for 8 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned along the edges.

Enjoy!

Edible Undies for Stephanie's Bachelorette Party

My dear friend Stephanie is getting married in April.  Stephanie and I have been friends since high school, through all

the high school, college, and 9 to 5 highs and lows!  As her bachelorette party approached, I knew I wanted to do something fun and different, with a traditional bachelorette party flair.  My only hesitation was that Stephanie has lived in Kansas City since high school, and I wasn’t exactly sure how much bachelorette party “flair” her friends would find appropriate!  (Stephanie is always up for anything!)

Trusty Allen had the perfect solution!  He mentioned that a co-worker emailed him a picture of cookies iced like undies!    A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!
(Allen swears a co-worker emailed him a picture)

I sliced the top off of each heart-shaped cookie, before baking, and rotated each cookie 180 degrees to reveal cute little booties!  I iced the cookies with royal icing and packed them in a disposable lunch box, embellished with the help of my Silhouette SD.

The cookies were nothing butt a success!

Confession of a *wannabe* foodie…I have no shame in baking edible fundies!