Hardcore Baker

We had a terrible couple of weeks around my house. We were forced to brake our lease & move because of plumbing issues and had just a few days to find a new home and move. It's been chaos. To top it off our new house didn't have an oven at all- nor a place to put one. I know, WHAT?! Thankfully our new landlords were willing to pay my husband to install an oven. I've gotten behind on Christmas orders and my life has been hectic.

I haven't been baking much, but I HAVE been getting lots of tattoos. This is what's going on right now.





My husband practically begged me not to get this one but I wanted it with all of my little bad baker heart and followed my desires. I love it and it is husband approved.





This is the first element is what is to be my "baking sleeve" - a tattoo that will eventually stretch from my right wrist to my shoulder cap. She is from Walt Disney's "Silly Symphony - Cookie Carnival" charater the Cookie Queen, except made to look a bit more like me. :)

Check out the old school cartoon!






The piping bag was added last night. We decided to fill it with something comparable to Americolor Electric Green - most awesome food coloring ever. This is actually my third crown tattoo, which wasn't planned at all. I think I need to stop getting crown tattoos!



Here you can see the design better on the tattoo stencil before it's wrapped around my arm.

Off to catch up on Christmas Orders. Stay tuned for more confectionery ink soon!

xhardcoreXbakerx OUT! <3

P.S. Suggestions for future sleeve filler are very much welcomed!

Baby, oh!

These cookies were created for a repeat customer who called a bit last minute. I usually think on my cookie designs for several days, if not weeks... I think cookies while I am driving, eating, walking, working out, and falling asleep. I also have a mild fear of doing baby cookies... I've done a few in the past and I just didn't think they stacked up to the gorgeous designs I see my cookie comrades create. The customer asked for brown with pink polka dots so add to that my fear of doing wet on wet icing- it just doesn't work for me!

I was pretty nervous about these cookies but up to the challenge. I tried to choose something different than the standard baby shapes that I hadn't had much success designing in the past. The plaque cookie is a new cutter from ecrandal that I was dying to try out. The baby flower cookie is based on a design originally created by my cookie BFF SweetSugarBelle.

The cookies are Pipeline Classic Sugar Cookies with real cocoa royal icing and cherry & vanilla details.

A Quick Word While the Cookies Bake

I need an additional or larger oven. I need a recipe that tastes as good as mine does but takes half the time to bake. I need to learn to decorate as fast as I can roll & cut.

...oh, a girl can dream!

A Reason For Piping

Why I bake & decorate seems as good a topic as any to kick off my blog.

Saturday night after dinner was almost cleaned up and we were supposed to be winding down for the evening, my husband asked if I would make some cookies for one of his employee's daughters who was recently hospitalized. I knew this was really important to him because all of my orders were done for the weekend and that night was supposed to be a cookie free night where he would have my undivided attention.

My five year old and I went right to work on her cookies- this was also extra special because she's not allowed to help with the baking of paid orders. As soon as the last tray went into the oven I mixed up the icing and sat down and turned these out pretty quickly. After the base was down I wasn't feeling very good about how these were turning out... my cookie designs are usually at LEAST thought of for days, if not sketched out a few times before being set in royal icing. I considered not even finishing this set, but then I remembered who it was for and figured that a five year old girl would love any tray of cookies that was just for her so I committed to finishing them, however displeased I may have been.

When I woke up the next morning they were cuter than I remembered and didn't feel too bad sending them off to work with my husband (on a Sunday!) to bring to her father.

Monday morning I woke up to these photos on his facebook...



... and this is why I make cookies.