Sunday, May 29, 2011

Bulldogs Make the Grade

Meet Thurber, the English Bulldog Mascot for the University of Redlands in Southern California.  (Photo from www.redlands.edu)


Graduation cookies were the order for this special event, 
and Thurber was our inspiration for this graduate. 


We began with a standard dog cutter.  Look familiar?  Just wait.


A frontal lobotomy and a nose job 


A hand-cut graduation cap enters the scene


And voila' - our smart canine emerges


Although these were really time-consuming, baking puppy cookies is always fun.


Thurber gets dressed in Royal Redlands Regalia for the commencement ceremony.




Bagged, boxed and ready to ship!


2011 Commencement Exercises
 (Photo from "Thurbs Blurbs" on redlandsduke.blogspot.com)



Congratulations to the Class of 2011 Bulldogs, from XOXO Cookies!

May your 'tales' be ones of success and happiness!


Your birthday is a special time..

..to celebrate the gift of "you" to the world. 


We were so excited to hear from family in Massachusetts about a 90th Birthday Party in the works! They wanted to decorate the tables with cookie flower bouquets. 

The color inspiration:


It is easy to find inspiration at this time of year.  Everything is in bloom around us, and boy do our allergies know it! 


We decided that it would be better to send the cookies without the sticks attached for easier shipping. That meant my talented cousin and aunt would have to arrange these bouquets when they arrived.  So to take some of the pressure off, we packed the sticks, some tape, and directions!  


We also sent them with green tissue paper to add a little more life to these flowers.


Happy 90th Birthday Meme!! 
We were so happy to have made your party a little more special from the West Coast. 


~Kimi

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Destination Delicious!

My good friend, Connie, found a book at our library called "Kids' Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse" (Hansen).  Connie is the most wonderfully inventive cook herself, and is always trying new dishes from ingredients fresh from her garden.  Where she gets the energy I don't know, but her friends and family have sure benefitted from it! 


Back to the book - Connie graciously let me borrow it, and some of the recipes looked so good, I couldn't wait to try them.   One recipe that particularly caught my eye was called "Hybrid Cupcakes" which is basically a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate cheesecake filling.


It isn't your low cal dessert with the sour cream, butter, heavy cream, cream cheese and chocolate everywhere you look, and it certainly isn't the fastest cupcake to put together, but it is SO worth it!  


When baked, they look like the surface of the moon with all their craters, so I finished them off with a crater-disguising topping of vanilla buttercream frosting, drizzled with some more chocolate.  All that chocolate creaminess was screaming out for a raspberry garnish.  I think I have found my favorite cupcake.


We just HAD to share these decadent delights with Connie and Jim, and they were perfect to help celebrate a birthday, a softball game AND a college baseball game.  (Both teams won - - coincidence?)


It goes without saying that these rich little cakes disappeared fast.  Lucky for me, because I could have happily stowed myself in a quiet corner and eaten the chocolately goodness all by myself.
And thank you, Connie, for thinking of me.   You were responsible for putting a lot of smiles all over this Coastal town!

More Fun with Cookie Bites

We had some time to play a few weeks ago so we had fun with more mini cookies.  We were so happy that the rain had finally subsided and was making way for the spring wildflowers.   The hills were bright green - birds were coming out of hiding and their morning chorus was a welcomed greeting to those of us who are early risers.


Turquoise and red aren't normally colors we would choose for this theme, but the candy fondant was already there - leftovers from a prior project. 


While we were at it, we added some little birds and ladybugs to the mix.  
What biologist would ignore the critters?   :-)


And speaking of birds. . . aren't these cute?
Stayed tuned for more li'l bites!  We have so many ideas for more cookie bite themes!

Monday, May 16, 2011

Take me out . . .

. . . To the Ballgame!

My husband coaches a high school girls' varsity softball team here on the central coast.  This is his fifth year coaching and it has been quite a ride. 


The girls, coaches, and families have put in their time throughout this season and the outcome was great!


Every drip of sweat, every slide into second, strike out, home run and nail biting game has ended with a  LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP!



This is the first year in the school's history that softball has won a league championship, and they are very proud and excited to put a banner on their gym wall.


These cookies were made to celebrate all of the hard work the girls and coaches put in this season.
Each cookie had the girl's individual numbers on them. 


For the girls' senior night we helped them celebrate with mini chocolate cup cakes topped with blackberry Italian merengue icing.  Each senior got their own oreo cookie pop with their jersey number! 



Bite size Bliss!



I think they all enjoyed the cupcakes...


Even the coach got in on the fun.... even if not by choice!



Congratulations to all the senior players and good luck in all of your future endeavors! 


See you next year girls! 


Congratulations Lady Titans on an amazing season! 


Kimi 

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Introducing Itty Bitty Bites

Babies, babies, and more babies on the horizon.  This has been a very fun spring for me, multiple friends, family, and co-workers are waiting excitedly for their bundle of joys to arrive.  
And when they do arrive, it was well worth the wait! 


We are getting inquires about gifts for the parents to be and these
 Itty Bitty Bites are just what the doctor ordered.  


These bite sized cookies are decorated with cute little baby decorations and
 packaged in an easy to deliver gift jar.


This gift was for dear friends who are expecting a baby boy in July.


Betcha can't eat just one! 


Don't forget the milk!


Congratulations Sarah and Greg! 

Congratulations to the new moms and dads, 
and those still awaiting for the stork to arrive!

xoxo 

Kimi

Baby, baby!

A twist on the rattle cake pops we made for the Baby Jazz Shower. . . rattle cookie pops, made with Oreo cookies!   Isabel emailed us a request for baby cookies.  She had TWO friends with new babies:  One had already given birth, and one who was on the home s t r e t c h! 


Isabel mentioned her favorite baby cookies from past blogs, and also that she really liked the rattle cake pops.   Since these cookies were going to be shipped, we suggested a marriage of the Rattle Pop to the Shamrock Cookie Pop and voila' - the Rattle Cookie Pop! 


One baby is a boy, and the other is yet to be announced - Isabel trusted us to come up with some color combos for the new babies' celebration.   (But we remembered that Isabel couldn't stop commenting on the li'l lambies.)


As a surprise for Isabel, we sent her some lambs in addition to the rattles.  
The truth is, we love 'em, too!! 



And Patti - we couldn't help but think of you and your amazing cookies.  
Thank you for bringing new friends together.



We love to see the cookies in all their splendor and Isabel shared her pix of the party table.  

Very pretty display, Is!  I hope you all had fun celebrating.

Best wishes to the growing families from XOXO Cookies!
 To the new moms: 
Your baby will make days shorter, nights longer, and the future worth living for.