Easy as Pi . . . Happy Pi Day (3.14)!

Today is Pi Day!  You know, it's March 14th....3-14.  As in 3.14.....

I might as well confess....we are a family of nerds.

We like math.  There I said it.  Ok, I will draw the line at Trig and doing taxes, but working out math problems with pencil & paper?  I like it.

{Kiddo is currently memorizing the numbers of Pi.  He is up to 41 places after the decimal.  Is there college scholarship for that? Because I'm pretty sure he can be up to digit 150 by 12th grade. ;)}

I made these for kiddo's math teacher, so our nerdiness has been made public.  I think she knows, though, because kiddo owns this shirt and wears it on "free dress days" at school.

Want to know where this awesomely cool Pi cookie cutter came from?  Copper Gifts.  You might need one.

Happy Pi Day!  How will YOU celebrate? 

How 'bout THEM apples?!?

I volunteered to make cookies for a teacher appreciate dinner last week and since it was September, and the beginning of the school year, I had apples on the brain.

These apples are inspired by my friend, Jennifer, a FABULOUS cookie decorator who makes cookies for Frost Bake Shoppe.  This summer, she made these cute little sun cookies...aren't they darling?!?  Well, I thought my apples needed smiles as well.

{One note on these...the dots are just a lighter red, but next time I make them, I'll make the dots a bit darker....I think the eyes blend in a little too much with them. And wouldn't green apples be fun, too?}

To make them, you'll need:

• apple-shaped cookies
• royal icing in red, light red, black, green and white (Americolor Super Red, Super Black, Leaf Green & Bright White)
• decorating bags
• Tips: #3, #4 and #2 

 

Using a #3 tip, outline the cookie (apple & leaf) in black icing (I STRONGLY recommend AmeriColor Super Black).  Pipe the stem.

Because of the black outline, you may want to let the outline set for a bit longer than normal.  One hour should be fine.

Thin the red and light red icings with water, a bit at a time, until it is the consistency of thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit several minutes.

Stir gently with a rubber spatula and transfer both icings to squeeze bottles.

Working 6-8 cookies at a time, fill in the apples in red, using a toothpick to guide to edges.

Go back over the same 6-8 cookies and drop dots of the lighter red icing.

Let stand at least one hour.

With the #4 tip, pipe eyes on the apples with white icing.

Using a #2 tip, add the pupils to the eyes and a smile. :)

With another #2 tip, fill in the leaf.

Let dry overnight.

You know what they say...
"An Apple a Day Keeps the Skinny Jeans Away." 

Or something like that.

For a very POPular Teacher . . .

Can it be? Summer is almost here? But before summer...it's time for teacher appreciation gifts!

Welcome to those of you coming from Woodlands Family Magazine (and to everybody else, too)! I'm so happy to be working with Melissa of Domesticated Lady (you're going to love her!) to bring you not only a how-to for cookies, but an adorable FREE printable topper as well!

Let's get started on the cookies (you can make these NOW and freeze them until the end of school!):

• Make sugar cookies using a candy corn cookie cutter (it's a multi-tasker) and let cool.
  

Using red royal icing and a #3 tip, pipe the outline of a popcorn box (AmeriColor Super Red).

• With a #2 tip, pipe a wide oval in yellow icing (AmeriColor Egg Yellow).

• With another #2 tip, pipe the outline of popped popcorn above the box in white (add AmeriColor Bright White for extra white).
• Thin the yellow icing with a bit of water, stirring gently until it is the consistency of thick syrup. Let sit several minutes covered with a damp dishtowel (see a video of this process here).
• Gently stir the icing with a rubber spatula to pop any air bubbles that have risen to the surface and transfer to a squeeze bottle.

• Fill in the oval and part of each popcorn piece.
• Thin the white icing in a similar fashion.
  

• Fill in the popcorn box and the remainder of the popcorn. Swirl the yellow and white icings together on the popcorn.
• Let dry at least 1 hour.

• Using a #5 tip, add wide red stripes to the popcorn boxes.
• Switch to a #2 tip and pipe "POPcorn" in red on the oval.

• Outline the oval in red using the #2 tip.

• Let the cookies dry overnight before packaging.

My favorite part? The swirly popcorn pieces:

The free printable topper is available from Domesticated Lady here.

Melissa, of Domesticated Lady) has so many wonderful ideas...I know you'll want to check out the rest of her darling blog while you're there! (And the online version of her article about the toppers/cookies is here.) It was a pleasure working with Melissa...this theme was all her idea...she is so creative!!!

If you want to make a few individual popcorn pieces to go along with these, check out these too cute cookies from The Decorated Cookie! Is that the cutest idea, or what?

You know what? I made popcorn cookies about 5 years ago and I am so glad to get a chance to update them. Wanna see?

I like this year's version much better!

I'll be linking it to TidyMom's I'm Lovin' It linky party. :)

Have you planned your teacher gifts yet?

The Write Stuff

My son is taking some standardized tests this week....he LOVES taking these tests (I always did, too). The test facility asked the parents to bring snacks for the kids to share and to bring #2 pencils, so we did!


I didn't have a pencil cutter. I did have a "bachelorette party" cookie cutter...if you know what I mean...that would have worked with some slight modification. ;)

But since this was a daytime project and I didn't want to risk my son stumbling into the kitchen while I was performing surgery, I used my pick-up truck cutter instead.

Just a few chops with my handy-dandy bench scraper...voila! Pencils!


Here's the progression into cookie pencils....


To make the cookies:

• Using yellow royal icing, outline the main pencil shape with a #2 or #3 tip. (AmeriColor Egg Yellow mixed with AmeriColor Gold)
• With a #2 tip, outline the pencil tip in beige. (AmeriColor Copper)
• Thin the yellow and beige icings (reserving some yellow) with water to make the flood icing the consistency of syrup.
  
• Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.
• Run a silicone spatula through the icing to pop any large air bubbles and transfer to squeeze bottles.
• Fill in outlines.
• With grey icing, use a #3 tip to add the pencil detail in 2 or 3 lines. (AmeriColor Super Black)
• With pink icing, outline the eraser with a #2 tip. (AmeriColor Deep Pink mixed with AmeriColor Chocolate Brown)
• Thin the pink icing with water to make the consistency of syrup.
• Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.
• Run a silicone spatula through the icing to pop any large air bubbles and transfer to squeeze bottle.
• Fill in outline.
• With a #2 tip, add the pencil detail stripes in yellow.
• Using a #1 tip, add the "no. 2" and lead in black. (AmeriColor Super Black)

These would make a great teacher gift! For one more sweet teacher gift idea, click here!

Teacher gifts: homemade, kid-decorated and delicious!

Let me give you an idea for teachers' gifts this year. I worked in a school for a few years and I can tell you....teachers have closets and cabinets full of candles and coffee mugs. I know, I gave a lot of them.

When my son was in the first grade, we he made these cookies for his teacher. I helped. :)

I made just a simple round cookie. Outlined it and then flooded it with white (royal) icing. (I added a decorative edge piping.) The cookies dried overnight, then I let me son loose with the food coloring pens.

TIPS FOR MAKING THESE:

1. Let the cookies dry overnight. This is a MUST! The cookies will look dry in a few hours. Trust me, they're not.
2. Make extras. Food coloring pens take a light touch...this is a difficult concept for kids (or maybe just mine?). The markers will poke into the icing making a hole if pushed. Not a big deal, but if you like things "perfect," have extras. :)
3. I use AmeriColor Gourmet Writers. They come in a pack with about 10 colors and the tips are a little thinner than others. But, other brands of food coloring pens are widely available at craft and grocery stores.

We just bagged and tied these and put them in a basket. I think 2 or 3 cookies in a gift bag would be perfect for a music or PE teacher, also.

These were a HUGE hit with his teacher. She was showing them to all of the other teachers in the area. My son was pretty proud of his handiwork, too.

Here are a few more "thank-you" cookie ideas:

• Scalloped thank-you cookies
• Daisies
• Tulips