The heat is here. Now you’ll hear me complain about the heat until the first crisp day of Fall. But this year, instead of mooching off of friends, I actually splurged on pool passes for myself, Maeve and Violet. I even bought a baby swim thing that essentially amounts to 15 feet of mesh material I’m supposed to know how to wrap around me to hold Violet so I can handle two kids in the pool. I don’t know how 15 feet of mesh is supposed to be comfortable in 95 degree weather, but the lady on the package looks happy.

As Memorial Day approaches, I’ve rounded up some Summer treats from my archives. You can find everything for this time of year up there in the Seasonal button, too. And if you need more Memorial Day ideas, check out this roundup of 22 food and party ideas over at my other blog.

Summer classics as cookies:

watermelon cookies, lemonade cookies, popsicle cookies, cookie ice cream cones.

Frozen stuff:

frozen yogurt pops, ice cream sandwich pops.

S’mores!

S’mores on a stick, s’mores pops, self-reflective s’mores.

Beach creatures:

Starfish cookies, crab and fish cupcake toppers, turtle cookies.

Get outside:

Baseball cookie pops, camping cookies, mini tennis cookies.

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This whole kids-drawing-on-cookies thing is not new to this blog. My daughter first make her own cookie art HERE when she was just a wee lass of two. And I gave my niece these framed cookies and a set of markers for her 7th birthday. Well, I adapted that same idea for her 8th birthday, celebrated at a kid’s art studio (did they have those when I was a kid? because I would’ve loved that).

And drawing on food is old hat around here, of course. For tips on choosing and buying edible writers, click HERE.

To make these, I used a small rectangle cutter to cut out the cookies with my cookie dough. Then I prepared my royal icing and tinted it white and gold with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White and Egg Yellow). Then, I prepared a disposable decorating bag with couplers and tip, size “4″. I filled the bag with the gold and closed with a rubber band. I piped rectangles on the cookies, leaving a border. Then, I switched the tip to size “3″ and piped the frame part. After the gold set a bit, I thinned the white icing to flooding consistency, filled an empty decorating bag, snipped the tip and piped to fill the frames. Let the cookies dry super duper well, overnight.    (For basic cookie decorating how-tos click HERE.) To package, place a cookie in a cello bag, tie with ribbon and attach an edible writer to the ribbon.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

It’s a well-known fact that sports and I don’t mix. I played soccer a bit when I was a kid. Even field hockey. But I don’t do well with team sports. Tennis was my game. Singles only. I even played competitively in high school. But I just summed up my entire sports history. I don’t watch any sports on television (booooooring!), I follow no teams, and I only watch sports in arenas if dragged by a significant other. I know that sports are a source of great exercise, entertainment and passion for many–probably most–of you, but not this gal. I once fell asleep at a football game. “Once” because I’ve only been to a couple football games. I promise to fall asleep again if I have to endure another waste-of-hours trek to a stadium.

OK, the tirade is done. Sports I may not like, but sports turned into cute, bite-size cookie pops, I do like. I made these for a friend’s son’s birthday party. He likes sports. He turned four. That all sounds about right. I bet when he grows up, he won’t fall asleep at a football game.

To make bite-size baseball cookie pops…

I made my cookie dough and royal icing. I cut out 1 1/2-inch circles and made cookie pops. I used Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White, Chocolate Brown, and Red Red) to tint the icing white, red and two shades of brown. I prepared disposable decorating bags with couplers and tips (sizes 2, 3 and 4), supplies found at the craft store. For basic cookie decorating how-tos, click HERE. Let the cookies dry overnight before handling or packaging.

To make the baseballs, outline the cookies with white icing using a size “3″ tip. Then pipe or flood to fill with white. Let the cookies dry a bit and use a size “2″ decorating tip to pipe the stitching.

To make the mitts, outline the mitts with brown icing using a size “3″ tip. Let dry a bit and pipe with a size “4″ tip or flood to fill with brown. Let dry a bit and use a size “2″ tip to pipe the lacing. Pipe a white dot with red stripes.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

Aaaahhh… don’t we all need a day at the spa? I sure could. My last spa visit didn’t go so well.

The same spa I’ve been going to for eyebrow, um, “reshaping” (ie brutal waxing) for years has changed management. What was once a laid back, non-spa-like spa is now a spa-like spa. My former eyebrow lady was awesome. I’d go in, she’d slap on some wax, we’d chat about life, and I was out of there in ten minutes. Well, I dared show up last week with the baby in the car seat and you’d have thought I brought a live alligator. The look of horror on the receptionist’s face was meant to be obvious, I think. “Oh, are you bringing…that with you?” (I’m not exaggerating for dramatic effect, that’s how it went down.) “Yes. I’ve been coming here for years. I always bring the kid.” So apparently it’s now against policy. Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand and endorse this policy. Who wants to spend two hundred bucks on a massage and hear a baby crying next door? But this woman’s reaction, with her too-tight dress to match her too-tight, over made up face, was just brutal. I swear she was standing on a stool behind that desk just so she could look down at me more. I talked my way into the appointment. Violet cooed and there was a knock at the door within seconds for me to keep her quiet or leave.

So if anyone has any recommendations for an eyebrow waxer in the DC area, let me know. I promise to keep the kid at home, as long as they promise to be nice to me.

But on to more important things. Like cookies and a little girl turning 8. A little girl who deserves a day of spa treatment more than I do. Remember these rainbow cookies I made for my cousin and her town as they worked on rebuilding Manasquan, NJ after Sandy hit? Well, my cousin is now officially back in her home, amidst the construction dust and all. Her daughter requested some cookies for her spa-themed birthday party, and I happily obliged. While they have a ways to go with getting their home back to being their home, merely throwing a birthday party seems a long-fought-for victory.

To make these cookies, I used my recipes for cookie dough and royal icing. I used my favorite Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Electric Pink, Electric Green, Electric Purple, Orange, Bright White and Super Black for the gray). For basic cookie decorating instructions, click HERE. Let the cookies dry overnight before handling or packaging.

To make the masks, I used a letter “D” cookie cutter and used a heart cutter to shape the bottom. I then made two holes with a lollipop stick before baking. To decorate, I outlined in a color, immediately coating with the same color of sprinkles, then I filled in the centers with pink. When dry, I threaded ribbon through the holes.

To make the tap and bubbles cookies, I made gray icing and fitted the bag with a size “2″ tip. After piping and filling the background of the circle with pink and letting dry a bit, I piped the tap. Then I piped the bubbles and soap with white icing and a size “3″ tip, and added a few pearl sprinkles.

To make the fuzzy spa slippers, I used baby feet cookies, smoothing out the toes. I piped and filled a pink background, let dry a bit, then piped the zig zag fuzzy part with a darker pink, using a size “3″ tip.

To make the nail polish bottles, I used a baby bottle cookie cutter and trimmed the top at the sides. I piped the polish and immediately coated with a coordinating color of sprinkles. Then I piped and filled the white tops.

Happy birthday to my cousin’s daughter! My niece? My niece once removed? I’m going with niece. Happy birthday!!

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!

Eeew. But adding some bugs to your marshmallows with edible writers is a quick and easy last minute April Fool’s idea and it just may keep sticky fingers away from your candy. Here are some more April Fool’s Day food tricks from around the web:

Secretly replace your Tootsie Rolls with… more candy. By Project Denneler.

That’s genius. Cookies that look like scoops of ice cream.  From Tikkido.

These are kind of healthy because there are corn flakes involved. Fried chicken cookies from Bake at 350.

With the pile of luscious pink topping, this pie looks delicious. Except it’s meatloaf and potatoes, from Spoonful.

No one will ever recognize you with these silly cookie disguises from Munchkin Munchies.

Everything you need for April Fool’s Day appetizers and dinner right here at Hoosier Homemade: Deviled eggs, nuggets and fries, sushi. See what they really are.

These look exactly, exactly like soft boiled eggs. But really it’s vanilla custard and papaya balls from Little Food Junction.

An oldie but goodie, candy salad from CakeSpy.

Eerily realistic-looking candy green beans and cereal treat meatloaf from Spoonful.

My favorite classic kid meal. Mac n’ cheese, chicken nuggets and veggies. But not. By Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons.

I didn’t know Cheerios grew into doughnuts. I’m so growing a garden in my backyard. Make “Donut Seed” favors at Gourmet-Mom-on-the-Go.

Make candy broccoli at Hello, Cupcake! blog.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!