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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I’m back with what’s quickly becoming a seasonal tradition. Last Spring it was all about flowers. This Winter it was all about snowflakes. Now Haniela’s has brought us all together again with Easter treats and crafts. And there are a whole bunch of us this year. Which means a whole bunch of ideas for the holiday. Why, it’s a virtual Easter Extravaganza! Just click on each picture above to visit the bloggers’ posts.

To see all the bloggers’ creations, click HERE to visit Haniela’s, and be sure to stop by everyone’s site for the full tutorials. For the direct links, scroll to the bottom of this post.

I kept things simple with some bow tie bunny cookie pops. When given the only parameter of “Easter-inspired,” I was overwhelmed with directions. Eggs, baskets, pastels, chocolate bunnies, gingham, daisies, carrots, cookies, cupcakes, fondant, marshmallows… So I scratched all that and just stuck with a plain white bunny. Two dots for eyes and a sprinkle nose makes these even simpler, and that, my friends, was purposeful. Defiant, almost, against complication. Though I guess the over calculating of simplicity erases said simplicity. And there you have my psyche in a nutshell. Sigh.

To make these…

First, make the cookies. Prepare cookie dough according to the recipe, chill, roll out 3/8-inch thick (for pops) or 1/4-inch thick (for regular cookies), cut out bunny heads (I cut off the heads of my copper bunny cutter, but you can cut the heads off any you prefer), insert lollipop sticks (found at the craft store), and bake according to the recipe. Let cool completely. For tips on making cookie pops, click HERE.

Second, make the icing. Prepare royal icing according to the recipe. Tint about about two cups of icing (depending on how many cookies you are decorating) white using Americolor Soft Gel Paste Bright White food coloring. Prepare a disposable decorating bag with coupler and size “3″ decorating tip (found in the craft store). Fill with half of the icing and close tightly with a rubber band. Reserve and cover the remaining white icing. For tips on finding supplies, click HERE.

Third, decorate the cookies. Pipe an outline on the cookies and let set about 15 minutes. Thin the reserved white icing with water, a few drops at a time, until the consistency of thick glue. Fill an empty decorating bag with the thinned icing, snip the tip about 1/4-inch and loosely pipe to fill the cookies, encouraging the icing as needed with a toothpick. Let the cookies dry well, several hours at least, or overnight preferred. For tips on basic cookie decorating, click HERE. When dry, use a dab of light corn syrup to adhere a little heart sprinkle, and draw two dots with an edible writer.

Fourth, add the bow tie. To make the bow ties, fold a piece of decorative paper in half and cut out half a bow tie at the fold. Cut a couple slits at the top and bottom of the center of the bow tie to thread the lollipop stick through.

Thank you to Haniela’s for including my bunnies in such a great collection! Visit each blogger at the links below:

3D Easter Bunny by Marielle – De Koekenbakkers
Chick Cupcakes by Robin – Bird On A Cake
Mrs. Bunny Centerpiece by Myriam – Chapix Cookies
Cheesecake Easter Eggs by Beth – Hungry Happenings
Cho “Bunny” Greek Yogurt Pops by Jill – Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons
Hidden Easter Eggs by Stephanie – Ellie’s Bites
Easter Egg Cupcakes by Liz – Hoosier Homemade
Easter Treat Pouches by Elena – Just Me
Mini Meringue Cake by Karyn – Pint Sized Baker
Bunny Cake by Kathia – Pink Little Cake
Easter Gumball Machine by Marlyn – Montreal Confections
Easter Island by Laura – A Dozen Eggs Bake Shoppe
Easter Bunny Sandwich by Michelle – Creative Food
Bunny Garland by Sue – Munchkin Munchies
Egg Hunt Pound Cake by Jennifer – Not Your Momma’s Cookie
Dutch Easter Egg by Lorraine – Lorraine’s Cookies
Easter Egg Painting Chicks by Mike – Semi Sweet
Easter Basket Cookies by Amber – Sweet Ambs Cookies
The Carrot Patch Cake by Kim – The Partiologist
Cookie Bunny Pop by Meaghan – The Decorated Cookie
Pretzel Bunnies by Sarah – Miss CandiQuik
I, Robot Egg Cookie by Hani – Haniela’sTweet

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Homemade sprinkles are certainly not an innovation of this blog. I’ve seen tons all over the web. If memory serves correctly (and I’m lucky my memory is recorded over at my other gig),  these rainbow sprinkles from Brave Tart were my first introduction to the DIY sprinkle.

I had some leftover bags of red, pink and white icing (I use my royal icing HERE). So I just fitted the bags of icing with size “3″ decorating tips, lined a baking tray with parchment paper, piped a whole bunch of mini hearts, and let them dry at room temperature overnight. That’s it. Homemade heart sprinkles.

Sprinkle these over ice cream, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, whatever. I dabbed a bit of light corn syrup on the back and stuck one on a marshmallow.

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THE VIDEO:

5 Ways to Use Melted HERSHEY’S Chocolate

First, I made a video on 5 Ways to Use Melted Chocolate, HERE, with the HERSHEY’S kitchen team. I melt  HERSHEY’S Premier White Chocolate Chips, Milk Chocolate and Semi-Sweet Chips to make chocolate snowflake cupcake toppers, to fill holiday molds, to drizzle over treats, to make marshmallow dippers and to make cute Rudolph pretzel rods. I promise despite my dull tone, I really AM excited to be there? I never said I was a TV natural, folks. In fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve said that I’m a nervous wreck when the cameras go on.

Some more tips:

Melting Chocolate. Melt chocolate either in the microwave or on the stove-top. On the stove-top, use a double boiler or rest a bowl over a pan of simmering water to slowly melt the chocolate chips and to avoid direct heat. Or, nuke in a microwave-safe bowl at 50 percent power for 1 1/2 minutes, then 30 second intervals, until melted. My favorite method is to nuke directly in a disposable decorating bag. Easy clean-up and total control over piping. Snip from 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch from the tip of the decorating bag to pipe.

Chocolate Snowflakes. After lining a baking tray with parchment paper, I just piped white chocolate snowflakes, topped immediately with white sprinkles, and refrigerated until set.

Chocolate Molds and Drizzling Chocolate. The decorating bags make filling holiday molds super easy. No spoons and drips and drops! And using the bags, you can easily control a chocolate “drizzle” by piping back and forth over cookies, cupcakes, brownies, pretzels, anything that goes with chocolate.

Marshmallow Dippers. Here, I just skewer a marshmallow, dip in melted chocolate, then roll in a mixture of HERSHEY’S Cocoa and granulated sugar. You can also roll in crushed candy canes or in finely chopped HERSHEY’S candy bars. I think the Cookies n’ Creme would be perfect.

Rudolph Pretzel Rods. To make these cuties, I first melted HERSHEY’S white chocolate chips in a decorating bag and piped antlers on a baking tray lined with parchment. Then, I dipped a pretzel rod in a bowl of melted HERSHEY’s Milk Chocolate chips and immediately lay on top of the antlers. Add two candy eyes (found at the craft store) and a red candy nose, refrigerate to set, and you have Rudy!

THE PHOTO SHOOT:

HERSHEY’S HUGS Sugar and Spice Blossom Cookies on a Stick: A Gift Idea for Your Kids’ Class

Next up, I had an assignment.  To come up with a gift idea for packaging my favorites, the HERSHEY’S HUGS Sugar and Spice Blossoms, as a sweet treat to bring to your child’s class. Yeah, cookies and lollipop sticks and HERSHEY’S Kisses. Tough assignment, huh? Bringing treats to your child’s class poses a unique challenge. You need to bake in bulk, usually quickly and cost efficiently (if you’re like me, a mom with limited time and funds). You need to package the cookies just as quickly and cost efficiently, but still appealing to little hands, which also means packaging one, small cookie to look bigger. My go-to with kids? You know the answer. Lollipop sticks. If it’s possible to put anything on a stick, put it on a stick. To make these, simply, insert a lollipop stick–found at the craft store–into the ball of cookie dough on the tray. Bake as usual, add your HUGS, and let the cookies cool completely and the chocolate set well before packaging in cellophane bags with ribbons and tags.

MORE PLACES TO VISIT:

Be sure to check out my PINTEREST page on holiday sweets with HERSHEY’S products.

Find more information HERE at Cookie Headquarters.

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OK, so maybe these look just a little bit like ducks. Maybe. But how many ducks wear felt scarves?  I’m hoping the time of year will make things more obvious, because these are really easy to decorate. The snowy sprinkles coat the white icing so you don’t need to worry about perfection. For the noses, I used orange gumdrops, but you can use any orange candy or sprinkle you think is carrot-like.

Find the full post with how-tos HERE at Celebrations.

“No really, we’re snowmen.”

“I am NOT a duck.”

“Why will no one believe me?”

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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!