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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I whipped up these little tie-dye (tie-dye-esque?) cookie bites to bring to a party from leftover cookie dough and icing. I used the cutest little square cutter from this set I found at Ikea ages ago. The best thing about leftover cookie dough and icing bags you already have is that you can do whatever you want and you don’t have to worry about messing up. Plus, I find that people love cookies and are easily impressed.

To make these, I cut out little squares of cookie dough, baked and let cool according to the recipe. I used my royal icing, thinned just a bit, tinted with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White, Electric Pink, Orange and Egg Yellow, but use any colors you like), and filled disposable decorating bags that were fitted with couplers and size “3″ or “4″ decorating tips. (For tips on finding supplies, click HERE.) I then outlined each square with white and let set a bit. Working with a few cookies at a time, I piped three stripes of color, then I swirled a toothpick through the icing. For Basic Cookie Decorating how-tos, click HERE. Let the cookies dry for several hours or overnight before handling.

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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!

So I have a kindergartener. She goes to a public charter school here in Washington, DC. I’ll spare you all the charter school talk, since I’ve waxed on about it before. (To read more about the charter school system in Washington DC, click HERE and HERE.) These pencil cookies are for all the superfantabulous teachers and staff at her school, Inspired Teaching.

If you don’t have a kindergartener yourself, or if you don’t know any, I’ll tell you a little bit about what it means to be in kindergarten. It means you talk all the time. You talk all the time because you know everything. Often, having this expansive knowledge means you must correct the grown-ups around you an awful lot. You also think the world revolves around you, so you must be heard the second a thought enters your brain, no matter what is occurring around you. If the grown up you are interrupting asks you to be patient, you explain, loudly, that you can’t because the thought actually WILL leave your brain if you don’t get it out right then. As a kindergartener, you can do much more for yourself, and you know the general rules of life, but sometimes these rules are hard to follow and your toddler past still sneaks up on you in the form of whines, tantrums and arguments. In fact, arguments are relatively common for a kindergartener, be it with other kindergarteners or with siblings, friends or any grown-up. And as a kindergartener, your logic is outstanding, if only to you, so this gives you much ammunition for arguing. As a kindergartener, you also must move frequently throughout the day. This can mean jumping, running, somersaults, dancing or any similar physical activity. Often, this must be done on busy city sidewalks or during quiet time, but safety and appropriateness cause very little inner conflict for the kindergartener.

Imagine spending seven hours a day with 20 kindergarteners.

This is why we have a week of teacher appreciation. Because teachers are spending thirty-five some hours a week with our children. And they are stunningly patient and deft at handling their little (I mean big) egos. And all while teaching them stuff.

Teachers are awesome.

They deserve more than a few pencil cookies, but this is what I cooked up for the staff at my daughter’s school this week.

to make pencil cookie favors…

you will need:*

cookie dough

royal icing

pencil or crayon cookie cutter

food coloring

disposable decorating bags

couplers

decorating tips, sizes 3, 4 and 5

rubber bands

*Find the decorating bags, couplers and tips at the craft store. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Egg Yellow, Chocolate Brown, Super Black and Electric Pink used here), found in specialty stores or online. For tips on finding cookie cutters, click HERE. This is the cutter I used.

step one: bake your cookies. Prepare cookie dough, chill, roll out, cut out the pencils, bake according to the recipe and let cool completely.

step two: prepare your icing. Prepare royal icing according to the recipe. Divide and tint your colors, yellow, pink, gray, black, and tan. You’ll need the most of yellow. Prepare decorating bags with couplers and tips, fill with each color and close tightly with rubber bands.

step three: decorate your cookies. For general cookie decorating instructions, click HERE.Use a 3 tip to pipe the black point. Then use a 3 tip to pipe the tan part of the pencil. Pipe and fill the eraser with a 4 tip. Pipe lines of gray with a size 4 tip. And pipe lines back and forth in yellow using a size 4 or 5 tip. Let the cookies dry overnight before packaging.

To package the cookies…

You will need:*

cellophane favor bags

ribbon

this label printable

these circle labels or white, letter-size photo paper or cardstock

Print this printable onto the circle labels or just print onto paper and cut out tags. Place the cookies in a cello bag, close with ribbon and either stick the label on the bag or use a hole punch to attach the tag to the ribbon.

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Followers may notice my recent obsession with these portrait cookies. I started with this gift for my niece. The next year I made these favors for her art-themed birthday party. And now, portrait cookies for my mom for Mother’s Day.

This is my mom.

This is my brother and his family.

This is my sister and her family.

And this is me and my family.

Seriously, the likenesses are, ahem, uncanny. No really. It’s as if I studied the fine art of portraiture.

Gift-buying in my family is never easy. We all have way too much clutter and need very few things. That’s why I always turn to cookies. They can be personalized and they never leave clutter. Only crumbs (hahahaha…. groan).

Here are some favorites of Mother’s Day past:

all about mom Mother’s Day cookies

preppy cookies

over-the-rim cookies for mom’s tea

And of course, there are plenty of flower-themed ideas. Felt flower cupcake toppers, gerbera daisy cookie pops, carnation cookie pops, bite-size daisy cookies, how to make a flower cookie arrangement, springtime marshmallows.

 to make Mother’s Day family portrait cookies… I cut out rectangle cookies with my cookie dough. Bake and let cool completely. Then I prepared my royal icing and tinted it white and gold with Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Bright White and Egg Yellow). I prepared a disposable decorating bag with coupler and tip, size “4″. I filled the bag with the gold icing 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.  And then I drew with the portraits with edible writers.  For basic cookie decorating how-tos click HERE. For tips on buying and using edible writers, click HERE.

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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!

Did I ever tell you about the time I wanted to write children’s books? Probably. I still want to write children’s books. When I find the time to read, I always read children’s. My favoritest books in the universe are Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Currently, I’m re-reading Harry Potter’s run. (I’m up to Book 5. Again.) It may come as no surprise to you that I’m also a total nerd. I never, ever, ever, ever got a “C” in any class from Kindergarten through college at Georgetown, throughout my two Masters degrees. OK, that’s not true. I got a “C” in gym class in 7th grade because I forgot my clothes one day and had points deducted. You can believe I went up to that teacher and argued for a “B.” (I lost.) Picture me now shaking my fist at that stain on my record.

I love book-learning. I earned a Master of Liberal Arts from the University of Pennsylvania, just to keep learning. I studied English Literature in a summer program at Oxford. And then I went and got another Masters from American University here in Washington, DC. I earned an MFA in Literature/Creative Writing back in ’03 (Holy moly, has it been ten years?). If I had any talent for teaching, I’d have earned a phD, too. But alas, I’ve no talent for teaching.

But I do love writing. I’m insecure about my talent in that area, but gosh, if I could stay in school and write forever, I would. I found a community of thinkers at American University, smart people who have ridiculously meaningful insights about words on a page and life in general and who are pretty darn funny because of said smarts.  I found a community of writers, a community that talked submissions and manuscripts. Protagonists and drama. The twists and turns a voice can take. Memoir and poetry and all kinds of new things. I studied the sublime in Alice in Wonderland, I translated Baudelaier’s Les Fleurs du Mal, and I wrote a middle-grade novel about building a rainbow. I sat and soaked in knowledge from Richard McCann, Kermit Moyer, and Andrew Holleran.  I’m still in cahoots with Sandra, Paulette, Natalie, Monica, Jen and Eve and so many more from this great time in my life.

Which is all a lot of talking to get to the point of this post. Sniffle, sniffle, I was pretty honored–given the aforementioned great time in my life at American University–to have my cookies featured in the current issue of American Magazine as part of their “My Favorites” series.

Read the full issue of American Magazine HERE.

(I’m on page 47.)

Thank you, American University!

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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!