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.

 Tweet

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!

This one goes in the category of quick and easy to make, always appreciated in my house. But I’ll warn you that they do take a while to dry. As in, a few hours. I’m not entirely sure what one would do with tiny bite-size dip dyed marshmallows, but I’ll let you use your imagination for that. Maybe package some in a little cellophane bag tied with ribbon? Add to hot cocoa? Eat? Leave a trail for your husband to the Godiva catalog? Or in my case, maybe to the Anthropologie catalog. Or to my bed. You know, to nap. O’ sleep. How I miss thee (thanks a lot new baby).

how to make dip-dyed mini marshmallow hearts

you will need:*

Jet-Puffed Stackermallows

mini heart cookie cutters

small bowl or cup

fork

food coloring

baking tray

wax paper

cooling rack

*The Stackermallows should be found in the supermarket. These are the flat, rectangle marshmallows. I used a 1-inch and 1 1/2-inch heart cutter. You can likely find heart cutters in the craft store this time of year. For food coloring, I suggest Americolor Soft Gel Pastes (Electric Pink, Electric Green, Orange, Sky Blue and Electric Purple used here), found online or in specialty stores.

what to do:

Line a baking tray with wax paper and place the cooling rack on top and set aside. Use the cookie cutters to cut out hearts from the marshmallows. Mix two or three tablespoons of water with a drop or two of food coloring in the small bowl or cup. Place a marshmallow in the mixture and quickly remove by scooping out with a fork. Place on the cooling rack to dry. This will take awhile! When the top is dry, flip over to dry the underside.

Tweet

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!

Bird’s back! I’m honored to be a part of the Winter issue of Bird’s Party Magazine. This issue, like every other, if full of sweet party awesomeness. You’ll find ideas for a Winter Wonderland, parties from Hollywood to penguin glam, a sparkly New Year’s, a whimsical Christmas brunch. Birthday parties for dinosaurs, snow fairies, gangsters, lumberjacks and moose, a clever juice and cheese tasting party. And there are plenty of handmade holiday ideas, including edible placecards and decor that kids can make.   CLICK BELOW TO VIEW THE ISSUE:

Wanna see what I made? Gingerbread swizzle sticks for hot cocoa. And those cute tags attached? The Cocoa and Marshmallows Party printables are available from Bird’s shop. I just used my yummy gingerbread cut-out cookie dough (I added this recipe to my cookie recipe page HERE) to make sticks with holes, baked them, dipped them in chocolate and sprinkled crushed candy canes and marshmallow bits on top. Then I threaded the holes with ribbon and attached little tags. The perfect dip-in-cocoa treat.

Read Bird’s Party Magazine free online HERE, or purchase the paper copy HERE.

Find the how-tos to make the gingerbread swizzle sticks HERE on p.94.

Tweet

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!

pumpkin patch cupcakes from my book, Sugarlicious

 apple cake pop placecards from my book, Sugarlicious

Now that Halloween is officially over, it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Given my almost-bursting belly at 8 months pregnant, I might be relying a bit heavily on the old archives this season. As always, I’ll keep my SEASONAL button up there updated (or I’ll try to). Here are some favorites from Thanksgiving past. Click the photos or the captions to go to the original posts.

You can check out more ideas in this Thanksgiving roundup for Reader’s Digest I made awhile back and I have a few more treats at Celebrations.

 Thanksgiving Day marshmallow activity for kids

Give kids marshmallows and edible writers and let them make their own! Printable instructions included in the post.

easy pumpkin pie cookies

bite-size Fall cookies

falling leaves cookies

A note to all those suffering the effects of Superstorm Sandy… It feels very odd to post today on cookies and sweets when my mind is elsewhere. My heart goes to all of those impacted by the Storm! I’m in Washington DC, where we got by relatively unscathed. But my family is from the New Jersey shore, and I’ve been obsessively checking for updates. I’m extremely fortunate my family are all safe, but my brother and his family are without power indefinitely and still shaken by the storm. My dear cousin and her family lost their home to the storm.  Merely searching for a gas station is a many-hours long ordeal, and my brother has sadly witnessed violence and utter chaos in the wake of the storm. I hope you’ll all keep those who lost so much in your hearts as well!  Rebuilding will take much time and patience, and I, like many, I’m sure, are already seeking ways to help.  Thank you for visiting and listening!

 Tweet

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!

I mentioned a few posts ago that I got that big, huge, free box of marshmallow awesomeness from KRAFT Jet-Puffed, remember? No? (See these pumpkin marshmallow pie pops.) I told you it’ll take me awhile to work my through it experimenting with different uses for marshmallows. In the box I found a couple bags of these silly little bite-size ghost marshmallows from Jet-Puffed, or “Ghostmallows,” and they just screamed for chocolate. And chocolate bark is the easiest ever treat to make which you can customize however you like.

You can add candy corn, nuts, or whatever else you like, though I made most of mine just with crumbled chocolate cookie wafers sprinkled on the melted chocolate. I was going for a sort of graveyard look.

To make ghostly chocolate bark

you’ll need*

Jet-Puffed GhostMallows

black edible writer

12-ounce bag of chocolate chips (or more! milk, semi-sweet, whatever you prefer)

baking tray

parchment paper

crumbled chocolate cookies and/or candy corn (optional)

*Find the edible writer at the craft store or specialty stores. For tips on markers, click HERE. You can add anything else you like in addition to the marshmallows, such as crumbled cookies, candy corn, nuts, whatever.

what to do:

Draw faces on the marshmallows with the black edible writer. Set aside. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate however you prefer, either in a double boiler, in a bowl set over simmering water, or in the microwave according to package directions. Pour the chocolate onto the tray and spread to about 1/4 inch thickness (a 12-ounce bag won’t fill the whole tray). If desired, sprinkle crumbled chocolate cookies, candy corn, nuts, or whatever you want on the chocolate. Arrange the ghosts on the chocolate, pressing down gently to secure in the chocolate. Refrigerate until set, 1 to 2 hours, then break into pieces.

 Tweet

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!