By george I think she's got it!

Well I decided to whip up a batch of cookies to do some practice work for valentines. yet again I used a different recipe this time I used the sugar cookie recipe from Sweetopia I figured I use so many techniques and such from her site I should try her cookies. They turned out awesome my fave so far i prefer a soft cookie as apposed to crunchy so these were perfect. I halved the recipe and still got 3 dozen out of it.

as per usual I used her royal icing recipe as well halved it too and again worked out great. I finally feel like I'm starting to get the hang of consistency and how much to use on a cookie to not have those shallow spots. I tried a new technique I found on youtube called embroidered cookie. This wasn't the video I found but its pretty much the same.

I did ok for my first time some were ugly some were pretty good. I was more impressed with the fact that my icing wasn't all wonky and weird looking I cannot believe how much practice it takes just to get the right consistency. I am still on the search for something to make my cookies shinier once there dry I have yet to find that "secret" ingredient.

You may also have noticed my different background and new logo it is just something I whipped up while messing around in illustrator the logo that is the background is from another site. I eventually will turn this blog into a website but that is not anytime soon it is a work in progress. Well enough jibber jabber here is the pictures sorry there nothing amazing I shot them on my iphone until I make it big this is what you get hahah jk sorta :P.

Hey folks!

Well christmas is over it was awesome I love spending time with the family and Carter got spoiled. My 30th birthday is tomorrow I was going to make some princess cookies but we are all sick ugh I will be happy when winter is over. So here is some cute cookies from sweetopia shes a huge inspiration to me and I use alot of tips from her site.

I promise I will be back soon with something awesome hope everyone had a great christmas and new years

some pre christmas practice cookies

Well as christmas is getting closer I have been doing my best to get some cookies done. Feels like it snuck right up on me but I managed to make a few goodies. I got the mitt idea from one of my favourite blogs bakeat350 she does some amazing stuff and it is all fairly easy to follow. This is the post with the instructions and this is the recipe I used for the cookies. I used the royal icing recipe from sweetopia I love this site as well for inspiration here is the royal icing recipe follow it exactly as it says. If you dont have a mixer you can use a hand mixer just make sure you still mix for ten mins. I'm still working on the right constancy and such that's my biggest challenge sounds silly but it's hard.As you can see on my snowflakes the blue icing was a bit runny so it didn't hold it's shape well. I also made up some gingerbread i got the recipes off allrecipes I don't have the link because i use my app sorry but it was highest rated. I did some shortbread the recipe was also allrecipes app it was literally 2 cups butter 1 cup sugar 2 tsp of vanilla and 4 cups flour worked out great. I probably wont be posting until after Christmas so hope everyone has a merry Christmas and happy new year! I promise there will be more cookies to come in the new year.

I used disco dust to make the snowflakes sparkle

Melted snowmen cookies and a special gift

well when my hubby told me he needed cookies for his Christmas party I immediately thought melted snowman cookies which I had seen here. I think they turned out really good but I wasn't really feeling the cookie recipe itself that they linked. they were more like a cake cookies than a sugar cookie for me anyways but you could use any recipe you want. As the link states I followed it almost exactly except I found the marshmallows heated up faster in my microwave so that would vary for each one. When the marshmallow was placed and the icing was dry I painted the "snow" with luster dust mixed with lemon extract which I have to mention is not fda approved for food but for makeup but it is non toxic. So it wont kill you and we use non fda approved stuff all the time so this is no biggie in my books.

The extract evaporates fast as its about 99% alcohal so work quickly. When it has all dried you can poor the dried parts back into your container as it turns back to dust. I made my black icing too runny so it was a little less strong looking than I would have liked but hey i'm still learning. I waited for the luster dust to dry which gave the snow a bit of an opaque sheen looking like snow. Than I added the details and they were done. It sounds and looked more complicated than it was. The cookies did spread quite a bit making them huge which Trevor obviously couldnt take 24 of them to work. So I whipped up some shortbread in minutes with my new kitchen aid mixer aint she a bute

Came this morning via UPS shipped from amazon.ca so no nasty charges this time. I am so in love with this thing I got this one as much as I wanted a pink one I couldn't see spending an extra 100 bucks for the colour alone and a weaker motor. Free shipping and showed up in about a week in two boxes so I had one to ship my son back in

hahaha jk jk. Well I am going to be working on some more christmas cookies so I will post when there all done hope your all having a wicked day.

just a little p.s the marshmallows get super sticky make sure you grease the plate up good and your fingers

my package came!...... with an extra cost

Well I haven't blogged in a while because I have been waiting on my order from country kitchen to come in with all my cookie cutters for Christmas and otherwise as well as my disco dust and food colouring gels etc. I was so excited to get the package today I had been tracking it through UPS from the beginning and knew it was coming in today. Needless to say when it got it I jumped up to answer the door only to find an in a rush UPS man asking me for 63 dollars and some odd change.

63 dollars for what duties and taxes on a package certainly wouldn't cost almost as much as the package which was about 100 dollars. I come to find out that it is brokerage charges to export it through customs. I was more than willing to pay for duties and taxes as that's how it goes when shipping across borders. Being a previous employer of a courier company who ships internationally I know quite a bit about these fees but was not aware that UPS was among the highest charging me 43 dollars in brokerage. I had ordered several packages from the states before and used UPS with no brokerage or duties and taxes for that matter. So right away I email the company which has nothing on there site nor in the several emails me exchanged about brokerage fees.

It simply says you may incur custom charges which they cannot estimate which the man replying was eager to remind me of. Now I know brokerage is technically a customs charge but it is something they are agreeing to on my behalf without my consent as the package states in small writing. It is also something I believe should be told to customers seeing as the company would be able to somewhat estimate brokerage cost on package cost and tell the customer before shipping. I'm sure this isn't there first time shipping across borders to Canada or elsewhere but I am assuming telling customers you may pay half the cost of your package in brokerage may deter buyers.

I did some digging and also remembered I could have cleared this myself through customs or chose a different broker had I been given the option to saving me the 43 bucks. So I await my reply from the company which I am sure will be some nonsense about how they wont refund me and that its somehow my problem. So bakers beware as great as there products and prices are such as disco dust being 7-8 bucks at my local store to there cost of 4 dollars or less it will end up costing more in the customs fees. Should have gone with USPS hate to say it and had an undetermined delivery date with no brokerage charges :(. Hope this rant informs those ordering across borders at the extra costs you may end up paying while trying to save a buck...... now onto the goods!!!

Some gel colouring to add to my collection

Comfort grip cookie cutters from wilton amazing and among my fave.

mirengue powder and lemon extract a must have for royal icing and cookies

Disco dust have never used it before but cannot wait to make my cookies sparkle!

sugar pearls

before the unboxing

random Christmas and otherwise cutters

Princess cutters cannot wait to use these