Snowflake Cut-Out Cookies

From my home to yours I'd like to wish you all a HAPPIEST NEW YEAR!!  May 2012 be your best yet!!!

Unfortunately for me, this holiday season I've been plagued by a cold/flu that won't seem to go away.  This meant I did not make nearly as many treats as I'd have liked.  I did the best I could, though, and had a great time with these snowflakes.  I really do love making cut-out cookies!  I find the icing of cookies very relaxing and great opportunity to be creative.  Snowflakes are the perfect shape to experiment with new designs and have some fun decorating.

I made both small and large cookies.  For the background of the cookie I chose a light blue so the white flake design would stand out more  I used the standard outline and flood method.  To decorate the small flakes, I used a #1 tip with a very thick icing mixture of water and sifted confectioners sugar poured into a pastry bag.  The icing was thick enough that my hand began to cramp up from squeezing.  I made the icing so thick because I did not want it to spread and not keep its' shape.  Despite the discomfort, I love the way they turned out!

I need much more work on my hand control to make the lines even.  I free-formed the designs and want to try different patterns.  I'm actually excited to make more!

For the large snowflake cookies, I used a #2 tip with what I THOUGHT was a thick enough icing, but it wasn't.  So, the lines spread out more than I'd hoped.  Since they were large it wasn't that big of a deal, so I finished them with the icing mixture I had prepared.  They were pretty, but I still think they would look lovelier with a thinner flake line.  When I make them again I'll post an update!

Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins

Right off I'm going to say part of me wishes I didn't make these.  I have absolutely no self control around the holiday times when Reese's sells their peanut butter eggs, trees, hearts, and pumpkins.  It's a problem.  So, obviously I am taking a big risk learning how to make them in my own house.  But I did.  And they taste perfect.  And I'm sure I'm going to regret this day!

I found this recipe here and restrained myself as long as I could from giving it a try.  They are so simple you may or may not want to make them yourself.  It all depends on whether or not YOU have self control to stop at just one, or two, or....you get the idea.

Anyway, this is what you need:

Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Reese's Peanut Butter)

1/4 cup melted butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups of melting chocolate

Mix together the peanut butter, sugar and butter.  If the mixture is too thick, add the 1-2 tablespoons of milk.  The texture should be stiff but pliable, like Play-Doh.  Place the mixture onto a flat surface and spread evenly until is the thickness you desire.

Next, use a cookie cutter or mold your own shapes to dip into chocolate.  I did not have a small pumpkin cutter, so I used a small Christmas ornament cutter, which I then shaped into a pumpkin myself.  While I was at it, I cut out a few trees to see how they would look.

Also, I could not help but use my small Buffalo cookie cutter to make some Buffalo's.  I love representing my home!  Once you cut out your shapes (continue remolding the scraps until you have used all of the peanut butter mixture.  I also made some ball shapes to make a truffly version.), place them in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.  Use a toothpick stuck in the side of your shape to dip them into melted chocolate.  I used Merkins melting milk chocolate wafers.  Melt them in a microwaveable bowl for 30 second intervals on Power Level 2 until all chocolate is melted smooth.

After letting the excess chocolate drip off, place the dipped shape onto waxed paper and remove the toothpick.  Dab a bit of chocolate onto the hole where the toothpick was.  I made the mistake of placing my shapes on a baking rack.  I do not advise this, as my shapes stuck to the rack and were not only difficult to remove, but also many of them tore.  The ones I placed on waxed paper had excess chocolate melted around the edges, but they came off the paper with no problem and held their shape wonderfully.

How GREAT are these??!!  And they taste so, so, so delicious!  Really, in a blindfolded taste test I would not be able to tell the difference between these and the real thing.  See, this is a problem.  Give them a try yourself, you won't regret it.  Or, you might!