great pumpkins

boss Candice has a younger sister Sandra who requested pumpkin cookies for her kiddos’ Halloween parties at school.  i have about 14 different pumpkin shapes, but these 2 are my new favorites.

i’ve become unsatisfied with just flat orange pumpkins, and even flat orange with lines suggesting the vertical segments, so when i ice pumpkins i fill in every other segment, and when they’re dry, i go back and fill in the rest, and you get those nice wedges.  my other neat trick was adding black to my leftover orange to get brown for the stems, then adding the leftover brown to the green making a mossy hue for the leaves.  nothing wasted.  green edible ink markers finished off the details, and each got a little favor bag.  

 thank you Sandra, and happy Halloween to all!  coming next week, Michael’s 5th birthday, and not long after, i’m thinking about mustaches.  yeah.

*boneless recipe

happy Halloween early!  this week at the Meet Market, pick up some spooky skulls and chocolate chip cookies with your soup'n'sammiches.  and stay tuned for some fat lil' pumpkins.

boo!

...and more leaves...

so this is probably the first time i posted pictures on facebook, then waited a few hours to write about them here.  gotta get the word out!  on sale now at The Meet Market, cute little trees, and matching brownie pops.  and my spidey sense says there will be chocolate chip cookies later this week.  so come on in for lunch!
and later this month, definitely pumpkins, and i'm thinking some skulls too.

furry friends

the Greater Chicago Ferret Association held its 25th annual "Greatest Ferret Show on Earth" last week, and i was asked by hubby's cousin, ferret enthusiast, and all-around animal-lover Jessica to provide some cookies for the event.  as i don't have a ferret cookie cutter (about 800 and no ferret!) i took one of my (Disney) Pocahontas cutters and lopped off the top of her head just over the ear, then added the little rectangle and like magic, it provided the outline of one of our furry honorees peering over a little sign noting the anniversary.  a good start, and Karin who took delivery of them said they were lovely, but i had a variety of icing problems with this batch.  i'll let it be, and go with her good opinion... :) 
i was talking about this order at work and the response was "ferret cookies?"  yup.  you just never know who's going to throw a party.  so don't be shy about needing something odd.  being odd myself, i'll always be up for it.
coming soon, an as-yet-undecided batch for the restaurant.  ghosts?  pumpkins?  hmm....

beautiful day In The Neighborhood

and here it is.  a quick little project stuck into a week busy with catering, made in less space than my hobbit kitchen because there's a whole restaurant happening around me.  i'm tickled pink.  after much searching, i've found a little place that's only 12 minutes away (or an hour if i take the bike path on a warm day), that was looking for a baker of interesting treats. 
In The Neighborhood "Meet Market" is a darling little place in E. Dundee, IL serving deli sandwiches, homemade soups and salads, and cookies (and more things to come) from yours truly.  it's the sister location to the deli in Elgin, and the cafe at the library.  beyond the restaurant, In The Neighborhood caters (with more than sandwiches), and twice a year they organize a community dinner in Elgin.  all the sandwiches are named after local landmarks, and served on vintage mismatched dinnerware that'll remind you of your mom's kitchen back in the 70s and 80s.  the music spans from "rock around the clock" to "don't stop believin'."  the floor is reclaimed wood.  my bosses wear jeans and t-shirts.  and for as relaxed as i feel working here [seriously, parked at a desk doing spreadsheets would have killed me, eventually] i feel compelled to throw my refreshed work-ethic headfirst into making this place a hit.  so throw a party and call them, huh?  put me to work!
the cookies, by the way, were iced with yellow, then airbrushed with red while the icing was still wet, doing that nice mottled look again.  then some gold dust and edible ink leaves.  now they're hanging out with chocolate chip bars and potato chip cookies.  mmmmm.....

turning leaves

my coworker at The Meet Market brought in some cookies from another establishment.  they were swirly fall leaves with the veins drawn in.  (they looked all right, but i take issue with the recipe.) i felt i had to participate in the making of fall cookies, so i brought these in to share.  just simple leaves, but with a blast of burgundy or red with the airbrush, then a quick sketch of veins.  i like how the watered-down food coloring sometimes makes a splotchy effect--leaves are never evenly dappled, and it looks so water-colorish.  (while they were drying i went to the craft store, and a leaf just like the larger green/burgundy one was lying next to my car.  nice.)
the cookie dough for something decorated is currently in the cooler and i welcome your suggestions for my inaugural, in-house, professional batch of decorated cookies to sell to the public.  more leaves?  pumpkins?  oh the Halloween ideas...  and when i get them made, i'll be sure to tell you all about the place.  for now i'm a mom on the go, and i have to post this quick, and meanwhile you can head over there and sample my banana bread (no nuts) and oatmeal/raisin/date cookies (with and without nuts).  yum.  go, eat, be merry!  and coming soon, ferrets!