7 Cookie Ideas for Mother's Day

How many times has your mom made cookies for you? Well, it's time to repay the favor...and show her that you were paying attention in the kitchen.

Plus, if you're really sweet, she might even share.

Here are seven of my favorite cookies for Mother's Day. 

Before you say that you can't decorate cookies with royal icing, one involves buttercream and another a pourable glaze. See? I'm not letting you off the hook that easily. I can dispense mom guilt even if I didn't give birth to you.
(This is getting weird.)



*click the links for how-to's and recipes*

1. Gold Chevron Stenciled Thank You Cookies: Don't let the stencil scare you. In fact, you could skip it completely and just make the floral thank you cookies. I wish I would have said more "thank you's" to my mom. Here's your chance.

2. Wonder Woman Cookies: Kisser of Boo-Boo's, Wiper of Noses, Driver of Carpool, Teacher of All Subjects, Fixer of Science Fair Tri-Boards (or entire projects), Chef of Tacos and Fish Sticks, Keeper of the Household (my husband will laugh when he reads that one), Coordinator of Playdates, Volunteer at All School Functions, Packer of Lunches (ugh), Planner of Parties, Shopper of Groceries (remember when that was fun?!?), Folder of Laundry, QUEEN of the Castle. Yep, Wonder Woman.

3. Painted Rose Mom Cookies: You'll only need one color of icing for these and next to no artistic skills. Trust me...I paint about as well as I scrapbook, which is to say I'm terrible at it.

4. Buttercream Yellow Rose Cookies: These are probably the quickest to make out the bunch. They are SO, SO good.

5. Sugar Cookie Bars with Strawberry Glaze and Sugared Flowers: Bar cookies...love them. The sugared edible flowers are just so beautiful. How often has your mom been able to EAT her flowers on Mother's Day? You can find edible flowers in the fresh herb section in your grocery store.

6. Lattice Sculpted Rose Cookies: These cookies make a statement. The 3-D roses and leaves are made using silicone molds and fondant. I'd actually love a dress in this pattern. Very girly, very sweet.

7. Scallop Dot Rose Cookies: Scallops, and dots, and roses...oh my! With a few simple techniques, you can have these cookies decorated in no time. Play with the colors or shapes...hearts would be adorable, too!

Oh! And if you have Decorating Cookies Party, don't forget to check out the Seed Packet cookie set. Those would be SO cute to give a garden loving mom or nana! ♥

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Cinnamon Sugar Waffles with Cinnamon Peanut Butter Maple Drizzle

Over the past couple of months, we've gone from a pancake family to a waffle family. (It would probably sound more impressive to say we've gone from a 5K family to a marathon family, but...we'd rather eat waffles than run.)


Once I discovered that leftover waffles taste so much better reheated than pancakes do, they've become a staple breakfast around here. Freeze the leftovers, pop them in at 350° oven, bake for 10 minutes. Perfect.


Cinnamon-sugar toast is such a comfort food for me...we had it so many mornings growing up and it really reminds me of my mom. That's one of the many reasons I love Land O' Lakes® Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread. It spreads beautifully right from the fridge and brings back lots of childhood memories.


I decided to use the spread to make Cinnamon Sugar Waffles. You'll really get a triple shot of it as the it's in the waffle batter, spread on the warm waffles, and in the cinnamon peanut butter maple drizzle. Do NOT skip the drizzle. Oh my gosh.


This recipe makes about 9-10 nice, thick waffles. Once they come off of the waffle iron, you'll put them in a 200° oven while you cook up the rest. This way, everyone can eat at the same time, and the time in the oven also helps to crisp them up a little bit.



Cinnamon Sugar Buttermilk Waffles 
 {makes 9-10 large waffles}

Waffles
2 eggs
1/4 cup Land O’ Lakes® Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread
3 TBSP light brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 & 3/4 cup buttermilk
1 & 3/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Maple Drizzle 
 2 TBSP Land O’ Lakes® Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

For topping
Land O’ Lakes Cinnamon® Sugar Butter Spread
powdered sugar
cinnamon sugar

Preheat oven to 200. Coat a waffle iron with vegetable oil and heat.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs well. Whisk in the Land O’ Lakes® Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread and brown sugar until well mixed. Add in the vegetable oil, vanilla, and buttermilk; whisk until combined. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the mixture the wet ingredients, whisking just until combined.

Scoop the batter onto the heated waffle iron and cook according to manufacturer’s instructions. Once cooked, place directly on the rack of the warmed oven. Re-coat waffle iron, if necessary, and continue cooking the waffles.


Once the waffles are cooked, make the drizzle. Melt the Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread with the peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Stir in the maple syrup until combined. Keep warm. Remove waffles from the oven. Spread with Cinnamon Sugar Butter Spread. Spoon the drizzle over the top and sprinkle on powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar.

Ah, these could almost make me into a morning person.

*Disclosure: Bake at 350 has partnered with Land O’Lakes for an exclusive endorsement of Land O Lakes® Butter for their Kitchen Conversations blogger program. This blog post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes.

Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturday: Grahams + Chocolate Almond Spread

We're bringing you a two-fer today! Two reviews for the price of one!
(If only Trader Joe's would let us buy our treats that way!)

Today's review is of Trader Joe's Honey Graham Crackers AND Cocoa Almond Spread.

TJ's graham crackers are made without artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. They come in a 14.4 oz. box and packaged in sleeves, like other brands of grahams. The box costs $2.99.


Trader Joe's Cocoa Almond Spread can be found in a jar near the peanut butter. The 10-ounce jar costs $3.99.


A mom's (my) take: Let's start with the graham crackers...they're light, crispy, with just a hint of sweet. I like these better than the grahams I've been buying at my regular grocery store. Now, to the cocoa almond spread. Similar to Nutella, this is a smooth spread made with chocolate and nuts. This one is a bit thicker than Nutella, with more of a peanut butter-like consistency. Sometimes Nutella can get oily...not so with this spread. The almond flavor is subtle, but definitely noticeable. I loved this spread on the graham crackers...and even MORE straight from the jar with a spoon. (Not coincidentally, every spoon in our house is now dirty.) This might be something I can never again be without.
Overall rating:
Honey Grahams: 5 of 5 stars
Cocoa Almond Spread: 5 of 5 stars

A teenager's (kiddo's) take: The graham crackers, to start, definitely provide a nice base for the spread. The texture is lovely; however, I'm not a big fan of the "slightly sweet" graham crackers as my mom is. I prefer graham crackers with a more substantive taste. The spread was my favorite out of the two items. The almond flavor hit hard at first (which I love), but was soon overshadowed by the luscious chocolate flavor. As with all spreads, you have to proportion it correctly to get the perfect amount: not too thin to where you can't even taste it, but not so much that it is overwhelming.
Overall rating:
Honey Grahams: 4 out of 5 stars
Cocoa Almond Spread: 5 out of 5 stars



Trader Joe's Honey Graham Crackers and Cocoa Almond Spread: add these to your TJ's shopping list...and buy more spoons. ;) 

Read all of our Trader Joe's sweet treats and dessert reviews!

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies (gluten-free)

Luckily for me, we are not gluten-free around here...I'm living on a diet I like to call the "All Gluten, All the Time Diet."  BUT, I kind of fell in love with oat flour when developing a gluten-free cut-out cookie recipe for Decorating Cookies Party.



Oat flour has great texture, and makes for a substantial cookie.  Oats are naturally gluten-free, but if you do suffer from Celiac disease, make sure to look for oat flour labeled as gluten-free because of cross-contamination.



These cookies: chewy, sweet, with just a little extra hint of sea salt...so good.  Mr. E can't get enough of them.

I'm sharing the recipe over on Imperial Sugar.



(To find the gluten-free cut-out cookie I mentioned above, check out Decorating Cookies Party...it's a chocolate cookie that I know you'll love, gluten-free or not.)


This is month 4 of a year of oatmeal cookies for dad. Find the rest here:

• Janurary: Oatmeal Bourbon Raisin Cookies
• Fabruary: Crunchy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• March: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Sweet on Trader Joe's Saturday: English Toffee

This morning, I sent kiddo to Trader Joe's to pick out our review item since I was busy doing important things...putting a deep conditioner on my hair. Now that I think about it, I should send him to pick up the dry cleaning while I write this intro.
(Minus the worry, having a driving teenager has its perks.)

Today, we're reviewing Trader Joe's English Toffee with Milk Chocolate.


An 8-ounce package costs $3.49 and contains about 8 small bars of toffee. Each bar is covered in milk chocolate and chopped almonds.


A mom's (my) take: I definitely prefer my toffee IN things...like Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, for example. If you are a toffee lover, you might really love these. The toffee center is thick, crunchy and buttery. I can't help thinking they could use a little pinch of salt and more chocolate. I don't taste the chocolate at all here. Chopped up in coffee ice cream, though? That might make these a 10.
Overall rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

A teenager's (kiddo's) take: Well, unlike my mom, I prefer toffee OUT OF things; by itself. The nutty taste hits hard at first, but is soon balanced out by the thin, but very tasty layer of chocolate, and, of course, the title item -- the toffee. I really enjoy the consistency, and the fact that it doesn't get stuck to your teeth like some other toffee does. I do agree, however, that it could use just a tad more chocolate.
Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Trader Joe's English Toffee with Milk Chocolate: not quite 5 stars, but not bad.

Read all of our Trader Joe's sweet treats and dessert reviews!

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First Communion Cookies for Mac

My nephew Mac is celebrating his First Communion this weekend. As soon as I saw this picture of the banner they made...

...well, you know where my mind went. Cookies.

I've made First Communion cookies before (decorated a little differently), and posted them on the blog back in 2011. (That post also has pictures from kiddo's First Communion which, oh my gosh, seems like yesterday and was actually EIGHT years ago.)


Let me walk you through making the cookies. You could always hand-cut your cookies, but I absolutely recommend buying this cutter. So much easier.


Also, these are DOUBLE-DECKER cookies. Oh yeah. I love a double-decker.

{I really wish you guys could see these in person, because pictures of that red disco dust just doesn't do it justice. Think Dorothy's red slippers.}

To make first communion cookies, you'll need:

• cut-out cookies, chalice and host shape and small hearts
• royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Gold, Bright White, Sky Blue, and Super Red
• couplers and tips: #2, #4
• disposable icing bags
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks
• meringue powder
• small (clean) paintbrush
• red disco dust

First, use #2 tips to outline the cookie using white and gold icing. Reserve some of the gold piping consistency icing before thinning. 

Thin the gold and white icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup. You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin. Count of 2-3 is good. Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir the icing gently with a spatula, then pour into squeeze bottles. Flood the cookies with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and pop any large air bubbles. Let the cookies sit for at least one hour.

(Use the same technique to cover the heart cookies in red.)


With the reserved gold icing, go back over the outline of the chalice.


Use a #4 tip to pipe a cross with blue icing.

Let the cookies dry uncovered for 6-8 hours, or overnight.

Once the icing is dry, combine 1/2 teaspoon each of meringue powder and water. Use a clean paintbrush to paint onto the heart cookies. Sprinkle on the disco dust and shake off the excess. Use a dry paintbrush to brush off stray sparkles, if desired.


Pipe some icing on the back of the heart cookies and place onto the chalices. Let set for 30 minutes or so.

Happy First Communion, Mac!!! ♥

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Chocolate Almond Blondies

Is there ANYTHING chocolate doesn't pair well with? Chocolate and peanut butter, chocolate and vanilla, chocolate and coffee, well...we've already discussed chocolate and orange.

I have *always* loved chocolate and almond. I'm pretty sure that love affair started with a Hershey bar. ♥


If you love almond, you're going to LOVE these blondies. They are over-the-top with almond flavor with just the right hit of bittersweet chocolate. The blondies are soft, a little cake-y, very moist, and have a great added crunch thanks to the slivered almonds on top.

Get ready to heat up your oven...these are so easy to make; you'll be on your second piece within the hour. ;)

Chocolate Almond Blondies

2 eggs
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup salted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup bittersweet (or semisweet) chocolate chips
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 325. Grease an 8x8" pan.

Beat the eggs. Add in the sugar and salt, and mix well. Beat in the almond extract and melted butter. On low speed, mix in the flour, just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.


Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Top with the almonds.
(Don't worry...this is as close as I let him get.)

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until done. Cool on a wire rack.


Enjoy!

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