Today I am joined by Brandi Milloy from POPSUGAR Food for a Cinco de Mayo collaboration! We will be showing you how to make Sombrero Cookies here on Cupcakes and Cardio, and on Popsugar Food we will be showing you how to make Cactus cookies!
Sugar Cookie Christmas Tree
December 3, 2014 by
Recently, we were asked by the local cable company, Shaw TV, to come and do an interview with us while I baked with one of the hosts, James Farnan. I agreed immediately, as we had worked with both of the crew members before, and James happens to be our neighbour. We know that he likes to mow the lawn at 10:30 PM- when we’re trying to film- and it’s dark! Who does that?? Just James. It must be an Australian thing. He’s awesome! We had a great time filming and joking with each other!
When we started our baking business, way back in 2011/12, Shaw TV came to interview us back then. We did the interview in the kitchen space we were renting, so this time, we were all crammed into our kitchen, both filming a video for our respective channels. Shaw TV will have their piece airing on local television during the week before Christmas, and they’ll also have their video uploaded to their YouTube channel at that time.
Making this sugar cookie Christmas Tree is skill wise quite simple, but it does take a day or so to bake, ice and allow to dry. So plan accordingly. It is an excellent activity that can be done with kids, as they can take part in the recipe creation, cutting and rolling of the cookies, as well as the decorating portions.
The first task is to cut out the cookies. Each cutter (there are 10 of them) need to be used twice, to cut out 2 cookies per star size, so all in all, you will be icing 20 star cookies. You can ice them with royal icing like I did, or you could use buttercream. I chose royal icing as I wanted to have a more smooth look to my tree, but if you’re doing this activity with kids, you could easily use buttercream for them to decorate with.
Once the icing has dried, the next step is to stack the tree, and this is done from largest cut out, to the smallest one. Each star should be offset on the previous star. In order to “glue” the stars together, place a small dollop of royal icing in between each cookie. Once it is dried, you can wrap a small line of LED battery operated Christmas lights around the tree, and continue to decorated as you wish. In order to get larger “ornaments” onto the tree, I used melted green chocolate as the royal icing wasn’t strong enough.
Hopefully you enjoy this Christmas treat!
Sand Dollar Sugar Cookies- Backpack Baking at the Beach Recipe
July 26, 2014 by
Recently, we went to Vancouver Island, which is about a 10 hour drive west, plus a two hour ferry ride from our home. As much as we would have liked to have been able to call this a vacation, we were working throughout the couple of weeks we spent there with our friends. We are fortunate enough to have the type of job that allows both of us to travel and be able to work while doing so. YouTube is the best! Both Paul and I were also lucky enough to have lived in Victoria for a period of time, and I was born on Vancouver Island, so heading back to the Island was something that we were both really excited about doing.
As soon as I knew we would be travelling to the West Coast, and the Pacific Ocean, I knew I wanted to bake something that would be “ocean” themed. What I remember very vividly about the Island from being a child (not so much as a University student) was looking for seashells, sea stars and sand dollars on the long beaches . . . and the idea for sand dollar cookies was born!
These cookies can be made at home, and like our other Backpack Baking recipes, you don’t have to have a backpacking oven. These cookies can be made in the comfort of your kitchen with you following the same directions. I can’t promise you the beautiful sights along the way though!
The beach that we hiked down to was along the start of the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, which is a 47 km hike along the western edge of Sand Dollar Cookies. We started at the China Beach trailhead, and hiked two kilometers down to Mystic Beach. It was stunning coastal scenery along the way. The trail was in fabulous shape, and seems to be well maintained. There were many man-made walkways, staircases, and there was even a suspension bridge! The best part of the hike down to the beach is the final decent as you walk along a huge fallen tree that opens up to a beautiful view of the Mystic Beach. This hike is definitely worth it and it can be done by people of all ages and fitness levels.
Bacon Cookies for Father’s Day
June 6, 2014 by
Who doesn’t love bacon? I know the men in my life LOVE it!
Making things for my Mom and Dad is always a worthwhile endevour. I was fortunate to be raised by two people who love each other, love my brother and I, and went out of their way to support each of us as we grew into “independent” adults. My Dad has recently had a shift in his life, where he is now the care giver for my 100-in-26-days Grandma. He has given up his independence, and is her advocate, motivator, and support system while she lives out her days in the hospital. Seeing his selfless devotion to her is a true act of family.
Trying to figure out what to make for him, who is currently running on empty, was difficult as I finally had to accept the fact that he doesn’t like sweets. My dad has said that statement so many times- and I ignore it. Usually. But this time, I knew I had to make something that was for him (not for me the baker) and that’s where bacon comes in.
I’ve been making this sugar cookie recipe since I was a teenager, and I know that this sugar cookie recipe is the perfect amount of “non-sweet” that he likes.
Thank you Dad for doing everything you do for our family! Happy Father’s Day.
Reindeer Sugar Christmas Cookies
December 11, 2012 by
For these cookies, you’re going to need to check out previous posts/videos… Sugar Cookies (one batch of dough) and Royal Icing (coloured in brown, and red).
Santa Belly Sugar Christmas Cookies
December 11, 2012 by
This has got to be the cutest cookie I have stumbled upon on Pinterest! As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to recreate it!
Sugar Cookies
December 10, 2012 by
Sugar cookies have got to be the most versatile cookie there is! You can use them for any special occasion, any holiday, iced, or plain and in any shape or size you can imagine! I make these every year for Christmas, and I have used this recipe since I was around 15 years old. My mom got the cook book Cookies: A Cookie Lover’s Collection for me and it’s inscribed “Christmas ’95 To the Best Cookie Maker any family could ever have. Keep on baking! Love and Hugs Mom, Dad and Steven”.
My Top 5 Christmas Cookies 2011
December 27, 2011 by
This year, there was no Christmas Cookie Exchange for my friends and I (well, they might have had one, who knows!? . . . I wasn’t part of it if they did). G and I decided that it just wasn’t going to fit into the jam packed season . . . disappointing, yes, as I love to hang out with the girls and sip on bevies, but I had bigger plans.
This year, I baked the equivalency of an entire exchange all by myself.
Why would someone do this? Just to see if I could! I had christmas platter orders to fill and I thought that choosing cookies that I would like to receive would be the ones that would be best to give! After two days straight baking cookie after cookie, I was exhausted, but so happy with the results.
In my humble opinion . . . these are the favourite cookies that have been from the plate to my mouth in a while. My criteria for defining these cookies as my creme de le creme?
They must be:
A. Delicious. If you’re going to eat the calories, it better be worth it!
and B. Simple! I didn’t want to have to spend hours upon hours messing with dough and multiple steps!
So here they are . . . enjoy!
1. Sugar Cookies
These cookies are my all time favourite to have during the holidays!
I make mine with Almond Extract, as well as Vanilla Extract, and it totally makes the cookie the greatness that it is!
