Cookie Round Up Continued!

So here are the rest of the cookies I have been doing.  Enough to keep me busy!  My sweet son has moved on to the real world after graduation.  Since he arrived in Chicago in early January, there have been about...NO days above freezing.  I know it has been a long winter.  I sent these cookies to his office, and he told me I am terribly popular!  That's fun.

I did the 2 types of hearts above in the Britto fashion.  Black outline, bright colors.  They were pretty fun.  Just to give you an idea of how, not interested, my family is in cookies, these are still under a dome in my kitchen, 3 weeks and counting.





I tutor a couple of kids in a school in town.  I made these for the kids in the class.  Needless to say they were a spelling challenge!  But they were thrilled to have a cookie with their name on it!  I love that

These are for my friends elderly mother.  She had a luncheon with a group she belongs to on Valentine's Day.  She asked if I could make her cookies the color of her robe!  No problem.

These snowmen made out of an ornament cookie cutter were my plan for Christmas presents for my friends.  But, Christmas came and went, and there were dozens of blank cookies in my freezer.  I decided it was still snowing up north even though it has been hovering at 70 here.  I decorated them and shipped them to some people I love!  My inspiration for these came from Glorious Treats.  She is an awesome cookier, and writer, and party planner and all kinds of neat stuff.  Also, one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. 

These cool swimmer graphics are for my friend's daughter.  The school colors are black and silver, and thought these were pretty hot! 

Finally these were for a bunch of teenagers.  My friend's daughter goes to Christina's high school (all girls) and they have a formal every winter.  She had a large group of girls coming over to get ready and thought these would be great to munch on.  Well, of course they would!  And I love those super bright colors.  

Cookie Round Up

So I have been baking lots of cookies, and thought I would round them up, in 2 parts...!  Thanksgiving seems like a good place to start!

These are for the Egg Bowl, cross state rival game in Mississippi played on Thanksgiving.  

Cross Country 

A Surprise Engagement!  Yea Doug!

My Baby's graduation!  Boomer!  

Happy Holidays!

Love these snowmen!

Happy New Year!

 I did a Super Bowl platter, obviously no particular team was a favorite.  The cookies were a bigger hit than the boring game for sure!  Stay tuned for part 2 of the Cookie Round Up!

Auntie Carmella's Chocolate Cake

Cold milk and chocolate cake!

Of all my relatives, this is my only "Auntie".  I have lots of aunts mind you, but we always call this one Auntie Carmella DeSalvo.  She was actually my Dad's Aunt, she was his mother's sister.  I am desperately trying to make the old family recipes, and this one has been bugging me.  So when Scott said he had no cake preference for his birthday, I know Auntie Carmella would come in handy!  I suspect the recipe card is written in my mom's handwriting, and it is quite old.  I wouldn't guess chocolate cake was something my Italian relatives had in their lineage of recipes, but my mom said she remembers the day they had this cake, and Auntie Carmella said it was probably the best she could ever make.  My mom must have liked it enough to copy the recipe.

A surprise for her dad!  And yep, no birthday candles....

I have made other amazing cakes, and the most impressive was on a day we had a blizzard.  I just love the pictures.  A snow like this is so rare, go take a peek at the Snowstorm Mile High Birthday Cake!  The issue with Carmella's cake was that I had never had it, nor seen it, so I had to make it my own way.  It was pretty straight forward, and the buttermilk gives it a very tender crumb.  Her frosting recipe is similar to the one I made, but she had a raw egg in hers.  Now I can eat raw whites any day, but the whole egg didn't sound right.  My frosting was delicious.  I hate cream cheese frosting, but the addition of chocolate meant you couldn't taste any cream cheese.  Works for me!

Auntie Carmella's Chocolate Cake

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 1/12 squares (ounces) unsweetened chocolate
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Impromptu double boiler

Melt chocolate and set aside.  Cream butter until fluffy, and gradually add sugar and beat until light.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs until fluffy and then beat into creamed mixture, and add chocolate.  Stir in dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk.  Don't overbeat.  Bake 30-35 minutes at 350º for 2 layers.

4 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 cup powdered sugar
1 package cream cheese
6 T butter

Have ingredients at room temperature.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.  Set aside to cool.  Whip the butter and cream cheese well.  Add a pinch of salt, and then add the confectioner's sugar and chocolate.  I added more confectioner's sugar to make a bit more frosting, and thinned it with a little milk as needed to get it to spreading consistency.  Spread on cooled layers, and decorate as you please.  We just dusted it with  a few sprinkles.  Happy Birthday!  What are you waiting for?  Get in there and bake!