Pages

October 14, 2013

"Cookies & Cocktails" and "Milk & Cookie" Parties!


Each year around this time, I have people ask me to teach them how I decorate my sugar cookies. Finally, it occurred to me that those lessons would make a great party!

Anyone can host the party- I will come to you! I am planning possible parties in Indianapolis, Michiana, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Green Bay, and anywhere in between!

There isn't really a minimum or maximum number of attendees, and I will supply the cookies and all of the decorating supplies. All that the host has to provide is beverages. If they prefer, the parties could even be BYOB.

For $25.00, each guest will be able to decorate two dozen Fall or Christmas themed sugar cookies. They will also have the opportunity to decorate additional cookies for $10.00 a dozen.

I have flyers for each of the parties, as well as samples of the invitations that can be sent to the guests.
Flyer for the Cookies and Cocktails Party
Flyer for the Milk and Cookies Party
Sample Invitation


Sample Invitation
These are some examples of the cookies that guests could learn how to decorate.
 


Please contact me with any questions or comments!

October 6, 2013

We Now Accept Credit Cards!

For a small fee, we can now swipe credit cards in person or take payment over the phone. Just another way to more easily enjoy treats from The Pie Hole!


May 24, 2013

A Wedding Sampler

A young woman that works with my aunt is getting married this summer. She is thinking of having cookies at the wedding, and ordered some "tasting" cookies from me. She said that they could be any design, but I couldn't resist playing around with some wedding designs. The heart brides and grooms are a new design for me, and I really like how they turned out. I think that the little pocket square is my favorite!


May 23, 2013

Relay for Life

A high school friend of my brother's had seen my ovarian cancer awareness ribbons on Facebook, and he liked them enough to order some for his sister, who is currently battling breast cancer. Her team used them as a fundraiser for Relay for Life.


The sister has an amazing personal motto that I just had to commemorate on a cookie!

I wanted to match the font as close as possible, so I used my new toy- a Kopykake projector. This allowed me to easily get the correct sizing and spacing, as well as a guide for the writing. I am definitely looking forward to using the projector much more in the future.


May 22, 2013

Baby Shower For Jessica

Tim's cousin is expecting a baby girl this summer. For her baby shower, she wanted elephant cookies with hearts for ears and raspberry cupcakes.


For the cupcakes, I didn't want to go too overboard with the raspberry. I started with a vanilla cake base. I wanted to do something different for the filling, so I adapted my go-to lemon curd recipe and made raspberry curd. They are topped with raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream.


To tie together the cookies and cupcakes, I made royal icing hearts for the cupcakes that match the hears ears on the cookies. 







May 21, 2013

Are You a Fan of Delicious Flavor?


A hockey teammate of Tim’s asked if I had ever made pineapple pie. I had never even heard of such a thing, which is amazing since we are such huge pineapple fans! I immediately tracked down a recipe and made one that night. It was awesome. The pineapple becomes sweet and caramelized, but not cloyingly sweet. It would be perfect for a summer barbecue.


Pineapple Pie

Pie Crust:
2 ½ C. All-Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp. Sugar
½ tsp. Salt
1 C. Cold, Unsalted Butter, Cut Into Small Pieces
6 Tbsp. Very Cold Water

Pineapple Filling:
1 – 20 oz Can Crushed Pineapple with juice (or 20 oz. fresh, roughly pureed)
½ C. White Granulated Sugar
3 Tbsp. Corn Starch
Pinch of salt
Milk
Sugar

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix briefly to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and mix on medium-low speed to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse sand and the largest butter pieces are not much bigger than peas.  Mix in the cold water on low speed just until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into two balls, wrap each in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.   

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, corn starch, and salt. Add the crushed pineapple. Place over medium heat. Bring mixture to a slow boil and cook, stirring often, until mixture has thickened and is no longer cloudy, but clear (about 3 to 5 minutes). Once thickened, remove from heat and let cool.

Preheat oven to 375F. When the dough has chilled, remove one disk from the fridge and on a floured surface, quickly roll it out into a circle, 12 inches in diameter. Fit dough into a 9 inch pie plate and let edges hang over. Pour filling into pie shell.

Remove second dough disk from fridge and on a floured surface, roll it out into a circle, about 10 inches in diameter. Place over the filling as desired (I did a lattice). Trim off extra and crimp edges. Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Place in preheated oven and bake for 40 – 45 minutes until top is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.


Filling slightly adapted from Fork vs. Spoon

May 20, 2013

April (Snow) Showers Bring May Flowers

My aunt KK requested some "May Flowers" cookies to take to work for her birthday. With all of the weird weather this year, I was more than happy to see some flowers! I went to Pinterest and found some really cute designs that I could build off of. I ended up with six different designs.


Inspired by Sweet Sugarbelle, I got very creative with my cookie cutters to get the shapes that I wanted. The bouquet was made using a diamond ring cutter. A wedding cake cutter made the potted assortment. The potted daisy was made on a snowman.


April 26, 2013

Ovar'coming Together Bingo Benefit

 Like so many other people, my life has been affected by cancer. So, when a friend asked me if I would like to donate to an event that benefits ovarian cancer awareness, I happily agreed. I suggested sugar cookies decorated like the awareness ribbon. The committee loved the idea, and wanted one for every place setting!


 I chose three different designs: detail in sanding sugar, Sugarbelle's 20-second icing method to add some depth, and a piped detail.

I need to find a better home for my ice cream maker- it's taking up valuable cookie space!


My bar is not large enough for 400 cookies!


My wonderful sister-in-law helped me to package all of the cookies, and only one broke!

April 20, 2013

We are ND

"The Shirt" was released today. In anticipation of another great season, I'm sharing the National Championship cookies that I made a few months ago...