Share your Melted Snowman Coookie Photos!

If you made the Melted Snowman Cookies following my tutorial, please send your photos with your name to StaceysSweetShop@gmail.com and I'll gladly post your photos on my blog. What a fun way to see how everyone personalized their cookies!

Christmas Recipe Traditions. Get your favorite Christmas recipe featured here!!!

Christmas morning traditions vary from one household to another. Some eat breakfast first then open presents, others have to tie their kids up to make sure they don't rip into the presents at 4am before the rest of the house is up. Some read the Christmas Story, open presents, have a big breakfast, and travel to visit family.

Here is one that I love. It's from AllRecipes.com and tastes as good as it sounds. If you have been to a mall and smelled that tell tale smell of Cinnabon... you know what I'm getting at. I love this recipe because I can do all the prep ahead. Stick them in an aluminum tin, cover with foil, and put them in the fridge for a day or more before I am ready to bake. It makes Christmas morning really easy. I get them out, put them in a warm spot for an hour or so, and bake.

photo from AllRecipes.com user CIKYAMX

It's really easy if you have a bread machine (dough cycle) or a KitchenAid Mixer with a dough hook. Don't be afraid of YEAST!!! It is your friend. Just make sure your water is warm but not too warm and get good bread flour. I like King Arthur's Bread Flour. It's worth it. Trust Me!

Clone of a Cinnabon:

Ingredients

* 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
* 2 eggs, room temperature
* 1/3 cup margarine, melted
* 4 1/2 cups bread flour
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

* 1 cup brown sugar, packed
* 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
* 1/3 cup butter, softened

* 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
* 1/4 cup butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

(Without a bread machine or KitchenAid: This come directly from AllRecipes.com user ANDYTAMI) Someone wanted to know how to make this without a bread machine, here is how. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix in the sugar, margarine, salt, and eggs. Add flour and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball, using your hands dusted lightly with flour. Put in a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until doubled in size. Then pick up with rolling out the dough. Hope this helped!

I'll take photos after I bake on Christmas Eve. We are having a Christmas Eve brunch with my side of the family is this is one luscious treat that WILL be on the table.

You can win a 9oz tin of Holiday Crunch just by sharing what kind of Christmas morning traditions your family has. Any recipes that your family expects you to make on Christmas morning?

Post a comment below with your story and share with the rest of us the recipes you couldn't live without over the holiday's. If you got the recipe elsewhere, be sure to give credit to the author. If you have a photo, please e-mail the photo along with your name and the name of the recipe you submitted to Stacey's Sweet Shop@gmail.com. Your recipe and photos could be featured on Stacey's Sweet Shop blog AND you could win a 9oz Tin of Holiday Crunch!!!

Deadline 12/27/2009

Merry Christmas from Stacey's Sweet Shop and Truly Custom Cakery, LLC.

Christmas Centerpiece Candle Cake with Holly and Bows

Made this Centerpiece Candle Cake for a client. I love the look the white chocolate ganache gives this cake. It has such an authentic drippy candle look to it. The holly and berries are all gum paste.

Merry Christmas!!!

Batman and The Red Tornado Cake for a local teacher.

Happy 30th Birthday Mr. Hagerty!



This cake was made for the teacher of a Private Christian School in Montgomery County, PA. The requested theme was "Batman". The cake is alternating layers of vanilla & chocolate at the request of one of his students.

Circular Saw Cake for a woodworker in Bucks County, PA

Made this cake for a client. Her husband really enjoys working with wood and she wanted something to reflect his personality for his Birthday. I really like how it turned out and LOVE the saw dust. It's actually the base of a cute little snowman cookie that is shaved on a cheese grater. My son actually thought I put sawdust on the cake! Too funny!

The delivery was thoroughly nerve wracking but the cake arrived in one piece and my client as well as her husband were thrilled!

Time is running out to place your Christmas and Hannukah orders for Holiday Crunch!

This year give THE holiday gift that will have all your friends talking! Holiday Crunch by Truly Custom Cakery, LLC is a MUST give for this holiday season!
Available in four sizes, with prices ranging from $2.00 - $25.00.



The irresistible combination of pecans, almonds, and popcorn coated with caramel toffee and drizzled with rich dark chocolate is one that will excite even the hardest to please gift recipient. It's a tender, melt in your mouth treat that never fails to make an impression! Holiday Crunch is the perfect gift for teachers, colleagues, clergy, employees, friends, and holiday gatherings!

To place an order, Click HERE or contact Stacey directly via e-mail at TrulyCustomCakery@gmail.com or by phone at 267-885-5670.

Winter Wonderland Snowy Snowflake Centerpiece Candle Cake

Made this for our monthly Stella & Mimi meeting. White Almond Sour Cream Cake with Blueberry filling. Boiled White Icing and Royal Icing Snowflakes. Dusted with powdered sugar and ultra white sparkle dust to look really snowy.



The ladies went nuts over it. Hooray!

Melted Snowman Cookie Tutorial. Part 2 - The Cookie

This tutorial has been moved to our website. HERE

After your dough has chilled for at least 4 hours, prepare your work surface. You'll need flour, a couple of cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, a spoon or cookie scoop, and a pre-heated oven.


See more... HERE.

Marshmallow Melted Snowman Cookie Tutorial.

 

Okay… so if we are going to learn how to make a melted snowman cookie, you need cookie dough. You can use just about any Sugar Cookie Cut Out Recipe you choose. But I use one from AllRecipes.com that tastes really good, is soft, and is substantial.

My thought is that if I’m going to go through all the trouble to hand form cookies and decorate in steps,

I want a “COOKIE”. Not some little tiny thing that is gone in one bite.

So… Here’s the link to Michelle’s Soft Sugar Cookies. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Michelles-Soft-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx Make a batch and get it chilling in the fridge. The recipe says overnight BUT if you get the dough made in the morning, you can be doing a project with your kids after dinner that night. You need the dough to chill thoroughly so think at least 4 hours in the fridge.

While your dough is chilling in the fridge, start to assemble the ingredients for the next step.

You’ll need:

• Large Marshmallows
• Royal Icing (Choose a Recipe from All Recipes )
• Icing Colors (Food Color or Wilton Gel Colors of your choice. You can find the Wilton Colors at a Craft Store)
• Silver Dragees, Mini Chocolate Chips, or other little candy pieces you could use for buttons and accessories on your snowman. (You can pipe these details in royal icing OR use accessories. For kids… accessories are easier)
• Parchment Paper
• Shortening

The original concept for a cookie that looks like a snowman melting (Mr. Melty is Meaghan’s name for him) came from Meaghan Mountford of The Decorated Cookie. Her technique is different but if you don’t want to bother with a melted marshmallow and you are familiar with fondant, you might want to try her technique.

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MELTED SNOWMAN COOKIE TUTORIAL. PART 2 – THE COOKIE

After your dough has chilled for at least 4 hours, prepare your work surface. You’ll need flour, a couple of cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, a spoon or cookie scoop, and a pre-heated oven.

 

Using a cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop a small ice cream scooped size of dough and sprinkle it with flour. This is important if you don’t want the dough sticking to your hands.

 

Roll the dough into a ball and start to press it flat. Make it so it has a real wavy kind of funky look to it. The ultimate goal is a puddle. There is no right shape. I like to start it in my hand and then set it on the cookie sheet and press it down until it’s about half an inch thick.

 

Make them all different.

Go ahead and repeat that step with each cookie. You’ll want to get them as close to the same size as possible but they don’t have to be exact.

 

Bake according to your recipe directions. While they are baking, go ahead and make your Royal Icing Recipe. I use the Wilton Recipe that has Meringue Powder. If you would like to use this recipe, you can purchase Meringue Powder at a craft store.

Here is the recipe I use:

WILTON ROYAL ICING RECIPE.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 tb Wilton meringue powder
• 1 lb Sifted powdered sugar
• 6 tb Water

PREPARATION

IF using a counter top mixer, beat all ingredients at low speed for 7 to 10 minutes until icing forms peaks. If you are using a hand held mixer, it will take more like 10-12 minutes.

AFTER you get stiff peaks, you’ll want to transfer about 1/2 into a bowl and add a 1/2 a teaspoon of water at a time while stirring until the consistency is slightly runny.

To test for the right consistency: Using a knife, scoop a little of your runny icing and hold above the bowl. As it drips, count to 10. By the count of 10, the icing that dripped down should meld into the icing in the bowl so there is no indication of where your drips landed.

Put your icing in a container covered with a wet paper towel and a lid.

MELTED SNOWMAN COOKIE TUTORIAL. PART 3 – THE ICING AND MARSHMALLOW

Now that your icing is made and your cookies have cooled, you are ready for the next step. Place a piece of parchment paper on your work surface and pick a couple of cookies to start with.

 

Spoon a small puddle of icing onto your cookie and using the back of a spoon or a knife spread it around making sure to go right to the edges in some spots so he looks drippy.

 

Next, liberally grease a plate or silicone mat with shortening. And place about 8 marshmallows on the mat, spaced out. Set your microwave for 20 seconds and DO NOT WALK AWAY. Watch the marshmallows. As they start to puff up, you are ready to go. Don’t let them get huge or melt. You just want them to puff. Stop your microwave BEFORE they double in size.

 

Liberally Grease your fingers and pick up one marshmallow at a time and kind of smoosh it into place. You don’t have to be neat or perfect, just get it on there. The marshmallow should not stick to your fingers as long as you have shortening on them.

 

Repeat this step for each cookie and then let the icing set up just a bit.

MELTED SNOWMAN COOKIE TUTORIAL. PART 4 – DECORATING

At this point you’ve got your base ready to go and you can decorate as you please. You’ll need some piping bags and size 1 or 2 tips. You can also use a zip top bag with a very small hole cut in the corner. Color your royal icing the colors of your choice and have fun. If you have never done royal icing cookie decorating, you might want to take a look at this tutorial by SugarBelle before you begin. Cookie Decorating Tutorial.

Every decoration on these is royal icing. I pipe the noses on in a medium/stiff consistency. Use a #1 or #2 tip and pull up and away as you pipe. The nose should stand up in the direction you pull.

Melted Snowman Cookie Tutorial. Part 3 - The Icing and Marshmallow

This tutorial has been moved to our website HERE.

Melted Snowman Cookie Tutorial. Part 4 - Decorating

At this point you've got your base ready to go and you can decorate as you please. You'll need some piping bags and size 1 or 2 tips. You can also use a zip top bag with a very small hole cut in the corner. Color your royal icing the colors of your choice and have fun.

Here are a few different ways we decorated.





Yep, that's a snowball in her hand. I got my hands on a bag of Kraft Micromallows and just love them! They are the size of mini marshmallows in hot chocolate mix. Perfect for mini snowballs. To make it easier on the kids, you can use Silver Dragees or mini chocolate chips for buttons.

Black and White Birthday Cake

The director of my son's pre-school orders a cake for the Birthday's of her staff members. So on Tuesday's when they have a staff meeting, whoever has a Birthday that week, gets a cake. It's a fantastic way to show her staff how important they are and not overlook their important days.

We decided on 9" cakes because they are big enough to enjoy at the staff meeting and the Birthday Girl can bring the leftovers home for her family.

Today is Happy Birthday to Miss Jean. I wanted to do kind of "funky cool" because that's the way she is. Nothing too frilly but festive at the same time. I think Black and White works well for this occasion.

Monkey Themed Diaper Bag Baby Shower Cake

Isn't this monkey so cute! My 4 year old got up this morning and ran to see the finished cake and when he saw it, he shouted "A Monkey... oo oo ee ee oo oo" (these are monkey sounds by the way) It really cracked me up. I love the spontaneity of a child.

The monkey theme actually goes with the bedding set that the mommy-to-be chose. I thought a diaper bag would be fitting for a baby shower and it's a bonus that the monkey worked out so well on the flap.

This is a buttery vanilla pound cake with homemade raspberry filling, buttercream icing, and homemade fondant. Congratulations Jen!