Guest Blogger: Lick The Bowl Good

Hello Everyone! I am Monica from Lick The Bowl Good and I was asked by Ingrid to be a guest blogger here on her blog while she's away on vacation. Ingrid and I have become great friends over the last year and a half, so of course I said YES! I am honored to be here and thank you for having me.

Originally I wasn't sure what recipe I wanted to share with you. Would I share something savory? Or would I treat you with cookies (which he doesn't like to make) or chocolate and raisins (which she despises)? In the end, I wanted whatever I featured on this blog to reflect Ingrid's personality and her blog style. I also still wanted her to be my friend and I knew if I made something with raisins in it, that she'd stop talking to me. ha ha!

So today I have a special cookie for you. I made these for McKenna's 11th birthday last month. I made snowflake sugar cookies for them over the holidays and they all really enjoyed them. So much so that Ingrid decided to make some for the dessert table at her brother's wedding. She used the same recipe I did, but for some reason McKenna claims mine were better. I'm not sure if that's true or if that's just what Ingrid told me so she wouldn't have to make them again :-) Either way, McKenna asked nicely so I sent her some in a surprise birthday package.



Ingrid said I could make and decorate them in any way I wanted, so I decided to turn to my Message In A Cookie Cutters that I got from Williams-Sonoma. I planned on doing pink and purple and was immediately shut down. Ingrid told me she's not a girly girl and that she prefers blues, greens and yellows. I still wanted them to be somewhat feminine, young and fun so I settled on purple, lime green and a dark peacock blue. I cut them into hearts and scalloped rectangles then accented them with white royal icing for contrast and added sweetness. They were then bagged and tagged with these sweet embossed stickers given to me by my friend Janet. I think this completes the package- thanks Janet!

Rather than typing out the recipe, I'll just link to it back on my blog since it's lengthy. The recipe for the sugar cookies can be found HERE. Thank you all for allowing me to share a recipe and photos with you. I hope you enjoy them. Ingrid has a picture of McKenna with her cookies so maybe if you ask nicely she'll share it with you when she returns!

Recipe: Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Look familiar?

These yummy sugar cookie bars might look familiar as they've been making the rounds lately.  I originally saw them on the blog One Ordinary Day, then on The Repressed Pastry Chef, and AGAIN on My Baking Addiction. 

I had printed out the recipe from One Ordinary Day when I first saw them there and had every intention of making them but one of the Twins' teachers had something else in mind when she requested a treat for her class.  So they were pushed to the side for another day.  After seeing these pop up and raved about on two more awesome blogs I couldn't put them off any longer. 

I'm not crazy about sugar cookies but I am crazy about these.  They really are all they are hyped to be. Blondies and Snickerdoodle ones are still my favorite but these are an excellent alternative. 

I was worried that they might be overly sweet so I cut back on the sugar (about a 1/4 cup) but after tasting the bars I  think next time  add the full amount. I topped my bars with cream cheese frosting and sprinkles but had intended to frost only half of the pan with it and the other half with Em's Buttercream Dream Icing.  I didn't softened enough sticks of butter, grrrr, so I was forced to frost the whole thing with the cream cheese frosting. The  recipe is from Simply Recipes and is the one I used to top my red velvet cupcakes.

If you haven't already please hop over to this post to leave me your opinion and enter my giveaway.

Technorati Tags: sugar cookies,bars,buttercream,frosting,cream cheese,sprinkles