My Pinstrosity

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If you are a fan of Pinterest, hopefully you've come across the site Pinstrosity, which showcases people who have attempted to make Pinterest projects but have failed miserably.

I've had pretty good luck so far with my own crafting adventures, but I have shared my loathing of baking before.  I was so excited when I found a way to make sugar cookies without a huge mess, so last night I thought I'd try my hand at this "baking" thing again.  Only this time, it didn't involve actual baking, but I think "baking" and "candy making" definitely fall in the same category for me - JUST STEP AWAY, JAIMIE.

All over Pinterest are these cute little pictures for making your own butter mints.  As a butter mint fan myself, I thought I'd try it out - only instead of using Pinterest (where you can at least read comments for tips and feedback), I thought I'd use a recipe from my new cookbook!  BAD IDEA.

A good friend of mine purchased this cookbook for me, and it is beautiful.  It has many different sections, of which I should confine myself to, but last night I decided to venture into the Confections section. Bad idea.

The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Butter Mints.

Don't they look so dainty and pretty?

I got out all of my ingredients and started mixing.  My first mistake was probably in using my knock-off Kitchenade that was made by Sunbeam.  It does a fine job, but doesn't come with different attachments for one thing, and pretty much only beats soup well. (I jest- it actually works quite fine for $40, just apparently not for butter mints).

Then the rolling began, and this is where it got bad.  I rolled up some white ones and realized they looked more like something that should have come out of the bathroom than the kitchen.

And then I turned them red.  They were meant to be an ever-so-pretty shade of light pink, but I got a little too happy while squeezing that food coloring, and, well, it looked like I was making candy canes.

Hmmm..."something is not going well here," I thought, but I had to finish this candy hack job.

I started out cutting them nice and neatly. Then I got tired, fast.  And just started chopping away like I was a contestant on Top Chef.

And there you have it, folks.

Butter Mints.

I guess you could say I need a Pintervention.

Next time, I'll listen to myself and just walk away.

No-Mess Sugar Cookies!!

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Since my last post was called "When a Killer is Close By," I thought I would even things out a little bit on this bipolar blog by posting an AWESOME tip I just discovered, especially for all you Pinterest fanatics!

I don't know if I have ever shared this publicly, but I loathe making sugar cookies (and baking in general). Okay, it's not that bad, but I do tend to avoid it at all costs.  Unless I'm baking for my friends, then I love it. ;)

Most of the desserts I make are "no bake" like this Reese's Peanut Butter Pie (Ah-MAZING!), Microwave Caramels (totally addicting), Peanut Butter Bars, Scotcharoos, etc...  What can I say? I love peanut butter and chocolate.

But back to the sugar cookies.

I have pretty much never had a fun experience baking sugar cookies, even before kids.  After kids, it went even more downhill. Give kids a ton of dough with flour flying everywhere, fights over cookie cutters....this was supposed to be FUN?  What was I doing wrong?  It always ended in a huge mess that spanned over 3 rooms in our house.  So much for that idyllic dream pre-motherhood of baking Christmas cookies with my kids. This past Christmas, we got two HUGE cookie pans, slapped that dough right inside, and they each had ONE giant cookie to decorate.  It was bliss.

But back to the sugar cookies.

My boys wanted to make Valentine's Day cookies, and I was desperate - DESPERATE - for it to work this time.  So, on a whim, I tried something new, and it worked!! My entire sugar cookie making experience has just changed for the better, and I don't hate it anymore!

The secret? When rolling your cookie dough, use Parchment paper, NOT FLOUR.

You heard me right, my friends.  No more sweeping up flour that emanates up into your nostrils and all over your hair, and sticks to every surface and becomes like glue (after said cookie-making experience).  This time - TOTALLY CLEAN.

Let's start with the recipe.  My go-to awesome sugar cookie recipe comes from AllRecipes.com, and has never failed me yet.  How can you go wrong with over 5,000 5-star ratings?

Here is the key: The recipe says to refrigerate dough for at least one hour or overnight.  DO IT.

When your dough is hard as a rock, lay down your parchment paper.  Put a big wad of dough on it, and another piece of parchment paper on top.

Smash it down with your hands a bit to get it going.

Then start rolling with your roller (on top of the parchment paper)- or have your kids do it, to make it your desired thickness.

Carefully peel the parchment paper off the top (leaving the piece on the bottom), and cookie-cutter away.

This part is best if you do it:  take each cookie piece and remove it, and put it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  I did not have one cookie break or fall apart as I was doing this, because the dough was still semi-hard.

We baked them, they came out beautifully, and then we decorated them. The decorating was a little bit of a mess (although manageable and cute), but I'm just dealing with the cookie making part here.

And there you have it, folks, just say no to flour!  No more mess!

This is what our baking area looked like after:

And the cookies - not the best picture ever, but you get the idea:

I hope you find this helpful (some of you awesome bakers probably already knew this trick), and for the rest of you - go make some cookies! :)

Oh, and if you want the best buttercream frosting recipe, go here.