The Signature Cookie

So, I kind of have a signature cookie, if you haven't noticed.  It's a tile (square).  And it's doodled upon.  In various variations.  These can be used for a variety of occasions.  I think they're fun because they vary in decor. 

(And yes, the redundancy was purposeful, and mainly for self-amusement.)

Back to the cookies...

In my opinion, these are cookies for any occasion!  And of course, I love doing them.  Cookies and doodles.  Two of my favorite things.

So, as always, I'm happy doodling.

Playing With Paisley

I've been wanting to do paisley cookies ever since I started doodling them on this cake (the cake at the very bottom, if you click on the link).  I, also, doodled some on a few Valentine's cookies.  And then - I wanted a paisley cookies cutter.  So, I searched one out and ordered it.  Only to find out that it is actually a fondant cutter and it doesn't have a finished edge, so it kinda hurts to cut out.  Oh, well.  No pain, no gain, right?

But it does have the effect that I wanted!

These were for a beautiful lady's 50th birthday.

 

And I was right.  I love them.

So, when I had a UGA mom ask me about Phi Mu cookies for her daughter, I immediately suggested the paisleys.  Yes, they are my new favorites.

Do you blame me?

Love them.

I have some paisleys in Yellow Jacket colors (against my better Dawg judgement) waiting to be delivered right now, but you'll have to wait to see those.

No matter the colors, I'm happy baking!

Where Were We?

I got distracted and haven't been showing you the cookies that I have done recently.  So, to pick up where we left off...

Here are a few baby cookie orders for a couple of new arrivals!

 With every order, I still try out new designs and doodles. 

 Which is why I always bake a few extra, for those designs that didn't quite turn out like I planned.

I have my favorite doodles that I always do, of course.

With these sweet baby girl cookies, I got to do some big sister cookies, too!

 

The cookie holiday season has begun for me with fun Halloween designs,

so I'm spookily baking along!

Good News, Bad News

I burnt my finger tonight...and that's the good news.

One of the blogs I read is Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.  She's funny.  And real.  I don't know that I'm that funny, but here's me being real.  I screwed up tonight.  Like majorly.  I'm contemplating changing the title of my blog (and subsequently my future bakery) to Confessions of an Idiot Baker and the bakery will just be The Idiot Bakery.  Because I do idiot things.  A lot.  Some of the things that I call myself an idiot about can be blamed on my clumsiness.  If I were to even begin to tell you about my clumsiness, it would take a huge post (and probably bore you to death or bring you to tears of laughter).  So, I won't do that, I'll just tell you about my hugest Sweet B blunder yet. 

I burnt the cookies. 

(You don't know how much it takes for me to admit this to you.) 

Like, 9 DOZEN cookies. 

There I said it.  Now you know. 

It was my first time baking in a commercial oven.  And instead of doing the smart thing and only baking a few for a test run, I baked all 4 sheet pans full that I had just spent the last hour and 15 minutes cutting out. 

Hindsight.  It bites you in the...

Oh, well.  I chalk it up for lessons learned.  The hard way, of course.  That seems to be how I like to learn my lessons.

So, no pictures.  I can't bare the sight of the casualties of my idiocy.

Maybe one day...but right now, the loss still stings. 

I cling to the hope that one day I'll be able to laugh at this. 

But right now, it makes me cry. 

But tomorrow is a new day.  And I get to bake 9 more dozen cookies...

PS.  I don't always think I'm an idiot.  I just do idiot things...and can admit them!

Dream Big

So, when I started working at VeryVera, I had no idea that within 2 months, my cookies would be for sale in the cafe. 

Well, bust my buttons, dreams are coming true. 

Right now, I'm just taking orders in the cafe.

I'm so excited to be associated with a woman like Vera.  She started catering out of her home 26 years ago and has grown the company into a successful cafe, catering, gourmet-to-go and mail-order business and the company is still growing!  Recently, Vera won a Throw Down with Bobby Flay on the Food Network, her casseroles can now be seen in Costco freezers and her cakes are being sold through a national restaraunt supply company. 

I hope to soak up all I can while working for her company!
And one of the first things that Vera has taught me is...dream big.
Stay tuned to see what's in store for Sweet B's.
And I'm happy dreaming!

To Infinity and Beyond...

Calling all Space Rangers...

and Sherriffs!

They were for a special little sheriff named Cade.

I hope his birthday was more fun that a barrel of monkeys!

Onesie Wonder

Did you see these cookies?  Well, Ella's mom loved them so much that she ordered several dozen to send as "Thank You"s to her doctors and nurses.  She decided she wanted the baby onesies. 

I kept them simple and sweet.

ohmigosh.ohmigosh.ohmigosh.

I love these.

Ella's mom also ordered these to say thanks to the family that dog sat for them while they were in the hospital.  She's so thoughtful!

I hope they all enjoyed their Sweet B's treats!


(And if you've noticed that my pictures haven't been the usual Sweet B quality, I do apologize.  I've been a busy little Sweet B and the photos have been more like snapshots while orders are flying out the door, instead of the dramatic photo shoots that the cookies deserve...)

Congrats with Cookies

I love sending "Congratulations" cookies!  It's so exciting to have something to celebrate and to celebrate with cookies.  I have a customer that ordered a set of "Congrats on your engagement!" cookies for her daughter one week, and a set for her mom the next week!  How fun is that?! 

So, I secretly hope that someone orders Sweet B's cookies to propose. Well, I guess it's not a secret anymore. Maybe one day!

And I Said, What About...Cookies for Tiffany...

So, if you didn't know, I'm currently working at VeryVera.  I started out working on the Costco project (making thousands of casseroles...no joke) and am now baking lots and lots of cakes in preparation for Christmas (which is almost a curse word in the kitchen.  I hear it gets pretty crazy.)  Well, my project manager for Costco took a bite of one of my cookies and placed an order for her daughter's birthday.  Tiffany's 18th birthday deserved some Sweet B's!

I heard the birthday girl barely got to enjoy them because everyone else got their paws on them first!

Well, I hope she enjoyed the few she actually got to eat!

Flowers plus Cookies equals Wedding

I had the pleasure of designing and creating cookies for a simple and sweet wedding in August.  Aaron is the brother of one of my dear friends back home in Columbus, GA.  For his and Sara's wedding, they didn't want a wedding cake, they wanted cookies.  Actually, cookies were the main attraction at the reception.  They had lemon, chocolate chip, Italian wedding, peanut butter...and Sweet B's. 

Here's what the invite looks like and the "cake" topper cookie.  (The picture is with my phone, sorry for the poor quality.)

I also had a few extra tiles so I experimented a little.  Ended up with this and I really liked it.  (Once again, camera phone.)

Here's what the set-up looked like at the reception.

Congrats, Aaron and Sara!  Hope you're loving the married life...and all the left-over cookies!

Color Me Crazy!

More new baby cookies.  I have a few friends that order new baby cookie jars so frequently, they just send me texts that say "Ella, ELH, need by Wednesday.  Yes?"  It's all the same, only the names will change...tee hee.

And of course, I love doing the baby cookies.  I did these purple ones and thought they would look marvelous on my yellow cake plate.

I was right.  But then, I set this cookie on my green charger and it was so cute, I have to share that one too.

Can you tell I love color?  And green happens to be my all time favorite.  You may think that it's teal.  I keep waiting for my teal trend to end, but it's still my go-to color.  I came to a slight breaking point when I pulled out my teal phone to get to my teal wallet out of my teal purse while wearing a teal skirt...um, get that lady to color rehab!!

Anyways, enough about me, what's your favorite color?  And how much do you love seeing that color on a cookie?!

I tend to get excited when I color icing.  I'm doing another new baby jar this week, so I'll be happy coloring (icing, that is)!

It's That Time of Year

This might be my favorite time of year.  The air starts getting that slight, feel-good chill in the mornings.  And it smells like...football.  That's right.  My Saturdays for the next 4 months are dedicated to College Game Day (well, and cookies).  And more specifically - Georgia football.  I love my Dawgs.  Even after last Saturday's disappointment.  Which is why this post didn't come sooner.  I was still bitter.  But I still have hope and love for them!

Back to the cookies, (after all, this is a cookie blog and not a football one) I made cookies for the annual Boarder Bash.  Well, my sister works downtown and they have an annual tail-gate for the annual Boarder Bash.  (For those not familiar, the Boarder Bash happens the Friday night before the Georgia-South Carolina game.  The cheerleaders and mascots from each school have a big block party downtown Augusta.)  I made cookies for the party last year and it was made clear that they were necessary for this year's celebration too.  I was happy to oblige. It's easy to do cookies for something you're passionate about.  And here's the proof...

If we don't put a beatin' on the hogs this week, I might send some of these cookies to Head Coach Mark Richt for inspiration.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Until then, goooo dawgs!

I also link it up these days...

Spooky Peek

Just thought I would give you a glimpse of my Halloween designs to kick off your weekend.  I couldn't wait any longer.  But...I'm just giving you a tiny peek, just to keep the suspense...

Short & Sweet

So, I've been advised to shorten my posts and post more frequently...ha...and double ha!  I've definitely got lots to catch up on.  But since I'm on a time deficit, I"ll give the short and sweet a try!  Here's a few cookies I did for an awesome, new restaurant downtown Augusta.  It's called the Frog Hollow Tavern and I've yet to have a bad experience there.  It's super chic and the food is most delish.  So, if you're Augustan or just passing through and looking for an awesome new place to eat, give the Frog Hollow a shot...I recommend the mussels. 

I've been pretty busy lately...

And will probably be busy until...

I've already designed my holiday cookies...

Because they're going to be for sale at the 2 Augusta VeryVera locations...

What?!?!

Yup.  You heard right. 

Sweet B's cookies will be available in 2 Augusta retail locaions starting in October.

There was even a professional photography shoot in preparation of the promotions.

I can't wait to show you the designs, you're gonna love them.

Until then, I'm happy baking!

The Annual Family Birthday Extravaganza!!

I'm finally getting this post out there - even if I have to stay up all night!

So, last year's F.B.E. was quite an adventure.  (That's the link to the story and pictures, it's at the bottom of the post.)  This year the party went on as planned!!  Somehow, my brother ended up dictating the theme of the party, even though he is only one of EIGHT birthdays we celebrate at the F.B.E.  (It had a lot to do with the Star Wars cookie cutters I bought from Williams-Sonoma.  It was one of those mall trips that I just went in to browse and then, bam, I've spent $80 on nothing that I needed.  It's a classic love/hate relationship.)  Well, Ben-jammin had to have the Star Wars cookies for his birthday, and of course, I had to do a Star Wars cake.  So, if anyone being honored at the F.B.E. didn't like Star Wars, they were just out of luck (*cough*Stevo*). 

Well, Benjy talked me into making a black cake.  Um.  I've heard about cake bakers complaining about dying icing black.  I would like to go on the record and say that dying icing black is not fun.  Even after 4 1/2 bottles of black icing colors, my galaxy was still not black.  It was actually a dark, forrest green. 

A dark, frustrating, forrest green.  Wasn't starting the cake off great.  But was still optomistic about making the cake look like the Star Wars crawl (the opening, scrolling back story in all Star Wars movies). 

I took the green galaxy to Columbus to finish the decorating there.  I still wasn't exactly sure what was going on the green galaxy cake, but at least by this time, the color had darkened a bit and looked mostly black.  After putting the title on the cake, I had to nail down the wording I wanted to use for our cake.  Here's what we came up with (it was a bit of a collaboration)...

Episode II

Family Birthday Extravaganza

At the close of the summer, the

Lamb clan gathers to celebrate

the lives of treasured family members. 

For Bonnie, Carol, Ellie, Steve,

Benjy, Buddy, Betsy, and Ethan,

we wish them a very Happy Birthday...

Poetic and epic, maybe not.  But we had loads of fun!

Here are the cake and cookies, and unless you're willing to pay a pretty penny, don't request these cookies. 

Betsy talking and Ellie checking out the cake.

All of the honorees!

And the thing about black icing...

It tends to turn everything it touches black too!

Good thing the taste is worth it!

I'm looking forward to many more of these FBEs!!!

Life is pretty crazy right now.  I hope to clue you in on some exciting things happening with Sweet B's soon!!  Until then, I'm happy baking...until midnight, most nights!

Summer Bakin' - Havin' a Blast!

Summer bakin', happened so fa-ast.
As you know, the summer has been a little slow with cookies...until this past week!!  I had 4 different orders for a total of 13 dozen cookies and a cake.  I have a few pictures to show you from a couple of weeks ago too because I'm a blog slacker. 

You know I love doing the cupcakes!  I suggest them as a great way to say "Happy Birthday!" or "Congratulations!" or "Happy Friday!"  Basically, they're great for any occasion!  These were sent from one friend to another to wish a happy birthday!  I received word that they were thoroughly enjoyed!

I did another set of birthday doggie biscuits for a beautiful Chesapeake Bay Retriever named Gunner. 

Then I thought to myself and realized I never showed you a picture of the first set I did for Rowdy Roo who turned two! So, here they are!

I was requested to do some cookies for a Pampered Chef party.  I bought a chef's hat cutter for the occasion.  I think they turned out so cute!  For the photo shoot, I felt obligated to display them in a Pampered Chef batter bowl, which happens to be one of my favorite items in the kitchen.  I have both sizes and use them regularly.  They're great because they have handles and come with lids!  (Maybe I should sell Pampered Chef!)  And because I love it so much, I drew one on one of the cookies!  I hope Rebecca and Deborah had a great party!!

I did 8 dozen cookies for Melinda, who was giving them as thank you gifts for the people who helped her with her son's wedding.  Well, 6 dozen were for that and 2 dozen were iced whites so she could enjoy some Sweet B's cookies, too!

I sent some cookies to South Carolina to wish a happy couple congratulations on their recent engagement.  I love the way these turned out!

As for the cake and another 2 dozen cookies, they will be getting their own post.  They are for the annual Family Birthday Extravaganza (FBE) that will be taking place this weekend!  I'm so excited that no one has whooping cough this year and we can have the party as planned.  I'll be sure to give you the whole scoop next week!

As the summer is nearing an end, lots of changes are coming my way. CA starts school on Monday, my last day of nannying is Friday, and I start a new job next Monday.  I will be working in a for-real bakery.  I'm sooo stoked!  Also, my blog is about to get a make-over (if it hasn't already by the time you read this)!!  For Sweet B's, the times they are a-changin!  So, happy changes to me!