Thursday, June 27, 2013

Winner!

Congratulations Lindsay for winning the blog raffle of the 4th of July cookies!

Thank you all for participating and your incredibly kind words!

Celebration GIVEAWAY: 4th of July Cookies FOR YOU!

Last night I logged into my One Preppy Cookie Facebook account to find that I had crossed the 1,000 "Like" threshold. That blew my mind. I know it may not seem like much to many, but to think that over 1,000 people care enough to see my work meant a lot to me. One Preppy Cookie was started as a creative outlet and has grown into more than I could have imagined. It has introduced me to new friends and re-connected me with many people who I may have otherwise not crossed paths with regularly. It has been fun, challenging, gratifying and then some. It has taught me many lessons on running a small business and empowered me to know that anything is possible.

Many of you know that OPC is not my full-time career. It is a small family-run business that I tend to nearly every night and weekend. I make the cookies, my mom is the shipping packager and my husband is the Post Office delivery man. The three of us encompass the entire "operation." That is, aside from you all.

I want to wholeheartedly thank those of you who have followed me along on this journey and supported One Preppy Cookie. As a small token of my ongoing appreciation, I am giving away a baker's dozen of assorted 4th of July cookies.*




This is certainly not a plea for more orders (I will not be taking those for the foreseeable future as it is) but rather a HUGE THANK YOU for believing in One Preppy Cookie.

GOOD LUCK!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.





Monday, June 24, 2013

Cookie Smash Cake Take II - Alice in Wonderland

And so it begins...MONTHS of cookie photo catch up.  Recently a friend told me about the beauty of the iPhone Blogger app.  Hopefully that new-found convenience will assist me in maintaining this journal in favor of documenting my life on Instagram.

Two blog posts since Saturday = so far so good!

In the past six months since blogging regularly, countless orders of cookies have been made.  One Preppy Cookie has been a successful endeavor and though I am extremely grateful for that, I have had to tone it down in the order department.  Between working full time and life in general, the cookies have been a bit overwhelming.  I am a big believer in, "Do what you love" but also have to be realistic.  BALANCE is the current goal moving forward. 

Okay, back to today's post and starting to sort through months worth of undocumented hard work.  A friend who I have made cookies for several times in the past asked me to do Alice in Wonderland cookies along with a "smash cake" in the same theme.  This was only my second attempt at the cookie smash cake and I have to say I think they're cute.



(The more colorful the cookies, the more I love making them.)


Thank you Lauren!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

TUTORIAL: How to Make French Fry Cookies

A few weeks ago Mr. Preppy Cookie and I were invited to a BBQ. Of course I did not want to go empty handed and thought through what to bring. It was a co-worker crowd but also kid-friendly so I decided to make a batch of "hamburger cupcakes." My mom and I brainstormed about a fun cookie compliment to the burgers and fries seemed like the obvious fit.


I am not the first one to make french fry cookies but thought it would be fun to share my version.  They are EASY and equally intriguing to the party guests as the cupcakes themselves.  Add a side of red buttercream frosting "ketchup" and you could skip the burgers entirely.  Enjoy!

What you will need:

-Batch of your favorite sugar cookie dough
-Coarse sugar sprinkles
-Small amount of water
-Baking sheet
-Pizza cutter
-French fry container to display cookies in

First roll out your dough.


Take the pizza cutter and trim the ends from the dough.


Then cut the section into smaller squares. (Precision is NOT the key here...french fries are not perfectly shaped nor should these cookies be.)


Add the imperfect squares to your cookie sheet (I always line mine with parchment paper.)  Take a mister or clean finger and brush the tops of each cookie with a small glaze of water.


Coat each cookie with coarse sugar sprinkles prior to baking.



Bake the cookies according to your recipe.  (Hint: I always put my cookie sheets directly into the freezer for about 10 minutes prior to baking them.  This helps cut-out cookies hold their shape.)


Once they are out of the oven, take your pizza cutter and cut each square into small strips while the cookies are still hot.  Keep trimming them down until you have the french fry shape you are going for.


To me, packaging means a lot.  I will drive a longer distance and even pay a little more money to purchase items in shops that I know will nicely package the gifts I am buying.  Don't let that mindset leave you when it comes to fun food presentations.

I went to McDonald's and asked to purchase 6 mini fries, hold the fries.  This caused quite the stir at my Mickey D's and resulted in a long flurry of embarrassing activity until they agreed to just give them to me.  (Side note:  I used to LOVE McDonald's....and am also a vegetarian.  I have ordered a #2 with no meat for many years and this request for 6 mini fry containers caused more commotion than ordering a hamburger with no meat.  Hopefully your McD's will be more understanding of the need to display cookies in a creative manner.)


That's it...enjoy!


My friend told me that the morning after the party, her son found a stray cookie fry on the floor of their car...and ate it!  Now that's a compliment. :)