Turkey-shaped Pumpkin-flavored Cake Pops

These cake pops were a big hit at both Thanksgiving celebrations that I went to this year. The full name, I suppose, should be M&M and Milk Chocolate Covered Turkey Pumpkin Bread and Cream Cheese Frosting Cake Pops. But that’s just silly. 

The cake balls were made by mixing Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Bread Mix (made as directed on the package) and Bakerella’s Cream Cheese Frosting. If you are new to cake balls and cake pops, you have to read all about them at Bakerella’s website. Your life will change, I promise. 

I have a few detailed tutorials on cake pops and cake balls here and here. Check them out for more details and pictures of the cake pop making process. There's so many directions you can take when making cake pops. Their versatility is what makes them so wonderful. Oh and also their amazing taste and texture. 

Turkey Cookies

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Here's a quick update on last year's Thanksgiving Turkey Cookies {check out a more detailed step-by-step here}. These begin the same way, using my eight-pedal flower cutter. After the cookies are baked and cooled, the body and face are piped on with brown royal icing. Some of them are extra fat so I would have room to personalize them with names. 

The main variation I made this year on the turkeys is that I kept the base of the 'feathers' ivory, and outlined the feathers in red, orange, and yellow. Last year's turkeys had each feather filled in with the same colors. 

Once the ivory base was dry, it was time for the colors and details!

The ivory just classes them up a bit, I think. 

And here are a few more from this year's Thanksgiving batch. 

Thank a Veteran Today (with Cookies)

On this Veteran’s Day, make sure all the vets in your life know how thankful you are for their service.

I like to thank my favorite veteran with love, support, and lots of cookies.

Cookie-blogger-extraordinaire, Sweet Sugarbelle, posted a fabulous tutorial on creating camouflage on cookies with royal icing. This is the method I use and the camo effect comes out perfect! Check out her blog post {here}.  

The trick is to work on one cookie at a time, adding small squiggly shapes in each color and letting each color flow into the others, so the icing surface stays nice and flat. 

These were made a few months ago for my boyfriend who was injured on the job during annual training. 

What type of injury, you ask? 

That’s right, my boyfriend got struck by lightning. 

I can officially say it (or type it) now without my blood pressure rising to unsafe levels. It’s a true story. The good news is that the worst of the injuries was a broken ankle. The bad news is, guess whose boyfriend got the broken ankle. 

And now, Hurricane Sandy has him, and many others of course, working around the clock here in NJ. These camo and red white & blue cookies were part of a cookie care package I delivered yesterday. It’s a cookie-girl’s way of saying thank you and showing my love and support.  

     

A warm and heartfelt thank you to all those brave and selfless men and women who serve and protect our country. On Veterans Day, and every day, we salute you.