Tips on Baking the perfect butter cookie

Have you tried baking sugar or even butter cookies at home and they seem not to bake right?  They are too dark or burnt, or when you bite into them they are dry and hard? Well, I'm giving you a tip that may help you bake them just right every time.  Your cookie should look beautiful not only on the side you decorate, but on the other side too.

Make sure that before you use your cookie cutters, you roll out your dough as even as possible.  The reason for this is for the cookie to bake evenly.  Thinner sides will bake faster and thicker sides will take longer making your finished baked cookie look burnt and yucky!

As you cut them place them on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and leave enough space between cookies so that they have room to expand and not stick to each other.

Once your cookie is taken out of the oven it should look golden brown and even like the picture above.  If it's darker than this and it's not a gingerbread cookie than you have over baked your cookies and I can guarantee that they will not taste good at all.

Hope this mini tutorial helps you make some great cookies during these holidays! 

Rice Krispies Treats Sneakers Tutorial

I've been swamped by questions on how to make the sneakers from Rice Krispies treats and since I had said that I would post tutorials and haven't, here you go:

Things you'll need:
Rice Krispies Treats (of course) You can buy these or make them yourself
Pizza cutter of a sharp knife
Paste food color (I use Wilton)
fondant tinted in the colors you are making your shoes ( I used grey, black, white and orange)
and your hands

First you determine how big you want to make the shoes and start adding RKT to get desired size. Then, you start molding it and giving it shape. Once you have the bottom shaped like you want it to look, start working on the upper part of the shoe by pulling from the RKT and adding more as needed.Your shoe should resemble a dutch shoe. If you are making a pair, make it now so that they are both the same size because once you start covering it with fondant you won't be able to have an accurate measurement.Once your shoe is shaped, roll out your fondant, (not too thin) so that it covers well. Cover the inside of the shoe first and have the fondant hang outside the shoe, then create the tongue of the shoe. Cut the front and lateral parts of the shoe and adhere them.Once your shoe is covered, all you have to do are the embellishments that will finish the look. Make six small circles for where the shoe laces go and with a pointy tool make an indentation. For the laces, just cut strips of fondant and place them carefully across the shoe and with your point tool make them look as if they were coming out or the circle by pushing them into the indentations you made. Add a white strip to make the brim and make marks on it as a sneaker would have. With a tool make indentation so that it looks line stitches.
There you have it. Your very own RKT and fondant shoes. Hope this tutorial helps you make these cute sneakers. If you do, I would love to see them.