Quinceanera

My brother-in-law’s sister just turned 15 years old, and like in most if not all Hispanic families they have a Quinceañera. A Quinceañera is a coming of age ceremony that occurs when a young girl turns 15. Well, this celebration is a big deal to these 15 year old girls. When she asked me to create her invites and her favors I wanted to do something a little different. Usually the invites are a little cheesy I think. They have a huge picture of the young lady, and a list that almost eats up all the invitation space of who bought what and who the attendants are. I really think that we should stay away from that and seek a cleaner, sleeker and more sophisticated approach.

Her colors were a deep “purpleish” plum color, which I loved because again it stays away from the pastels that although beautiful they had their time to shine. As I looked for inspirations on the web, there are more options catered towards the Quinceañera. When I was planning my sisters we had many limited sources because it wasn’t as mainstream or important to pop culture. With MTV bringing these festivities to a broader audience business began to realize that there is a need for more products.





I chose to create the invites myself in Photoshop. I used a 4x6 template I got at Overnightptints.com, which is also were I got them printed. I printed 100 of them for about $20 dollars. The invitation has a logo that I made using a Photoshop shape. It is ornate yet simple. I used Copper Alt Caps Expert font (I downloaded somewhere just Google it you should find it for free!) for her initials J.Z. added the number 15 with a small tiara to finish off the logo. I also purchased pocketfold invitation from Paperandmore.com a store that I love and buy from all the time. I also got their white precut base paper. I layered the invitation and used two sided tape to affix it to the pocketfold envelope.

For the favors I wanted to tie in the invitation theme. I ordered cake transfer sheets from Funcakesforyou.com and Holly did an amazing job she even sent them pre-cut. She printed the logo I sent her via e-mail and sent them back to me super quick. I used the logo on some delicious sugar cookies. I iced them with white royal icing, immediately put the logo on them, once dried I added a border around them with white royal icing. I bagged the cookies up and tied purple and white ribbon on them.

Vasty's Birthday Cookies

My friend Vasty had a birthday dinner and I wanted to surprise her with cookie favors for her guests. She loves shortbread cookies so I decided to attempt them. This was my first time working with shortbread and I must say it was very time consuming and harder to work with than sugar cookies. But they were sooooo good!

I wanted to do something different from what I am used to. So I used photoshop to create a logo. The logo read: It's My Birthday! with a cupcake with a candle in the middle, and at the bottom it said thanks for coming with the date. I then ordered edible transfers from Fun Cakes For You . Holly was so amazing, she printed, cut, and shipped the transfers to me. I was a little worried because it was last minute but they were amazing.

I glazed the cookies with white royal icing, added the trasfers, and then piped a border with royal icing and sprinkled sugat crystals from Wilton around the edges. I finished them up by bagging them and adding a ribbon to them.

Shortbread Recipe (Joy Of Baking)

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
   
2. 1/4 teaspoon salt


3. 1 cup (2 sticks) unslated butter, softened


4. 1/2 cup powdered sugars


5. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a separate bowl whisk the flour with the salt. Set aside.


2. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth (about 1 minute).'


3. Add the sugar and beat until smooth (about 2 minutes).


4. Beat in the vanilla extract.


5. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated.


6. Flatten the dough into a disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least an hour.


7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle of the oven.


8. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.


9. On a lightly floured surface roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thick.
   
10. Cut into rounds or whatever shapes you wish using lightly floured cookie cutter.


11. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. This will firm up the dough so the cookies will maintain their shape when baked.


12. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly brown. Cool on rack.

• Makes about 20 shortbread cookies.

My sissys 25th Birthday Dinner Favors

Well it has been a while since I last blogged. School and work and life in general has been hectic. Since I'm on a break right now I have dedicated some time to blogging. I have several projects to show you so stay tuned for more. I am attempting to post something everyday this week. So wish me luck :)

As time consuming as they are I love making cookies. My favorite part is decorating them. The pink and black cookies I made for my sister's 25th birthday dinner hence the 2 and the 5. I had them all packaged up so nicely. I wish I could find the pics of the packaging (sigh), but I don't know where they are at. The favors where a hit, I got so many compliments!!

The black icing took a long time to get it that black I think I used about 2 of the black Wilton colors (yikes). The hot pink was fairly easy to achieve, I used Wilton's Icing Color in Rose.

I used a the number cookie cutters from Wilton 101 Cookie Cutter Set. They are about three inches. The candles are from a birthday set from Sweet Shapes. I love her cookie cutters. She also makes custom ones all at affordable prices. I have bought several from her and they are of great quality. You will see the cookies I have created with them later this week. Finally, the Y shape (Yanavith is her name) is from Martha Stewart's Alphabet Set. I picked it up at Macy's and not sure if its still available. If you need some Sweet Shapes has a great set!

The recipe for the sugar cookies is from Wilton. This recipe works great and the cookies keep their shape beautifully. I usually make two batches since I'm always making at least 100 at a time.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon No-Color Almond Flavor or Pure Vanilla Extract
• 5 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk

Makes: About 36-42 average sized cookies.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Cream butter and sugar together
3. Add eggs and flavoring, beat until fluffy.
4. Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately to creamed mixture with milk.
5. If mixture is too sticky, add flour, a little at a time, until dough is easy to handle.
6. Roll dough 1/8 in. thick.
7. Cut out cookies, dipping cutter in flour before each use.
8. Bake for 6-8 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.

The royal icing recipe that I use is from Karen's Cookies but whatever recipe you have and like you can use.

Ingredients

• 3 T. meringue powder
• 4 cups (1 pound) powdered sugar
• 6 T. water
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract (use clear vanilla if you want a pure white icing)
• ¼ tsp.

Directions

Beat all ingredients together until stiff peaks form (about 10 minutes). To vary the consistency, add water to thin and add powdered sugar to thicken