Archive for the ‘Fun Spring Activities’ Category

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Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #16: Jam Tarts

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

jam-tarts

You can make these easy jam tarts with ready-made pie crust, jam, and a cookie cutter! Delightful, easy, and delicious!

First you will need to unroll the pie crust. Press a cookie cutter in the desired shape on top of the pie crust. If you want to make more tarts, you can roll out the dough to make it thinner. I did the pie crust both ways (thick and thin), and they were both delicious and tasted about the same.

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Make sure to cut two of the same shape: one for the top and one for the bottom. Place one piece on a cookie sheet or pizza stone. (I prefer using my pizza stone for baking cookie-type foods because they never burn.) Spread raspberry jam on the lower piece of pie crust. (I also made some chocolate tarts by spreading Nutella on some of the tarts.) Then top with another piece of pie crust. If you want, you can brush the top of the tart with egg white so that it browns more nicely.

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Now serve these jam tarts with some British tea with milk and sugar in a gorgeous teapot, and invite friends. Enjoy the tarts!

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Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #15: Soap Shapes

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

soap-shapes

In our blog series “Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters,” Idea #15 is to make soap shapes. Go to the local craft supply store and buy a block of soap. These are refills and are not as expensive as a soap-making kit. You don’t need the soap-making kit because I will show you how to make shapes out of soap using cookie cutters.

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Grab a glass dish, and line it with wax paper. Using a large butcher knife, chop off some pieces from the large block of soap. Put them in a Pyrex measuring cup. Place the measuring cup in the microwave, and zap it for 20 seconds. Then zap it for 10-second intervals until it is fully melted. If you want to add fragrance, color, or decorations, you can add those and stir them in. Pour the liquid soap into the wax-paper-lined dish. Wait for at least an hour or two for the soap to solidify at room temperature.

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Now grab your cookie cutter and shove it down into the soap. Pull it out. You will have a cookie cutter with the soap in it. Gently push it out, and your gorgeous soap is finished. You can give these soaps away as gifts.

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Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #14: Scrapbooking

Tuesday, May 7th, 2013

scrapbooking

What are some other creative ways to use cookie cutters? How about scrapbooking? When you need a specific shape for your pictures, you can slap down the picture, grab a cookie cutter of the desired shape, and trace around the cookie cutter. Cut out the picture, and stick it to the scrapbooking page with double-sided acid-free tape.

I traced around the cookie cutter with an acid-free marker so that each star was outlined with black before even attaching it to the page.

“But, Susan, I don’t scrapbook, so what’s the use for me to know this?” Well, I’m glad you asked, because there are many variations on this scrapbooking theme. First of all, you could do a photo collage on one piece of scrapbooking paper and frame it as a gift.

Another idea is to make a card. Outline the shape of a cookie cutter on a photo, and glue it to some card stock paper folded in half, and you’ve made yourself a greeting card. Take a look at the simple birthday invitations I made for my daughter’s upcoming “Secret Garden” birthday. All I did was glue some pretty flower paper to the front of the card, and I outlined down the sides with black marker. Super easy and beautiful!

scrapbooking-card

 

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Creative Ways to Use Cookie Cutters #13: Rice Krispie Treats

Monday, May 6th, 2013

rice-krispie-treats

Why not create wonderful shapes for your Rice Krispie treats by using cookie cutters? Start by getting the following three ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons of butter
  • 1 package (10 oz.) of regular marshmallows
  • 6 cups of Rice Krispies cereal

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large pot over medium heat. Open a bag of marshmallows and dump those in. Stir constantly until the marshmallows are melted. If you want to add a fun color with food coloring, now is the time to stir it in. Remove the pot from the stove, and dump 6 cups of Rice Krispies into the pot. Stir.

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Spread the mixture into a greased 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan. Make sure the pan is greased, or you will sorely regret doing so. Pieces of Rice Krispies will fly through the air in all directions as you chip away at it with a table knife, trying to salvage what you can in desperation. Take my word for it: Grease the dish.

Place the dish in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Take the dish out of the refrigerator and press the cookie cutters into the the Rice Krispie treats. Use a metal spatula to scrape under the treat so that it doesn’t break apart when your children grab it with their bare hands in their eagerness to eat these yummy Rice Krispie treats!

If your kids are not in the kitchen, you might have enough time to dip the treats in almond bark chololate. Just melt some chocolate almond bark in a pot, and dip the top of the Rice Krispie treat into it. Yum!

Stay tuned for more fabulous ways to use cookie cutters…

 

 

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