March 2017 | Sweet Jenny Belle - easy sugar cookie decorating, dessert recipe and fun cupcake recipes

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April Fools!

april fools day whoopee cushion cookie

April Fool's Day Cookie

Do you celebrate April Fool's Day? I never did and then I had kids. Kids love pranks and gags and April Fool's Day! I finally gave in and now each year I search for new ways to make them laugh. Well we can be a low brow family and fart jokes always please. When I showed them my drawings for the whoopee cushion cookie, they just howled.

The whoopee cushion cookies is pretty easy! Come check out the video below to see. If you have any questions, let me know!

Materials Needed

(I've also used this cutter as a turkey leg, but not a hot air ballon as of yet!)

The pink cushion color was made with Americolor gel 1-1 ratio of Dusty Rose and Deep Pink.

Tipless icing bags


april fools day whoopee cushion cookie

Looking for a royal icing recipe - come read my post here!

Do you have anything silly up your sleeve? Let me know!

Easy Candied Lemon Peel

easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle

Easy Candied Lemon Peel

Have you ever tried candied lemon peel? It is an incredibly refreshing and sweet candy that is easy to make in your kitchen! I'm in the process of creating a new spring roll out cookie recipe and candied lemon peel is one of the key ingredients. Lemon is a fabulous flavor to enjoy all year, but it always calls to me especially in the summer months. I think you will find a number of desserts and breakfast pastries that would be lovely paired with this candied lemon peel. It's so easy - let's get started!

easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  1. First pick the most gorgeous lemons you can at your local grocer. You will need 4-6 lemons depending upon the amount of peels you would like. Make sure the skin is free of blemishes and feels ripe.

    easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  2. Next you will need to cut and juice the lemons. Be sure to reserve all the delicious juice for your next lemonade or meal. I kept mine for my lemonade buttercream that I will be sharing later this month. 
    easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  3. After the lemons have been juiced, Carefully remove the flesh and thicker parts of the pith and dispose. Don't scrape the insides of the lemon too harshly - the acidity will be cooked out and you want to have a nice, meaty peel.
    easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  4. Place all the lemon peel strips into a pot and fill with water until they are covered. Bring water to a rolling boil and cook for 5 minutes. Drain the water and repeat the process one more time. I only boil my lemon peels twice, but it is very important to drain and refill the water.
    easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  5. While the lemon peels are draining, you will need to bring a simple sugar to a boil. Place 2 cups of white, granulated sugar into the pot with 2 cups of fresh water. Heat the simple sugar to a rolling boil. 
    easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  6. Carefully place the drained lemon peels into the boiling simple sugar. Lower the heat and simmer for 90 minutes.
  7. After the peels have simmered for 90 minutes, carefully drain and reserve the lemon simple sugar. This is an amazing treat and shouldn't be tossed down the drain. You can use it to sweeten your homemade lemonade or for mixed drinks - maybe a lemon drop martini, yum!
    easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  8. Lay out the sticky lemon peels on a piece of parchment to dry for about an hour. You would ideally like to lay them in a single layer to drain the excess simple sugar.
    easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle
  9. Gently coat those delicious candied lemon peels in a bowl of fresh white, granulated sugar. Make the surface of the peels are well coated or you will have a sticky mess. Lay the coated peels on a new piece of parchment and allow to dry overnight.
easy candied lemon peel by sweet jenny belle

And my friends, that's all there is to it! Your tasty candied lemon peels should be stored in an airtight container. There are so delicious just as they are - I had to shoo my three children out of kitchen because they kept stealing them for a sweet snack. You can toss one into your lemon drop martini, dip them into white chocolate for a special treat or chop them and place on cakes!

Come back soon and I'll show you where these tasty morsels are headed.

XO,
Jenny


I Am Moana

Moana Disney Decorated Sugar Cookies Sweet Jenny Belle

Moana Decorated Sugar Cookies

We had to move away from Utah this past winter. It's a long and not so happy story, but all is well now - in fact, it's better than ever. We moved to Vancouver, Washington along with my parents. During our crazy transition, the kids and I were so excited about Disney's Moana. I love the ocean and was thrilled to see a new character with a diverse and beautiful history. We loved it! The music was outstanding, the imagery was gorgeous and the theme of the story was perfect. My daughters loved Moana's courage and ability to begin a new chapter - a perfect movie.

During our move, I didn't have access to all of my fun cookie decorating tools and honestly was crazy busy unpacking and helping the kids get settled. I'm finally ready and so excited to be back. I have missed all of you and cookies! It seemed very appropriate that my first set back into the world of cookies should be the theme of Moana.

Disney's Moana Hei Hei decorated cookies paint sktech

The first character I wanted to create was Hei Hei. That silly chicken makes us all laugh our heads off. I tease my kids that I look like him by the end of the day because they drive me bonkers. I did a rough sketch to get an idea of the shapes needed to draw him and added color for fun. The more times I draw a new cookie, the easier it is for me to ice him later.

Disney's Moana Hei Hei decorated cookies

And here is he is in all his goofy glory! Those icing eyes were a hoot to make. My kiddos fought over who could gobble him down. 
Seriously. I look like him when 5 o'clock rolls around..



Next up, I created those angry, but cute Kakamoras and Maui's tattoos. The Kakamora's faces were created with a wet-on-wet style. The coconut shell was iced on after with some large sprinkles added to create that hairy husk appearance. Maui was actually one of the easier cookies, but he is a favorite on my Instagram account.

https://www.instagram.com/sweetjennybelle/

And this trio was my favorite of the bunch. Moana's necklace, Maui's constellation and Grandma's wise words. Sigh. This movie was just awesome.

Moana's necklace was painted with a metaliic edible silver food paint. The stone was a wet on wet design, blended together to give it a rock appearance.

Moana  Maui Hei Hei decorated Sugar Cookies


Maui's constellation was flooded in a turquoise blue with edible glitter sprinkled while it was still wet. I then sprayed a dark blue along the edge with my airbrusher.

disney's moana decorated cookies

If you haven't see Moana yet, what are you waiting for? You will love it and I hope you loved looking at these cookies. Come back next week for a new cookie recipe that is perfect for Easter!

XO,
Jenny
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