Frosted Sugar Cookie Bars

So... I really love sprinkles (I've found that this is a common trait among baking bloggers). I'm that person who always reaches for the sprinkle covered donut (is it donut or doughnut?), who drowns my sundaes in sprinkles, who chooses funfetti over vanilla or even chocolate, who always says "yes!" to "do you want sprinkles on that?" (not that I get asked this very often :P). I love the pop of color sprinkles can add to any dessert.

This recipe is definitely one that is going in my go-to recipe collection. It's fairly straightforward to make. The cookies turn out soft and chewy with a nice touch of fluffy frosting on top. And in addition to being tasty, they're nice to look at. You can use whatever color of food coloring for the the frosting and the sprinkle mix of your choice to decorate the tops. With all the dreary winter weather lately, I find that a rainbow sprinkle covered sweet, like these frosted sugar cookie bars, can really brighten up the day :).

Bow Tie Macarons

Here are the other macarons I made for NYE! As I mentioned in my last post, I made black & white macarons for NYE. The black sprinkle macarons in that post were definitely more New Years specific and more time consuming to decorate, so for my white macarons, I wanted something simpler that would take less time to decorate, yet still be cute and classy.

Like how the black macarons were influenced by my New Years manicure, these macarons were inspired by my New Years Eve dress (actually, to be more accurate, the dress I was going to wear… I'm ridiculously indecisive, so I came prepared with 3 dresses and ended up wearing something black instead :P… while this bow dress ended up as the background for these photos, lol). Half of my white macarons were decorated with bows, and the other half were covered with rainbow sprinkles for a pop of color, both designs perfect for any party or celebration!

Homemade Celebration Oreos

It's been a while... Originally I planned this post for July 4th, so I could use my red, white, and blue sprinkles, but there was a terrible heat wave and I couldn't summon the fortitude to turn on my oven.

Hot weather + baking = no way!

When I finally got down to making these cookies, July 4th was past, so I wanted to adapt my original idea into something less holiday specific. That's how I ended up with these Homemade Celebration Oreos. Remember when I made TKOs (Domo-shaped ones, to be specific)? Well, I thought they were wonderful, but they definitely were not what I think of when I crave an Oreo. What I want in an Oreo is a crisp, chocolate, slightly salty cookie with a white, shortening-based filling, which I got by combining two popular homemade Oreo recipes (the one from Flour Bakery for the cookie and the one from Retro Desserts for the filling).

To give them a special homemade touch, I covered them with rainbow sprinkles (3 kinds... because I could :D)! Perfect for any celebration since desserts and celebrations go hand-in-hand. Great for a birthday. Any sort of party. Or just because you want to brighten up someone else's day. But feel free to customize them for a specific occasion. Red, white, and blue sprinkles for July 4th (pictured below). Green, red, and gold sprinkles for Christmas. Assorted baby blue or baby pink sprinkles for a baby shower. The colors of your favorite sports team. The possibilities are endless!

P.S. Feel free to make them sprinkle-less. They're just as delicious ^_^.

P.P.S. I still made some 4th of July cookies in the end. Just because :).