Watch how easy it is for Jackie to assemble a gingerbread house (and it was her first time ever!). The video is 3:45 in length, but I edited down from 11 minutes (I took out the time spent waiting for the isomalt to melt in the microwave, 3.5 minutes, and some talking). Enjoy!

Clear Jewel SassieShotz can be purchased here. Please, adult supervision when working with the hot isomalt.

Happy Holidays from Get Sassie!.

If you’d like to see the Sugar Melting Gun in action, check out this video of me demoing it at ICES.

Enjoy!

Bake the cupcakes and let them cool completely. While they cool, color your white frosting with dark blue food coloring. I used Royal Blue by Wilton. It will take a lot of the food color to get a deep color like this, and I can guarantee the cupcake platter will be avoided by all adults – but the kids will love them! Nothing is more patriotic than blue mouths!

Once the cupcakes cool, swirl on a crown of frosting and immediately scatter on your choice of sprinkles (so they stick to the fresh frosting).  That’s it! Happy 4th – I wish you all a safe and rain-free day. Enjoy!

Anyway, I made these cookies from scratch to finish in just over two hours. It was a race against time, and I won. That being said, this post is more of a show-and-tell and less of a how-to. I didn’t really stop to take any pictures along the way. However, the cookies turned out cute, and I wanted to share. The elements; sugar cookie dough, beachy cookie cutters (I only used a fish and a starfish, but more variety would be cute – try a lobster, palm tree, octopus, seahorse, etc), flooding icing (slightly varied, I’ll explain below), food coloring & squeeze bottles.

Start by baking your fish [et all] cookies and let them cool. Since I was in a hurry, mine only cooled about 15 minutes and they were fine. I pulled them off the hot cookie sheet right away to speed up the cooling process.

While they cool, make up a batch of Royal Icing and prepare it for flooding. My usual instructions would say to use the 15 second rule, but I wanted these cookies to dry/harden fast, so I made a flooding icing that followed more of a 20 second rule. It definitely did the trick, and my cookies were dry in 30 minutes, however it was a pain in the neck to work with. It was difficult getting the icing in the squeeze bottles because it was so thick, and then squeezing it out to flood the cookies put a major cramp in my hand. Also, if you’re going to try to cheat like I did, be prepared to work very FAST. This icing is unforgiving and starts to thicken almost immediately. I’ll admit my cookies weren’t perfect, but they sure did look adorable. So once the icing is made, divide it in bowls and color it to your preference. I did Tiffany-blue starfish, and light green fishies, both detailed in crisp white designs. So I made of 3 bottles of icing, one each color.

When the cookies are cool, start piping the outline and filling in the cookie at the same time (remember to work fast if using the last-minute version of the flooding icing). Once they’re all filled in and the icing is smooth, let them dry.

Give them about 30 minutes, then add details with the white icing. I did dots (for suction cups) on the starfish arms, and the fish got gills, fins, a tail and an eye. Let the white icing dry 20-30 minutes.

That’s it! I made 30 cookies – started at 2pm and finished at 5:15, just in time for my 5:30 party. I took them to the party on their cookie sheets (to buy me more “drying time”) and then transferred them to the platter just before setting them out.

They were eaten up so fast I doubt anyone noticed the little imperfections!

Enjoy!

This post includes; my favorite fudge brownie recipe, a creamy/melty mint icing recipe, and a thick, truffle-like, chocolate fudge frosting recipe. Just in case the brownies alone weren’t enough…

Fudge Brownies

2/3 cup Double-Dutch Cocoa Powder
1 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Confectioners’ Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Espresso Powder (optional)
1 cup Toasted Walnuts or Pecans (optional)
2 eggs
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
3 TBSP Water
1 tsp Vanilla

Fudge Brownie Directions;

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugars, salt, flour, espresso powder and nuts. Add the eggs, oil, vanilla and water, mixing just until smooth. Spoon the mixture into a lightly greased 8 x 8″ square pan, smoothing the top.

Bake the brownies in a preheated 350°F oven for 40 – 45 minutes. Let cool overnight (or at least several hours) before slicing. *Note – if you’re planning to frost with the chocolate fudge frosting, do so while the brownies are still warm.  For the mint icing, cool the brownies first.

Mint Icing;

3 cups Confectioners’ Sugar
6 TBSP Butter, melted
3 TBSP Milk
1/8 tsp Peppermint Oil, or to taste

Mint Icing Directions;

Stir together the sugar, melted butter, peppermint oil, and milk. Beat until smooth and creamy. Spread over cooled brownies.

Fudge Frosting;

6 TBSP Milk
6 TBSP Butter, softened
1 1/2cup White Sugar
1 cup Chocolate Chips (your choice – milk, semisweet or dark)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Fudge Frosting Directions;

Combine the milk, butter, and sugar together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil; allow to cook at a rolling boil for 60 seconds and immediately remove from heat. Add the chocolate chips and vanilla to the milk mixture and stir until the chips are completely melted. Pour immediately over warm brownies, this frosting begins setting up within a minute so work fast!

*Note- this recipe makes enough to frost (2) 8 x 8 pans of brownies, or a really thick layer on one pan of brownies.   It’s a chocolate-lover’s dream.

Enjoy!

First step is to temper your chocolate.

Once it’s melted, toss in a handful of each dried cherries and pecans. I never measure, I just look for a good fruit/nut/chocolate ratio. This is a personal choice – I like LOTS of cherries and nuts, so I load it up. If your favorite part is the chocolate then use less fruit/nuts.

Then mix with the melted chocolate.

Next, spread the mixture on a silicone baking mat, and let cool several hours, or until set.

Once it has hardened, cut the bark into squares.  I cut mine with a butter knife, which is tedious, but it insures I won’t slice or damage my silicone mat.  Alternately, you could break it into pieces for a more rustic look.

You’re done!

There are lots of combos you can try;

Any dried fruits; mango, cranberries, raisins, pineapple, apricot (YUM), coconut…

Nuts; peanuts, walnuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, pistachios…

Candies; crushed peppermint, toffee pieces, sprinkles, mini marshmallows, Reese’s Pieces…

Also consider, sunflower/pumpkin seeds, Rice Krispies & crushed Oreos.

Bark is easy, and makes a great gift. Enjoy!

It was mentioned to me that he’s a “half-baked” lobster now. lol

I think he’s cute…

Enjoy!

______________________________________________

Candy Graduation Caps, from Miss Robin at Friendship Garden Nursery School

It’s graduation time! From pre-school and middle school to high school and college there are many graduation celebrations. This is a quick, easy and fun snack that a colleague made for our pre-school children years ago. I have made these sweet treats for many graduation parties. They are always well received and the platter is empty at the end of the event!
Today I made graduation caps with a small group of three-year-olds for their teacher who is about to graduate from college.

We started by washing our hands and gathering our ingredients:

Chocolate covered graham crackers (square)

Fruit roll ups (pick a flavor /color to coordinate with school colors)

Mini Reese’s peanut butter cups

Small bag of M&M’s

Sassie Sap

Unwrap a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Squeeze a
small dab of SassieSap to the bottom of the Reese’s peanut butter cup.

Place a square chocolate graham cracker on top of your SassieSap dab.

To make the tassel, unroll the Fruit Roll Up and cut off a strip using scissors.  It will need  to be long enough to hang over the side the cracker. Use a pair of scissors to fringe the bottom with a few cuts.  You should not worry if it looks like a scarf you will arrange it so it doesn’t in the next step!

Add a dab of SassieSap to the center of the top of the graham cracker. Position your fruit roll up tassel. Using another dab of SassieSap,  place an M&M in the center of the graham cracker right over the end of the fruit roll up tassel. Remember to use coordinating school colors if so desired!

Place on a platter and enjoy!! Congratulations Graduates!

______________________________________________

Thanks to Robin & the students at Friendship Garden for the great instructions!

If you’d like to have your company or project featured on the Get Sassie! blog, just send an email with pictures using one of our products.

Enjoy!

Start by baking and cooling your cookies. Make a batch of Royal icing and thin it to flooding consistency. Fill a squeeze bottle with white icing and flood your cookies. Let the white icing dry several hours before continuing or your green icing will bleed.

Color a portion of your icing spring green and fill the other bottle. I used green icing that was flooding consistency and it made a kind of ‘lazy’ look on my cookies (not crisp). If you want a more detailed look for the grass and stems then don’t thin the green icing.

Once the cookies are dry, use the green Royal icing to pipe a grass and stem design onto the cookies. I did a very quick, funky design on mine.

Grab your previously-made daffodils…

… and place one at the end/top of each stem while the green icing is still wet.

Let them dry a few hours and you’re done!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there, especially mine, Linda.   Enjoy!

Start by making a small batch of fondant. You won’t need too much to make these mini daffodils. Once you get the fondant smooth and pliable, break off two balls each about the size of a walnut. Color one pale yellow for the petals, and color the other ball slighter darker yellow for the centers.

Grab your tools…

I’m using a paint tray to form my finished flowers while they dry, I have a small fondant rolling pin, a fondant ball tool, flower shaping foam (purple), and a 6-petal flower cutter. All of these items were purchased at Michaels.  The flower cutter came in a set of three and I’m using the smallest one.

Start by rolling out your pale yellow fondant and cutting as many flowers as you need. The fondant will dry out quickly, so keep the unused fondant in a ziploc bag when not in use, and cover your cut fondant flowers with a piece of plastic wrap to keep them soft while you’re shaping them.

Working with one flower at a time, begin using the smallest end of the ball tool to gently smooth and shape each petal of the flower. As you do this, the petal will flatten and double in size. Try to keep the middle of the petal fatter than the end.

Once you get all 6 petals shaped, use the end of a toothpick to lightly press ridges in the petals to texture them.

Then pop your newly-formed flower into a flower former, to give it a curved shape as it dries.

If you’re doing dozens of flowers, I recommend collecting a bunch of Styrofoam egg cartons so you can dry all the flowers at the same time. Store the cartons for you next flower project by cutting off the lids and stacking all the bases together in one compact bundle with a rubber band around them.

Once you’ve got all your petals formed, we’ll start working on the centers. Grab your lump of darker yellow fondant and break off a tiny piece (about the size of a pea). Roll it into a ball.

Then shape it into a cone shape.

Using the ball tool, create a crater in the fat end of the cone and shape it into a funnel.

Then using your fingers, flatten out the edge of the funnel and flare it outward. I find it easiest to hold the base of the funnel in my left hand (I’m right handed), between my index finger and thumb so I can rotate the funnel while I work. Using my right hand, I gently gently pinch the edge of the cone between my thumb and the side of my index finger as the funnel spins.

Here it is shaped.

You may need to use the ball tool again to reshape the crater in the center after you’ve flattened the edges.  Next, using a toothpick, gently create little indentations in the edge, making the funnel look ruffled.

The centers are done! Leave them (and the petals) to dry a few hours before assembling. Because we’re working with fondant, the flowers aren’t going to dry hard. They will remain slightly soft, but should hold their shape. If it’s very humid they could take overnight to dry. I left mine for about 6 hours and came back to assemble them. Also keep in mind that they will re-soften if placed in frosting or buttercream, so if you’re using them for a cake or cupcakes be sure to place them right before serving.

To assemble the flowers, place a drop of edible adhesive (I’m using SassieSap because it dries clear) in the center of each of the petals.  Carefully place the ruffled center in the middle of the petals.  At this point, I find it easiest to grab my ball tool and use it to press down in the center of the funnel to ensure it makes good contact with the adhesive on the petals.

Let the finished flowers dry. If you’re using SassieSap, they’ll need to dry about 20 minutes. If you’re using Royal Icing for the ‘glue’ it could take several hours for the icing to harden. You’re done.

Use the little flowers to brighten any dessert! I’ll be using mine for Mother’s Day Cookies.

Enjoy!