Makin' It Blue!

Labdien, my friends!

(That's a Latvian thing for hello!)

Welcome back to the Makin’ it Blue craft corner where we take some of your favorite little day to day items and what do we do? Well, we teach you how to make it blue, of course! So, strap on your favorite blue apron, crank up your Hercules soundtrack, and get ready to check out this week’s fun collection of Easter-themed goodies and start makin' them blue! 

Blue Bird Cookies!

Yum yum! Birdies lay eggs too, ya know! Where do you think the Easter bunny collects all of his precious ovals to distribute? The storks bring them!

What you need:

• Bright blue piping and flood icing 
• black sugar pearls
• black Americolor gel
• a tiny paintbrush (#0 liner works nice)
• yellow 20-second icing
• Balloon cookie cutter
• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions!:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.
4. Carefully pipe an outline around the cooled sugar cookies with the blue piping and then fill it with the flood icing. 
5. Feel free to make any design and shape with the face, or follow the picture if you'd like. I bet they'll still look cute!

Blue Egg Cake Pops!

They look like little round flowers!!! No? Just me? Anyway, they're so pretty! If I knew that they weren't going to fall off, I'd hide them in the trees and then climb up there and eat them like a bird!

What you need:

• 1 box cake mix
• 1 container frosting
• Cake pop sticks
• Melted white chocolate
• Blue food coloring
• Green food coloring

Directions!:

1. Bake the cake and crumble it in a very large bowl once cooled- feel free to use your fingers if you're the messy type.
2. In a separate bowl, mix your frosting with a splash of blue food coloring and a little bit of green food coloring. Only a little, though! We want it to be a nice teal so it's different from the drizzle. 
3. Add spoonfuls of icing to the crumbs and mix. Don't go too nuts here - too squishy will fall off the sticks. A regular box mix doesn't need even ⅓ of a container of frosting. Cakes that are naturally more moist need even less. The only way to know it's ready is to roll a tight ball - if it is crumbly add a small spoonful of frosting again and stir.
4. Roll into balls tightly with your hands. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for at least an hour. This is especially important if you're putting them on sticks later.
5. Melt your white chocolate down once the cakes are frozen and mix the melted chocolate with a splash of blue food coloring. Drizzle it atop each cake and freeze for another hour
6. Take the cakes out after freezing and jab them with sticks to make them look like little flowers! Or eggish thingies on sticks.

Let's hear from the Camp!

Guess what? I bumped into Miss Esme, my boss' lover--uh...bestie with benefits? Soon-to-be spouse? Oh boy. Please don't fire me, Mister Ivan, sir. I like this job......Anyway, I asked Miss Esme what her favorite blue thing was, and she had a very tasty answer!

"Hmmmm. That’s a good question! I think my favorite blue thing would beeee Blue raspberry candy. Like the jolly ranchers. Those are amazingggg!"

Yaaaaas, Miss Esme! I'll be sure to put a nice big bowl of those on yours and Mister Ivan boss' next cruise!

Easter bunny, hop hop hop! I hope I find tons of eggs hidden around. Maybe a trail will lead me to a new ship to send away.

Anyway, that’s all for this week, folks. Be sure to pat yourself on the back for doing such a good job on these salmonellicious foods. Or, if you managed to lose one of your eggs in the kitchen, don't sweat it! You tried something new. So be sure to dance around your lawn looking for where that darn egg went. And get all of your jiggles out from standing so long. See ya, next week! Minji, out!