Autism Awareness Chocolate Covered Oreos

April is Autism Awareness month, and I wanted a quick and fun treat to make to share with friends and family.  I have wanted to make chocolate covered Oreos for a long time, but never got around to it.  When my friend Heather from Twins Plus One Goodies  shared a picture of the mold she just got, I knew I HAD to make some!

Aren't they stunning?  The mold came from Spinning Leaf and the quality of their molds are amazing.  While I have never made chocolate covered Oreos using a mold, I have dipped them before and used other chocolate molds make by other companies.  The molds, from Spinning Leaf are the BEST.  They are sturdy and strong and the details are the best.  The mold I used for this project is their Autism Awareness Sandwich Cookie Mold, and I could not be happier with how they came out!

Since I have never made these before, I followed the tutorial found on their website.  It was simple and clear and they offered many tips to get clean and professional looking molded sandwich cookies. You can find their tutorial HERE.

Since this was my first time ordering from this company, I only ordered two molds, the Autism Awareness Mold and the Standard Mini Sandwich Mold, which I have not had a chance to use yet.

If you have been wanting to try Chocolate Covered Sandwich Cookies using a mold, I highly recommend ordering from Spinning leaf, their molds are the best I have ever worked with. 

These cookies were easy to make and I love the way they turned out.  Collin loved them and I will be making them again soon.  I can not wait to order more of these molds and try more designs.  Spinning Leaf offers a wide variety of designs and products, standard size, mini size, chocolate molds and truffle molds.  I am not sure what I will be ordering next, but I will be sure to share with you soon.

*While this post includes links to Spinning Leaf, I was not compensated for this review, I simply love their products.*

Autism Awareness Rose Cookies

Today on The Cookie Puzzle, we have a very special guest.  April is Autism Awareness Month, and today is the last day of April, so it seems only fitting that I have an Autism related post.

Last year, I went all out and hosted a "I am Blogging for Autism Awareness" EVENT, every day of the month had an Autism Awareness Post, Guest hosted by a different blogger.  This year, I did not have it in me to coordinate such an event, maybe next year I will try it again.

Anyway....I will now turn my blog over to Stephanie.  Stephanie blogs over at Ellie's Bites Decorated Cookies, she is MEGA talented.  She make AMAZING cookies like These, and These and THESE!

So...I love Stephanie...she is a great friend..and has two of the most adorable kiddos on the planet!

Take it away Steph!


____________________________________________

Hi! I'm Stephanie from Ellie's Bites. I'm honored that Kim let me take over her page again this year! Last year, I made these  but I didn't get a chance to actually make anything to send to Cookies For iPads. This year, I made a promise to myself that I would send some cookies out, and although I only made nine cookies, I did it. AND I made a tutorial, AND I talked Kim into letting me share it with you!

Again, I made these really simple to do. What you'll need is:

1. A cookie (any shape will do, base coated in the color of your choice. You can use royal icing or glaze- any icing that hardens to the touch. Light colors will work best- I used a light ivory. Allow the base coat to dry for several hours or over night.)

2. A puzzle piece (raid your kids' toy box.)

3. Glad Press and Seal

4. An airbrush or Wilton's color mist in a color that complements and will show up well on your base coat.

5. Piping icing in the same color as, or a complementary color of, your cookie's base coat.

1- Using the Press and Seal, wrap your puzzle piece. Make sure to press it into the contours. This will protect the puzzle piece from the spray, and also protect the cookies from the grimy fingerprints that your children have surely left all over that puzzle piece. 

2- Lay the puzzle piece in the center of the cookie, hold it in place with the handle of a paintbrush, or a chopstick, and lightly spray over it with the airbrush color. 

3- I went over a second time keeping a smaller diameter in the second pass in order to make a shaded effect on the cookie. Carefully remove the puzzle piece. Wait a few minutes for the color to dry.

4- Use the piping icing to outline the shape of the puzzle.

You can stop there. I kept going and made my cookie the shape of a rose. 

As I was making these, I forgot exactly WHY I had chosen to use a flower shape. Certainly the technique would work on a circle, plaque, or especially a heart. You could even move the piece around and create a collage of puzzle pieces on the cookie instead of only one central puzzle shape. When I try to remember why I chose a flower specifically, I can only think of words like: individuality, beauty, uniqueness, variety.... 

Thank you Kim, for letting me share with you today!

______________________________________________________________________-

Thank you so much Stephanie!  I love these cookies...and you too!

Light it up Blue for Autism Awareness - Simple Blue Landscape Lights

April is Autism Awareness Month!  

Did you know that?  It is sort of a big deal round these parts, at least here at The Cookie Puzzle

Last year, I went all out.  I had a post every day, almost all of them from special guest bloggers.
If you missed it last year, you can read all about it Here

This year, well life is crazy here, time is short, and while I might have a few guest post, I am going to keep it pretty simple here.

Today, I want to kick it off by helping your get ready for World Autism Awareness Day!
All over the world, buildings, homes, towns, and monuments will be Lighting it up BLUE! You too can join in the fun and support!

The first thing you will need is some solar landscape lights and a blue permanent marker.

I got my lights at Walmart for 97 cents....the marker came from the dollar store, they have lights too, but the lights were cheaper at Walmart, because at the Dollar Store, they were a dollar, hey...I saved money, Win!

Take off the top of the light, they twist off, and use the marker to color the clear plastic blue with the marker.  Try to do it in smooth one stroke motions, avoiding going over what you have already colored.

Continue 'coloring' all the lights you have, they dry pretty fast.

 While the top is off, make sure you pull the orange tab out, it activates the solar part of the light.

 And just like that..you are ready to LIGHT IT UP BLUE for 

AUTISM AWARENESS!

These are so simple, you can make them today, and be ready to show your support tomorrow for

World Autism Awareness Day.

I hope to see the whole world Blue tomorrow!  I know I will be wearing blue...show your support, and wear blue too!

I also want to remind you that you still have a few days to purchase a ThirtyOne bag from the Autism Walk Fundraiser, that was featured on my blog last week..great bags....supporting a great cause!
You can make a purchase HERE!


Until next time...


Hugs!

This post might be linked up at the link parties found Here