PNW Beer Moms

  Having my first kid really got me into baking. I couldnt afford to hire someone to do all the cute things I wanted to have (thanks to Pinterest boards!) at my daughters first birthday, but darn it! Why not try it myself!? Afterall, YouTube and Google's gets you far! Well over almost 5 years of first birthdays and baby showers and holidays, I'm slightly better than an amateur!  With a little foresight and persistence, my new mantra is "Anything you can do, I can (learn to) do better! (or atleast equal... or close!)"     Each project has led me to new questions and bigger ideas, which calls for more problem solving. My latest cookie making adventure led me to ask the question, "Can you make your own cookie cutter?" And guess what? You can! And it's the most Beer Mommiest thing ever! I got to try it out myself last week while helping PNW Beer Mom Brandy make some Thanksgiving cookies. We needed to cut out a bagillion feathers for a Turkey cookie platter

         There's little I hate more than finding a recipe online and having to read a gazillion blog pages about how the recipe came to be, all the good memories about someone's grandma, or the birthday party that was a mess or a success, and so on.  Just tell me the recipe already! But, no, I have to skim through it just in case there is some pertinent knowledge to be gained about the recipe in all that story telling, and usually there is some advice about not over mixing, or tricks of the trade mixed in, but damn, ten minuets later we reach the recipe! So I'm not going to do it.      Here's the abbreviated story.  I like baking. I've learned baking from scratch is just as easy as box cakes, REALLY! You already have the ingredients in your home.  A few tips: Always scoop your flour with a spoon into a measuring cup, don't compact it, this way your baking will be lighter and fluffier and not too heavy.  Don't over mix the flour into the batter, this way