We are pretty lucky living off the California Coast because quite often we can enjoy the dolphins frolicking in the Pacific Ocean when we head to the beach for the day. As this picture was taken last Friday of our first trip to the beach. Every Friday is designated as "BEACH DAY"! It is the only day the girls' are mostly scheduled off for the day, no soccer, no volleyball, I say mostly because there are a couple of soccer games on a Friday but for the most part...we are off! Beach days here we come!
The gang is all here!! Here is our group picture of all the kids, they had a great time surfing, boogie- boarding, body surfing, playing football, roasting marshmallows and getting stung by a Stingray...oh that was not so fun, MacKenzie got stung on her big toe when going out to surf. Yikes! Gotta do the Stingray shuffle, some people need to learn the hard way. I told her but she is hard-headed, I wonder where she gets that from....don't you be pointing your finger this way at me...wink, wink. She is her Mother's Daughter like I said before in previous posts.
We were able to nab a pit, so we had a bonfire when the sun went down and stayed late into the evening until they kicked us out at 10 p.m.
This is picture looking out into Long Beach, California with all the ships with their cargo landing at the docks. I thought it looked picturesesque with the sunset and the skyline. Anyways....back to the title of this post California Cookies. Are these not completely adorbs?!!
When I saw this Cookie on Pinterest, damn you Pinterest!! Well, really I LOVE you!! I knew I needed to make them. Mine are a bit more simple with the white royal icing and the red heart.
If you've been reading my blog for very long you know I'm a bit obsessed with the California state shape at the present time, go HERE to see what I mean ...yes I've been buying pillows with my home state, making a surf spots sign, I even saw a frying pan that I covet, and cheese board in the shape of California...so when I saw this California State cookie cutter it was a no brainer. Not only do I live in the gorgeous and sunny state of California, my Daughters {as did their grandparents} go to California High School. I'm sure this little cutter will get put to work a lot! As I said, my California cookie is more simple, I added the red heart instead of the Hibiscus flower, I did find some purple flowers at my local Joanne's Fabric but they were too large for my cookie. I'll have to check out my local Cake Decorating store for a smaller flower for the next time I make these cookies and you know there is going to be a next time!
Look how adorable these cookies came out!! I used my super yummy, easy-peasy sugar cookie recipe. I'll share the sugar cookie recipe at the end of this post.
Now there is a reason I made the California cookies, MacKenzie had her end of the year banquet for Club Volleyball.
Here she is receiving her 110% award from the coaches!! Whoop, whoop, great job Kenz! We are proud of you! She worked really hard this season and had a great season with her team, made new friends and learned new skills. She went from playing a hitter to playing back row.
Not only do they get awards from the Coaches, the girls gave each other awards, they picked names and then they create an award for their chosen player. Here Kenzie is with her BFF and she gave her the Poor Immune Award, she has Asthma and often gets sick because of it. Poor baby, could be all the plants we have growing here in California brings on lots of allergies.
Her other BFF had her and gave her the "Sunburnt Award", because she is always getting sunburnt...she swears she puts on sunscreen! I don't know about that. Her teammate got her a sunhat and tons of sunscreen. Now if only she'll remember to reapply. After this last beach trip on Friday I think she may have learned her lesson about reapplying after going in the ocean. It was quite overcast, as many people think if it's not sunny your not going to get sunburnt but the rays poke through the clouds. Wear sunscreen PEOPLE!
Their Club team is called So. Cal. United, that's the reason I made the California cookies...
For the last few years I've been using this sugar cookie recipe from Williams-Sonomas' Message in a Cookie kit that I really like.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sugar Cookies~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ingredients~
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
12 Tbs. or 1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, I always use Madagascar Bourbon from World Market, great flavor
Food coloring Gel {optional}
What To Do~
Over a small bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on high speed for 2 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium, slowly add the sugar and a few drops of food color { I omitted this I wanted mine natural} gel and beat for 2 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and beat for 1 minute, stopping the mixer once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stop the mixer and add half of the flour mixture. Beat on low speed until most of the flour has been absorbed. Add the remaining flour and continue beating until the flour has been absorbed and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl, 2-3 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into 2 equal balls. Shape into a disk and wrap separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for a least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let stand for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.Dip cookie cutter in flour and cut out and lay cut out cookies on parchment paper, bake until golden brown around the edges, about 12-15 minutes. Makes about 15 cookies.
Now for the Royal Icing Part....this is my "Go to Video" when I'm decorating cookies with royal icing. I used this recipe when I did the Ball Jar cookies, which came out great. I like how clear and easy it was to follow. He has lots more videos on his youtube channel.
Go Here for the California Cookie cutter from Amazon or I've seen them on Etsy and Ann Clark carries many different States that you can choose to show your own State Pride in cookies. Happy Baking and now I'm off to do some Swimsuit shopping...oh boy!