Calvin & Hobbes Cookies - I Didn't Forget!

Finally, as promised I've made some more Calvin and Hobbes cookies. Unfortunately, not an entire scene, just a few cookies. You see, with spring having sprung I'm having trouble coming up with time to work on them. There's gardening to be done, outdoors play to be done, fresh air to enjoy, not to mention the usual slew of 'stuff'. I just can't seem to get motivated by baking right now. Not with all the chirping going on outside, and all the sprouting and the warm breezes beckoning and the whir of bike tires and the lure of the picnic basket. It's been fun, and I'm not calling it quits altogether, just taking a break.


So, for your enjoyment here is Spaceman Spiff, ready to explore and ready to encounter some aliens:

And here's Miss Wormwood, hauling Calvin off to the principal after some mischief or other:

And finally, Calvin and Hobbes off to explore the jungle together:

The quality on these isn't quite what I'd like but I kept looking out the window, distracted by the warmth and the growing things and couldn't quite get my mind around them. It was fun to finally get to work with some more colors, but boy! Let me tell you! These cookies are 100 times more difficult than the snowmen! A lot more free-hand piping went into these and there were several botched cookies as I tried to get a few of them at least, to come out half-way presentable!

Once the weather changes back to cold, snowy, sleety, slushy, frozen-ness and I'm looking for some indoor work to keep me busy I'll pick it up again. I still have several I'd like to see cookie-fied and this is a fun project. I'll pick up my Calvin & Hobbes books occasionally through the spring and summer to find some that will cookify easily for when I'm ready to get back into it.

On a related note, a couple of months back I was contacted by Joel Schroeder, the Director of a film in the works called Dear Mr. Watterson. It's a film about the impact of Bill Watterson and his comic told from the perspective of fans and readers. So this weekend the hubster shot some footage of me talking about the cookies and about Calvin and Hobbes. That was quite an experience! I am most assuredly not the type of person who is comfortable in front of a camera. But, after much giggling, some stuttering and a lot of 'what should I say now?' we got something put together and it's on it's way back. I wonder if any of it will make it into the film? I guess I just have to wait and see. In the meantime, check out the project here.

Quack!

Strawberry Squirrel

I know! I know! Where's the Calvin and Hobbes cookies I promised three weeks ago? (Was it three weeks? Or only two, I forgot.) I haven't forgotten them. They are in progress, but I've been so completely, incredibly busy lately, and then with the spectacular weather this weekend, I made no progress on them. I spent the weekend riding bikes, picnicing, gardening, walking in the sunshine, and just overall enjoying myself and my children. I needed a break! So, needless to say, no cookies. But I still have some batches planned.

In the meantime, I did find time to squeeze in a little creativity of the paint-and-paper kind recently. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is "Strawberry Squirrel".

Quack!

I Know What It Feels Like To Be Medusa

I know what it feels like to be Medusa. Not so much the turning people to stone part, but the snakes on the head part. In my case, not actual snakes, but it feels like it. Let me explain.

I have long hair. when Sweet Pea was born it was waist-length and whenever I carried or held her she would hold a handful of my hair in her fist like a security blanket. She loved it! In the years since, it has become shorter and is now shoulder length, but Doodlebug, like his sister, has always loved it - holding it, fondling it, burying his face in it, burying his hands in it, grabbing it as he runs by, swinging from it like a vine (It happened once. It was not pleasant!) Recently, the Hubsterama was out late, so Doodlebug wheedled his way into my bed. He's snuggly and warm and it doesn't happen often so I let him stay. As soon as the lights went out, his hands reached for my hair. And they wiggled and curled and pulled and fondled and wriggled and curved and flipped and flopped and scraped. I felt like my head was covered in snakes. Have you ever tried to sleep with snakes crawling all over your head? I haven't, but I imagine it would be similar. I was too tired to make him stop - it would only have started up again in a minute anyway and I knew it would only last until he feel asleep. And about 10 minutes later it finally stopped. After a few half-hearted restarts, it finally ceased and we both slept.

But for some reason I wasn't sleeping well. Maybe it was the hot little body next to me (although I'm used to hot big body next to me most nights) or maybe it was the hands still twined in my hair (but thankfully not moving). Who knows. But Hubsterama, the poor man, had to face Medusa's wrath when he came home. He came in late, all wired after a writer's meeting and complaining about a sore muscle. I could tell he was wide awake and wanted to chat. On and on. Endlessly. Ad nauseum. At 2 am. I was sleeping. So I said something to the effect of:

"Shut up! I'm sleeping."

I felt bad but was too, um, sleeping to care at the time. Sorry sweetie!

PS. I was right about the Calvin and Hobbes cookies. I've had almost no time to work on them this week/week-end. And the time I did have I squandered away playing Mario Kart on the Wii and doing Wii Fit. But here's some of the pictures I'm thinking of cookifying (That's duck for 'recreating in cookie form').

I plan on getting my butt in gear and having a new Calvin and Hobbes cookie post for next week.

Quack!

Calvin & Hobbes Cookies Part 8 –Spring is in the Air

This is part 8 in my series of the recreation of various Calvin & Hobbes comics in cookie form.

In this comic a trio of snowmen herald the coming of spring. Of course, the coming of spring is not a good thing for snowmen! This is the original comic here.

Here I am just starting out. I’ve got the cookies baked and ready for decorating:

And here it one of them outlined. The signs are handmade out of paper and toothpicks. The signs were actually the very first thing I did in this entire series of cookie making. But then I decided to hold off on posting this since it has a spring theme. I thought I’d wait until spring was almost here. And, maybe I’m being optimistic, but I’m hoping it’s almost here. I’m sure we’ll get another snow storm or two before all is said and done, but we’re getting close!!

And finally, here is the finished product:

I hope you like it. I hope to have another Calvin & Hobbes cookie post next week, but I had planned to get started on it this weekend and as I write this it’s already 2:00 PM on Sunday and I haven't done anything more than make the dough. And finding time for this during the week is not easy. So, if I can squeeze it in, look for a brand new batch, with a brand new theme next week. If I can’t squeeze it in, look for it the following week. It will be worth the wait!


Quack!

Calvin & Hobbes Cookies Part 7 –Unsuspecting Townsfolk

This is part 7 in my series of the recreation of various Calvin & Hobbes comics in cookie form. In this comic Calvin prepares to sled down a hill into a group of unsuspecting townsfolk. This is one of Snicker’s favorites. He really appreciates this sort of thing. He’s really enjoying looking through my Calvin & Hobbes books with me and has fun drawing the comics on his own. This is the original comic here.

Here is the work in progress. All the little snowmen were fun to make (but not so much fun to frost – too small!)

And here’s a closeup (slightly blurry) of the Calvin cookie in progress. Once again, I had fun working with a little more color and this Calvin came out much much better than my last Calvin cookie.

And here is the finished product. I’m not real happy with this one. The photo didn’t come out quite like I would have liked and the snowmen came out too messy. It’s hard to frost those tiny little things! But they were mighty tasty! Just the right size - bite size!

Next week will be my last of the snowman series, then I’ll be moving on to some more colorful scenes and plan to have a lot of fun (and make quite a mess of course!)  I hope you'll check back each week for more.


Quack!

Calvin & Hobbes Cookies Part 6 – Bowling Snowmen

This is part 6 in my series of the recreation of various Calvin & Hobbes comics in cookie form. In this comic a snowman uses his friend’s head as a bowling ball. Ouch! This is the original comic here.

And here's the work in progress:

 I made a few extra pins just in case. Turns out I didn't need them. They were delicious!

And here is the finished product:

This was part of a batch I made including last week’s cookies and the frosting was a bit too thin and I was a bit too impatient and didn’t wait for it to dry completely, so there is a little bit of leakage from the bowling snowman. But other than that, another recreation I am happy with.

Another couple of snowmen posts to come over the next few weeks, then I’m hoping spring will be upon us. Less snow, fewer snowmen, more color. I can’t wait. I've had a request for a Spaceman Spiff and that sounds like a great idea. Stay tuned.

Quack!

Calvin & Hobbes Cookies Part 5 - Those Poor Snowmen!

This is part 5 in my series of the recreation of various Calvin & Hobbes comics in cookie form.
In this comic we see terrible things happening to several snowmen - hanging, shot with a cannon and being buried alive. This is the original comic here. Usually I have been doing just the last frame of the comic, or part of the last frame. This time I recreated three frames of the comic.

Here is the work in progress. Cookies are cutout, baked, and outlined in black frosting:

And since this involved Calvin in the third frame, I got to use some additional colors this time. (This particular comic is black and white, but I looked at some full-color comics with Calvin and chose my colors based on what he was wearing there).

Here’s the first frame. That canon shot a canon ball straight through him!

And the second frame:

And the last. Unfortunately, Calvin didn’t come out great. His nose is way way way too big.

Oh those poor snowmen!

It was nice to get to use a little more color in this one. Once I'm done with the snowmen series I think I'll move on to something a little more colorful. Calvin, Hobbes, springtime, outdoors, who knows? Time to peruse through my Calvin and Hobbes books for ideas. But until I get to that point, there are several more Snowmen scenes to come. Stay tuned!

Quack!

Calvin & Hobbes Cookies Part 4 - Shrunken Heads

This is part 4 in my series of the recreation of various Calvin & Hobbes comics in cookie form.

This week’s Calvin and Hobbes recreation is one of Snicker’s favorites – a snowman in a safari hat with a pot of shrunken heads.  This is the original comic here.

When I started this I made the cookie shapes for several comics at once, and froze the ones I wasn’t yet ready to complete.  Unfortunately, some of them didn’t make it through the freezer very well and were cracked and broken when I took them out. Fortunately, I had made 3 of each cookie anticipating broken cookies, mishaps and minor disasters. That was a very good thing since several key cookies had broken.

Of course with broken cookies there is another advantage. I get to eat the broken ones! Yum! I sometimes end up with a lot of leftover cookies if I don’t need to use the duplicates, but hey, that’s OK. Nothing wrong with extra cookies!

So, here we are. This shows the cookie-recreation in progress – all outlined and waiting to be filled with white frosting. So tasty. So yummy. But no, I can’t eat them yet. Not until after I’m all done!

I wasn’t sure I would be able to get this comic to work with the cookies standing up like my previous recreations because one of the snowmen is holding another cookie. I actually put the stick-arms into the cookie, but it still isn’t strong enough to hold up another cookie. Not to mention how the heck would I balance it there. So, before trying anything that was likely to result in broken cookies, swearing and frosting smeared on the ceilings and walls, I laid them flat and tried it that way. Not bad, but not quite what I wanted.

But then I came up with an excellent solution. With some help from Snickers, some white thread and a lot of patience, we got it to work. The best photo came out somewhat blurry and since I was in too much of a hurry and the frosting wasn’t quite dry yet, when I stood them up to take the photos, there was some drippage. (I don’t care if that’s not a real word. It sounds good, so I’m using it!)

And here’s another shot, a little clearer:

Despite a few issues with balance and dripping, I think it came out pretty well.

And since some of you asked about the recipe I use, here it is:

Butter Cookies
1 ½ cups butter
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
½ cup heavy cream
4 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon vanilla

• Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and mix until blended. Mix in heavy cream and vanilla. Add sifted flour and baking powder and stir until well blended. (I usually just dump in all the flour and then mix it with my hands because the dough is too stiff to use a mixer.)
• Chill the dough for 2-4 hours.
• (After removing it from the refrigerator, depending on how long you refrigerated it you may have to wait until it warms just a bit so you can roll and handle it.)
• Roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thick and cut with cookie cutters.
• Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.
• Makes 8 ½ dozen cookies.

And for the frosting I just used 10x/confectioner’s sugar and water. Add the water slowly until it’s the consistency you want. You can also add a little vanilla or butter rum or lemon for flavor if you want. In this case I didn’t but it is nice with some vanilla. And of course, color it whatever colors you want. If you use liquid food color, keep in mind that will thin it somewhat as well.

I hope you like it. And, as before, stay tuned for more. I have at least four more snowman comic recreations to come, then I plan to tackle some featuring Calvin and Hobbes. I can’t wait to make a Hobbes cookie!


Quack!

Calvin & Hobbes Cookies Part 3 - Snowman Sports

This is a continuation of my recreation of various Calvin & Hobbes comics in cookie form.

This time I chose to recreate a comic where the snowmen were participating in various sports (or a sort). This is the original comic here.

Here's a picture of the decorating process:

And a picture of the finished work:

I hope you like it. Leave a comment and let me know what you think! And stay tuned for more Calvin & Hobbes Comic recreations.

Quack!

Calvin & Hobbes Cookies Part 2 - House of Horrors

This is a continuation of my recent post regarding Recreating the Awesomeness that is Calvin and Hobbes.  For my second in the series I chose the Snowmen House of Horrors comic.

There were actually fewer mishaps with this one than the last one, but it was somewhat tricky to get it set up right. I struggled with the sled and the snowman arms, but I was able to come up with something I was happy with - a cardboard sled and real stick arms. Only one cookie broke during construction (the tree snapped off) and for some reason, all three of the tennis racket snowman pieces broke when they came out of the oven - the racket broke off from the cookie. But with a little cardboard and glue everything was all set. (Just don't eat that one! The glue is non-toxic, but still.)

Here are some pictures of the process:

The initial outlining in frosting:

Some close-ups:

 

 

The left-over pieces when all was said and done. (Time to eat the pieces. Anyone hungry?)

And this is the completed masterpiece:

All in all another fun project! Stay tuned for more.

Update: I just found out that Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin and Hobbes has been interviewed (for the first time in 15 years). What timing! Check it out here.

Quack!

Recreating the Awesomeness that is Calvin and Hobbes

I love Calvin and Hobbes. It was the best comic strip ever! I was very disappointed when Bill Watterson decided to stop making them back in 1995. There really has been nothing since that I've liked quite as much. I like just about any Calvin and Hobbes strip, but one of my favorite types are the strips where Calvin is making snowmen. I decided to pay homage to Bill Watterson and Calvin and Hobbes and the snowmen in my own way.

I figured, the best way to pay homage to a boy and his tiger and his incredible snowman-making skills was to recreate some of those scenes in one of my favorite mediums. Cookies! Yes. That's right. I said cookies! I decided to bake cookies to try to recreate the awesomeness that is Calvin and Hobbes.

What? Did you think I was going to leave my nice warm kitchen and go out into the snow and make a snowman sculpture like this one? Awesome idea, but no, you were wrong.

First I had to do my research and find some of my favorite comics that I thought would recreate well in cookie form. Once I found the ones I liked, I blew them up to cookie size and printed them out. Originally I was going to try doing it all freehand, but let's not get crazy. I decided it would be more accurate to use the actual comics as a tracing template (not to mention easier).

After my research I made some cookie dough. I used my old standby butter cookie recipe. It's almost a shortbread recipe, but with a few extra ingredients like eggs and baking powder. It makes a tasty cookie that holds its shape wonderfully and isn't too terribly fragile. (For a cookie, that is).

I cut out my template shapes from the enlarged, printed comics, laid them on the dough and cut around them.

As I was doing the tracing and cutting, both Snickers and Sweet Pea, at separate times, without being aware that the other had said it, both said, "Mom! You're weird!" In exactly the same tone of voice. What? Me? Weird? For recreating old comics out of cookie dough and frosting? Nah!

Then I baked those little suckers until they were done. Once they were cool, it was time to make frosting. I made a simple confectioner’s sugar frosting in a variety of colors and went to town. While the kids were busy frosting some heart-shaped cookies, I set to work on my creations.

Click here to see the original comic that I decided to start with. The last panel with the snowmen and the car is the one I recreated.

And this is my finished cookie recreation:

This is just the first of many Calvin and Hobbes cookie recreations I plan on doing. I had a lot of fun with this and hardly swore at all. There were a few mishaps. Of course there were. But it's all fun. And tasty too!

I have some others planned, and if you have any favorites that you'd like to see cookiefied, let me know in the comments!

Stay tuned!

Quack!