Make Dessert Sparkle: Glittery Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bombs

Just a dash of glitz and glamour can brighten the entire room … and your whole day!

So the next time you’re hosting a lavish dinner at home, bring some razzle-dazzle to your soiree by showering your dessert with sparkles. To help you find the perfect recipe for your party, we gave our buttercream truffles a scintillating makeover with extra edible glitter, fresh ’n’ fancy raspberries, and Cheryl’s delectable cutout cookies. Here’s how to make a delicious treat that really shines!

What You’ll Need

12 Cheryl’s unfrosted cutout cookies

Two tubs Cheryl’s buttercream frosting (any flavor)

30-70 raspberries (30 for truffles, 40 for garnish)

24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Edible glitter

Directions

1. First, mix the cutout cookies in a blender until they’ve turned into fine crumbs. If you don’t have a blender, the cookies are so soft that you can simply seal them in a big sandwich bag and crush them by hand! Twelve cookies will yield about 3 cups of cookie crumbs. We split the crumbs into two 1 ½-cup batches so we could make two different flavored truffles.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, blend the cookie crumbs and two tubs of room-temperature buttercream frosting in any flavor of your choice. Since we split the cookie crumbs into two bowls of 1 ½ cups crumbs each, we used one tub of fudge buttercream frosting in one bowl, and one tub of vanilla buttercream frosting in the other. Stir until the crumbs and frosting are well-combined. Cool the mixture in the freezer for a half hour.
   
3. Once the cookie-frosting combo is nice and chilly, take it out of the fridge. Take 1 tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball, then flatten it out into a disk with your palms. Wrap the cookie-buttercream disk all the way around a raspberry and roll it into a ball again. Repeat this step until you’ve used up all of your cookie-buttercream mix. Two tubs of frosting will yield about 30 truffles. Chill the truffles in the freezer for another half hour.
   
4. Pour 24 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips into a bowl and melt them in the microwave for 2 minutes, making sure to stop and stir the chocolate every 30 seconds. Once the chocolate is completely melted and smooth, take the truffles out of the refrigerator and use a fork to individually dip them into the chocolate. Set them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, and then sprinkle them with lots of edible glitter (or any other sparkly topping you might like) before the chocolate cools. Pop them in the freezer one last time for a half hour or until the chocolate hardens.

For an elegant presentation that’ll make your truffles look even more radiant, serve them on a shimmery cake platter alongside some champagne or sparkling juice. Don’t forget to drop a couple of raspberries into each champagne glass; they’ll look like brilliant little jewels for your drinks!

What other kinds of glitzy desserts would you make for your sparkle-me-pretty soiree?

How to Make DIY Chalkboard Cookie Jar Labels

Maybe you’re looking for a better way to organize your kitchen. Maybe you’d like to make a really cool birthday gift for a friend. Or maybe you just want to challenge yourself to a new DIY project. Whatever the occasion may be, a personalized cookie jar—filled with plenty of delectable cookies—is just what the doctor ordered! And making one is easy as 1-2-3 with these fun (and reusable!) chalkboard cookie jar labels. Just paint them, cut them out and stick ’em on a cookie jar and you’re good to go. Here’s how to make them:

What You’ll Need

Glass cookie jar
Reusable clear window decal sheets
Chalkboard paint
Sponge brush
Cardstock
Cookie jar label template
Scissors

Directions

1. You can find a pack of clear window decal sheets at any office supply store. At a standard 8 ½ by 11 inch size, they’re printer-friendly too. They attach to any glass surface, they’re easy to peel and they can be used over and over again. Take one clear window decal sheet and lay it flat on a newspaper-covered table. Make sure the printable side is facing up—not the side that will be peeled off. With your sponge brush, cover the printable side of the sheet with chalkboard paint. Set it aside until it dries completely.
   
2. Print out this free cookie jar label template onto a piece of cardstock, or print out any other shape you’d like for your label. Carefully cut out the shape from the cardstock.
   
3. Using the cardstock shape as a stencil, trace the shape onto the dry chalkboard decal sheet. Depending on the size of your label, you can probably fit a few shapes onto one decal sheet. Cut the shapes out of the chalkboard decal sheet to create the finished label.
   
4. Peel the backing off the label, and then stick it directly onto your cookie jar.

That’s it! Now you have a totally cool, totally customized cookie jar that you can give to your best bud … or keep for yourself. All you need to do now is use chalk to write a cute message on the label, and then fill the jar with your favorite cookies! You can make as many different label shapes as you want, and switch them up whenever you need a change. The labels are also super-easy to peel off when the cookie jar has to be washed.

Because you can use them again and again, these awesome labels will last you a lifetime … even though those scrumptious cookies inside the jar won’t!

What creative shapes will you be making with your DIY chalkboard cookie jar labels?

5 Totally Practical Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Mom never stops giving her family all she’s got, so why not surprise her on Mother’s Day with a gift that’ll keep on giving back to her? A fresh batch of Cheryl’s cookies beautifully arranged in a fun, reusable package is a doubly sweet gift idea: The scrumptious treats will make her tummy happy, and the handy container will make her life easy. Here are five totally practical Mother’s Day presents that’ll last long after the cookies are gone!

Practical Mother’s Day Gift Idea No. 1: Mother’s Day Watering Can Cookie Flowers

Any mom with a green thumb will love this one: Treat her to a dozen yummy flower-shaped cookies and help her keep her real-life flowers looking great! This sugary arrangement comes in a pretty metal watering can that your mama can use to water her garden. Or, she can turn it into a vase for fresh flowers and display it as a centerpiece on her dining room table!

Practical Mother’s Day Gift Idea No. 2: Island Margarita

If anyone in the world deserves a delicious island getaway, it’s your hard-working mama. Aside from overflowing with tropical flavored buttercream frosted cookies, this durable plastic margarita glass also makes the ultimate party accessory. Next time your mom throws a BBQ bash, she can use the oversized glass to serve drinks or appetizers. Here’s a fun serving tip: For a chic hors d’oeuvre, Mom can hook shrimp along the entire rim of the glass and fill the center with cocktail sauce for dipping.

Practical Mother’s Day Gift Idea No. 3: Spring Ceramic Basket Cutout Cookies

This gorgeous keepsake ceramic basket doesn’t just hold 12 of Cheryl’s world-famous frosted cutout cookies. With a little imagination, it has tons of potential uses around the home! Mom can use it to serve bread or dessert at the dinner table, or organize small items like silverware or craft supplies. It’ll help keep Mom’s home tidy and add a refreshing spring touch to her décor for years to come!

Practical Mother’s Day Gift Idea No. 4: Spring Basket

Packed to the brim with frosted cut-out cookies, snack-size brownies, sweet pretzel clusters and butter shortbread cookies, this pretty-in-pink basket is infinitely functional. Use these tips on packing the perfect picnic basket and head out for a Mom-and-me lunch in the sun, or check out these 30 different uses for baskets from 1-800-Baskets.com for even more savvy ideas!

Practical Mother’s Day Gift Idea No. 5: Large Mother’s Day Cookie and Candy Flower Pot

This tasty bouquet of Cheryl’s buttercream-frosted cookies and candy sits in a metal bucket that’s not only cute as a button, but also super-efficient! Mama will have a blast discovering all the different ways she can use it indoors or outside. She can fill it with ice and turn it into a mini cooler for drinks, pack it with soil and convert it into a flower pot, or make it a caddy for anything from gardening tools to kitchen utensils.

So which practical Mother’s Day gift will you be surprising your mom with, and how will she use it to simplify her life?

Pack up the Perfect Picnic Basket for National Picnic Day

National Picnic Day is on April 23, so skip the kitchen table and head outside for an al fresco meal instead! With sweet bursts of sunlight and plenty of fresh green grass to lie out in, spring is the absolute best time to have an outdoor picnic. Not sure what to pack? Small, easy-to-handle individual servings are the way to go. Here are some of our favorite picnic recipes, plus a handy checklist to make sure you don’t forget any essentials for your perfect basket.

Picnic Basket Recipe Ideas

Drinks

A refreshing day outside calls for a cool, delicious, thirst-quenching drink. Start off your picnic with an ice-cold and perfectly portable punch that’ll get everyone excited. The party experts at Celebrations.com have tons of picnic punch recipes that can double as drinks for kids and adults. Once you’ve stirred up your favorite recipe, just separate it into two thermoses: Add alcohol to one container for the adults, and keep the alcohol-free version in the other thermos for the kiddos.

Salad

No need to drag along a gigantic salad bowl that barely fits in your picnic basket. These mini Bacon Salad Singles from Celebrations.com are delicious, and they’re made for you to eat by hand—no forks necessary! (Oh, and the bacon is definitely a plus!) Just roll them up, individually cover them in plastic wrap, and hand them out to everyone at the picnic as a fuss-free appetizer.

Main Course

Keeping the bite-sized theme going, why not pack a variety of tiny, separately wrapped sandwiches as the main event of your picnic? Your family and friends will love being able to sample all the different flavors of these scrumptious finger sandwich recipes from the pros at Celebrations.com. But they aren’t just fun and easy to eat; they’re also really simple to make ahead of time, so you can spend less time prepping in the kitchen and more time soaking up the sun!

Dessert

What could be a handier—or tastier—treat than a batch of fresh, unbelievably soft cookies? Yep, we can’t think of anything more picnic-friendly either! The beauty of these Cheryl’s cookie baskets isn’t just the delectably tiny treats that your picnic guests are sure to devour within minutes. They also come in a gorgeous picnic basket that you can use to pack all your food and supplies! Both the cookies and the basket are delivered straight to your doorstep, so you don’t have to worry about wasting time baking or shopping for the perfect picnic basket.

Checklist: What to Pack in Your Picnic Basket

Now that you have your entire picnic menu figured out, here are a few last-minute items to throw in your basket before you head out the door:

• Napkins and paper towels
• Blanket
• Thermos
• Ice packs
• Disposable cups, plates and utensils
• Extra food containers and aluminum foil for leftovers

Will you be going out for a picnic to celebrate National Picnic Day? Tell us where your favorite picnic spot is!

5 Fun Activities to Celebrate National Siblings Day

It’s April 10, and you know what that means: It’s National Siblings Day! Today we celebrate our brothers and sisters, who are always there to help us, laugh with us and, yes, occasionally torture us. We know your lifelong relationship is like no other, and no one can bring a smile to your face quite like they do. So to thank them for being the awesome siblings that they are, try one of these fun National Siblings Day activities!

Recreate your childhood pictures.

Have some awkward throwback photos with your sibling? Yep, we all do! Instead of burying them where no human eyes can ever see them again, why not have some fun with them on National Siblings Day? Grab your bro or sis and wear the same geeky, outdated outfits that you’re wearing in the photo (suspenders and all). Then strike the same pose that you did as kids, and smile for the camera. Now you have the same exact picture as kids and as adults! You’re guaranteed to have some wild laughs when you see how much you’ve both changed over the years.

Be kids for a day.

No matter how old you and your siblings get, you’ll always be kids at heart—especially when you’re hanging out together. So have some fun on National Siblings Day and relive your carefree childhood days. Do something you both loved doing together as youngsters, like playing video games, going to the amusement park or battling each other in laser tag. There’s nothing wrong with a little laid-back bro time!

Enjoy a girls’ or guys’ night out.

Sometimes ladies need a good no-boys-allowed talk with their sisters—and the same goes for guys and their brothers too. Some things just can’t be said to siblings of the opposite sex! So if you want to get real personal with your sib, bond with each other over a girly or manly activity. Ladies: Hair and nail salons are the best places to catch up on gossip with your sis. Fellas: Enjoy a good bro talk over beers at a bar or sporting event.

Test how well you know each other.

Your siblings know exactly how to make you laugh—and especially how to make you tick. (Chances are they used both against you while you were growing up!) So how much fun would it be to see just how well they know you? Put your brotherhood to the test and challenge each other to a game of trivia. Ask each other questions about your deepest, darkest secrets. If you know each other inside-out like you think you do, none of you should have trouble getting the answers right. And if there’s something you don’t know, well, you’ll learn it now!

Have a sleepover.

Remember the good old days when you and your siblings would stay up late on the weekends to watch movies and chow down on snacks? You can still do that as an adult! Host a National Siblings Day sleepover at your house: Grab some cookies and other sweet treats, and have your brothers and sisters bring over their favorite DVDs or funny home videos for an all-night marathon … grown-up style!

What other fun activities do you have planned for National Siblings Day?

How to Make Buttercream Truffles With Cheryl’s Buttercream Frosting

You already know that Cheryl’s buttercream frosting is scrumptious enough to eat straight out of the tub. But wanna know an even better way to enjoy that soft, sugary goodness? Dipping it in chocolate, of course! Check out this easy buttercream truffles recipe and find out how you can turn your favorite icing into bite-sized pieces of chocolate heaven!

What You’ll Need

2 (or more) tubs Cheryl’s buttercream frosting in your favorite flavors
2 12-ounce bags dark or semisweet chocolate chips
Sprinkles or other toppings (optional)

Directions

1. Refrigerate the buttercream frosting until it’s hardened but still moldable. Using a spoon, scoop out a teaspoon of frosting and quickly roll it into a ball with your hands. Repeat until you’ve used up the entire tub of frosting. Place all the buttercream balls onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper and place them in the freezer for a half hour.
2. While the buttercream balls are in the freezer, place the baking chocolate into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave the chocolate until it is completely melted, stirring the chocolate every 30 seconds.
3. Using a fork, dip the frozen buttercream balls into the chocolate and place them back onto the cookie sheet. (Do it quickly so the buttercream doesn’t melt!) Top the truffles with sprinkles or any other topping of your choice. (We used edible glitter.) Freeze the truffles again until the chocolate coating has hardened.

You can even add some extra flavor and texture to your truffles by topping them with an exciting garnish like crunchy coconut, crushed almonds, or cookie crumbs. Prop them up on a pretty cake platter and you have a gourmet dessert that’s perfect for any occasion!

How will you create your own sensational bonbons out of your favorite icing flavors?

How To: Serve Cheryl’s Easter Cookies

 

When your Easter cookies arrive at your doorstep, we bet you’ll be excited to serve them at your Easter celebration on Sunday. So, we put together a cute and festive way to use your favorite cookies for the perfect dessert table. 

First, you will need a box (or two) of our adorable Frosted Easter Cutouts. Next, you’ll need to take a trip to your local grocery store or drugstore and make your way to the holiday aisle where you’ll find a variety of Easter celebration goodies and decorations.

We used:

• Mini springtime Easter egg boxes
• Easter egg tray
• PEEPS^®
• Easter grass
• A basket
• Plastic Easter eggs

Take the mini boxes and fill them with the Easter grass, then place a cookie and a PEEPS^® on top. If you have any cookies left over, you can place them in the middle of your Easter egg tray and fill the rest with the plastic eggs (or real ones). Put all of the mini boxes in the basket and when your guests are ready for dessert, you can start to hand out your favorite Cheryl’s cookies!