Cookies & Milk Party

 

Happy 80th Birthday to my wonderful mom! I am the 7th of 8 children, and we have an A-MA-ZING mom. We decided to throw an open house for her 80th birthday. She absolutely loves milk. Loves it. I don't think she goes a day without it. She's also a great cook, baker, & candy maker. One sister came up with the cookies & milk theme. One sister provided the venue and made assignments. One sister provided most of the decorations. I helped with invitations & tags. A brother brought his amazing DIY outdoor canopy. Lots of everyone elses baked cookies & brought milk. We're a pretty amazing group when we all get together!

I'm terrible at tutorials. I'm more of an "ideas" person/put it together person. Not the best teacher. So...here are photos of what we did at least!

COOKIE TAGS

I found the instructions to make these here: 

http://www.makeandtakes.com/patriotic-paper-lollies-perfect-for-july-4th

COOKIE DISPLAY

This was a combined effort! And...talk about sugar buzz...YUM!

THE MILK

 

We had whole milk, 2%, skim milk, chocolate milk, and almond milk. Who couldn't find a good one, really? Well, me. I don't like milk. I had water :D

MEMORY TABLE

We gathered photos, some mementos, a yearbook, a painting...and made a cute display of our mom. It was a lot of fun looking at little scraps of her life!

THE CAKE. CAKESSSS.

 

This was one of the most fun things ever! One of my sisters makes cakes. Wonderful, cute, beautiful cakes. She provided frosting, fondant, and patient instruction. My sisters and nieces all got together and we decorated 8 cakes for the party...one for every 10 years (or one for each child...we never really nailed that down). Here are the down & dirty photos:

Peanut Butter Finger Cookies

PEANUT BUTTER FINGER COOKIES!

If you like peanut butter fingers (you know, the lunch lady bars), you'll love this "cookie" version! My sisters and I did a Cookies & Milk Party for our Mom's 80th birthday, and we wanted all the cookies to be the traditional, round kind. Here's my version of a 'round' peanut butter finger. They were a big hit!

PART ONE - THE COOKIE

Peanut Butter Cookies (makes about 4 dozen)

1/2 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
1/2 cup Butter Flavored Crisco
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, it's up to you)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter, Crisco, and sugars until smooth. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Mix until just combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

I LOVE using parchment paper on my cookie sheets, but it's not mandatory :) Form 1 1/2" balls of dough, or use a cookie scoop. Use a fork to lightly smash cookie dough in the traditional "criss-cross" fashion. My dough was pretty soft, so I dipped my fork in powdered sugar to keep it from sticking.


Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 minutes or until edges just begin browning. Cool on a rack and store in an airtight container.

PART TWO - THE FROSTING

These are double-frosted, just like the bar cookie. I found a good recipe for the peanut butter frosting, then I used store-bought milk chocolate frosting on top.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbsp milk

Mix all ingredients until smooth. If it's too runny, add a few tablespoons of powdered sugar at a time until you get a good frosting consistency. If it's too dry, add a tsp of milk at a time. Frost each cookie with PB frosting.

Milk Chocolate Frosting - I used store-bought frosting in a tub, but you can use any milk chocolate frosting you like. Warm the frosting in the microwave for about 30 seconds to make it easy to frost over the PB frosting.