raven sugar cookies . . . a Halloween treat

I wanted to create a unique sugar cookie for the Halloween season, and had the idea to make a flock of black ravens.

There's something about these little black birds that remind me of harvest, pumpkins, and Halloween.

So I went on the hunt for a raven cookie cutter, and found one online.

I used my trusty sugar cookie recipe (below), a simple glaze, and a whole bottle of black sanding sugar to make this haunting flock of birds.

I nestled them among a few bare branches and freckled pumpkins for a finishing touch.

                 Be sure and pair them with pumpkin ice cream or shakes for a little festive fun!

raven sugar cookies
.     .     .     .     .     .

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

12 Tablespoons (1 ½  sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 egg, room temperature

 powder sugar (instead of flour) for rolling out dough
black sanding sugar, for decorating

.     .     .     .     .     .

Preparation

To make the cookies, in a bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt . . . set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and egg. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Mix until just combined.

Form the dough into a flattened ball, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or as long as overnight.

Preheat an oven to 350°F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 

On a lightly floured powder sugar surface, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out desired shapes. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart, and bake until just golden around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. Transfer the pans to wire racks and let cool for 5 minutes, then remove the cookies from the pans and let cool completely.

Makes 10 to 20 cookies, depending on cutter size.

Sugar Cookie GLAZE

2 ¼  cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 Tablespoons light corn syrup

1 Tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

Combine ingredients and mix until smooth
Using a small paint brush (or the tip of your finger), spread on top of cookies

Sprinkle sanding sugar on top of GLAZE when it's wet

The secret to a 'clean' sugar edge is not letting the glaze drip down the sides of the cookie.
A thick glaze is also key.
After the glaze has been mixed, add 1 Tablespoon of confectioners' sugar at a time, 
until you get the desired consistency.
Have fun!

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silhouette bats for Halloween . . .

My Littles could hardly wait for October 1st to roll around before they started asking me to decorate for Halloween.  I'll be honest, I was hoping that I could get away with only having Fall decorations like last year, but they wanted me add Halloween decorations to this year's pumpkins and Fall leaves. 

I should've shared these photos a few weeks ago when I tackled this fun and simple project, but I'm not great about sharing HOME-inspired posts. I get too excited about sharing FOOD and recipes, and then the HOME posts tend to sit on the back burner. ((I need to work on that!))

Anyway, I found these silhouette bats by Martha Stewart Craft at our local Michael's . . . and fell in love with their simple - yet creepy, scary - style.  

I had visions of bats flying above our mantle, so that the Littles would see them every time they walk up and down the stairs, but after hanging them up - the scene didn't have the look I was going for . . . and then I had the idea to hang them on the inside of the lampshades in our entry room. 

 

There are 3 lamps in our entry room, and I hung bats in all of them! 

I love the eerie glow of the bats when I turn the lamps on in the early evenings. Their silhouettes become more bold as the room gets darker. The Littles and I love it!

The lamp that's on the pumpkin patch table (that's what I've dubbed it, since it seems to continue to collect pumpkins) is my favorite place in the room. I hung bats all the way around the inside so that our Littles can see flying bats even when they're playing outside. 

I LOVE this kind of decorating . . . simple materials, thoughtful placement, big impact, and everyone's happy! 

It looks like a few others were inspired by Martha Stewart's Halloween Silhouette crafts, too!

LOVE this porch!

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Simply Suzannes at Home

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I love reading your comments and appreciate them so much!

easy Fall entertaining with friends . . .

We welcomed Halloween with COOL temperatures and light rain (ahhhh) . . . the perfect kind of evening for a cozy and casual dinner with friends before trick-or-treating.

It's a family tradition to have chili on Halloween, so I prepared a dinner very similar to this one, here.

Given the high energy of the evening, I kept our dinner low-key and served home-made traditional chili in a big cast iron pot right from the stove top, along with a toppings bar that I set up on our kitchen island that included three cheese, fresh avocados, sour cream, tortilla chips, and fresh cilantro.  

Since I didn't decorate for Halloween this year, spooky decor for our evening gathering was scarce. Instead, I opted for lighting tea lights . . . and placed them around the kitchen and dining room for an eerie twinkle.

I also lit upwards of 20 tea lights and placed them around our entry room, along with our glowing Jack O'Lantern, where we greeted trick-or-treaters.  I loved the eerily glow . . . something that I will absolutely do next year. I shared a few photos on Instagram.

"H" is for Halloween!

Here's a photo of our toppings bar. Sorry for not including the food in the photos. I didn't add the toppings to the bowls until just before our guests arrived, as I wanted everything to be as fresh as possible.

These sweet corn cakes were a HIT, along with the chili! YUM! I always serve them with chili. Their tender sweetness is amazing on top of warm spicy flavors.

Orange CRUSH made for the perfect Halloween bubbly!  

And there's nothing like offering your guests a warm drink to take on their way out trick-or-treating with their little ones. I offered Hot Cocoa, Apple Cider, and Pumpkin Spice coffee. 

One of the highlights of our evening was the rain! It added to the fun and excitement. We had a wonderful evening . . . and hope that you did, too!

Two of my little ones 

with their Halloween make-up on.

  

 

LET'S STAY in touch!

Simply Suzannes at Home

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Sharing with . . . .

Stephanie Lynn, It's Overflowing, Twelve O Eight, Carrie This Home, Baking in Pajamas, Huckleberry Love, Dwellings, Smart Party Planning,  The Dedicated House, Mod Vintage Life, Lori's Culinary Creations, Home Stories, StoneGable, An Extraordinary Day, I'm Not a Trophy Wife, Between Naps on the Front Porch, Rustic Refined,  Tumbleweed Contessa, A Stroll Thru Life,, Life With Garnish. Elizabeth & Co,  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, The Recipe Critic, Janine Huldie, Carolyn's Homework,  Fluster Buster   Designs by Miss Mandee,  Craftie Allie,  Wednesday morning The Blissful Bee,  The Newlywed Pilgrimage,  Chic California, Lamberts Lately, Live Laugh Rowe, Sweet Bella Roos, The Charm of Home, From My Front Porch to ours, Delightsome Life., Posed Perfection, Katherine's Corner, Nancherrow, The Freshman Cook,  Jann Olson, Home  Maid Simple, Anderson + Grant,  Rooted in Thyme, Everyday Enchanted Home, Pure Grace Farms A Dish of Daily Life, Bacon Time, Sunflower Supper Club, Tater Tots and Jello,  Cooking with Curls, Made from Pinterest, Simply Gloria

celebrating October . . . at Home

This was the first year that I didn't decorate for Halloween in more than 15 years. Gasp!

I've been busier than normal with our 5 and 6-year-old in school. 

I thought I would've had more time on my hands having two in school every day, but that hasn't been the case. Their homework, Friday spelling tests, Run Club, and (before & after) school activities have kept me quite busy. 

So this year I decided to forego decorating for Halloween, and just focus on Fall decor and incorporating fun Halloween activities and baking into our weekly routines instead. 

We've been so busy that the kids haven't even noticed that I didn't decorate for Halloween. I guess that's a good sign . . . because that means that I did a good job bringing Halloween fun to our days through little things.

Here's a peak (through photos) of how we celebrated the month of October at home . . .

Halloween S'mores with PEEPS

raven sugar cookies

hot cocoa with fun leopard napkins in front of the fire

fun & festive paper straws

big pots of home-made chili, 

just like my grandma used to make on Hallow's Eve

costume fun

visits to the pumpkin patch

pumpkin carving!

candy corns

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,

a family tradition

lots of warm pumpkin bread

 

LET'S STAY in touch!

Simply Suzannes at Home

on Facebook

Sharing with . . . .

Stephanie Lynn, It's Overflowing, Twelve O Eight, Carrie This Home, Baking in Pajamas, Huckleberry Love, Dwellings, Smart Party Planning,  The Dedicated House, Mod Vintage Life, Lori's Culinary Creations, Home Stories, StoneGable, An Extraordinary Day, I'm Not a Trophy Wife, Between Naps on the Front Porch, Rustic Refined,  Tumbleweed Contessa, A Stroll Thru Life,, Life With Garnish. Elizabeth & Co,  My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, The Recipe Critic, Janine Huldie, Carolyn's Homework,  Fluster Buster   Designs by Miss Mandee,  Craftie Allie,  Wednesday morning The Blissful Bee,  The Newlywed Pilgrimage,  Chic California, Lamberts Lately, Live Laugh Rowe, Sweet Bella Roos, The Charm of Home, From My Front Porch to ours, Delightsome Life., Posed Perfection, Katherine's Corner, Nancherrow, The Freshman Cook,  Jann Olson, Home  Maid Simple, Anderson + Grant,  Rooted in Thyme, Everyday Enchanted Home, Pure Grace Farms A Dish of Daily Life, Bacon Time, Sunflower Supper Club, Tater Tots and Jello,  Cooking with Curls, Made from Pinterest, Simply Gloria