I Am a mermaid

Yesterday I had the joy of meeting and hanging out with an inspirational girl named Margaret through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. At the age of 15, Margaret has to get dialysis 3 times a week. She really impressed me with her great attitude, sense of humor and kindness to everyone around her.

When Margaret and her family walked in I could immediately tell that it was going to be a fun visit. We decorated Winnie the Pooh cake pops and then played the board game ‘Life’. Margaret’s younger sister Hailey was the champion of that game, AND she showed me her amazing Pokemon card collection.

To top it all off, after hanging out for a few hours they gave me the best gift ever: Boxes of Girl Scout Samoa cookies (my favorite)! Margaret’s family is involved with Girl Scouts just like my sister was growing up. They also made me an honorary member of their troop. I couldn’t believe that their badge logo was even a unicorn!

Margaret: It was a pleasure to meet you and I had a wonderful time getting to know you and your family. You are one tough cookie and I am honored to have been your wish.

Froze Toes Cookies

Yields 1 dozen

The things you’ll need

Ingredients

¾ cup almond meal

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

3 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 sticks salted butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

Equipment

Large mixing bowl

Medium mixing bowl

Electric mixer

Whisk

Rubber spatula

Foot cookie cutter

Popsicle sticks

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Rolling pin

Plastic wrap

Decoration

Light blue royal icing

Decorating bag fitted with #3 tip

Pink gum balls

Cutting board & knife

Let’s get started!

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a medium bowl, whisk almond meal, flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.

In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one a time, mixing and scraping in between each addition, and then add extracts.

Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well.

Divide the dough into 2 discs and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 to 24 hours.

Roll out one disc of dough at a time to ¼ inch thick. Cut out foot shapes.

Place a popsicle stick on the backside of each cookie and then place the pops onto a baking sheet. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Bake for 12 to 13 minutes.

Time to decorate!

Carefully cut gumballs in half and then set aside.

Once cookies have cooled, pipe an outline of each foot and then flood the design with icing. Allow icing to harden, about an hour.

Attach a gumball half on the upper corner of the foot cookie with a little bit of royal icing.

Unfortunately people dont make tiny tents for cherries, but at least the fire kept him warm!

Look at him go!

Of course!

Sounds like fun!