He Is Risen!~Easter Cross Cookies

Easter, He Is Risen!

One of my favorite songs that our choir sings is, "Love Grew Where the Blood Fell".

It's a beautiful song and it begins like this:

"See my Jesus on the cross, the people crying.

Looking on, a man would think it tragedy.

But what the world could not see,

Was when they nailed Him to that tree.

It broke the chains of sin and set men free!

Love grew where the blood fell.

Flowers of Hope sprang up for men in misery.

Sin died where the blood fell.

And I'm so glad his precious blood covers me!"

God's Word says in John 3:16→

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Also in Romans 10:9→

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

I am so thankful for God's Love, Mercy and Grace.

He has extended them all to every soul on this earth.

Today would be a great day to invite Him into your heart!💗

Here are my Happy Easter Cross Cookies celebrating His love for us.

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To make and decorate these cookies you will need:

Chocolate cookie dough

Chocolate fondant

Green candy melts

Wilton flower decorations

Cross cutters-(I used a 4 inch and a 2 inch)

Wood grain embossing folder

Disposable decorating bags

Corn syrup

I also used green cake sparkles

I made my cookies using Georganne's yummy chocolate cookie dough recipe.

 Click here for the link! 

Roll out dough, cut and bake cookies.

To make the wood grain crosses, roll out fondant, place in folder and press. Remove fondant and cut out with clean cross cutters. 

Jesus built a bridge with two pieces of wood and three nails.

 Attach fondant to cookie with a little corn syrup. Place candy melts in decorator bag and melt in 30 second increments in microwave stopping to knead bag at each interval. Mine took 90 seconds.

 Snip off just the small tip from bag.

Pipe green stems for flowers.

 Place flowers and sprinkle on the green sparkles or green sprinkles if you like.

I love these old rugged crosses and plan to make them for our Sunday School class. 😊

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter, Karen💟

3D Alligator in the Swamp Cookies

So last September, we went alligator huntin' in the Louisiana bayou. 

Actually, we went on a swamp tour that nearly wasn't. I tell ya, over the years my hubby and I have had quite a few adventures. 

We have flipped our kayak in Kauai, nearly drowned when our whitewater raft hit a rock and tipped us out into the Nantahala, hubby's air tank sprang a bad leak on an underwater Bahamas tour...you get the idea.

So when we boarded our boat I should not have been surprised when a few minutes later as we were winding our way through the wetlands, our motor began smoking! And then when our--really he was a wonderful--guide couldn't get a signal out on his cell phone, I had visions of us going down in that swamp in flames! Whew!

But alas, we were saved. Another tour came by, helped us tie our boat to theirs, and towed us back to the dock where we boarded a new boat. And we live to see another day.😅

These 3D alligator cookies were inspired by both the real alligators we saw as well as the adorable cookie cutters I found in one of the cute gift shops.

My oldest grandson--I love you, Jojo--is a huge fan of alligators. His goal is to wrestle and tame them! Be still my heart! Maybe I'll just give him these cookies and we can forget all about that craziness! Yes..that sounds good to me!

Cookie time!

I think I'll go ahead and take a bite out of mine before it takes a bite out of me!

Make your favorite cookie dough, or use this one as you scroll to the end of the post.

Separate the dough in two parts and tint half of it green.

 I used my rectangle 4 1/2 x 3 inch cookie cutter for the base. You can find it here.

You can also find the alligator cutter here.

Roll out your pretty green cookie dough on a lightly floured surface.

Cut cookies, and place on a parchment lined pan.

While cookies are already on the pan, use the rectangle cutter (or a knife) to cut off a bottom portion from gator. 

Be quick about it as gators don't like this much.😜

 Cut out, bake, and cool cookie bases.

We are using canned frosting, food color, candy eyes, and green and blue candy melts to decorate our cookies.

With a drop or two of blue, stir into canned frosting to tint. Spread a thin layer of frosting onto rectangle cookie bases.

I don't know what took me so long to start melting my candy melts in piping bags. So much easier, quicker and way less messy.

Just pop a few melts into bag, melt at 50% power in 30 second increments stopping to squeeze bag each time until melted smooth.

Snip off the tip of bag and you're ready to roll..er, pipe!

I piped these freehand. It's just swamp grass, so there is no wrong way to do it.

Ohhh! Let's put these together.

Use the green melts to attach the candy eyes to the alligator faces.

Melt blue candy melts as we did the green and pipe "water" onto the cookie base. You can smooth it with an offset spatula.

Place alligators and swamp grass on cookies.

Look how fun these turned out!

Here we have an aerial view of our swamp.

If you've never been to Louisiana, I say hightail it on down and take a tour. And if you find yourself near New Orleans, stop in at Cafe Du Monde and enjoy the most amazing beignets and coffee you've ever tasted!

Later, gator..Karen💗