Just Say No to Cake

But really, how could anyone say no to these eyes?
I somehow found myself in the position of modeling a cake after the still-elusive Wall-E robot from Disney*Pixar's upcoming movie of the same name. As the deadline loomed, I still wasn't sure how I would put together the dirt-covered, rusty creature out of batter and sugar, but where there's a will, there's a ... cake. A 7-inch-high cake.

In the end, my artsy friend Annie helped with the details -- as in, basically, 95 percent of the cake decorating -- and the bane of my existence -- er, cake -- was finished on time. I would not recommend trying this at home. We opted for no appendages because we just didn't want to deal. Hm. Do you see the resemblance?

...What? You don't?

Super Bowl Spritz Cookies

The cookie gun strikes again.

In honor of the big day when people all across the country pretend they like football, I unholstered my cookie press to make some football-shaped spritz cookies. I used a chocolate recipe -- good, but not as good as the plain, almond-flavored cookies in my previous post -- and the rectangular disk design at the top right of this image. To get that rectangular cookie shown in the image, you'd have to shoot the cookie out and drag it across the sheet. But when the cookie is pressed onto the baking sheet, the dough compresses perfectly into these football shapes. Touchdown!

Super Bowl Spritz Cookies
(from Wilton Chocolate Spritz Cookies)

1 1/4 cups butter
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract and blend.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda well. Add in small doses to creamed mixture, until wet and dry ingredients come together into a soft dough.

Working with dough at room temperature, form roughly into a log and cram/push into cookie press until full. This dough will result in about five refills of the cookie press.

Press (shoot) cookies onto ungreased, room-temperature baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 7 to 8 minutes until cookies are set.

Cool. Frost with basic icing, if desired.

I mixed a basic white frosting out of powdered sugar and a dab of milk, scooped it into a sandwich bag, snipped off a minuscule piece of the corner, then striped on the football stitching.