Monsters in the Midst

My Ninja helped make treats for his K5 class. I had such a hectic week that the normal 2-3 days of obligatory prep I needed to make shop-quality cookies were not available. (In laywoman's terms: I whittled the week away crying my eyes out or working on business matters whenever I wasn't a hot mess.) Before long, it was Wednesday and holy cow! Treats were due the next day!

Allow me to explain. These cookies simply need 2-3 days of time to make. First day for the cookie. Second day for the outline and the flooding. Third day for the details. You can serve them on the 4th day, once everything has had a chance to dry.

You cannot rush the drying time either. Neither heat, nor cool air, nor a fan will make them set faster. Time is the only thing that works.

Not to mention I had not made cookies in 6 months. I was out of practice and forgot all my techniques! Luckily, I had every ingredient and tool I needed to get the job done. It was just a matter of time and refreshing my fried, emotional brain.

No wonder my mummies turned out to be my favorites. I was possibly looking into a mirror...



I had "work" work to do Wednesday. We couldn't make cookie batter until 2:45 pm. (Only 17 until deadline.) Then off to Spanish class. Then home to bake.  (15 hours) Then off to hip hop dance. Freaking out, I decided to dip marshmellows into chocolate and make mini Frank N Steins on a stick instead of iced cookies. I had to chuck the cookie idea. (14 hours) So, then off to Walmart. Then off to eat Chinese. (I had promised a long time ago that Wednesday we'd have pot stickers — 13 hours) Then home to make the monster marshmellows. This was Part One of Monster Madness.



After his 7:30 pm bedtime, I finished up the monster marshmellows much to Oliver's dismay. He really wanted to finish them himself, but of course, this "simple" treat took longer than anticipated. (12 hours left to bring treats to school.)

Poor Green Guys. They didn't turn out as planned because my edible marker did not work on the chocolate. (Alas, they have no mouths.)



But that way they can't talk back or make scary sounds. So we are all good.

In the end, they were just fine. The 5 and 6 year old's loved them, and we passed out extras to the kids, parents, grandpas on the way out of school that night. Oliver's party was a success!



However, I didn't feel that way after the monster marshmellows were completed. I was on a creative jet plane, and there was no stopping me (this was good therapy for me after the week I had had). I was sad that Frank N Steins didn't seem to turn out right, and since I had little control over much of what was happening to me that week, this was one thing I could control. I had to make things right. (10 measly hours.)

Along came Part Two of Monster Madness. I made a special icing for the cookies. Ultra thick. It has a shorter drying time. I got down and dirty, took off the kid gloves and made some scary cookie creations. (I worked until 2:30 am, only 6 hours until the cookies were due at class. At 6:30 am, I put finishing touches on the cookies, wrapped them gently and brought them to school in the nick of time.)



Even the flaws worked to my advantage.



When the colors bled into one another, that just made the cookie that much scarier!





When they pitted and popped (bubbles are the enemy of cookie icing) that made the cookie even uglier!





And there's something curative about looking at a sad, sweet, scary face.





Or a collection of them.











Even my Frank N Steins were kind of innocent looking. Scary in a 5-year-old kind of way.



Sure, they didn't meet the high bar of standards I set for myself.



Has anything ever?