Cinco de Mayo with Dana Carvey

Hello Reader,

I realize that this is a rather outdated post since Cinco de Mayo over two weeks ago, but better late than never! 

I thought I would embrace Cinco de Mayo more than ever before since I was now in the southwest. Well, I tried, but sort of failed. I few months ago I had purchase tickets to see Dana Carvey at a comedy club for May 5th, not thinking it was Cinco de Mayo - oops. But it was Dana Carvey, how was I suppose to pass that up?! I thought, perhaps I will have a margarita at happy hour before the show and that would be my way of celebrating Cinco de Mayo...well, the $8 lemon-coconut-thingy won over the $12 margarita....  

At the show I thought about getting nachos or tacos perhaps with a dos equis. But they didn't have dos equis and the burgers looked really good. So I had an iced tea and a maple bacon, BBQ burger with sweet potato fries - delicious. At this point in the evening, I failed in the drink and dinner Cinco de Mayo celebration, but I had one more plan to celebrate with dessert... 

...I was going to make piñata cookies!

Well, the show ran later than expected and I was tired and I didn't read the recipe in full - I had to refrigerate the dough over night - so, I didn't make them on Cinco de Mayo...it was more like Ocho De Mayo. Oops. They are a fun cookie I recommend making them, but plan accordingly since they are a little high maintenance. You can see the steps in my Piñata Cookies post!

So, Cinco de Mayo was not the fiesta I thought it would be - but who am I kidding, I'm not a fiesta kind of person. It was certainly the most memorably Cinco de Mayo, and perhaps the only time I have "celebrated" it. Not everyone can say they spent Cinco de Mayo with the one and only Dana Carvey. It was an amazing show! He did so many impressions: Church Lady, Obama, George Bush Sn., George W. Bush, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Schwarzenegger, Hans (or Franz, I always switch them), AND he sung the acoustic version of chopping broccoli. (If you do not know that song, see below.)

It was a great Cinco de Mayo!

Thanks for reading!

- M

Piñata Sugar Cookies

Hello All,

For Cinco de Mayo (which was more like Ocho de Mayo for me, you can read about why in my post titled, Cinco de Mayo with Dana Carvey) I made piñata cookies! They are super easy but also really high maintenance - you'll see. Mine did not turn out perfect (the stripes should be going the other direction and they should look like they have hooves, but it's the taste that counts, right?) See the steps below!

Step #1: Find a piñata shaped cookie cutter (this is the hardest part.)

Step #2: Make sugar cookie dough. I used store bought packages and added vanilla and almond extract to make it taste homemade with very little effort.  Then separate the dough into approximately seven different chunks. Color each ball of dough a different color. Pack the dough in layers in a plastic container lined with waxed paper or foil and leave in the fridge for at least four hours or overnight. Remember to dye one dark purple or black for the feet and it should be the bottom or top layer in the stack of dough.

 

Step #3: Wait.

Step #4: Take the log of dough out of the fridge and remove the waxed paper or foil. Then cut thin slices to get the stripped pattern. Place on a baking sheet and bake according to your recipe's directions. I emphasized thin because I think that is where I went wrong with mine. I cut the cookies so thick that in the end, I only had five piñata cookies.....

 

Step #5: Once the cookies are done baking, cut the piñata shaped cookies (see above.) Make sure one in every three has the middle cut out as well (see below.) 

 

Step #6: Let the cookies almost finish cooling then break them apart. 

 

Step #7: Now it is time to assemble them! Mix together confectioners sugar and milk to make a sweet glue for the cookies to be stacked together with. I don't measure ingredients so start with a lot of sugar and a little amount of milk and when it looks like glue you did it! 

 

Step #8: Place a whole cookie down first and glue a cookie with the middle cut out on top. Fill with your favorite little candies (I went with M & M's).

 

Step #9: Top off the stack with another layer of the sweet glue and a whole cookie. No one will know about the candy inside! 

Step #10: Share with people who you know just love your baking - no matter how far away they are :-)

 

ENJOY!

Thanks for reading!

- M