Friends – The Ocelots' Den

Valentine’s Day Special

By Julia on 4 February, 2020

For Valentine’s day, I wanted to turn a classic treat into a delicious cookie. I love the traditional phrases, but I enjoyed taking a LOT of liberties with various other ideas and even asked a few friends for some ideas too!

I knew I needed a classic and modern collection; they were easy choices. I also didn’t want to alienate those that aren’t currently coupled or aren’t into the holiday, and my mind ran wild with the idea of anti-conversation cookies. Maybe you like Valentine’s day, and you don’t want to share the cookies. Or, you want to share some humor with some friends? Perhaps there is someone who doesn’t understand that they have been put in the “friend zone,” and they need a more explicit message?

Building my website has been nerve-wracking. Developing the courage to share it and invite others to view it has filled me with excitement, anxiety, joy, and so many other emotions. To give myself a little extra push, I decided to make a collection of encouragement cookies. A third of them are focused on “GIRL POWER,” but more broadly, they can be used for any audience that needs some inspiration.

I had a lot of “extra” ideas that I couldn’t seem to let go of, but I liked having a clean dozen in each collection. Naturally, this created the “bonus” collection. I thought a cookie that simply said “cats” was a purr-fectly clear message that said, “not interested.” My awesome SIL also thought it was hilarious, but as I mentioned it to a few other people, it didn’t really get any laughs. (Side note, my SIL and I laughed hysterically at this. Maybe it is because we are cat ladies).

Valentines-Menu

Ordering

How to order? On my menu, there is a custom order tab. Fill out the form, and in the notes section, describe the choices you desire and submit! Or you can always email me at Julia@theOcelotsDen.com.

When ordering you can mix and match as you please. Or you can order a dozen of one (or each) collection. If you order 6 or a dozen cookies, the cookies will be 6 different colors (or pairs of 6 different colors). If you order 2 cookies, I will randomly choose 2 colors.

All of the cookie orders will come in their own boxes sized based on the number of cookies.

Half-dozen cookie boxes are shown. Boxes will be chosen randomly for orders.

The cookies are large cookies based on my cookie sizing chart.

Autumn | Baked Goods | Cupcakes | Holiday | Thanksgiving

Second Thanksgiving

By Julia on 24 November, 2019

Like most families, I enjoy Thanksgiving festivities over multiple days. For my Saturday gathering, I wanted to make something tasty and portable. I know pie is a staple on the Thanksgiving table, but I thought cupcakes would be fun.

I wanted to make something a little different. Pie flavors- baked into the cakes! So I decided on Pecan Pie Cupcakes with Sweet Potato Pecan Buttercream.

It was a new recipe creation (which I usually would taste first), but it made a dozen, so I didn’t want only to bring 11 to share. (Sharing is caring).

I also wanted to add a fun design element. The buttercream has a little bit of a texture form the pecans, so I decided to make a festive cupcake topper. I’m an avid watcher of Friends, and though I wasn’t sure the image would come across to everyone at the event, I thought they were funny.

I designed a turkey wearing oversized glasses and a fez using my Silhouette software. I printed out a couple of copies and mixed my Royal Icing to match my three colors.

Transfers all piped, once they were dry I added a little gold luster to the turkeys.

Once my transfers were dry (at least 8 hours, but I usually try to wait for about 24 hours), I put two together (like sandwich cookies) and added a thin layer of candy melts and a toothpick to ensure they would set quickly. If I were to make them again, I would pipe the tassel after this point or flip the image to pipe it in reverse since it isn’t symmetrical. (So many lessons learned in the kitchen).

12 Turkeys getting packed to go to dinner

I thoroughly enjoyed designing, baking, and assembling these treats! Bonus, I was able to eat one, and I will be keeping the recipe in future rotations.