*Cocoa Cats*

There is more than one way to skin a cat.... a cookie cat that is! That is exactly what Carter and I made this afternoon; some cute cocoa kitties! I was actually going to make a traditional Christmas Scandinavian treat tonight, but lacked one of the ingredients - so I perused the book and thought these looked fun- (Cats are one of Carter's favorite animals...) - They were super super simple to make and had minimal ingredients. They came out soft and moist, with a rich cocoa taste. I used some frosting from cookies I made the other month, that I had stored in the freezer (thus the blue). Carter kept pointing and say/signing Cat! Cat! (we do sign language with him) It was so darn cute. It was a hit with Don and Carter~ Success! Have fun making these critters (idea: use orange frosting for Halloween time! )

(I had some dough left over, so I made little paws! hehe)

Recipe:

• 1/3 Cup Shortening
• 1/3 Cup Butter (softened)
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/3 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tbs Milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat or stir the shortening and butter together till creamy and smooth. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Beat until combined. beat in egg, milk and vanilla until creamy. Add flour and stir till fully combined.

2. Now the recipe calls for chilling the dough for about an hour or 2 for it is easy to handle. I decided to just add a little extra flour to make the dough slightly tougher and just roll out and shape. ....So your choice! :) Roll the dough and using a cat cutter, cut out the animals. Now, another side road I took...I did not have a cat cutter! haha...but I did have a large circle. So I cut out large circles and then took a knife and cut out a triangle on top for an ear then line and another triangle for the other ear. Then just chiseled off the edges to make triangle shaped cheeks. :) It worked...

(uncooked kitties)

(cooked kitties)

3. Place cookies in a baking sheet, (parchment paper!) Bake cookies at 375F for about 7-9 mins. (or until edges are firm and bottom is light) 7 mins worked perfectly for my "cats". ....Take the *cats* out and allow to cool fully. Then use your icing skills to create the purr-fect feline faces! I used my icing recipe found in my previous post for black belt cookies

Don and Carter approved! They both gobbled them up..and, of course, a cat wouldn't be complete without a large glass a milk by their side. Yum Yum....

however: I would have liked them more if they were ginger, and not cocoa. I ate one. That was enough for me!

Cat litter cake

Okay, so this might be gross to some...possible many...okay, ALL who reads - but, if it's any reconciliation to ya, this is totally ediable, non toxic, clean and surprisingly scrumptious. As well as a hilarious Halloween dessert. Which is what we made it for, of course! October 2010 Halloween party. The "CAT LITTER CAKE"!!

Okay, to start -> Don't use your cats litter box. Plain and simple. Go, and buy a new one - clean it, wash it out, etc. ...as well as a clean, never before used, spank'n brand new cat litter pooper scooper.

Now for the recipe. Very very simple:

5-10 tootsie rolls

1 chocolate or German chocolate cake
1 white or yellow cake
(bake in cake pans according to box directions - let cool)

Mix up about 2 packages of vanilla pudding - set aside.

Take a whole box of vanilla wafers and food process till nice and fine.
Take about a 1/4 or 3rd of the processed wafers and put them in a little zip-lock bag. Add a few drops of blue or green food coloring. This will be your colored kitty little granules.

Now take your two cakes and start digging your *clean* hands into them and transferring equal amounts of the cakes into the *NEW* cat litter box. Thus creating a fluffy mixture of chocolate and white/yellow cake. Now take your pudding and start adding it to the cat box with the cakes. Mix around to desired texture - you want enough to make the cake moist and stick together well. Pat down and even throughout the box. After everything is leveled and even take your non-colored vanilla wafers and sprinkle those over the entire cake mixture. You want to cover the surface evenly. Now take the colored wafers and sprinkle those across the other wafers. You're almost done!

Now unwrap some tootsie rolls and put them in a microwave safe container. Heat up just for a few seconds - allowing them to get soft and pliable - not melted (unless you are trying to achieve a "certain" look in your cat box) Take your now soft tootsie rolls and be creative! Squish, pull, shorten, elongate, bury, half-bury, stick to side...WHATEVER you desire.
(not recommended, but if needs be: go check your cats real litter box if you need authentic ideas) and POOF! You now have a disgusting, gag-reflexing treat to share with whomever you feel can muster such a delicacy.
Oh yes, and place the *NEW* pooper-scooper in the box to dish the treat out with. Gives it that nice finishing touch.

We had to take a picture with our cat "sniffing" the treat to make it that much more , uhhh, real? :-D