The Carnival Party

My daughter, Taylor turned 13 on September 26.  I really wanted this to be a special birthday for her.  I wrestled with tons of ideas and thought how cool my daughter would think making cotton candy would be.  So I went in search of a Cotton Candy Maker and strangely enough I found one at Pamida.  In place of cupcakes, which I had struggled to nail down a particular design I thought I would create an entire Carnival Theme.  We had a huge jar full of candy for everyone to guess how many pieces.  My dad was the front runner until Uncle Dean came in and stole it away from him.  I made caramel apples, popcorn, cotton candy and lollipop sandwich cookies. The table turned out beautifully.  My mom made homemade corn dogs and my dad cooked hamburgers.  My husband was in charge of ribs.  My daughter had a friend come and lots of family.  We had a blast!

I am including how to make the Lollipop Cookie Sandwiches below: 


1.  Make a single batch of your favorite sugar cookie dough.  I would not recommend using store bought cookie dough because it is too soft to mold.


2. Divide the dough into 3 equals balls.  Choose 3 colors of food coloring. ( I used neon food coloring for brighter, more girl friendly colors.)  Mix color into dough.  I recommend using your mixer as doing it by hand is very labor intensive.


3.  Form each color into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.


4. Cut each disk in 1/4 inch slices and then each slice into 1/4 inch cubes.  Work in small batches and allow the remaining dough to chill/


5. Take equal lengths of dough in each color and press together.  Form into a long rope and then each rope into a spiral.  The colors will mix randomly giving the illusion of the Old Fashioned All-day Lollipops.


6.  Place on cookie sheets and bake according to your recipe.

7.  Pipe frosting of your choice on the back of one cookie.  Place another cookie on top and squish until frosting is almost to the edge of both cookies.  **I pipe the icing because it leaves a smooth edge.  If you try to frost them they often look sloppy.

8. Enjoy and when someone says "Seriously, you did that?" you can say absofreakinlutely!