Our best ideas for gifting,
celebrating, and creating smiles.

As far as we’re concerned, red, white and blue are the colors of summer, and not just for the fourth of July.

STRAWBERRIES ARE RED…

The grocery aisles and farmer’s markets are loaded with strawberries this time of year. We blended them with buttercream to frost our zesty lemon sugar cookies (made with real zest and sweet lemon chips), but we still can’t get enough. Here are just a few other delicious ideas for the season’s best berries.

HOMEMADE BLENDER STRAWBERRY LEMONADE

Give your favorite lemonade recipe a little kick by adding a super-smooth puree to the pitcher. Simply blend eight large strawberries and two tablespoons of sugar together in a high-speed blender, then add one cup of water and blend until smooth. Add the puree to six to eight cups of prepared lemonade, and enjoy.

HOT FUDGE SUNDAES WITH SLICED STRAWBERRIES

Vanilla ice cream and sliced strawberries topped with our thick and glossy hot fudge is the best summer sundae ever to tickle your tongue.

Cheryl’s Hot ButterFudge Sauce

Move over buttercream, there’s a new buttery topping in town…this time it’s mixed with cream, brown sugar and honey for a sauce that’s better than fireworks!

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup of heavy cream
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 cup of cocoa
• 6 oz. of semisweet chocolate chips
• vanilla
• salt

Instructions:

1. In a small saucepan combine butter with heavy cream, honey, brown sugar, and cocoa over medium heat.
2. Once everything has melted, remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips, a dash of vanilla, and just the tiniest pinch of salt.
3. You can keep leftovers (if you have any) in the refrigerator for a month or so.

SOME BUTTERCREAM’S BLUE…

The fourth comes and goes, but our patriotic cookie collection lives large all summer long. Frosted in red, white and blue buttercream and sprinkled with stars, they’re ideal for all sorts of seasonal celebrations. One of our favorites!

THROW A STAR-GAZING PARTY

Invite friends over to lie back on the grass and take in the constellations you can most easily see in the Northern Hemisphere.

Start by locating Polaris, or the North Star, which consistently stays due north. You can find Polaris by identifying the Big Dipper, locating the two stars that make up the end of the Dipper where the water would pour out, and then imagine the water running straight down. The bright star at the end of the imaginary stream is Polaris.

Another fun star grouping is called The Summer Triangle, made up of three stars named Vega, Deneb and Altair. To locate them, face south. Vega is the brightest star you’ll see if you look east (to your left). Deneb is the second brightest to your lower left, and Altair the faintest to your lower right. Once you’ve found all three, you can identify the constellations associated with them: Lyra the Harp, Cygnus the Swan, an Aquila the Eagle.

It can be fun to see who can make out the constellations first, and even more fun to end the evening with star-studded cookies and sparkling water or wine.

MANGOES ARE SWEET…

We wouldn’t do it every day, but we highly recommend our seasonal Mango Cookies for…breakfast or brunch. Made with butter, mango preserves and sweet, chewy bits of real mango they’re delicious as a sweet side to a tropical fruit plate with coconut yogurt.

AND REGRETS SHOULD BE FEW!

The days may be longer, but the season always goes too quickly. This summer, don’t miss a single cookout, picnic, clambake, day at the lake, or backyard barbecue…and always remember to bring cookies. Because life’s too short to pass up dessert.

The entertaining season is upon us, and when you make Cheryl’s part of the party, you’re guaranteed to become known as the host(ess) with the most(est). This year, go beyond gifting and make Cheryl’s part of your own personal holiday get togethers. Whether you’re planning a big soiree or an intimate family gathering, we promise to help make it a stellar celebration.

DINNER PARTY PLACE MARKERS

All of our Buttercream-frosted cookies come individually wrapped, so they work beautifully as party favors. We love the idea of setting one at each individual place at the table. You can even make them do double duty as place markers by attaching a small name card to each. (For a more dazzling presentation, place one of the treat-filled tins in our Christmas Tree Tin Set on each plate and get ready for a tableful of “oohs” and “aahs”.

FUN FOR KIDS (OF ALL AGES!)

We originally created our Holiday Cut-out Cookie Decorating Kit for kids, but we’re continually tickled to see how often it’s the grown-ups who have the most fun. This year, instead of the expected cookie exchange, why not host a “most creative cookie contest” for young AND old. You can ask everyone to bring their own favorite edible decorations to add to the white and green icing and holiday sprinkles included with the kit, and see what kind of fabulous creations arise.

You can add a little spice to the party by including our little Gingerbread Cookies as well. They’re really fun to decorate using small tubes of decorating icing from the grocery store, and since one tin comes with approximately 25 cookies, you can have as many people as you want join in the fun.

And if you like your parties lively, consider picking up our Snowball Fun Kit as well. You can lob the soft stuffed snowmen at each other while making culinary magic.

MAKE UNPLANNED VISITORS FEEL LIKE HONORED GUESTS

It happens every year! Someone you weren’t expecting shows up and you have to greet them empty handed…or do you? Our Cookie Cards are actually cheery gift boxes, each with an individually wrapped buttercream-frosted cut-out cookie tucked inside. No need to wrap. No need to worry about appropriateness (seriously, who doesn’t want a cookie?!). Simply store a few in the closet or cupboard, and when that unplanned individual arrives, you can make them feel as if you’d been expecting them all along. (If this happens to you a lot, you might want to consider a case of 50 cookie cards…if you have any left over, you can always give them as teachers gifts or use them as party favors.)

WHAT TO SERVE AT A BIG SHEBANG!

Whenever people look at our great big gift baskets, they immediately think, “Wow! That’s the kind of gift I’d give to someone really special!” Allow us to offer you a second thought—one that goes something like this: “Wow! That basket has 186 cookies, brownies, muffins, and pecan butterballs…and the presentation is gorgeous. That would be a great way to handle dessert at my big holiday buffet/open house/family dinner celebration.” Best of all, since everything’s individually wrapped, you can either send leftovers home with your guests or freeze them for later. (All of our baked goods freeze beautifully!).

There’s no better time than Thanksgiving to count your blessings, show your appreciation, and send wishes to the people who make your world a little bit warmer. Whether they live with you, across the street, or across the country, Cheryl’s is committed to making it easy (and delicious) to say thank you to everyone on your gratitude list.

GIVE BIG

If you want to celebrate a big group of people or one special person in a big way (college students love to share!), our 100-piece Fall Frosted Cookies Gift is the best way to do it. Chock full of seasonal flavors like Butterscotch Chai, Salty Caramel, and Mocha Latte, all topped with our classic buttercream, it’s guaranteed to delight every last tastebud.

GIVE SMALL

Show EVERYONE you care about how much you appreciate them with a card and a cookie. Costing only a tiny bit more than a paper greeting card, our cookie cards are a lot more fun and guarantee a smile. If you’re sending them to loved ones far away, you might want to personalize your cookie with a family photo and a special note, just to let them know how much they’re missed.

GIVE ENDLESSLY

We love the idea of keeping the giving going. Our Giving Plate comes painted with a charming message that encourages the recipient to fill it back up and send it along with new treats. It’s a great idea for large extended families or special groups of friends; each Thanksgiving the past year’s lucky recipient can refill it and send it to someone else in the group. It’s always fun to try to guess who will be next on the list!

GIVE GRATITUDE

We know a family that uses their cookie jar to hold “Gratitude Slips”—little pieces of paper on which they write the things they’re grateful for throughout the year. Then, after Thanksgiving dinner, when everyone is happy and full, they bring the jar to the table and everyone takes turns reading the past year’s gratitude slips out loud. We loved their idea so much, we wanted to suggest it to you. This year, why not buy your family one of our Fall Cookie Jars, enjoy the cookies inside for a Thanksgiving party or dessert, and start your own gratitude slip tradition?

It’s official: Halloween has grown to become America’s second-favorite holiday! Whether you’re staying at home passing out treats, planning a full-out party, or just wanting to send a tempting treat to friends and family far away, we’ve got ways to make the holiday spookier in the sweetest way possible.

CAT GOT YOUR TREAT?

If you have a tiny trick-or-treater in your life, you can’t miss with our felt black cat treat tote. Sized just right for little hands and smaller hauls. And since it comes already filled with an assortment of our cookies, any candy it collects is just a bonus. (Not a cat person? Check out our Bat, Frankenstein’s Monster, and Pumpkin totes.)

IT’S MY PARTY AND I’LL FLY IF I WANT TO.

Are you a good witch or a bad witch? You’ll definitely be the former if you don one of our festive Halloween aprons and whip up a batch of delicious brew in your cauldron. We love a blend of cranberry juice, ginger ale and apple cider kept cold by an icy hand. To make, fill a rubber or latex glove with water, make a knot in the end, and freeze. When solid, cut away the glove and place in a punch bowl with 2-1/2 cups of cranberry juice, 2 liters of ginger ale, and 2 liters of non-alcoholic apple cider (we like sparkling cider best).

FOCUS ON THE COSTUME, NOT THE COOKING.

Of course, if you love to cook, go right ahead. But if you’d rather spend the day of your party perfecting your makeup, altering your costume or finding the best way to apply fangs and fake blood, we’ll happily step in and supply the goodies you need to make your guests feel well treated.

THE DAY OF THE DEAD

We love a celebration that keeps on giving, and Dia de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead lets us (and you!) do just that. Originating in Mexico and taking place on November 1 & 2, the Day of the Dead is believed to occur when the gates of heaven open at midnight on October 31 and the spirits of the deceased are allowed to reunite with their families and be honored by them for two days. At the heart of the Dia de los Muertos festivities are the brightly decorated folk-art sugar skulls made in special molds. We’ve created our own take on sugar skulls, decorating our buttercream-frosted cutouts in the same happy style. This year, why not extend your Halloween for a couple of days and enjoy celebrating loved ones who are perhaps gone, but never forgotten.

In 1984, ice cream finally got its due respect: July was declared “National Ice Cream Month!” While we certainly don’t limit our ice cream intake to one month, what better excuse to have a few extra scoops?

While there’s certainly no shame in grabbing your favorite flavor or ice cream creation at the store, why not get creative to honor the occasion? Here are four delicious ice cream recipes to liven up July’s best moments.

1. Classic Ice Cream Sandwiches
Who doesn’t love creamy, cool ice cream sandwiches on a hot summer day? They’re made all the better when you take your favorite vanilla ice cream, let it slightly melt, then add in some raspberries, sliced, strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Wash and dry the berries (you can use all the berries or just one red berry and one blue berry), and mix in with the semi-melted ice cream. Refreeze the delicious concoction, and scoop onto Cheryl’s Happy Face Cut Out Cookies—which are sure to match your smile when you dig right in!

2. Picnic Ice Cream Cups
Nothing says summertime like a cooler filled with cheery frozen treats like these DIY toppings cups! Stock up on plastic mason jars—broken glass will put a damper on the occasion—and fill each with a scoop of ice cream. Dress each one up with some favorite toppings, like sprinkles, shredded coconut, crushed macadamia nuts, dark chocolate chips, or small pieces of tropical fruit (such as mango or pineapple). Stash in the freezer until you’re ready to go, and then surround with ice packs to preserve at the picnic.

3. Al Fresco Brownie Bowls
If you’re taking it up a notch and serving a nice, outdoor dinner, give your dessert a special treatment too with a brownie a la mode. Skip the oven for this show-stopping dish, and order up an assortment of caramel fudge, frosted chocolate, blondie, and more in Cheryl’s Create Your Own Brownie Box. Top with a scoop of decadent dark chocolate ice cream to take the dessert to the next level. If you’re feeling adventurous (for adults only), add a drizzle of liqueur or a grappa-macerated cherry.

4. Backyard Barbecue Ice Cream Crumble
A summertime barbecue isn’t complete without some pie, right? Shake things up a bit by crumbling a quarter of your favorite berry pie into a quart of slightly melted raspberry, cherry, or vanilla ice cream. Stir the concoction to combine, refreeze, and scoop into ice cream sundae glasses. To give your dessert an even more summery look, top with a pretty Buttercream Frosted Flower Cut-Out Cookie from Cheryl’s.