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?