First, let me give you a sure fire way to get perfect boiled eggs: Carefully place your eggs in a pan. (I usually do 6 in a saucepan, if I do more I use a large pot.) Gently cover the eggs with about 1-2 inches of water.

Bring the pot to a boil – obviously watch it, don’t go far it will be boiling before you know it. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat OFF. Cover with a lid, and let it sit there for 12 minutes.

Prep a bowl filled halfway with ice water, set aside. When the 12mins are up, drain the eggs and place them in the ice water to cool. Keep them in the fridge til you are ready to use them.

For Pikachu I dyed the egg in yellow, then let it dry.

After that I simply used Sharpies (my fave pen) to fill in the big eyes, tiny nose and mouth.

Then I went back in with a red sharpie and colored in the tongue and cheeks.

A Pokeball is even simpler. Just make a small circle, outline it with a larger circle and draw two thick vertical lines running off each side. Color in the top half of the egg in red and you’re done!

Catch ‘em all during your Easter egg hunt!

ingredients:
12 lemon cupcakes (recipe here)
lemon mascarpone frosting (recipe here)
2 cups shredded coconut
green gel dye
Bunny Fruit Snacks
36 toothpicks

Put the coconut in a lidded bowl and add a drop of green gel dye and a drop of water. Put the lid on and shake shake shake until the coconut is a lovely light green.

Pile the coconut on top of the frosted cupcake. Set aside.

Skewer (sorry, bunnies) the gummis onto the toothpicks and place them at varying heights on the cupcake so they look like they are jumping through the grass.

A display of these at an Easter brunch will make for a lovely field of sweet cupcakes!

Chickie Eggs (recipe here)

The Dark Side of Egg Salad (recipe here)

Carrot Cookie cupcakes (recipe here)

Carrot Race Cars (recipe here)

ingredients:
bunny cookies
chocolate cupcakes (recipe here)
whipped cream cheese frosting (recipe here)

These cute gluten-free bunny cookies from Annie‘s are available year ’round but felt particularly fitting for the season.

I love using cookies as cupcake decor because it’s fun and easy. There’s no stress in placing these cookies on the cupcake – the vanilla/chocolate color pattern is fun to play with. Checkerboard, all vanilla, all chocolate anything works and it’s fun for kids to do too.

I thought that an all vanilla palette made a nice frame for the chocolate bunny in the middle. Cookies on cupcakes, two desserts in one!

Rainbow Cake (recipe here)

Rainbow Bread Pudding (recipe here)

Rainbow Snack Tray (recipe here)

Layered Jell-o (recipe here)

Rainbow Cupcakes (recipe here)

Hello Kitty Cookie Cupcakes (recipe here)
After playing around with quins, I realized that turning hearts on their side makes perfect bows! This was a quick and easy way to decorate.

Heart Flower Cupcakes (recipe here)
Hearts become flower petals using a little symmetry.

Geoff the Robot cupcakes for Grant Imahara (recipe here)
Here I used a white heart quin sideways to get it to look like a mohawk. Hey, you’ve got to give me props for ingenuity on this one!

Barry Manilow – Mandy Candy cupcakes (recipe here)
Leftover heart lollipops make great cupcake toppers. Moreso if you love Barry Manilow.

Kakimochi heart cookies (recipe here)
In Hawaii, kakimochi is a popular snack and even comes in heart shapes during the holidays! A perfect use for these is a savory sweet cookie!

Make some fun Valentine’s treats to make the day even sweeter!

Cut-out heart cupcakes (recipe here)

Neapolitan Heart Cookies (recipe here)

Pies on a stick (recipe here)

Ice cream Cupcake Sandwiches (recipe here)

Game of Thrones Heart Cupcakes (recipe here)
Not your typical Valentine’s heart but still deelish, I promise!

Pretty red Jell-o hearts make great Valentines but when they are Strawberry-Lilikoi, they taste even better!

ingredients:
1 small box (3 oz) strawberry Jell-o
1 packet Knox gelatin
1 cup boiling water
1 cup Strawberry-Lilikoi Hawaiian Sun juice

In a small bowl combine the Strawberry Jell-o, Knox gelatin packet, boiling water and Strawberry-Lilikoi juice. Stir to combine until the gelatin has dissolved.

Pour into an 8×8 glass dish and refrigerate until firm.

Using a small heart cutter, cut out Jell-o pieces and serve.

Included in this year’s festivities, I decided to make a giant Hello Kitty sushi head. Perhaps not your traditional New Year’s food but it sure was cute. It was so cute no one cut into it! However, after I cut the first slice it was gone pretty quickly!

I’ve been doing this for a few years and I think I’ve finally got my routine down. (Check out 2010 & 2011 here.) After shopping at four markets and cooking for 2 days-here’s the whole menu I put together for this year’s celebration:

Guava Jelly Chicken Wings
Brown Sugar Meatballs
Root Beer Pulled Pork
O.G.’s flank steak
Mac Salad
Hello Kitty Sushi
Spam Musubi
Somen Salad (noodles – for a long life)
Furikake Shrimp
Tazukuri (teriyaki fish – for a prosperous year)
kuromame (black beans – for health and success)
kurikinton (sweet potato w/chestnuts – for wealth)
Gobo (burdock root – for a strong family)
Sushi
Ozoni (traditional new year’s day soup)
Mochi (longevity)
Kamaboko (joy, happiness)
Hawaiian Sunrise Jell-o
Pink An (azuki bean) Mochi
Chocolate Mochi Brownies
Yokan

Guava Jelly Chicken Wings (recipe here)
Nice and sweet with a fruity floral flavor. Chicken wings are the perfect party snack.

Brown Sugar Meatballs (recipe here)
Always a party fave and easy to prep since it’s all in the crock pot.

Root Beer Pulled Pork (recipe here)
Another easy prep – flavorful pork cooked for 8 hours and I serve it on King’s Hawaiian rolls.

O.G.’s Flank Steak
I don’t even need the other dishes, this is all I want for my new year. I always tell her to make it because she does it with all of her ‘secrets’ which I’ve yet to figure out…

Mac Salad
There were a lot of Hawaii family members representin’ at Oshogatsu this year so my Hawaiian Mac Salad was a must.

Giant Hello Kitty Sushi
Yep – I made a giant Hello Kitty sushi, 8″ wide! Sushi rice and seasoned salmon pressed together with a furikake face, egg nose and to top it off, a bow made of Spam.

Now onto the ‘good luck‘ food:

Spam Musubi (recipe here)
I make a double batch and this is always the first to empty out on the table. Nori (seaweed) is supposed to bring ‘joy’ to your life so I ensure it by making it fancy and dipping them in furikake. Extra flavor and extra joy.

Somen Salad
Noodles signify long life and my take on it is Somen Salad. This is our family version as found in the O.G. comic/cookbook.

Furikake Shrimp
All Oshogatsu meals must have shrimp – the ‘bend’ of a shrimp signifies a bent old person’s back which means you will live a long life if you eat a lot of shrimp. If you’ve got a shellfish allergy, well – I guess you’re out of luck?

Tazukuri
These tiny teriyaki fish are supposed to ensure a ‘good harvest’ meaning you’ll have a profitable new year.

Kuromame
Black beans ensure good health. Um. I never eat these and I’m ALWAYS sick. Coincidence?

Kurikinton
Japanese sweet potatoes with golden chestnuts. Anything yellow or golden is supposed to signify gold, so if you eat it you’re guaranteed to be wealthy!

Gobo – burdock root
Eating this keeps your family ties strong.

Sushi
The best New Year’s sushi comes from Sakae Sushi in Gardena but you have to order it early, we’re talking MONTHS early and uh…we didn’t make the cut. So we were stuck with this sad chain-store version. Next year we’ll get on the stick!

Ozoni
Ozoni is traditional Japanese New Year’s soup. It’s supposed to be the first thing you eat on the first day of the year to ensure a fab new year. Some are super fancy, mine is certainly not but I load it up with a bunch of stuff: shitake mushrooms, tofu, char siu pork, mizuna, green onions, nori chips and decorative kamaboko only sold once a year. The kicker – toasted FRESH mochi. You can’t beat that.

Are we done yet? No way.
Desserts and lot of them. That’s my idea of a party:

Hawaii Sunrise Jell-o
I came up with this one day when I was thinking about incorporating Hawaiian Sun juice into layered Jell-o. The taste was AMAZING and it was gone in no time. I guess this will be permanent on the menu for next year!

Pink Mochi (recipe here)
Pink and mochi, my two fave things. I hand-make these the day before the party, it’s both fun and relaxing. There’s nothing better to ring in the New Year than freshly made mochi filled with sweet red bean.

Chocolate Mochi-Brownies (recipe here)
This is another thing that will probably make the menu next year. The minute I put these out they were GONE! Chocolate brownies with that distinct mochi chew. Irresistible.

Yokan
Yokan, a traditional Japanese jelly – almost like a thick jell-o. I’ll admit I’m NOT a fan. But O.G. said we had to have it and since they only make the red and the green version once a year, it’s special for Oshogatsu.

Well I survived cooking for yet another New Year’s Day. 20 dishes – that ain’t half bad. At least I can rest for a year until the next one. Happy New Year!

Her response told us that Santa’s favorite cookie is chocolate chip. Who knew?

I bet Santa would especially like these. With the addition of See’s Candies chocolate chips, these cookies are taken over the top. See’s is a West Coast institution AND O.G.’s favorite candy – with these cookies you will definitely get on Santa’s ‘nice’ list.

See’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe here)

Thanks for following along with my 12 Days of Cookies – Merry Christmas!