A BASKET OF FLOWERS FOR MOTHER’S DAY

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Some cookie projects leave me paralyzed with fear and self-doubt. They seem too complex, and way out of my skill level. But I get that nagging temptation to give them a try, in part because deep inside I know that if we don’t try to tackle difficult things, we don’t improve. We stay where we are. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… Tunde shared this new tutorial, and after a lot of inner debate, I caved. Everything is edible, everything is sugar cookie. It was not easy, but here it is, the result of my cookie labor!

To join Tunde’s Cookie Club and have access to ALL her tutorials, click here

Several things contribute to the challenging nature of this project. First, of course, the fact that you need to bake the cookie in the shape of the basket and its handle. Gingerbread would make it a bit easier, but we are talking sugar cookie, so a lot more care and a light hand are needed. Second, once you bake it, decorating with Royal icing on a curved surface also presents some potential for tears. My best outcome was the handle, I was quite thrilled with it!


The basket was a whole other story… For starters, the first one broke when I un-molded from the metal bowl used to bake it. (I used this one for both the handle and the basket). So I had to bake a second one. It cracked on the very top a little bit, so I had to use a lot of icing to assemble the basket and hide the boo-boo. Tunde made a real nice tutorial showing all the steps, but of course, I don’t have her level of control with the icing, and my basket definitely proves it… I never share too many details of tutorials from paid classes, so below you see just some of the steps.

My worst mistake was not to cover the top edge of the basket with white icing. Tunde did, I thought it would not be necessary as that area was going to be covered with the thick icing, but in reality there were gaps that showed the cookie underneath, and I was forced to come back later and cover. It ended up super messy. Oh, well. Live and learn.


The other tricky part was assembling the basket on top of the base cookie. It was very hard for me to get that leveled. I ended up holding the basket in position for 10 minutes as the icing set, because if I let that go the basket would slowly start to behave like the Tower of Pizza… I advise you to make all the decorations one day and assemble the basket next day, so it is easier to handle the pieces. Once the basket is assembled, you can fill it with small cookies!


My take-home lesson from this project, is not to rush it. I tend to get anxious to do the next step, to see the final product faster, but it is just not a good idea. Every detail matters, every consistency used needs to be just right. I want to do other compositions using baskets and handles to practice, so stay tuned! I leave you with a little slideshow using the small cookies and one of our favorite platters.

ONE YEAR AGO: The Watering Can Floral

TWO YEARS AGO: A Vintage Dress Set

THREE YEARS AGO: For the Love of a Golfer

COOKIE ON COOKIE!

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I am absolutely, totally, completely thrilled by these! There is no icing, no fondant, these are JUST dough, dyed and molded, then placed on the cutout cookies right before baking. For those who do not care for icing, but still like to have a decorated concoction in their hands, these will be perfect. It is not that hard to make either, you need to pay attention to a few details, but I will share them with you…


So, first things first. The recipe. It needs to have little to no leavening agent. I used this one and reduced the baking powder to 1/8 tsp. Once that is done, choose the silicone molds you want to use, making sure they have some depth. If they are very shallow, it is harder to get the dough to come out nicely and much harder to handle it. Go for large flowers, hearts, or small roses that have some depth like the ones I used. Divide small portions of dough to dye in appropriate colors. You need just a little bit. Keep in mind you can also marble two different tones of red, pink, and use that for variety. Add the dough into the mold, trying to keep the colors in the right places. I start with the big rose, and add the leaves after, so that they come from the background in the final baked detail. The most important step: FREEZE the mold with the cookie for 10 minutes. That will allow the pieces to come out with all the nice details preserved.

Once you are done making all the pieces, freeze them again so that they don’t get distorted as you handle them.

Roll out your dough, using a regular pin or an embossed pin, them place the pieces where you want them to go. Keep in mind you can add details with a food pen after they are baked.

At this point, FREEZE them again. You absolutely need to work to preserve all the features, so take your time and do not rush. Just 10 minutes in the freezer will be enough.

Now the cookies are ready, and you can either leave them alone, or add a bit of luster powder with vodka for a bit of bling. Which, obviously is what I did!


The extra painting make the features more evident.

Particularly in the heart, without the extra painting the details were barely visible, so I ended up with a more golden heart, rather than bright red. Definitely worth playing around with the color of the dough, sometimes lighter might be better.

These would be great for Mother’s Day, so keep that in mind, there’s still time until Sunday!

I hope you give this technique a try. I saw it on Instagram not too long ago, but there were no tutorials or explanation of the method. I decided to try them myself and was surprised by how well it all worked for a first time. The pieces of cookie dough can be frozen for later use, just like you would do with Royal icing transfers or fondant. Very convenient.

ONE YEAR AGO: For the Love of Florals

TWO YEARS AGO: Happy Mother’s Day!

THREE YEARS AGO: Stained Glass Sugar Cookies

I’VE GOT THE BLUES

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Tunde’s Glamorous Blue Cookies, that is… Originally she made them in green, I decided to change a bit and make a different color, but keeping the designs unchanged.

Tunde’s creations are always full of details and often rely on fine lines to shine, so there is no way to sugar-coat the pill, they can be challenging. Some of my lines don’t fall smoothly, the curved shapes end up with some slightly sharp bends, but I feel that the more I do them, the better I get. Or so I hope… To make these cookies, you will need three tones of the same color, and each one in two different consistencies. Some of the steps are shown below.

It is amazing what Tunde can do with just three colors and playing with the way they go together. I absolutely loved making this set of nine cookies, three rounds, three hexagons and three squares.

I am particularly fond of the way she mixes modern with classic… Hard to pick my favorite design, but the ones below have a special spot in my heart…

If you like to join Tunde’s cookie decorating club and have access to all tutorials from years past, click here.

ONE YEAR AGO: The Many Faces of a Cookie

TWO YEARS AGO:Amy’s Fabulous Floral Class

THREE YEARS AGO: Sugarveil Blues

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

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It is so gorgeous outside, with flowers, trees with the brightest new green leaves… let’s try to ignore the fact that severe weather lurks on the horizon quite often in our neck of the woods. That’s Spring in Kansas for you… I share today three cookie designs. One created by Haniela, one of my own, inspired by cookies I see around the Pinterest universe. And finally, a super adorable painted bird that I managed to make thanks to the flawless teaching of Michelle, using her Sugarprism product.

Haniela shared a version of the blue cookie with white little flowers for Mother’s Day, and you can see her tutorial clicking here. I adapted for a larger plaque type cookie. You can see some of the steps below.

The design really pops once you do a loose outline with fine black pen…


As to the little birds, they were just flooded with pink, and once that set I added details with piping consistency icing. Little pink or white beads for the flowers and a little gold luster for the beak and top of the head closed the deal.

Closing this post, a little Sugarprism-painted bird, that I hyperventilated my way through… It never ceases to amaze me how Michelle can make someone who is unable to draw anything, grab a bunch of colors, a little fine brush and end up with a little cutie pie perched on a tree! To join her Facebook group and follow all her free tutorials, click here. I painted the image over fondant dyed sky blue and rolled very thin. Next day I glued it with a bit of honey over a chocolate cookie, then added the bead border with Royal icing.


Spring is a wonderful season for cookie decorating, so stay tuned for a lot more!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Many Faces of a Cookie

TWO YEARS AGO:Amy’s Fabulous Floral Class

THREE YEARS AGO: Sugarveil Blues

MY COOKIE BLOG TURNS THREE!

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I blinked thrice and here we are, wrapping up three years and 330 articles of cookie blogging fun! To celebrate, a trio of Vintage Birthday Hats, designed by Haniela and shared in her live tutorial not too long ago. I thought they would be perfect to add a festive aura to my not-so-baby blog…

Her design is quite a bit more elaborate than mine, as instead of dots she went with wet-on-wet rosebuds, quite gorgeous! I kept it simpler, but hopefully almost as festive. Below you see some of the steps to decorate the vintage hats. The cookie cutter I used is from this etsy shop.

I kept is simple, just eye-balled the different sections, and flooded regions that did not touch, allowed them to set a bit, then flooded the adjacent areas.

The pompom I made with piping consistency Royal icing dyed with Gold from Americolor, which I also used to pipe the wavy area at the bottom (with a small petal tip). Using Gold makes the final step of painting those areas with luster powder + vodka pop out more. If you use white Royal icing, it is harder to get the full metallic effect.

So there we go, stepping firmly into the 4th year of cookie blogging!

ONE YEAR AGO: My Cookie Blog Turns Two Years Old!

TWO YEARS AGO: My Cookie Blog Turns One Year Old!

THREE YEARS AGO: Welcome to my New Site!

COLORFUL OWLS

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Another great cookie project for all lovers of color! Designed by Amber, it is a bit involved but as is so often the case, a lot of fun to bring to life… I simplified her design a bit, to see her tutorial you can join Amber’s cookie club with a click here.

Start by baking the cookies and drawing the region for the eyes. Then, mix a set of bright colors and use them to flood the body, face, wings. Use wet-on-wet for the dots on the body. Some steps are shown below…

Once all areas are flooded and set, the final details can be added… dots around the eyes, the little beak, the feet… You can stop there and they will be pretty adorable!

But if you like to take them one step further in the level of cuteness, go for some brush embroidery on the wings…

I just love this set! Hope they gave a smile to those who got them…

ONE YEAR AGO: For the Love of Rocks

TWO YEARS AGO: Happy International Macaron Day!

FIVE YEARS

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Aritri was our graduate student, and also a friend. Someone I was happy to see each morning, someone who was fun to do experiments with. Someone we could count on. It’s been five years since she left us, and no one has occupied her bench ever since. It still has her tape dispenser with a handwritten note: DO NOT TAKE THE TAPE! We had some similarities in the way we dealt with our stuff in the lab… As I’ve mentioned before, I often bake cookies that remind me of her. They are the colorful ones. The happy ones. I share today cookies that to me represent the essence of Aritri.

To make this design, I started by flooding with with and allowing it to set. Then I used a light food safe pen to draw the design, and filled the sections with different colors, all using food pens. A little gold Royal icing in piping consistency to outline each section and the perimeter of the whole drawing. Once that set, I painted it with luster powder gold + vodka. Steps are shown below…

The design really pops when the outline is added…

I imagine Aritri would like this design… I certainly hope so…

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ONE YEAR AGO: Cookies to Celebrate the Life of Aritri

TWO YEARS AGO: Three Years, Three Bakes for Aritri

CELEBRATING SPRING

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Once again, a design to please those who prefer a simpler cookie, without icing. All you need is a rolling pin and even the painting is optional. The cookies will look beautiful without added color. But you know that I have a hard time leaving a cookie naked.

The particular rolling pin I used is shown below…

It comes from one of my favorite sellers at Etsy, you can visit it with a click here. The only thing to keep in mind is that the rolling pins come all the way from Ukraine, so if you are in a hurry, it won’t work for you. But there are so many wonderful designs, it is hard to resist getting “a few”.

The most important thing to consider when relying on embossing rolling pins or stamps, is to use a recipe that keeps its shape during baking, so preferably one that lacks leavening agents. One of my favorites is in the end of this blog post from last year. Works well and it is delicious!

As to the paints used in this set, they were all luster powders from SugarArt (click here for their website). You can use Everclear or vodka, I opted for vodka in this case, it gives slightly more time to work with the suspensions before it dries.

ONE YEAR AGO: Amy’s Gnome and Floral for April

TWO YEARS AGO: For the Love of Bunnies

COLORFUL CATERPILLARS

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If you like colorful cookies, this is a cute idea, without any need to buy special cutters. Just pick a round shape cutter, a few bright colors of icing (plus black for the outline), and have some major fun!

Go bright and don’t be afraid of mixing colors that might seem to clash, like orange and pink. It all works in the end. Apart from blue, representing the sky, I used the four colors shown below.

Start with an outline with black icing in piping consistency and a tip #3. Then fill the different areas, allowing areas that are adjacent to set a bit.

You can make the body without segments and use the needle to mingle the colors together, or use a single solid color, then add little dots as decoration. Once all is done, pipe the little antennas, mouth, eyes, and they will be done!

ONE YEAR AGO: Bunnies by the Window

TWO YEARS AGO: Colored Cookie Dough

TOTAL ECLIPSE MACARONS

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TODAY IS THE DAY, MY FRIENDS!

After the sugar cookies, I had pretty much decided to do a similar design on macarons. These were actually quite simple to make. Divided the batter in three colors, piped the blue first, small amount. Then the yellow in the center, and the largest amount of black. Once the shells baked, I added the details with a gold and a silver food safe pen. Nice and easy. Filling was Nutella buttercream. Both the recipe for the shells and the filling can be found here.

The black I used is Black Diamond, from Americolor. Azure Blue, and Sunshine Yellow from Artisan Accents. I added a touch of black to the blue, and a touch of orange to the yellow.

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I hope you enjoyed my double feature of total eclipse, and that if you are around totality, clouds will be nice to you and move away…

ONE YEAR AGO: Metamorphosis, the Cookie

TWO YEARS AGO: Marbled Cookie Dough