Animals

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

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!

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

COCOA-STENCILED COOKIES

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Would I be repeating myself if I tell you I am totally excited to share this technique? What can I say? When it comes to baking, I am easily amused. I saw some cookies on Instagram using this method, but not much along the lines of how they were made, so I tried a few things until I was satisfied with the results. You can gild the lily by painting the cookies, or leave them plain. Your cookies, your rules. Aren’t they fun?

As I mentioned, painting is optional, even without any color the cookies can be quite adorable…

Here is how to make the design… You will need to buy sets of cookie cutters + stencil, those are usually sold as “Paint your Own Cookie” or “PYOC” sets. Even if the lines are super fine, the cocoa powder will find its way and leave a nice image. It is best not to flour the surface of the cookie, so that the stencil can sit nicely over it. But of course, the dough cannot be too sticky. So if it is, rub a tiny amount of flour, brush it off and go for it. It is also a bit of a trial and error how much cocoa to use. My first attempts got too much and it smeared a bit when pulling the stencil away. My advice: it is better to leave the smear than trying to clean it at that point. It works a little better if you scrape the excess after baking. But, of course, the best move is to use just the right amount and work gently.

For the elephant, I went without any painting, but sprayed a little layer of PME pearl luster just to give it a little shine… Amazing how sharp the lines can be!

And now, if you really want to have some fun, grab your favorite tools. I used Sugarprism, which behaves like acrylic paint. You can mix colors, you can paint layers. And it tastes and smells like vanilla.

This is a great option to decorate if you don’t like Royal icing. I am absolutely in love with it!

ONE YEAR AGO: St. Patrick’s Leprechaun Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Tunde’s Needlepoint Cookies, Two Ways

THREE FOR ST. PATRICK

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HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!
REMEMBER TO WEAR GREEN TODAY…

SHAMROCK ELEPHANTS

I got the idea for these cookies on Facebook, used a projector to draw the image, painted with luster powder of different colors the added a little shamrock with Royal icing in piping consistency, dark green. I love my baby elephants!

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HANIELA’S LEPRECHAUN

I followed this blog post from Haniela to make this cookie-flip cutie pie. The cookie cutter shape is actually a cupcake turned upside-down. Adorable, right? Haniela’s post has super detailed instructions, but some of the steps are shown below…

Here are my three trouble-makers!

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THE SHAMROCKS

Two different shapes, different background colors, same wet-on-wet design for the leaves, made as shown below.

I hope you enjoyed this trio of cookies to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day…

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ONE YEAR AGO: Tunde’s Playful Easter Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

TROPICAL FISHES

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If you love color, these cookies will be perfect for you! You won’t need to prepare too many colors, the idea is to mix and match them in different ways for each cookie, so the final set has greater visual impact. Some piping of fine lines is needed, so get your Zen going…

Any fish shape can work, start by making a little sketch of the different sections, make five bright colors of your choice in flood consistency, and some black in piping consistency. Some steps are shown below…

The fine lines do lift the design quite a bit, as you can see below…

It was a fun set to decorate…

I hope you get some fish-shaped cookie cutters to play, because you can do so much with them!

ONE YEAR AGO: March Gnome and Floral Combo

TWO YEARS AGO: From Christmas to Spring

LITTLE POLAR BEARS

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Inspired by designs I spotted around the internet, I made polar bears from a simple round cookie. The process took two days because I decorated the background with air-brushed details. If you skip that, the cookie can be ready in a single day. However, you will still need to wait several hours for the icing to set so that the final details can safely added with a pen.

I won’t lie to you, that scarf almost killed me, because it involved a lot of piping of small dots. I had to make them all in stages, so they would retain their shape and give the desired effect of wool. I really love the result but, was my hand sore!

Here are the steps to make the basic design. Starting from a fully flooded and set base, I used a stencil with snowflakes to air-brush with Cookie Countess white. Then I made a small template with paper so that all the bodies of the bear would be similar. That area is covered with white Royal icing and allowed to set.

Once the body is dry, I proceeded to add the scarf, and I was spent by cookie #2, but I had 5 more to go! Piping dots with slightly thicker consistency, waiting for a row to set a bit before piping more. Then I painted the scarf with two colors of luster powder + vodka. Because the icing is thick, it does not take too long to set and I cold paint 40 minutes later without issues.

I am totally thrilled with the result, perhaps my favorite design of this winter!

ONE YEAR AGO: Wreaths and Trees

TWO YEARS AGO: For the Love of Snowflakes

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

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Remember to be grateful for all the wonderful things you have, and whenever there is a chance, cookie what you love!

A departure on the recent Kitten in a Mitten design, this time I went with stockings to feature our three beloved pups, Prince, Oscar and Star. Some of the steps are shown below. Stencil and air-brushing was used for the background pattern.

I am quite smitten with the concept of “cuteness in stockings and mittens”, as there are so many possibilities to play with this design… I hope you’ll get inspired to make some of your own versions. For now, I say goodbye and wish you a wonderful celebration of this special American holiday…

A quick message from the pups for any four-legged friends out there:

(Thank you, Gary for sharing this cute image)

ONE YEAR AGO: Molded, Stamped, Rolled

TWO YEARS AGO: Baby Blue, from Me to You

BICOLOR BEARS

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For those who prefer naked cookies, a very cute and easy option. All you need are round cookie cutters, and divide your favorite dough in two components, one with cocoa powder to make it brown. Once that is done, let the assembling fun begin!

There is no need to brush anything on the pieces of dough, just gently press them together and during baking they will end up as one piece.

A very small trimming for the ears, then a tiny round of chocolate dough for the nose…
They are ready for the oven!

For the eyes I used black pearls from PME, but you can also roll tiny pieces of chocolate dough… I added the black pearls when the cookies were just out of the oven, still warm.

You can design other animals with two color dough, or abstract patterns also, and of course add gel dye instead of chocolate if you want to explore other colors. Fun to make and lighter than iced cookies, so you can enjoy a couple of them without feeling too guilty…

Inspired by joyfullhomecooking

ONE YEAR AGO: Mrs. Claus is Coming to Town

TWO YEARS AGO: Baby Turkey Cookie Platter

FOR THE LOVE OF PANDAS

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Haniela does it again, wins my heart with yet another cute design for one of the most adorable animals in our beautiful planet.

These cookies are a little bit time consuming because you need to work in stages and also ideally make the noses as transfers, so that means starting one day before the real decoration takes place. You can simplify by piping the nose on the face, and also by skipping the adornment of leaves on top of the head.

Below some of the steps involved…

If you join Haniela’s Patreon site, you will have access to all templates and super detailed instructions and video to bring these cutie pies to cookie-life in your kitchen. You can also read her blog post about it by clicking here.

Haniela piped flowers over the leaves, I went with fondant to make it easier, so I made those the day before, at the same time I did the nose transfers. A little luster powder on the cheeks is that final touch that raises the cuteness level even more.

ONE YEAR AGO: Summer Girls

TWO YEARS AGO: Jurassic Park Pizza Cookie Box