Reporting for duty, here I am to share my take on this month’s adventure set up by Marlyn, from @montrealconfections: use small cookies to made a larger composition. I chose one of my favorite shapes for the composition, and as a starting point a design from Marlyn I had played with a couple of years ago, and was one of my favorites (click here for a flashback). I simplified that part quite a bit, to get a monochromatic look.
All cookies have the same basic shape but different sizes. The largest one is the peacock body, and the others flow from it as its tail. Then it was just a matter of playing with the designs, different shades of blue, coupled with black in piping consistency. The peacock body also got a very light spray with Wilton pearl. You can see it better with a closeup picture.
I loved making this set, the cookies remind me of our dear graduate student Aritri, who passed away a few years ago, way too early in her beautiful life journey. I took a ride in this design and made a batch of chocolate cookies the following day. They go well together in a circle.
I am also quite fond of the concept of yin and yang, so present in life… So I spent some time arranging these cookies together in ways that appealed to me. I just know Aritri would love them.
I had another idea for the composition of cookies. It would be a heart made of tiny little square bits. But it would require more than 40 cookies to complete the full picture, and I got tired just thinking about it… Maybe I will re-visit the idea some day.
This month, the challenge was summarized in four simple words: “stand up your cookies.” Sounds like something out of a certain tent, right? Not sure if you are watching Great British Bake Off this year, but one technical challenge had an empty page with “make a lemon meringue pie,” Poor contestants…. But, I am not in a tent, no pressure, no cameras, no microphone shoved in my face as things get tricky. Here I am to share the results of my labor, I am quite happy about this composition, and hope you like it too…
The base for the composition is my default chocolate cookie recipe, which you can find in my main food blog with a click here. I constructed a little box, but ended up not using the base, just the sides as it went glued on the base anyway. So here are all the parts baked.
Once the basic components were baked, I started decorating. A couple of weeks ago I took an online class with Haniela where she taught us how to pipe succulents using Royal icing, and I made a bunch during class, and decided to incorporate them in my cookie scene.
The random-shaped base was iced in green with a thicker consistency so I could give it some texture using a brush. The box was also iced with a thicker consistency and the lines added after 15 minutes or so with a needle. Air-brushing gave it a more natural look, so that the color is not too homogeneous. The copper color of the base was just luster powder, applied dry with a soft brush. Acorns are painted fondant, made using a silicone mold.
Squirrels and pumpkins were decorated with Royal icing.
The fun part is definitely assembling it all together… I really enjoyed planning and then making the scene happen. I took the cookie set to our department and I got pretty nice feedback on it. Of all the inspiration posts so far, maybe this is my favorite. Let’s see what Marlyn has in mind for December… Stay tuned!
If you read this cookie blog of mine, you know that I follow a few cookie artists, trying to learn their techniques as demonstrated in tutorials and Facebook live sessions. Amber, from @sweetambs, is one of my favorite cookie decorators. She was a regular presence in Facebook lives, but last year took some time off to work on a special project. It turns out that the special project was the making of her latest cookbook, Cookie Canvas! I am absolutely thrilled to share with you two cookie compositions from this new book, as well as a little overview of the different chapters. In two simple words: the book is a “must-have” if you are into cookie decorating, or if you are simply fascinated by this unique art.
Without further ado, this is my version of her composition entitled “FALL BOUQUET” (page 124).
I was mesmerized by this set from the moment I laid my eyes on that page. The trickiest part is definitely the vase. It requires piping one of Amber’s trademark designs: the filigree! For Amber, piping filigree is second nature. She can do it on live camera, they turn out perfectly spaced, it all works like a symphony. I admit that I had to resort to the mini-projector. Still, it is a very nice design to practice, because you can use it in countless types of cookies that call for a touch of elegance. Once that is done (and the instructions on the book are flawless), the other components are not hard at all. Bake the cookies (template for the vase is provided in the book), make icing colors, and dive in!
I changed just a few details, to incorporate extra cookies in the shape of small flowers. The vase would work for many different arrangements: big flowers, tropical foliage, fruits on sticks… Just tweak the shapes and colors. Of course, if the filigree is too intimidating, you can do something else, including air-brushing with a stencil. But in my opinion, the filigree really makes this set absolutely whimsical.
Another cookie I made from the book was a Lantern design. I could not quite do it the same way Amber instructs, because I did not have matte white powder. If you have her book, you can look for it on page 106, and you will see that by using that product she managed to produce the perfect effect of light getting dimmer and dimmer as you move away from the lantern. Absolutely gorgeous. I went with a sparkly background instead, spraying a bit of Diamond Dust.
And now that I shared two of my cookies, let me walk you through the book…
The book opens with three chapters that will cover all the basics needed to indulge in the hobby of cookie decorating. If you are a total beginner, that’s where you should start.
Chapter 1: Cookie Decorating Basics In this chapter she talks about the equipment needed, shares her favorite recipe for cookies and frosting, and goes over the basic methods of dyeing the icing, checking consistency (VERY important), flooding, piping borders and making piped roses. It ends with troubleshooting, I urge you to read that part, it will come in handy at times (wink, wink).
Chapter 2: Icing and Frosting Recipes Amber shares several recipes to make alternative icings, and it really shocked me that I’ve never departed from my basic vanilla-lemon base. Will work on that soon, stay tuned.
Chapter 3: Cookie Recipes I am always trying different ways to flavor my basic sugar cookie dough, and in this chapter Amber offers several tasty possibilities, such as Pumpkin Spice, Lemon and Almond, Lime and Coconut, Maple, Strawberry. I have tried a couple, and the Strawberry Cookie is worth buying the book for. There, I said it!
Chapter 4: Celebration Cookies Now the decorating fun begins! This chapter is perhaps the one with most advanced cookies. You will learn how to make piped roses (wet on wet), use filigree (for beautiful wedding cookies), and brush embroidery to decorate a gift box (which you can of course simplify and make as a regular cookie). I love all the designs in this chapter, the Birthday Cake maybe is my favorite. The Graduation Cookie teaches a very cool way to do a marbled background (which I intend to try soon), and the Back to School, that closes the chapter, shows how to come up with a chalkboard look. Super cool.
Chapter 5: Seasonal Cookies I love this chapter, beginning to end! It opens with Valentine’s Day. Amber is a pro at making designs that mimic leopard print, and that’s what she chose to feature a heart-shaped cookie. Totally modern! I considered making it to feature the post, but ended up picking the Fall Bouquet instead. Tulip Bouquets (with clear explanation on how to make the cookie stay on the stick), Marbled Eggs, Fall Bouquet, Lanterns and Stars (I made the lantern as a bonus featured in this post), are just a few of the examples. Maybe my favorite of this chapter is the Goth Pumpkin, on page 117. I absolutely MUST make it soon, before Halloween says goodbye. It is unique, elegant and vibrant. I am also smitten by her take on Snowflakes. I would say that in this chapter you’ll find designs that are friendly to beginners and even the Snowflakes (page 142) that look absolutely stunning, are in fact doable with her detailed step-by-step instructions.
Chapter 6: Anytime Cookies This is simply FUN. She opens the chapter with Pizza Slices, perfect for a Summer party. Ice Cream Cups, Coffee and Donuts (love this series), Fruit Slices, Tie-Dye T-Shirts (cool to the limit!), Butterflies… I think (but it is hard to choose) my favorite would be the Dinosaurs (page 175). Very creative and not too difficult to put together. The way she cracked the icing to have the dinosaur little foot coming out of the egg, is just brilliant. Yes, I want to make that one soon.
Chapter 7: Templates In this chapter you will find everything you need to make cookies that need to be cut by hand (such as the vase I featured), or piped on the cookie (like the lantern, also featured today). Also sketches to help you pipe borders and the amazing filigree.
So that’s that, my friends. Amber’s book is clearly a labor of love! Every design has many step-by-step pictures and a very detailed list of everything you need, from equipment to colors and consistencies of icing, to make the cookie come to life. I cannot imagine the amount of work that went into the making of this book! Beginners in cookie decorating will find plenty of designs to play with, and those who like to stretch their limits will also have a blast with the book. I think Amber says it all in the final paragraph of her Introduction to the book, and I will transcribe it here for you:
The designs in this book came with step-by-step instructions and are meant to be recreated by you so you can learn to decorate cookies. As you get more comfortable with decorating, I encourage you to combine these techniques to create your own unique works of edible art. Most importantly, have fun!
Amber, thank you so much for allowing me to share the designs I made so far. I cannot wait to make more of them, and to continue following you on tutorials both through Patreon and Facebook lives. It is a hobby that I embraced a couple of years ago, and thanks to the help of cookie artists such as yourself, I love more and more each day!
I fell in love with this cookie concept the moment I saw it in Marlyn’s IG page and then on her Patreon site. The twisted legs and the goofy expression won my heart. At that time, I felt the techniques involved were way out of my skill level. But I hoped that one day…. one day I would be brave to give it a try. Finally, it materialized. One little step at a time. Steps taken with twisted legs, to match the cookie spirit…
I just love this cutie pie! I opted for chocolate cookies as the starting point.. The head and legs are made from heart-shaped cutters, the body a simple oval shape. Next, a bit of “frankensteining” happens to add ears and arms to the head and body. Marlyn has it all very clearly explained in her Patreon tutorial.
From that point, you will need two tones of Royal icing for the basic components (outlining darker), and a fun technique with a plastic wrap to make the texture.
A little black royal icing for the eyes, some finishing details for nose and paws, and that goofy boy is ready to make a kid smile!
A couple of weeks ago during a weekly Facebook live, Marlyn hosted a tutorial in which people could decorate in real time with her. Cookies were hand-cut and baked before class. Handbag and shoes were not part of the live demo, she had a little tutorial to show how to do those previously posted in her Patreon site. The skirt and blouse had some pre-decorating done, and were then finalized during the event. This set would be a perfect gift for Mother’s Day, or Teacher’s Appreciation Day, or a simple “I Think You Are Special” offering. You can watch the whole video following this link.
The cookies required stencils to provide guidelines for piping, but you could conceivably draw that free-hand. Some of the steps of the preparation are detailed below
For the shoes, after flooding in white, the stencil is used to add the red details, using an air-brush. You could draw them by hand and fill the red using a food safe pen. Once that is done, the rest is all piping with Royal icing. The shoes were by far the trickiest for me, my first pair was not fit to be seen in public and had to be consumed as evidence of a cookie-crime. I did a little better on the second pair, which is the one included in the group photo.
The handbag has a very clever design. The rough texture is made with sugar dyed with blue food color. I love the tiny details of gold, which are sequin sprinkles such as these. They also go in the blouse, tying the design together nicely.
For the skirt, a petal tip was used to decorate the border, and after that flooding with yellow + air-brushing lines to guide in the final decoration during class.
So these components were all we needed to attack the decoration with Marlyn…
It went by super fast, and again I learned a lot. This basic design can be tweaked to do all kinds of colors and patterns but I loved the look that Marlyn planned for the set. She puts so much attention to small details, they do elevate a cookie to higher levels. And often it’s not that complicated, but just a little something extra to consider. Like the lighter color on the inside of the shirt, the ruffles on the bottom of the shirt and skirt, the little golden sequins.
There we were, hard at work!
Marlyn and Hani, thanks for another great live session on Facebook! I am not sure there will be more of this kind, but I had fun with every single one of them so far…
As I mentioned, Marlyn from Montreal Confections has been proposing challenges for her cookie-followers to work on their own. Here is the assigned task for the month of April.
That was it, my friends. Two shapes. A few colors. Go to work.
After much mental back and forth, hyperventilation, monologues around the house, I came up with a flower composition to use all colors. Had a few issues with the fine lines, but other than that, I am reasonably satisfied with my cookie set…
It all started by planning the petals around the center, and adding one leaf, making it easier to incorporate the electric green…
Once the cookies were baked and the colors mixed, the fun began… Flooding the different components and adding some wet on wet for the center.
For the final details, everything had to set for a few hours, and the colors mixed in piping consistency. I hit the dark green so well that I spent a few minutes doing a short version of the Happy Dance. Look at those green lines! Don’t you love them? I thought so.
All that was left was some colorful piping to use the other colors, and tie the whole design together.
I really love these little challenges because they force me to do something on my own. Yet another thing to love about cookie decorating. Getting out of your comfort zone to explore the universe of colors and shapes.
Marlyn first shared this tutorial last August in her Patreon site (you can also watch a simplified version here). At the time I felt a bit intimidated by all the details, and kept postponing the making of it. I said to myself “maybe I can do it before the end of this coming winter.” With a little more than 1 month to spare, I finally went for it… And now of course, I think I should have done it sooner!
Let me walk you through the steps… It all starts with baking the base cookies cutting them according to the template that Marlyn designed. Additionally, two cardinal cookies that will fit together, and the decorative corner pieces.
Added details are the cute acorn pieces, made by coating brown M&Ms with Royal icing, using a small petal tip. And if you look closer, you’ll see she uses a technique to add white splatter on the blue base, mimicking snow falling.
The corner pieces are decorated with piping consistency green and brown…
And of course, the most important component is the cardinal couple…
The whole design is very clever… The branches are piped following the separation between the base components, and once that is fully set, Marlyn gilds the lily further: piping green leaves and adding a little snow on top of the branches, white icing + sanding sugar.
Of course, the cardinal cookies stand alone without any problem… I love them so much!
Yes, it is that time of the year, all we can think about in the cookie department is romance, hearts, reds and pinks. I have quite a few cookie ideas to share – as I followed several tutorials in the recent past – but today I launch this party with my own designs.
DESIGN #1 THE PUZZLED HEART
This cookie cutter was a gift from Tanya, my tent-baking friend. She used her 3D printer to bring it to life. Last year she made a stunning composition using it, and I decided to give it a try now. Several decorating methods were used: brush embroidery for the small heart off-center, texture with a fondant ball, wet-on-wet and air-brushing with stencil.
It is very important to use a recipe without any leavening agent when making a cookie puzzle in which the pieces should join together nicely after baking. I baked them slightly apart from each other, and used my default chocolate cookie recipe which has no baking powder. Once that is done, the decorating fun can begin. All the wet-on-wet and the brush embroidery can be finalized once the cookies are cold. The air-brushing requires many hours for setting the base, even better if you do it the following day. The texture is added about 30 minutes after flooding, but you must be gentle and carefully test it. You don’t want to break the skin, just form a nice rounded indentation. However, don’t worry if it cracks at certain spots, in the end it won’t be a problem.
DESIGN #2 MODERN HEARTS
I like this type of design because it is so exotic and unique. I used this set of cutter + stencil. Very high quality cutter, it comes with two stencils, I’ve only tried one of them so far. Cookies are flooded in different colors, then the pattern is air-brushed. All that’s left to do is pipe the design with a Wilton 3 tip, to get thick lines.
In a similar spirit, but with a free-hand approach, my duo of “Game of Thrones” inspired hearts…
I did not know exactly where I was going with them, but in the end, I loved the combination of gray and fuchsia. I flooded the cookies in white, piped a simple design, and then used luster powder + vodka to paint the different sections.
DESIGN #3 BRUSH EMBROIDERY
In this set I used chocolate cookies because I find that the brush embroidery looks particularly interesting with a dark background. Very easy to decorate, once you do the embroidery, just flood the center in any color of your choice, and add dots while still wet. I like to pipe dots of different sizes because then a random pattern looks nice. When the dots are all the same size, the spacing needs to be more carefully planned, as the ones below.
Same style in red and white, and a little departure using fine lines to make a lace ribbon in the center. After that the upper and lower regions are flooded with red. It is a bit more work, so making a dozen of those would be time consuming and tedious maybe. But I made only a couple, to practice the fine lines. I try to incorporate a design with fine lines in some of my weekly bakes.
Another style, super simple. Gray at the edges, white to flood the center, and when that sets a red food pen is used to make the red stitches. Easier than piping, but you can definitely pipe Royal icing if you prefer.
DESIGN #4 ZENTANGLES
Cannot stop making those at every change I get… They closed my latest post with the Gnomes, and now they show up again. The one above is my favorite Zentangle pattern because it is easy and fast to do, but it gives the impression of being labor-intensive.
Not quite zentangles, but in the same style of repetitive pattern…
DESIGN #5 LOVE MESSAGE
These were imagined by my beloved husband, and transformed into cookies by yours truly. It turns out that I have a little daily routine with Buck, our 14 year old Jack Russell: I hold him and keep telling him over and over… “I love you to pieces”. Phil thought it would be cool to make a little series celebrating different pets. I used a mini-projector for all except the kitten, which was – very bravely – drawn free-hand, from a cartoon I found online.
DESIGN #6 THE BAROQUE HEART
For this set of cookies, I used Cricut to cut a stencil exactly in the shape of the cookie. Then all that’s needed is flooding the base, allowing to to fully set, then air-brush the design. I used fuchsia from Sugarflair as the base, and air-brushed purple, which I also used later to make a beaded border. With PME tip #2.
The trickiest part is air-brushing. To minimize the possibility of smudging, I use a screen placed on top of the stencil, but that makes it hard to judge how well the dye is reaching the cookie. It is not very easy to get all cookies with exactly the same intensity of color, but maybe that’s part of their charm… never two exactly alike!
This closes the series of hearts I’ve made since the year started. In the next blog post, I will share versions made following tutorials online.
The Chinese New Year starts on the second New Moon after the Winter solstice, therefore it is celebrated usually between Jan 21st and Feb 20th. This year, the two-week festivities will start in China on Feb 1st. To make this cookie platter designed by Marlyn (check her step-by-step tutorial here), I meditated for a few hours, took 2022 deep breaths, and hoped for the best. I cannot lie, it was by far the most complex cookie adventure I’ve ever faced. A few little issues here and there – but I don’t think they affected the outcome. I am thrilled to share today, my little platter of cookies to welcome The Year of the Tiger…
Starting from the cookie shapes, this is the cookie cutter set you will need to make this platter. Or you can cut the shapes by hand, and use a round cutter for the center. Make sure to use a cookie recipe that won’t spread, with little to no leavening agent, so they will fit nicely together like this:
The day before, or several days in advance, you can make the tiger heads by Royal icing transfers. Marlyn is much more experienced and she just piped the heads straight on the iced cookie, then air-brushed the details once it all set. But I just could not bring myself to take that route. Too risky. I made more little tiger heads than I would need, so I could mess some up and still have enough to do the platter. The orange color is also air-brushed lightly on the edges once the pattern is dry.
One of the details to pay attention to, is making sure the head is not too big for the cookie. I realize I could have made my a bit smaller. But still fit ok, and had enough space for the final decorations.
The other components all get airbrushed using Marlyn’s stencils, to facilitate piping all designs… My favorite part? The ideograms…
Airbrushing with a stencil is a very nice way to guide piping details, especially if the cookie involves a repeating pattern. It is hard to pipe with Royal icing using a projector because you cannot move the cookie as you do it. Air-brushing solve that problem. Or you can also use a pen to draw the design using the stencil to guide you.
Once all the components are ready, all that is left to do is painting the yellow parts with gold. That step is optional but it does add a lot of drama to the composition. You know, the good kind of drama.
The trickiest part of the cookie set for me was writing Happy New Year… very VERY tough. I need practice. Other than that, I had a reasonably smooth ride. It is the kind of project that cannot be rushed. Pick a weekend, go slowly, and enjoy the ride.
I had a few extra little tiger heads, and incorporated them in another, simple cookie. I iced the cookie with red, let that dry completely, air-brushed the design with a stencil using gold. Then I glued the tiger head in the center, and finished the cookie with a black border.
So there you have it, The Year of the Tiger Cookie Platter!
For a little IG video on this pizza box concoction, click here (I am still learning my way through the reels)
We need something to counteract winter. Valentine’s is just around the corner. Two reasons to make a flower bouquet composition. There is a little story behind it, though. Marlyn, Cookie-Guru-Extraordinaire, asked members of her group what they would like to learn in 2022. Several of us (yours truly included) said that creating our own stuff was a big issue. Unless I see a cookie design to follow, I get paralyzed. A couple of days later Marlyn posted a pizza-box cookie sketch, and suggested we used that as a starting point to come up with our own design. I will share her sketch at the end of the post. In a way, this blog post is like a homework assignment…
For the cookies, I used this recipe (I omitted the black cocoa, used the full amount of Dutch processed). Following Marlyn’s sketch, I used my Cricut to cut a piece of cardboard to use as a template for the cookies (base and little card). Regular mini-cookie cutters were used to make flowers. Everything was baked and then the real adventure began…
From this point, I worked on the pieces of the base and the little card, as they needed to fully set before continuing. The wrap was iced with Chefmaster Gold + Cork, then a piece of crumbled parchment was placed on the still wet surface. The paper is removed next day, revealing the structure underneath. Next, I lightly brushed some copper luster powder in a few spots of the wrap.
The lateral cookies were iced with Laurel green, then air-brushed with gold. I also air-brushed the central base, without any icing. The little card was painted with food safe pen, using a stencil to guide the writing. Then the flowers were decorated, and a little heart added just because… The whole process is shown below.
This was challenging but fun… I now share the initial sketch planned by Marlyn so you can see the starting point.
It was fun to put to use several different techniques to make this box. I debated whether to add leaves, but I like the look with the flowers only. If I used royal icing to pipe leaves, it would be messy to eat the cookies, as I would have to pipe them in between the pieces. So there you have it, a little shout-out for Spring, with romance in the background.
Huge thank you to Marlyn for taking the time to devise this challenge…
For the Love of Cookies 