gnome

GNOME AND FLORAL FOR THE MONTH OF MAY

sallybr3 Comments

Before this month is over, here I am to share the cutest pair of gnome and floral designed by Amy from @seriouslysweet. Keep in mind you can always join the fun (click here for details).

Isn’t that the most adorable set of cookies in the known universe? You tell me! They rely on fondant decorations which you can make way in advance and once they are done, the cookies come to life super fast. Here is a link to the mold I used. I intend to make lemon cupcakes and decorate the top with buttercream and little fondant lemon slices. I dyed the fondant yellow and green, and later painted them with some luster dust.

The whole design is pretty simple, just eye-ball the position of the hat, use wet on wet to add lemons to the blue base. The fondant pieces (nose included) will be placed after icing the base with the beard area, which calls for thick icing. The leaves on the floral are a mixture of fondant and piping, which gives the cookie more movement and pizzazz. Details matter and Amy is on top of all that. I learn a lot in every single class and you can too!

At that point I looked at the gnome and felt that the lemons needed a bit more work, so I did the outline with a very fine tip black pen.

So one more combo of gnome and floral is done! Looking forward to whatever Amy has up her sleeve for the month of June! Stay tuned…

ONE YEAR AGO: Let’s Square Things Up

TWO YEARS AGO: The Many Faces of the Oreo Cookie

MARCH GNOME AND FLORAL COMBO

sallybr1 Comment

It is time to bring a new design by Amy from @seriouslysweet, in her cool series of matching gnome with flowers. In perfect tune with the month of March, here are my babies! Visit her site to join the fun, and get access to all the gnome-florals of 2023, past and future.

So many details in these cookies! I am particularly smitten by the shoes – what a clever way to make them! Same mold as the clover leaf, but cut in individual pieces and dyed black. And the a little golden coin on top. Kill me with cuteness, Amy! The other amazing detail is the beard, and finally the piping of the white roses branching down from the floral composition. Super cool. Below you see some of the steps in the preparation of this set.

All things considered, this is not a difficult cookie to make, and as Amy said in her tutorial video, it goes really fast, especially if you make the fondant pieces in advance. Not that many colors involved either, in fact for the gnome you only need black, green, and then a little terracota in thick consistency for the beard. The trickiest part was piping the white spiky bits to make the flowers, my hand was hurting a bit. But it was worth it!

Can you tell how much I loved this little project?

Amy, I look forward to what April will bring!

ONE YEAR AGO: From Christmas to Spring

INTRODUCING THE GNOME & FLORAL ADVENTURE

sallybr3 Comments

If you’ve been following my cookie blog, you are familiar with all the online classes taught by Amy from Seriouslysweet. For the new year, she came up with a very fun series: each month we get to make two cookies, one gnome and one floral, with a similar color scheme so that they go together like a perfect match. January started with Frosty Gnome and his blue-tone flower. I cannot tell you how much fun it was to bring these cookies to life, and you can do it too! Just join her site (link below) and sign up for the whole series. You will need the cookie cutters also, although you could conceivably cut them by hand or use a similar cutter you already own. The videos are all pre-recorded and the classes follow her usual format, so you will also receive a little card with all the specific things you need for each cookie.

To join Amy’s online tutorials, visit her site clicking here.

I love when cookies make me smile, and these gnomes do it, big time! So many details… First, you need to make the nose with fondant or modeling chocolate, once that is ready you can start piping the different sections and adding all the bells and whistles.

Apart from the fondant noses, you’ll need little snowflakes made with wafer paper and a small punch type cutter, but if you don’t have that, you can add snow-shaped sprinkles. The paper creates a nice lift, though. The gloves get some texture with the needle, and the beard is made using one of Amy’s favorite techniques, which I don’t feel it is right to share, as the class is a paid event. The final touch is a large snowflake made with fondant, and spray painted with Wilton pearl Color Mist. I made a little heart to go with that set also… Aren’t the gnomes the cutest?

The matching flowers are much simpler to make, even if they seem complicated. All you need is Royal icing in the right consistency (thick), a petal and a leaf piping tips. I added some sprinkles to the center and once the icing was fully set I painted the edges with luster powder, white for the petals and copper for the leaves.

I’ve enjoyed every single online class from Amy, but this one has got to be one of my favorites of all times! It was wonderful to see that little gnome taking shape, and although it is not a class for beginners – you need to be comfortable making and handling Royal icing in several different consistencies – it is not over the top advanced.

If you’d like to challenge your cookie decorating a bit, I urge you to join Amy’s site and sign up for the upcoming classes. Her group on Facebook keeps getting bigger and bigger, it is great to see everybody making progress in their own path of decorating cookies.

Amy, I look forward to February and its set of gnome and floral!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Year of the Tiger Cookie Platter