hearts

A FESTIVAL OF HEARTS

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HAPPY 23rd ANNIVERSARY TO ME AND MY FOREVER HUSBAND!

February is over but love is not. Truth is, I ran out of time to share all the heart-shaped cookies that materialized in my kitchen in the past few weeks, so sit back and get some ideas for romance in cookie shape. Below each design just a few details of how they were made.

THE CLASSICS

Red, pink and white. Simple. Wet-on-wet, some with a modern, playful twist.


GOLD

Flooded dark brown, stencil + air-brush gold. Or naked cookie painted with luster gold + vodka.


PINK AND GOLD

Flooded pink, with brush embroidery edge, stencil + air-brush gold and fondant detail.


SUPER PINK

Simple solid flooding, or minimal icing with piping consistency details.


GOLFER’S LOVE

Flooded in white, air-brushed in green and blue, fondant detail.


MARLYN’S BEACH LOVE

From a recent tutorial (click here to watch it), a few details of the design after the picture.

Sand detail first, covered with gold sanding sugar. Three colors of blue + brush embroidery and fondant detail.


AMBER’S BLUE HEARTS

Simple flooding in two colors, brush embroidery with lighter blue. For tutorial, click here.


For these cookies I used strawberry-flavored cookie dough, with a touch of red dye.

That’s all for now, friends! As you may have noticed, I tend to make heart-shaped cookies often, so you won’t have to wait until February to see more… I hope you found something to inspire you when that romantic mood sets in…


ONE YEAR AGO: Montreal Confections and PYOC

MACARON LOVE

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Today I share a new way to decorate macarons, something a friend saw on TikTok (click here), urged me to try, and I did not think twice! The concept of adding textural design to the shell is not new, in fact I’ve made many batches using a fondant baller tool to add a pattern to the surface (check one of my first versions clicking here). All you need to do is wait for the shell to crust, then work your magic. Today’s version uses a small heart-shaped cookie cutter dipped in luster powder to imprint a little heart on the shells. Depending on how hard you press the cutter, you can get a nice lift on the design. I used the French meringue method, and filled these macs with raspberry buttercream.

Once the shells are piped, wait for them to crust. Then, choose the shape and size of cutter you want for the design. Since macarons are so small, you’ll need cutters that are normally used for fondant. Dip the cutter in luster powder (I used copper color), and press it on the surface of the shells, right before sticking them in the oven.

You can do a single heart or a couple of small ones. You can do circles, or a little butterfly could be cute for spring. After the shells baked, I painted some of them with luster powder diluted with vodka.

It was very cool to see them bake and the design lift in some of them. If you don’t want that to happen, make the impression without hurting the surface too much. If you are going for the lift, use a sharp cookie cutter and press it down a bit more. As I was not sure how well that would work, I left some shells without any decoration and painted them later with stripes. I did not use a stencil, just a brush. I love the mixture of designs in a same batch.

I intend to explore a few other ways using imprinting of the shells, so stay tuned for more adventures!

ONE YEAR AGO: Of Bears and Bunnies

4TH OF JULY FUN

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Get your bags of red, white and blue Royal icing, because we will get busy here! Almost any cookie shape can be dressed up for this special holiday in the USA. Butterflies, hearts hexagons, surfboards, pretty much anything goes… Today I share a few ideas, and to get some more, visit my main food blog for last year’s post (click here).

HEARTS AND BUTTERFLIES


To make the butterflies, the body is iced first with dark gray Royal icing, thick consistency. Silver sanding sugar is sprinkled on top, then both sides of the butterfly are iced, ether in stages (white and red stripes), or as a solid layer of Royal blue. These were inspired by a recent live Facebook session with Haniela (check it out here).


The hearts are iced in stages also, following any type of wavy shape you like. A fondant ball can add texture for extra fun.



THE PATRIOTIC CAMPER


For a cute and maybe unusual shape, the camper cookie cutter can be dressed in red, white and blue… First a basic design is drawn with a food pen over the naked cookie, then the window area is painted gold. Next, the lines are piped with Royal icing in black, with a #3 tip.

PATRIOTIC SUMMER

When summer camping, don’t forget to take sandals, surfboards, some ice cream to keep you cool…


Sandals, surfboard and ice cream are simple designs, based on red and white stripes plus the classic blue. Each section needs to crust a little before you pipe the one next to it. But other than that, pretty straightforward. The blue straps need thicker consistency icing. Surfboards were wet on wet, and after it all set, I piped a center line with white icing and covered with sanding sugar.

THE AGED WOOD LOOK


Minimal icing goes in this design. I thinned royal icing and applied the different colors with a brush, painting them, so a super thin layer goes on the naked cookie. Once that set for a few hours, I added a touch of luster powder bronze and brown very diluted with vodka. Stars were cut from wafer paper with a paper punch gadget.

I hope you enjoyed this little collection of 4th of July cookies, and whatever you do to celebrate, keep in mind that fireworks are very tough for pups. Do your part to minimize their ordeal…