stencil – For the Love of Cookies

HEARTS, SIMPLY

February 7, 2024February 6, 2024sallybr2 Comments

With this post, I celebrate Marlyn from @montrealconfections, bringing you three designs inspired by her work shared in her Patreon page and Instagram. I love her style and if you’ve been around my cookie blog for a while, that is probably old news to you… A fourth design is from yours truly, but I believe the style ties in well with the other three.

SILVER HEARTS, TWO WAYS

For this first design, all that is needed is flooding the cookie with gray (I used just a tiny amount of Black Diamond food gel dye), leaving a space in the center for the red heart. Once the flooding sets, spray with silver luster, then add the red center. Piping consistency for the details around it, and a little final brushing with silver for those details. The spray with luster is optional but it will give the metallic look for the whole thing. You can watch Marlyn’s tutorial on youtube with a click here.

Another style joining silver and red, a little more elaborate…

The preparation starts by flooding just the border and immediately covering it with silver sanding sugar. The central red area is piped next, then once that sets the border is added with thick consistency gray Royal icing, and a small star tip.

This design might be my favorite, and all things considered, it is not that hard to make!

The border can be also simplified using the same tip, but less frills…

THE DIAMOND HEART

I am quite fond of this version… It was in some ways the most elaborate because four colors were needed and a little stencil to position the areas nicely on the surface. Marlyn suggests numbering the different regions so you can flood them sequentially using each of the colors and allowing them to set before piping the region adjacent to it. Works super well. The different stages of decorating are shown below and you can also watch her step-by-step tutorial on youtube (click here).

You can make this set in all sorts of different colors, just keep in mind that to tie them all together the final piping of lines is needed. The cookie will look ok without the final detail, but not nearly as composed. I made the lines using Americolor Gold (one of my most used colors!) and then brushed some with gold some with copper luster powder.

THE PINK HEART

I am over the moon with this design, because I finally managed to do the stencil coupled with Royal icing in a nice way. It took getting a very special gadget, but I am glad I did. It is not cheap, but after doing quite a bit of research on the subject I realized it is the best one out there. Ordering info here. It holds the stencil in place, so you can spread the icing without hesitation. I am totally in love with it, and also works well for airbrushing.

I hope you enjoyed this little set made with Valentine’s Day in mind… I still have so many cookies waiting and probably won’t be able to get through all of them before the big day arrives. Such is life. So many cookies, so little time!

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ONE YEAR AGO: Valentine’s Cookies by Tunde Dugantsi

TWO YEARS AGO: Following my Heart

FINE LINES, MEHNDI STYLE

November 15, 2023November 13, 2023sallybr2 Comments

Inspired by a cookie designed by Haniela many years ago (see it here), I flooded some paisley-shaped cookies and once the base was set I went to work with the fine line piping. She used two shades of blue, I went with a pumpkin orange and brown (with a touch of orange added to it to tone it down a bit).

I loved making them, some starting with a simple leaf shape, and relying on fine lines more or less parallel to each other. Some of the stages you can see below…

I find the whole process pretty relaxing, once the consistency of the icing is right. I had some issues in the beginning, and the lines were a bit broken but I thinned the icing just a tiny bit and voilà! Nirvana within reach!

Once the cookies are all set, I confess to spending quite a bit of time arranging them in all sorts of combinations. Yes, I am easily amused…

Some hexagons were also flooded in orange and later spray-painted using a stencil. I think both designs go well together.

I hope you enjoy this post, and find some inspiration for future cookie decorating adventures!

ONE YEAR AGO: Mrs. Claus is Coming to Town

TWO YEARS AGO: Baby Turkey Cookie Platter

FOR THE LOVE OF GOLF

August 19, 2023August 18, 2023sallybr3 Comments

I make golf-related cookies often, so that hubby can take cookies to share with his buddies. They play 9 holes, and when they step on the tee on the 10th hole, they get the cookies for that extra energy during the second half of the course. This is a collection of designs made in the past few months, starting around March.

THE GOLFER

For those, I used a mini-projector. Image was from Funky Cookie Studio. They go well together in a set with a golf ball on a tee, made in fondant.

Another design with a funky golfer, these were made for a tournament called “Eager Beaver”…

THE PUTTING GREEN

One of the classic ways to make golf cookies is showing the green with the flag and hole, and you can use many different cookie shapes and designs for that.

THE CANDY CORN GREEN

For these you work in stages, first the outline gets sprinkled with green sanding sugar, then the rest of the cookie is iced. For the sand trap thick consistency Royal icing worked with a brush.

THE TRIANGLE GREEN

Pretty much the same design, but the sand trap was a section painted with gold luster powder and vodka.

THE OVAL GREEN, TWO WAYS

THE FRAME GREEN

GOLF CARTS

For the golf carts above, the cookies were flooded with white icing and next day the design was painted using a projector to make the first draft. I used cluster powder diluted with vodka to get a more patchy look in the painting.

For this second design, a lot more work was involved as far as icing is concerned. Many colors and working slowly, one section at a time. And of course, personalizing the bags with the initial of the players can be a nice touch!

GOLF BALLS

Little fondant molds for those balls, set over iced cookies decorated with a stencil and air-brushing.

Larger molds for the fondant will also work, especially if you couple it with a big tee, piped with Royal icing and some grass details.

To make the effect of the golf ball, I used gray on white icing, wet on wet. First the gray dots are piped and immediately after a little white icing is added off center to give the shaded effect. The grass was added once the full icing was set, using thick consistency green and a tipless bag.

GOLF BAGS

Another design that requires a little more work, but is also very cute if you personalize with the player’s initials.

I hope you can find inspiration in this post, in case you find yourself trying to spice up (or sweetened up) the game of a golfer you love!

ONE YEAR AGO: Shirlyn’s Flamingo Gnome Fun

TWO YEARS AGO: For the Love of Flamingos

ROLLED BUTTERCREAM FOR COOKIES

July 25, 2023July 27, 2023sallybrLeave a comment

Recipe and video tutorial for Rolled Buttercream are available here, Pam’s channel is amazing!

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In my main food blog, I shared today the recipe for rolled buttercream, so if you are interested click here to get it. I had so much fun playing with it, the recipe uses only 2 sticks of butter but it was enough to make all the cookies from this post and the cupcakes that I showcased in The Bewitching Kitchen. You can make it and keep it in the fridge, roll out as much as you need for a cookie project, save the rest for later. I am totally in love with it. Let me go over the different methods I tried.

PATTERNED SILICONE MAT

The pattern is nice without any painting, but of course a little bling never hurts…
Below I show a composite picture with the steps involved in rolling and cutting the buttercream.

I like to roll the buttercream over parchment, then lay the silicone mat on top of it, go back with the rolling pin over the mat VERY gently, you only need a little bit of pressure to get the design to form. Pull the mat slowly and see if you need to lay it back and press harder on it. That is all. You can use different patterns and paint them with different colors, covering the whole design or just part of it…

The pink heart was painted with pink luster powder and then just brushed with touches of silver to make the design pop out.

But even without any color, the pattern shows well…

AIR-BRUSHING WITH STENCIL

For these I covered the cookie with smooth buttercream, let it set for a couple of hours and then airbrushed with a stencil. Once the dye fully dries, you can outline with a pen, it goes very smoothly on the surface…

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ROLLED BUTTERCREAM WITH SUGAR CRYSTALS

This is so simply and so effective! I saw this technique in a Facebook group, and could not wait to use it. Just sprinkle the sugar over the freshly rolled out buttercream, then cut the shapes and add to the cookie. For this particular set, I marbled the buttercream coloring part with a light pink, and leaving part of it white.

The buttercream is a total pleasure to work with, and tastes just like frosting on a cake! The cookies will hold ok for hours at temperatures around 95F, so no issues if they have to sit at room temperature for a while. They crust hard enough to wrap also, which is important for me, as they get into a box to be donated.

If rolled buttercream is new to you, consider giving it a try, it truly opens a lot of possibilities for both cookies and cakes…

ONE YEAR AGO: Queen of Hearts

TWO YEARS AGO: Puppy Love

CAN ONE HAVE TOO MANY BOOTS?

July 22, 2023July 21, 2023sallybr1 Comment

Nah. Impossible. So here I am to offer another style to match your mood and outfit. These were my own design, coupling air-brushing with piping details. I hope you like them!

The design is actually pretty simple to make. Start by flooding the whole cookie with your choice of background color, I used GOLD from Americolor. That needs to fully set, so you can air-brush with stencils of your choice. I used gold. Next, mark with a pen a curved line so you can pipe the details.

I used a tiny amount of Dark Brown from Sugarflair on medium consistency icing to make the boot. Once that sets, you can go back to pipe the details using piping consistency Royal icing in the same color.

Some gold sequins closed the design, and a little work with the needle on the heel.

These are fun to make and the possibilities of designs are pretty much endless. If you don’t have an air-brush machine, you can use some simple wet-on-wet decoration for the boot and it will also look nice. You can go for dots or even flowers.

Ok, I might be done with boots for a while… or maybe not!
😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Queen of Hearts

TWO YEARS AGO: Shark Attack!

FOR THE LOVE OF BOOTS

July 19, 2023July 17, 2023sallybr7 Comments

Everybody needs a nice pair of boots, even if they come in cookie format… Today I share a first version out of two I’ve made recently. It comes from the super cool design from Marlyn, shared in a Patreon tutorial (click here to join her site, best investment ever if you want to improve your cookie decorating skills).

I love their look and would not mind at all owning a pair just like that to parade the streets of Manhattan, Kansas. I consider these cookies an advanced project because you need to use several techniques: air-brushing with and without stencil, flooding in sections and piping fine lines. Below some of the steps involved, all very clearly demonstrated in her video tutorial and the PDF booklet with extras like her recipe for cookie dough and Royal icing.

The final step, piping black lines and adding little pearls, really makes the cookie shine. Piping the outline of the air-brushed design is the most difficult step, I did it for two of the cookies, and the other two I simplified and used a black food pen with a fine tip.

I am not sure which one I prefer. Phil definitely likes the one with the piped outline better, but maybe because I notice all the little boo-boos, I prefer the other one. Still, they both made me quite happy, as I know I could not have made them a couple of years ago. Nice to realize there has been some improvement in my cookie decorating journey!

ONE YEAR AGO: Sunflowers for Ukraine

TWO YEARS AGO: Eyelet-Lace Strawberry Cookies

FOR THE LOVE OF HORSES

July 30, 2022January 16, 2023sallybr2 Comments

Marlyn is back inspiring me, I had this tutorial bookmarked for a while and finally gave it a go a couple of weeks ago. The cookie cutter (available at amazon.com), shaped as the head of a horse, is a little tricky as far as decorating goes, but as usual, Marlyn figures out a way to make it shine. Several different techniques went into the making of these cookies. You can pipe the flowers by hand using Royal icing, or simplify a bit and go with molded, painted fondant pieces. It is up to you.

Let me walk you through the steps to make this colorful design…. First, flood the cookie with light brown Royal icing, and let it set overnight. Then add the details using a stencil and brown air-brushing color (I used Totally Brown from Cookie Countess).

Once that is done, it is just a matter of adding some details with piping consistency Royal icing in green and brown, some confetti shaped gold bits, and the fondant pieces in the end…

Once the fondant pieces are added, the cookies are ready to party!

I love the modern-romantic look of these horses… I simplified a bit the design compared to what Marlyn did, so I advise you to watch her video and consider adding all the bells and whistles. What I love about her design is how unique it is, playful and whimsical at the same time. I bet any horse lover would be very happy getting a platter of these cookies.

ONE YEAR AGO: For the Love of the Sea

A ROSE

July 6, 2022January 16, 2023sallybr4 Comments

Stencils can come in very handy for those who cannot draw to save their lives. For this cookie, I coupled air-brushing with royal icing, and after the design set, I used luster powder to paint the details. It is a bit of a labor of love, I won’t lie. But if you enjoy painting, it is a pretty nice way to spend a few minutes of your time…

It all starts with a fully set, white flooded cookie. Then, a stencil such as this one, is used to lay the base for the drawing. I used only part of the stencil, which is quite large, appropriate for cake decoration.

You could conceivably stop right there. Maybe add a beaded border or spray the edges with gold. But, if you want to take the cookie one step further, get some piping consistency Royal icing and fill each section.

It is a three-day process, two-day minimum. You will need to flood the cookie on day 1, air-brush the design on the following day, pipe the icing and then wait at least 6 hours to paint, overnight is best.

Once again, the cookie could be left all white. It is polished, simple and elegant. But to me, the fun really starts with painting. So that’s what I did…

Many different kinds of stencils will work, but I find that larger designs are easier to negotiate. Depending on your skill with piping, you can go for more intricate drawings. If the areas are very close together, make sure to pipe regions that are not adjacent, let them set briefly, then continue. I will be playing more with this technique in the near future for sure…

ONE YEAR AGO: For the Love of Frida Kahlo

MAY INSPIRATION POST: CHARACTER COOKIE

May 28, 2022January 16, 2023sallybrLeave a comment

For the month of May, Marlyn proposed a slightly more challenging task: make a character cookie preferably using stencils that we would design ourselves. She gave Winnie the Pooh as an example. During the past few months, Marlyn has shared very detailed tutorials coupling Procreate (a drawing software for iPad) and stencil cutters, which is pretty much all you need to make your own cookie stencils. I will not go in too much technical detail, but even if you cannot draw (like yours truly), Procreate allows you to start from any image you find in the internet. You draw the outline and other details as independent layers that will then be made into a stencil using any machine you have (I have a Cricut, Marlyn uses a Silhouette). I tried super hard, but just could not make it work. At this point, I am not sure if the issue is my pen (to save money I bought a knock-off brand, and not the original Apple), my iPad (old model), or a combination of the two. Still, I could not stand the idea of skipping the Inspo challenge. Soooo, I cheated my way out and got a stencil available online.

The problem with stencils bought online is that they do not always work as expected. I downloaded three that were a waste of material, and the one I settled on was also not ideal. What Marlyn hoped we would do is make a stencil in which the outline gets air-brushed and then maybe two or three additional stencils could be used to do the whole thing by air-brushing. But the stencil I found gives a full image, without a defining outline, and no way to color different areas independently. As you can see below… I air-brushed with a sheen golden color that would not end up too dark.

I had to start from that, and then use food pens to add color and details.

To add a bit more detail to the design, I made little bees with fondant…

Soooo, I give myself a C to this homework. I love the cookies, so that’s not the issue. I just feel that I could not rise to the challenge of designing a stencil myself. But, I lose a battle, not the war. Once I recover from the self-inflicted soap opera, I will try again, maybe with a simpler image. Stay tuned!

ONE YEAR AGO: Out of this World Sugar Cookies