Throwback Thursday to the surf board cookies I made just before my daughter's first trip to surf camp.
This was my first foray into using stencils, which I did with royal icing versus airbrushing. I'm hooked! I love the texture it gives the cookies.
Can't wait to try making these again!
I know, I know, "tutu cute" is offensively puny, but I couldn't help myself. It's late, I'm running on fumes, and frankly, I think these cookies are some of the cutest I've made to-date.
Adelyn, the daughter of my former coworker, turned 5 today and requested a ballet-themed birthday party. I think it was kismet, because just a few days prior, I watched a tutorial video by the fabulous Mary of Emma's Sweets on piping tutu-inspired ruffles and couldn't wait to try it myself. How's that for timing?
These were made using my FAVORITE SUGAR COOKIE and ROYAL ICING recipes -- no need to mess with perfection -- and styled to be sweet and delicate. I wanted a variety of visual interest for the cookie platter, which led to seven different designs.
I think my favorite is this little ballerina, with her perfect dark pink tutu and little flower in her hair. I hand-piped these after seeing them on Love Bug Cookies Instagram feed. It was important to me that I represent a young ballerina as part of the cookie set, and these were just too perfect.
Here's a closer view of the name plate and hand-drawn ballet slippers; these were the accent cookies -- I did three of each of type. I love the long strings on the ballet slippers, and yes, I just can't seem to stay away from piping little roses on at least a few of my cookies.
Other notes:
Harry Potter is, hands down, my favorite novel series of all time. I love everything about J.K Rowling's stories -- the magic, the lessons, the Englishness -- it's all pretty much perfection in my eyes. Which is why I was so excited to learn that a favorite coworker of mine is also a Potterhead...because a fellow Potterhead means an excuse to make the Harry Potter cookies I've had in my head for ages.
Harry, Hedwig, and Golden Snitch
These were made using my FAVORITE SUGAR COOKIE and ROYAL ICING recipes. The cookie cutters are easy -- most, other than Hedwig and the ties -- were simple shapes onto which I piped the Harry Potter logos and shapes, including a Golden Snitch and the Nimbus 2000.
I love the little gold edible stars from Wilton. These are just sprinkled on for the photos, but next time I'll definitely try to use them on the cookies themselves for a more...ahem..."magical" look.
The color of these cookies was really important, as I wanted to represent the Gryffindor House colors as closely as possible. The crimson was the most difficult to replicate, but after a few attempts, I finally settled on roughly 20 drops of Wilton's Color Right crimson (not red!), with one drop black. The gold was created using 6 drops of yellow and 2 drops of orange.
Logos, logos, logos everywhere
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When I think of the 1960s, I think of happy faces, peace symbols, daisies, and tie dye -- all of which I created in cookie form to celebrate two special 60th birthdays.
These are made using my FAVORITE SUGAR COOKIE and ROYAL ICING recipes. The colors were inspired by Wilton's "Peace Flower" mini baking cup set, which I used on the matching cupcakes.
I really love the way these cookies turned out, but I have to say, making them was a nightmare. Definitely my fault for getting ahead of myself and deciding to try new decorating techniques when I really didn't have time to do so. I guess I've been really fortunate up to this point, because I've never had anything go so completely wrong before. That's what I get for being smug.
As you can see from the picture below, the cookies on top are tie dye perfection. The cookies underneath these are my Pinterest fails. I tried a new decorating method called "dry brushing"; instead of awesome tie dye effects, I got loathsome tie dye effects with a side of pitting and dull finish.
The problem was, these looked great while I was decorating. I completed about 30 of them and, exhausted, decided to go to bed and finish the rest in the morning. I woke up to this and had to start all over again. The good news is, I think the new versions turned out even better.
The lesson here? Definitely try new things...just don't try them 48 hours before you have to deliver four dozen cookies and cupcakes for a joint birthday party.
Other notes:
The song, "You Are My Sunshine" holds a special place in my heart, as it's one I started singing to my daughter when she was in the NICU. Today, five years later, she's singing it to her baby dolls (and to me every now and then). So when my coworker asked if I'd be interested in making some sunshine-inspired treats for his daughter's second birthday, I had to say yes.
These are made using my tried and true FAVORITE SUGAR COOKIE and ROYAL ICING recipes. But let's be honest -- these cookies are all about the styling.
And by styling, I mean pretty pink, orange, and clear course sugar crystals with matching heart-shaped sprinkle bows and royal icing "cheeks". Because black icing and little kids never mixes well, I decided to draw the sunshine faces on using an Americolor edible marker.
I also played around with the photo "styling" a bit. I am not a professional photographer and even if I were, I think trying to capture fun, high-quality images of flat cookies would be difficult. There are only so many ways one can stack cookies to make them look interesting and still highlight the decorating. Let's just call this a continual work in progress...
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