Saturday, December 16, 2017

Hey Cookie !

For years I marveled at the beautifully decorated sugar cookies I ordered for my son's birthday party.
I admired the artistry and wished I could make them.
Last year I started to gather supplies and watch tutorials , I decided to give them a try.
Christmas cookies were my first endeavor. I thought they came out great...looking back , they were just ok.
I have struggled with icing consistency and a steady hand. I knew they would be difficult, I just had no idea how difficult.
This year I made my second set of Christmas cookies, and although they are still nowhere near perfect, I was thrilled with how they turned out. I have tried numerous recipes over the past year and found this one , as long as the dough is very cold, holds it shape and doesn't spread while baking. It's delicious too with the crisp outside and soft inside.



The first set of designs I made using cutters and templates from Semisweet Designs.  I printed the templates in the snowman tutorial and used an edible marker to draw the lines on my cookies.
I used his royal icing recipe to decorate with.
~I will be posting some tutorials on basic decorating techniques soon. ~

This is my end result.  I gave Santa a wink, I feel like he looks a little jollier that way.



For my second design set I used another favorite set by Sweet Sugarbelle . These were done using her North Pole set that I purchased from Flour Box Bakery .
Her sets come with stencils and instruction cards which have been an invaluable tool as a new cookie decorator. I use an edible marker to mark the stencil and then I color in the lines with royal icing.
If you are looking to get started with cookies, I highly recommend starting with a Sweet Sugarbelle cutter set.
I named this set ' The Santa Express' and used a stencil from WestcoastStencils to create the postage stamp. I used royal icing for the stencil and will be posting my royal icing stencil technique soon as well.


I have really enjoyed my cookie journey, although challenging, it allows me more freedom than cakes do. I can leave cookies to dry in between steps and work on other projects. Cookies also stay fresh for quite some time heat sealed in cello bags so I can make then a week in advance without any freshness issues. The best part is I can easily ship them to friends and family.
I still enjoy making cakes and will continue making cakes and cupcakes...but you will see a lot more cookies coming out of my kitchen. 

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