Frosted (JUMBO) Animal Cookies

{image from Mother's cookies}

When my friend, Teresa, from Blooming on Bainbridge mentioned that she loves Frosted Animal Cookies, a little light bulb went off in my head. 
{PS...if you've never visited Teresa's blog, go now...they say Disney World is the happiest place on earth; they're wrong.  It's Teresa's blog.}

Why not make my own *larger* version of them?

See, I love Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies.  When kiddo was a toddler, I lived on a diet of Mother's Frosted Animal Cookies and Vanilla Coke.  Then I weaned myself off of them and started my current diet of Starbucks Pumpkin Bread and Iced Decaf Vanilla Lattes.  Much healthier.

I didn't have all of the correct shapes for the cookies; I did have an elephant cutter, but the rest, well...I improvised.

We have frosted animal bunnies, ducks, giraffes....

....and the all-important frosted animal stegosaurus.

For the flavor, I wanted to be authentic. So, I checked a bag of Mother's Cookies to see what flavor they used to make them so delicious.  Vanilla? Almond? Lemon? Butter?  Turns out, what makes them so delicious is just plain ol' sugar. I couldn't find any flavoring in the ingredients whatsoever.

Or maybe it's the sprinkles.

So here is my not-so-authentic version:


Lemon Cut-Out Cookies

3 c. unbleached flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 c. sugar
2 sticks salted butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
3/4 tsp. grated lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.  Set aside.

With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and cold butter until fluffy.  Add in the egg, vanilla, lemon juice and zest.  Beat until combined.

On low speed, add in the flour mixture in 3 additions.  Scrape the bottom of the bowl as necessary.  Knead together the dough as needed by hand as it will be very stiff.

Roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes about 3/8 to 1/4" thick.  Place on parchment lined sheets.  Freeze 5-10 minutes on the sheets before placing in the oven (this will help prevent cookies from spreading).

Bake 9-12 minutes, depending on cookie cutter size.  Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Lemon Royal Icing

4 TBSP meringue powder
scant 1/2 c. water
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp light corn syrup
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice

Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.

Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine.

Add in the corn syrup and lemon juice

Increase speed to med-high and beat for about 5-10 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.
 
Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings. (I used AmeriColor Gel Paste Food Color in Bright White and Deep Pink.)

---

Remember last week when I visited my friend Cheryl from TidyMom? She wrote a great post about our visit.  Even though it was our first time to meet, I felt like I had known her for AGES!  We talked from the second I stepped off the plane until the second she dropped me back off at the airport.

Cheryl is just what she is on her blog....fun, funny, creative, smart, beautiful...I'm so  thrilled to be her friend.  She also has an adorable husband and 2 beautiful girls! (AND, her cupcakes are delicious!)

Oh yeah, I also bottle fed a 750-pound lion.

If you have a bloggy friend, I highly recommend making the effort to get together in REAL LIFE!

I Scream, You Scream....

...we all scream for Ice Cream!!!

So, they won't help to beat the Texas heat, but they're much easier to bring to a picnic!

Obviously, I really couldn't decide what sprinkles I liked best on these ice cream cone cookies.


Here's how to make them:

1. Using a #3 tip, outline the ice cream scoop in white or pink (or whatever color you want) royal icing.
2. Using a #2 tip, outline the cone in brown (AmeriColor Chocolate Brown mixed with AmeriColor Copper).
   
3. Thin the icings with water until they reach the consistency of a thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel. Let sit several minutes.
4. Run a rubber spatula through the icings and transfer to squeeze bottles.
5. Fill in the ice cream using a toothpick to guide into corners.
6. While the icing is still wet add the sprinkles of your choice.
7. Fill in the cone in brown using a toothpick to guide into corners.
8. Let dry at least one hour.
9. Add the cone detail using the #2 tip in brown.
   

Viva Italia!

One of my favorite customers (ok....it was my sister) ordered these cookies for her father-in-law for Father's Day. He loves his Italian heritage...and when you come from the land of prosciutto, parmesan and amaretto, what's not to love?!?

We put our heads together trying to come up with "Italian" cookies. What did we came up with? Flags and pizza. :)

If you have an Italy lover in your life, you might want to consider making these flag cookies. They are really cute and a great cookie if you're just starting with flooding cookies:

1. Using a #2 tip, outline the flag in white royal icing and divide into 3 sections. Reserve some of this icing for detail.
   
2. Thin red, white and green icings with water until they reach the consistency of a thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel. Let sit several minutes.
3. Run a rubber spatula through the icings and transfer to squeeze bottles.
4. Fill in the sections of the flag, using a toothpick to guide into corners.
5. Let dry at least one hour.
6. If desired, switch the tip on the un-thinned white icing to a #1 and write "viva italia" across the flags.
   

Ciao Bella! ;)

Remember to enter the patriotic pancake pan giveaway!!! The winner will be chosen tomorrow (Tuesday)!

Flowers for Mother's Day

I say ditch the bouquet this year and give mom some flowers that she can eat! ;)

Here are quick and sweet little tulip cookies for Mother's Day....I have a box in the mail to my mother-in-law and my grandmother. {Shhhh....don't tell!}

{PS...my camera hates pink; sorry if the colors look a little strange!}

I see this cookie cutter just about everywhere...the grocery store, Michaels, Target. It makes a great, basic cookie and a really good one for decorating with kids.

To make them:

• Outline the tulip shape using a #2 or #3 tip using royal icing. (I used AmeriColor Lemon Yellow and a mix of AmeriColor Deep Pink and Electric Pink.)
• Add water to the pink and yellow icings, reserving some of the piping icing, to the consistency of a thick syrup. Cover with a damp towel and let sit several minutes.
• Run a rubber spatula through the icing to pop any air bubbles that have formed and transfer to squeeze bottles.
• Fill in the cookies with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide into the corners.
• Let dry at least 1 hour.
• Using a #3 tip, add a stem in green (AmeriColor Leaf Green).
• With the reserved piping icing, add the tulip detail on the flowers.

Oops! Has this ever happened to you? Flood icing leaking? Either it's flooded over the piped edge or there's a gap in the border and the piped edge isn't touching the cookie (this happened to me A LOT when I was first learning.) On the cookie above, it's flooded over the first piped edge. Not to worry, it breaks right off. :)

In the mood for more flowers? Check out these daisies and the yellow rose cookies I made for my mom. ♥

Bowl me over

My sister and nephew are coming for a visit tomorrow! :) My nephew is 2...here he is...

....go ahead. Awwwww!

His great love....bowling! Santa even brought him a bowling ball for Christmas. So, I made some bowling cookies for him.

I used a vintage-y cutter that I found on eBay. It was fun to finally use it, although it is one of those cutters that is closed on the top. You know what I mean? It wouldn't cut all the way through the dough...it wasn't deep enough, so I had to go around the shape with a paring knife.

Other than the cookie cutter issue, these are really easy cookies to make. I just outlined and filled the shapes with black/white icing and added the pin stripes using a #4 tip and the finger holes with a #3. Easy Peasy!

I hope he likes them!!!

More sports cookies:

• baseball cookies
• a sweet swimmer
• Forty-LOVE tennis cookies
  

What's all the BUZZ about Valentine's Day?

I've been dreaming about little pink bees for about a year now....since last Valentine's Day! :) My favorite cookie of the three ended up to be the red heart covered in sanding sugar. I've never covered an entire cookie in sanding sugar, thinking it would look too plain, but actually they turned out really pretty (and they are so easy!).

For the sparkly red hearts:

• In red icing, outline the heart. Use any plain tip...I used a #3 (AmeriColor SuperRed).
• Thin red icing with water to the consistency of syrup. Cover with a damp towel and let sit several minutes.
• Run a rubber spatula through the icing to break any large air bubbles and transfer to a squeeze bottle.
• Fill in the hearts.
• Let dry overnight.
• Mix a little meringue powder with water. (To get a peek at my "sanding station," go here.)
• Brush the mixture on the cookies with a small paintbrush.
• Sprinkle with red sanding sugar.
  
  

A bit of sunshine....

I know it's getting to be fall, but after Hurricane Ike, I'm feeling the need for a little sunshine. These daisies always look cheerful and sunny to me.

We have our power back on, luckily, but the stores are out of butter. Darn it! No baking for a while.

Daisy cookies are really easy....just pipe the outline and middle with royal icing, thin another color and fill.

For June brides...

With this simple tiered cake cookie cutter, the possibilities are really endless. Don't limit yourself to just wedding cookies, this makes a perfect birthday cookie, too. Over the years, I've probably used this cutter and my scalloped square cutter the most.

The edge on this cookie was finished in gold lustre dust.
This "squiggle cake" is a really simple design and still one of my absolute favorites! Here's how to make them:

• Outline cookies in white royal icing, using a #2 or #3 tip.
• Thin icing with water to the consistency of syrup. Let sit for several minutes covered with a damp dishtowel. Use a rubber spatula and run through the icing after sitting to break most of the air bubbles that have risen to the top. Pour this into a squeeze bottle.
• Fill in cookies with the thinned flood icing, using a toothpick to guide into corners.
• Let dry at least 1 hour.
• Using a #1 or #2 tip (these cookies were piped with a #2, look at the top pic for #1 tip example), squeeze piping icing in a free-form squiggle pattern. (Be sure on this design to fill your piping bag no more than half full....any more and your hand will start to hurt and cramp....trust me...it's a lot of squeezing!) :)
• Ta-da! Place in a bag and tie with coordinating ribbon.
  

Happy March!

Here's an easy little cookie for St. Patrick's Day...

1. Pipe the outline of a shamrock in white icing, using a #2 tip.
2. In the center of the cookie, pipe an outline of a heart in red, using a #2 tip. (AmeriColor Super Red)
3. Thin red and green icing to the consistency of syrup and let sit covered with a damp dishtowel for several minutes. Run a rubber spatula through the icing to pop any air bubbles that have formed on top.
4. Fill in outlined shamrock in green using a toothpick to guide into corners. Use a squeeze bottle for easy filling. (Spectrum Leaf Green)
5. Fill in heart with thinned red icing following method above.

***a note on green icing: a deep green like these shamrocks is susceptible to humidity. Sometimes, the icing will get a blotchy look and turn slightly darker. Not to worry, eventually the entire cookie will darken to an even shade. Although red and blue will do this as well, I find it happens most with green icing. Just try to keep the cookies in a non-humid environment and never put in the refrigerator.***

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you all! Here is a peek of one of the cookie designs I made for this year. I'm not sure why I've never made these hearts with dots before; they are really easy (will post instructions later.) Currently sharing a Peroni with my valentine and listening to our 9-year-old valentine play some keyboards. :)

Happy *heart* Day!

Christmas Wreaths

Here's an easy Christmas wreath cookie...a great cookie for beginners! This little wreath was the first Christmas cookie I ever tried. It's great on it's own or to add to a Christmas assortment.

1. Outline the bow in white icing using a #3 tip.
2. Outline the wreath using the same tip and icing meeting up with the ribbon outline.
3. Thin red icing to the consistency of syrup and fill in outlined bow using a toothpick to guide into corners. Use a squeeze bottle for easy filling. (AmeriColor Super Red)
4. Thin green icing and fill in wreath outline using technique above. (Spectrum Leaf Green)
5. Enjoy! :)

Change it up a bit by outlining the bow in red and wreath in green. Add red berries on the wreath after the green icing has dried at least one hour.