Patriotic Sugar Cookies

Every heart beats true for the red white and blue! These cookies were actually sent to a congressman's office back in November during the election campaign, but I figured that with all the craziness going on in DC, now was as good a time as any to post them.

I had fun with a basic red, white a blue starts & stripes theme.

That one up there reminds me of Captain America a tad too much.

I added a touch of white luster dust to smooth out the details. Working with bold colors is very unforgiving and the dust helps soften them.

I like the diagonal ones the best. The stars were tricky to pipe freehand but I finally got the hang of it.

Surfing Cookies

It took long enough, but let's celebrate the sun FINALLY coming out after a long winter.

These were actually Christmas/Holiday cookies for some of my dad's surfing pals, but I didn't think my East Coast readers would appreciate the bragging about SoCal weather had I posted them back in December.

Hawaiian shirt cookies and edible surfboards. 

The floral print on the Hawaiian shirt cookies was done using a marbling technique. I put icing drops of one color onto the still wet base and used a toothpick to draw each dot in to make a petal. I always want to make a tutorial, but you have to work fast with this technique and I never have enough hands to keep the camera frosting-free!

The little pocket on the breast of the shirt is my favorite. 

I had fun with the surfboard designs. I just piped wavy lines and filled them in what whatever color pastry bag I was holding.  I was running out of royal icing at the end so I eeked out whatever was left and I just made it!

Don't they make you want to head to the beach and lay out in the sunshine?

Here's to springtime and summer!

Sesame Street Cookies

I LOVE THESE COOKIES! They're covered completely in glitter. Really, what can go wrong?

I made these Sesame Street cookies for a second birthday party. They were due the day after another huge project, so I got started early and made royal icing transfers a few days ahead of time so I would be able to take my time and make them as perfect as possible. 

First, I traced the shapes with black royal icing onto wax paper. I used a picture underneath the wax paper so I could follow the lines. 

Flood with icing on one section, dump on the glitter, and wait a few hours for the icing to dry. 

 

 Don't you love edible glitter?

Brush the excess off (I use a makeup brush designated for food, not cosmetics) and fill in the rest of the colors

I tie my pastry bags with twist ties so I can put them down and not worry about them exploding and making a big mess.

When they're dry, you can just peel them off the wax paper. 

Flood a cookie with any color icing and, while the icing is still wet, plop the decoration on top.

There was a little bit of bleeding because of the intense black and because they sat for a few days, but I love how they came out. 

The glitter gets everywhere, but it's worth it. 

How can you resist?

Halloween Cookies

It might be a bit early for most people to celebrate Halloween, but the camp I work at had a theme day, so of course I brought cookies to help everyone get into the mood. I ended up making about 90 cookies and they were gone about 20 minutes after I left the box in the staff lounge.

I love how these cookies worked so well together as a set. Seeing them all together on the plate just made me so happy!

How could I resist making goofy faces on all the jack-o-lanterns?

Boo!

The spiderwebs were made by piping the spider blobs on top of (mostly) dry marbled royal icing.

I had so much fun with the evil bat faces.

I never thought a spider would look so cute!

4th of July Cookies

Alright, I admit. I went a little crazy with these. I got home from work at 4:30, started these right away, and worked through dinner until 10:30 at night. What? You mean that doesn't happen to everyone? But they were so much fun! Just about ever cookie is unique. I decorated with dragees, piping, and marbling techniques. Take a look at how I did the cookies with the marbling:

Immediately after outlining, then flooding the cookie, I piped circles of color onto the cookie. I tapped it against the table a few times to make it settle, then immediately dragged a toothpick in the direction I wanted. Ta da! This method is very forgiving and quite a bit of fun to do because of the endless possibilities.

 Anyways, lots of stars and stripes.

Tons of swirls

And, of course, lots of red white and blue!