Wedding Dress Cookies

These wedding dress cookies are for a dear friend who is hosting a bridal shower. Decorating them took time but it really wasn't hard.

After applying a base coat of white icing and letting that dry, I painted on ivory icing with a brush to add a lace overlay effect to the skirt and top. I think this technique of painting on thinned royal icing adds dimension and realism to the cookie — Flat white just wouldn't look right.

I then added a ribbon and flower to the waist for interest and bit of color while still aiming to keep the design simple and elegant. I really like how these turned out.

Here's how I made them:

Add a base coat of white icing to the cookies and let that dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Mix up some medium consistency ivory icing and pipe five lines down the skirt using a #2 tip. Also have your brush ready and a small cup of water and a paper towel nearby.

Spread the icing evenly all over the skirt of the cookie and then with long strokes, pull the icing downward to create lines of texture. Clean your brush off periodically to prevent clumping.

Once you've finished all of the skirts, you are ready to move on.

Add a bit of ivory icing to the top of the dress and using your brush, spread it thinly and evenly. I moved the brush in little circles to create texture.

Now it's time to add the ribbon. Using the ivory icing and #2 tip, pipe three lines at the waist.

Pipe two tails of ribbon and using your dry brush, swipe downward and lightly through the center of each of them. This adds texture that mimics the lines at the waist.

Now it's time to add the flowers. Get some thinned blue icing and your scribe tool ready.

Using the scribe tool, drop dots of blue icing to create a flower. 

Keep adding dots until you are satisfied with the look.

Let the cookies dry completely before packaging or serving.

Gardenia Cookies For Billie Holiday

I always try to come up with a special decorated cookie to serve at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's Alternative Liturgy worship services because my husband Joe is the organizer and the freewill offering collected goes directly to Trinity's Hunger Ministries which supports the Wednesday Community Meal.

The Alternative Liturgies are always based around a popular music theme, musician or band whose songs are performed live by a group of fantastic musicians who donate their time and talent.  Special cookies I have made for past alternative liturgies include a yellow submarine (The Beatles), a lightening bolt (David Bowie) and a smiley face (Nirvana).

This weekend's liturgy is Billie Holiday and I knew right away I needed to make a Gardenia cookie since that's the flower she always wore in her hair.

I wanted to make the flower three-dimensional and it took me a while to figure out how — My solution was to make one layer of Gardenia petals out of cookie and a second layer of petals out of royal icing.

I'm very pleased how these turned out and can't wait to serve them this weekend. Please considering joining us, the music and messages are always inspiring and it's for a great cause.

Here are the details:

GOD BLESS THE CHILD: BILLIE HOLIDAY LITURGY
Saturday, April 11, 6:00 p.m., Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (147 NW 19th Ave, Portland, OR), Kempton Hall, Free and Open to the Public. An alternative Eastertide liturgy set to the songs popularized by the Angel of Harlem, jazz legend Billie Holiday. An evening of live music, readings and reflections to benefit Trinity’s hunger programs.

And, here's how to make Gardenia Cookies:

You need a round cutter and a mini heart cutter.

Cut and bake the round cookies with 2/3 of your dough and then roll out the remaining 1/3 and cut mini hearts. These will be used to make flower petals.

Cut a heart cookie in half.

Use your figure to flatten and shape it into a petal.

Pinch off the bottom to shorten the petal like the two on the left. The dough you remove can be re-rolled. You need a lot of petals, five for every cookie.

After you've made the petals, bake them for 4 to 5 minutes in a 325-degree oven.

Outline and fill your round cookies with flood icing. Set them aside to dry overnight.

With white icing, outline and fill all of the petals and set them aside to dry.

Once your base cookies and petals are dry, you can assemble. Use medium consistency royal icing to pipe six dots — First add one in the center and then add five evenly spaced around it.

Place a petal on each of the five dots.

Using stiff white royal icing and a petal tip (I use Wilton #104), pipe a petal on top of the cookie petals. This takes some practice so you may need to first try piping onto a plate. The most important thing is that a petal tip is wide on one end and narrow on the other and the wide end should be on the bottom and the narrow end on the top as you pipe a petal.

Pipe four more petals. As you pipe, the stiff icing tends to soften because of the pressure and warmth from your hands. If the icing gets too soft you may need to whip it again.  It's worth taking the time to do this if necessary.

Let the cookies dry before adding a center.

With medium consistency gold icing and a #1 tip, add a tiny dot to the center of each Gardenia.

Cookie Borders

My recent batch of barn owl cookies. The cookies with a border look better to me and more complete.

A piped border whether it be dots, a line or a combination of the two, is a really nice way to finish off decorated cookies.

I just think a border makes a cookie feel really complete, it's a frame for your art — And that's why I added a variety of them to my recent batch of barn owl cookies.

When adding a border you want to use icing that is piping consistency and holds its shape yet isn't so stiff that it holds a peak and you can see your stop and start points.  You want icing that holds yet settles to a smooth surface. This might sound complicated but it really isn't and just takes patience and practice.

Having the correct consistency of royal icing when piping borders is the key to success so it's important to take your time to get the consistency right. Always test icing first by piping onto a plate before adding it to your cookies.

Once you have your icing right, it's time to add the borders. Here are a few ideas:

A line following the shape of the cookie is the simplest design.

A dot border. Practice making even-sized dots before adding them to the cookie.

Closeup.

Alternating dots and lines for a border is another option.

Adding dots all over the cookie creates a wide border and also helps "frame" the owl.

Hammer Cookies

My hammer cookies are done and ready to share. The design was simple but making 200 still took a lot of time and counter space!

I was lucky to have my friend Pam visiting me the day I decorated the tops of the hammers and she helped me find space for them in the kitchen and smooth out the icing after I filled them.
 
I purchased the cute hammer cutter online from a company called American Tradition Cookie Cutters.

Here's how I made them:

I baked a lot of cookies.

I used a #2 tip and gray colored medium consistency icing to add a line at the head of the hammer. I then let this dry for about 15 minutes before I outlined and filled the top of the hammer with flood consistency icing.

I just kept working in sections until I had the top of all the hammers completed.

I let the cookies dry overnight before moving onto the next step. Because I had so many cookies all over my kitchen, I knew I needed to be able to pick them up and move them around. Letting the tops dry overnight means that I will be able to touch that area and move the cookies when I decorate the handles.

To decorate the handles, I outlined them with red medium consistency icing using a #2 tip and also added two lines down the middle.

I let this outline dry for about 1 hour before moving onto the next step.

With flood consistency icing and a #2 tip I filled in the handles. I like the textured effect on the handles and think it adds a lot of interest to the cookies. Once the handles are filled in you just need to wait for them to dry completely. This takes about 8 hours.

Here are all the cookies packed and ready to be delivered. When tackling big cookie projects, be sure to give yourself three or four days to work on them. Big batches of decorated cookies aren't something you whip up last minute.

"Bee" Mine Valentine Cookie

Believe me, no artistic ability is needed to create this cute "Bee" Mine Valentine cookie.

The bee was created by pressing a cookie cutter into the cookie before baking. Then, all you need to do is trace the outline and amaze your loved ones with a beautiful sweet treat.

Here's how:

Cut out your cookie (I used a plaque-shaped cutter) and gently press your bee cutter into the dough to make an indentation.

It will look like this.

And it will look like this after baking.

Outline your cookie with piping consistency royal icing.

Also outline the bee.

Flood the cookie with flood consistency royal icing. You will need to use a skewer or scribe tool (pictured above) to move the icing to the edge and into the narrow areas.

When the flood icing is dry, add a yellow bee body.

Immediately add eyes and stripes. This technique is called wet on wet.

Keep working until all the bee bodies are complete.

Add pink icing to the wing area.

With an icing that is just a bit thinner than piping consistency, add your lettering. Practice piping on a plate first to be sure your icing is the correct consistency.

For more detail, add a bit of brushed embroidery to the bee wings. Outline the wings with piping consistency royal icing and then use a damp square tip brush to pull it inwards. Clean your brush off after every three or four strokes.

For even more pizazz you can add sanding sugar to the edge of the cookie. If you are planning on wrapping the cookies, I recommend skipping this step since sanding sugar can easily get knocked off and create a mess in the bags. I would only add this sparkly detail if the cookies are going to be served on a platter.

Once the cookie is completely dry, outline the cookie with piping consistency royal icing.

Have a plate of sanding sugar ready and gently dip your cookie in upside down.

Lift your cookie up out of the sugar and let it dry. Once the icing is dry you can use a soft brush to remove any stray sugar granules.

Here's a side by side comparison of the two designs. I think either would make your Valentine very happy.