Gnome Cookies

I like my gnome cookies but they also turned out to be one of the most labor intensive cookies I've ever made.

And, after all the work, I have to report that there was a sad casualty. You see, I was so pumped with how they turned out that I lined them up for a final photo and in my excitement, dropped my camera on one of the poor guys. He was pretty messed up and sadly there was no way to resuscitate him.

With a good 40 minutes devoted to decorating each gnome, I'd have to say these are cookies you should make for the experience or for very very good friend. With the time spent on them, I'd have to charge $15 a cookie if I sold them and I can't imagine anyone would want to pay that.

If you want to make each kind of cookie from my woodland set, make extra mushrooms and just a handful of these little guys.

Here's how:

I knew it would be all in the details when it came making the gnome cookies come to life. Before I started decorating, I traced my cutter and sketched multiple designs on paper. I always find my results are better if I have a solid decorating plan on paper. Trust me, it's time well spent.

I started by outlining and flooding the hats.

Then I outlined and flooded the boots and used an edible ink marker to break up the face, shirt and pant sections and draw where I wanted the gnome's hands to be placed.

I added the face and hands. As you can see, I decided to move the placement of the hands down a bit.

Then I outline and flooded the pants, going around the hands so that that they look like they are inside pockets.

Outline and flood the shirt.

Add the eyes, eye brows and beard with white icing.

White the white icing is wet, add the ears and nose. Let this dry completely before moving on.

Once the icing is dry, use a brush and thinned icing to add details — black above the eyes and for the mouth; a bit of pink to highlight the cheeks, ears, nose and mouth; and more skin colored icing under the eyes and on the ears and under the mouth.

I used a brush and thinned black/blue icing to add details to the shirt and mark the gnome's arms.

The addition of two tiny drops of blue on the eyes brings the gnome to life. I used a scribe tool to add it.

Now it's time for some textured details on the pants and hat, again using thinned icings and a small brush. As you can see, I decided to bring the hat down farther on the gnome's head and covered its original eyebrows.

I also brushed on some darker brown icing on the boots.

Now it's beard detail time —  Using piping consistency icing and a #1 tip, add strands of hair.

Also add piped hair to the mustache and add new eyebrows.

Looking good!

Jack-o'-lantern Cookies

If you are a beginning cookie decorator looking for a simple design that makes use of multiple decorating techniques, Jack-o'-lantern cookies are for you!

There's some brush work, edible ink work and some segmented piping and it's all basic and easy to do.

To get started, bake mini pumpkin cookies and an equal number of larger base cookies and also have ready a black edible ink marker, a small "food only" brush, a batch of royal icing, gel colorings (I used orange, delphinium blue and moss green) and two pastry bags fitted with #2 tips.


Here's how to decorate them:

Start off by outlining and flooding the base cookies with white royal icing using one the pastry bags and a #2 tip.  Let the base cookies dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Once the base cookies are dry, mix up some blue royal icing and thin it to medium consistency. Drop about a teaspoon full onto the cookie and use your brush to spread it out evenly. It won't look perfectly smooth but that's the point, you want to add a textural look to the cookie.

After you have covered all of the base cookies, set them aside to dry. Reserve any leftover icing to use as "glue" when it's time to stick the cookies together.

Now it's time for the mini pumpkins, mix up a very small amount of medium consistency moss green royal icing.

Paint the stem of all of the pumpkins.

Mix up some medium consistency orange icing and place it a pastry bag fitted with a #2 tip. Following the curves of the cookie add orange to just the center segment. Do this to all of the pumpkins and let them dry for at least 20 minutes.

Add orange to the outside segments. This segmented piping adds so much texture and realism to the pumpkin. Let the icing dry completely before moving onto the next step.

Add a dollop of icing to back of the pumpkins and stick them onto the base cookies.

It will look like this.

Now for the fun part, get out your edible ink marker and turn the pumpkins into Jack-o'-lanterns.

Let the ink and the "cookie glue" dry completely before packaging.

The Art Part Of Cookie Decorating

Painted Cookies

Brushed Embroidery

I started decorating cookies one day nearly ten years ago just because I was feeling creative and needed an art project. I've always been someone who has thrived on working with my hands and trying something new.

Actually one of the first things my mom said to my husband when we announced we were getting married was, "Do you know about Heidi and her projects?" What can I say? — I like making stuff and when I was younger I wasn't the best at cleaning up my messes.

When I gave cookie decorating a shot, I had been interested in it for a while after seeing Wendy Kromer demonstrate outlining and flooding on Martha Stewart's show and saving a 2004 issue of Sunset Magazine that had tips and a recipe from pastry chef Emily Luchetti. Her sugar cookie cutout recipe was so good that it is the one I still use today with one little change, the addition of a bit of almond extract.

I didn't take any pictures of my first cookie decorating project, a batch of snowflakes, and that's probably a good thing. They were nothing special due to too runny icing and my lack of experience but they tasted great and I was hooked on the whole process of decorating cookies.

It's my art and I love it because the decorating possibilities are endless and there's always a new technique to try, learn and improve upon. Plus, I get the added pleasure of seeing smiles when I share the cookies with family and friends.

This week I've been working on some new designs for an artisan fair at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. I've been doing a little brushed embroidery work, painting and I'm making sets of cookie place cards that will be sold with an edible marker, perfect for setting Thanksgiving tables.  I can be found selling alongside my good friend Linda who makes the most adorable and super soft one-of-a-kind knitted dolls.

I hope to see you this weekend. Here are the details: 

10th Annual Artisan Invitational Fair. Saturday, November 8, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, November 9, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Kempton Hall. Admission: 2 cans of food or $2. Benefiting The Cathedral Arts Program and Trinity Outreach Food Pantry. Free parking.