Teapot Cookies

I just returned from a fun trip to Victoria B.C. with my daughter Eleanor where we splurged and enjoyed high tea at the Empress Hotel. It was a memorable experience that Eleanor and I made last more than two and half hours by eating and sipping very slowly.

Eleanor at high tea at The Empress.

At the Empress gift shop we came across this cute set of teapot cookie cutters and Eleanor encouraged me to buy them by sweetly saying "Mom, you should treat yourself."

I'm glad I did because when I use these cutters I'll fondly remember our trip together.

To decorate the teapots I outlined and flooded the cookies with white royal icing and then let that dry completely before painting them using gel food colorings and a bit of water and lemon extract as thinners.

My painting supplies.

For more tips on how to paint cookies click here.

When I first started decorating the teapots, I tried to get too literal and realized I don't have the artistic ability for that. I especially had a hard time trying to add the space between the handle and the teapot. In the end I decided a simple flower decoration was the best I could do.

Here are pics of my teapot failure and closeups of the simple flower designs:

I just wasn't able to figure out to add the air space between the handle and the teapot. So in the end I scrapped my initial idea making a detailed teapot. A simple flower design was all I could tackle.

Painted Cookies

Painted cookies.

If painting is your passion then you might want to try using cookies as your canvas.

Painting onto a cookie is really no different than putting watercolors onto paper. The only supplies you need are gel food colorings, paintbrushes and some dry base-coated cookies.

To thin the coloring I used plain old water but you could also use vodka or alcohol based extracts. The only difference is that when you use alcohol it takes less time for the colors to dry.

I used a plate for mixing my colors.

With my minimal painting ability I think these floral designs turned out just fine. Imagine what an experienced painter could create? I'm going to have to recruit some of my artistic friends to find out. Linda, Christine and Michael — I'm talking about you.

This would also be a great project for kids who want to decorate cookies but aren't quite ready to handle a pastry bag.

Here's how I painted the rose cookie:

I first got my painting supplies together — Gel food coloring, water and a paintbrush.

Start with a dry base-coated cookie. It's very important that the icing be completely dry.

I added some blobs of pink to get started.

Next, I added some leaves around each pink blob.

With a darker pink I added a touch of more color to blobs and now they are starting to look like roses.

Using a darker green, I painted a single stroke on one side of each of the leaves to add definition.

Using a bit of white coloring and a very small brush, I added more detail to the roses and leaves. And that's all there is to it.