Easter / Spring Cookie Decorating Class

taught by me!

This class was back at the end of March.

I work at a recreational cooking school.  I do office work and assist with classes.   This was the first class I ever taught.  It was a blast!  Caroline, Elizabeth and Wendy were my assistants.  (How cool is that?)  Elizabeth is an awesome photographer.  She snapped some photos during class.  I snapped a few too.  Even if hers weren't watermarked, I'm sure you'd be able to tell whose photos are whose!

I baked the cookies the day before class.  The students made the icing and decorated the cookies.

Here's Caroline.  Pastry chef extraordinaire.  Personal chef extraordinaire.  Caterer extraordinaire.  Teacher extraordinaire.  Yeah, I'm a huge Caroline fan.

I usually assist HER.  This time, she was assisting ME!  It was such a comfort to have her there.  Actually she was a comfort before class even began.  I went in that morning to set up.  I called Caroline from work.  The conversation went something like this....

Me: "Caroline!  There are only a few toothpicks left in the box!"
C: "Don't worry.  I have some.  I'll bring them.
Me:  "Caroline!  I can't find the paper plates!"
C: "They're right there under the prep table."
Me: "Oh. Yeah.  I see them."
Me: Caroline! I only have 14 #2 tips!"
C: "There might be more in the drawer.  I have two.  I'll bring them."

I could go on.  There was more of the same.  She ended the call with.... "Don't worry.  You'll do great.  The class will be great.".  Shew.

Here I am giving my little introductory talk.  Explaining the basics of sugar cookies and royal icing . . .

One of the fabulous students adding water to some royal icing to thin it a bit before coloring . .

Me demonstrating adding coloring to some royal icing . . .

Adding more water . . .

The class working away at their cookies.  This pleased and cracked me up.  They were totally absorbed in the decorating.  There was very little chit chat . . .

Two students decorating.  Just look at those skills! . . .

Working away . . .

Having a taste . . .

Finished cookies by one student!  Aren't they awesome?!  Oh, and check it out.  She took notes! . . .

Packing up their cookies for the road . . .

I so enjoyed that class!

A few weeks ago, I heard from one student that made cookies on her own.

One of the assistants, Wendy, has been making cookies at home.

Yesterday, I got an email from another student.  She made cookies for her sister's bridal shower.  Here they are! . . .

I'm so proud! :)

Cracker Sugar Cookies and White Chocolate Cheesecake Spread

Sugar cookies shaped like crackers with cheesecake spread!

LilaLoa posted this idea and recipe back in December.  I've had it bookmarked to give it a try. 

My sister had a party last night.  I needed to bring a dish but didn't have time to do the whole sugar cookie with royal icing thing.  This dish can be done in hours instead of days.  Perfect.

For some reason, I never follow a recipe or the directions exactly.  I've always got to make a few changes.  Sometimes that's good.  Sometimes not so much.

I altered the recipe a bit . . .

• Added 1 cup of powdered sugar instead of 3/4 cup (because I misread the recipe,  not because I thought it was a good idea!)

• I added a touch of vanilla though the recipe didn't call for it.  That I did because I thought it was a good idea!

• I used cinnamon graham crackers instead of plain.  Um....because I like those?  

• I covered the cheese spread with both white and semi-sweet chips though the recipe suggested just the semi-sweet.  Why?  Well, why not? Oh, and they weren't minis.  Because I had the regular size already.

• I may have over-beat the whole thing.  It was just so light, fluffy, and beautiful, I couldn't help myself.  (This may have contributed to problems you'll see in a moment.)

Then I started messing with the instructions.  Things took a turn for the worse here.

When it came time to chill the cream cheese, I thought that it would be a brilliant idea to put it into a plastic wrap lined bowl.  Instant cheese ball right?

Immediately after doing it, I had a moment of panic.  Uh oh.  What if it totally sticks to the wrap?

Well that's what happened.  After chilling, it was still rather ball-shaped but I had to use a spatula to scrape the cream cheese from the wrap.

As I attempted to cover it in graham crackers and chocolate chips, the ball became more of a disk.

So I had another equally brilliant idea to embrace the disk idea and put it onto a small plastic plate to keep it from spreading more during the party.  It looked like a huge chocolate chip cookie.

Then it occurred to me that this is an outdoor party and it's nearly 80 degrees today.

I have one of those Pampered Chef bowls that are kept in the freezer so it keeps your dish cold during a party.  I decided to nix the whole "cheese ball" idea and convert it to a "spread".  I was able to lift the disk off of the plate, somewhat fold it into a ball and place it into the bowl.

Shew. The third "brilliant" idea is finally the one.

The sugar cookie crackers were pretty easy to make. No calamities there.  I made a variety of shapes and a two different colors.  Why?  Because I can't leave well enough alone apparently.

The reaction of those at the party was fabulous and very funny.

There were mostly adults there.  A few kids were running around.

It was a Cinco de Mayo party.  Sort of.  It happened to fall on the 5th of May so it was a loose Cinco theme.  There were probably about 15 appetizer dishes - all of which were savory.  Most of which were Mexican inspired chips and dips. Sitting amongst the guacamole and chips, the salsa and chips, the black bean corn dip and chips, the quinoa dip and chips, the hummus and chips, were my cracker cookies and cheesecake dip.  Ha ha!

To say the least, people were confused.  I kept hearing, "What is it?".  One person would explain it to the next, then that person would explain it to the next.  Very funny.

Once the kids got wind that there were cookies, they were all over it and man did they heap on the cheesecake spread!

Everyone LOVED it - kids and adults alike.  I loved it too.  The spread was like an amazing cream cheese frosting.  Divine!

Even with the kids piling it on, there was still half of the spread left when the cookies were gone.

I am definitely making this again.  Of course there will be changes.  (There always are.)

I think that next time I won't try to disguise the cookies as crackers unless it's an April Fool's party or unless it's placed on a dessert table. Maybe a tag to let people in on what it actually is would be wise.

I'm thinking that next time I'll make cookie shapes that go along with whatever the party theme may be.  They'll actually look like cookies.  Cut down on some of the confusion, you know?

Though I ran into a few obstacles (all my own fault), this dish is definitely a winner.  You've got to try it! Thank you LilaLoa!

Kitchen Sugar Cookies Embroidered with Royal Icing

I've made more embroidered cookies.  You can see my first set here.

As I mentioned in the other post, I have tons of embroidery patterns.  Some of my favorite modern patterns come from Sublime Stitching. Her designs are super fun!

I've stitched up many of them on kitchen towels and aprons . Here are a few . . .

Aren't they cute?

It looks like the exact pattern I have is no longer available but there's an updated version here.

I thought of these when trying to come up with my monthly cookie challenge design.  I wanted to make embroidered cookies.

This month's theme is "Home is Where the Heart is".  The cookies are to reflect anything about our homes.

I decided to focus on my kitchen.  That's where I spend most of my time.  If I'm not cooking, baking or cleaning up, I'm most often still there doing other things - on my laptop, going through mail, sewing at the table.

I pulled out my Sublime Stitching pattern and the KopyKake projector and got busy . . .

My kitchen is green so that's what I chose for the flooded royal icing background for the cookies.  Thankfully my kitchen isn't anywhere near the shade of green in these cookies!  It's a light, sage green but I had the darker icing already mixed up to be used for some leaves.  For convenience I just went with it.

I wish the background was lighter, but other than that, I love how they came out.  The embroidery.  The kitchen equipment.  They reflect me and my kitchen.

a measuring cup . . .

 measuring spoons . . .

 a timer . . .

 My favorite . . . a stand mixer . . .

Love Bird Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Love birds! Aren't they the sweetest? They would be fabulous for a bridal shower or wedding!

I've got to thank Dippin' Pops for these. I belong to a forum for cookie decorators. It's my go-to place to learn and be inspired. The ladies there are so encouraging and generous with their knowledge. Dippin Pops posted about her love bird cookies.  I just had to give them a go myself.

Then I had to make some bluebirds using the same cutter.  Super cute!

Snail Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing - Tutorial

I just got a mini snail cookie cutter.  So cute!  I wanted some larger snails to go with the little ones but didn't have another cutter, so I decided to use round cookies and see what I could come up with.

I love how the minis came out.  I have to admit that I'm still unsure how I feel about the round snails.  I just don't know.  I didn't want to add dorky mouths but it feels like something's missing.  No personality.  I'll have to try these again sometime to see if I can jazz them up.

Would you like to see how to make them?  (Brace yourselves for the horrible camera phone photos to follow.)

With a food color marker, draw spirals and heads on the round cookies.

Next, totally ignore the spirals that you just drew and pipe them.  Let dry for a little while.

Flood the spirals.  Let dry.  Flood the bodies.  Let dry.

Add the blue sky background to the rounds.  While it's still wet, add the antennae.

Pipe dots for eyes on the rounds.  For the minis, use a toothpick to place dots for the eyes.

Pipe dot details on everyone.

Or come up with your own ideas to cutify the rounds!  Maybe white dots, then the blue on top for the eyes?  Maybe more of a side view with just one eye?  Some cute mouths?  Clouds in the sky?

What would you do differently?

Tulip and Daisy Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

I recently put in FOUR different orders for cookie cutters! Three of those have arrived so I gave some of them a test ride. So fun!

Aren't the tulips sweet?  Oh how I love mini cookies.

I already had the daisy cutter but I did them differently this time.  Usually I decorate them like this.....

 This time I wanted to make the petals more defined.

I like them much better this way!

I was expecting some craters but as you can see, they were quite minimal.  No idea why.

I love this set!

Bluebird Sugar Cookies Embroidered with Royal Icing

Two of my very favorite things coming together - embroidery and cookies!  Instead of fabric and floss, I used sugar cookies and royal icing!

I think that one of the main reasons that I love decorating cookies is because it's a combination of crafting and baking - both of which I love to do.

Most of my crafting is needlework - sewing, crochet, embroidery. Give me some fabric, thread, yarn, ribbon, a comfy chair and I'm happy.

I have embroidery patterns. Lots of embroidery patterns. Tons of vintage embroidery patterns from ebay. Old embroidery books from used book stores. New embroidery books. New patterns. Um, lots of patterns.

The vintage designs are often quirky.  The quirkier the better for me . . . 

Those are some flour sack towels that I stitched up.

For a while now, I've been thinking of trying an embroidery pattern on cookies. I've seen many examples of brush embroidery cookies. Gorgeous (and something I want to try), but they don't look like the kind of embroidery I do.

This past weekend I took out my KopyKake projector, chose a cute vintage bird pattern and got to stitching. I mean decorating.

I am in love with the result!

I've only used the KopyKake a few times. I was still a little intimidated by it but felt much more comfortable this time.

There will be many more embroidered cookies in my future!