Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Teal and red Christmas

Teal and red gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

My dear friend, Tammy has mentioned that she was planning a teal and red Christmas this year. She also told me she has purchased the ornament cutter set I designed for Cookie Cutter Kingdom, because they reminded her of her childhood Christmas.

I decided to surprise her with a cookie set and, of course, I made the ornament shapes she loved in teal and red. I left the accents white as I did not know if she wanted gold or silver accents or not. Luckily, she is a cookie artist herself, and she is also the owner of 2T's stencils. They carry the most amazing DinkyDoodle airbrush colors, so she can add some shine to the set later if she wants.

Teal and red gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

I also made her an advent wreath centerpiece to complement this set.

Teal and red gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

Are you almost ready for Christmas too?

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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Szaloncukor (Hungarian Christmas candy) 2015

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

And it's time again for our traditional Christmas candies. I told you about how to make them last year. Today I made the same marzipan filled candies as those are my kids' favorites. However I changed the recipe a little. This marzipan is made of 200 g blanched and finely ground almonds, 200 g confectioner's sugar, 1 tsp of almond extract and a few spoonful of corn syrup. (I used to add 1 egg white, but many of my friends don't like to use raw egg whites, so I used corn syrup instead. I did not measure it, just kept adding it until I was able to incorporate everything.)

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

I rolled and cut the marzipan to candy sized pieces then chilled them in the fridge.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

They got a nice dark chocolate coat.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

And they went to back to the fridge to chill.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

My girls prepared the food safe tissue paper packaging for me (cut the ends of the rectangle to make it pretty), so wrapping was easy.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

This year I added an other flavor: hazelnut. Everybody loves Nutella, right? My family surely does. So I prepared some dark chocolate shells in a candy mold.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

Kneaded a bag of Nutella for a few minutes to warm it up a little.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

Then filled the chocolate shells with Nutella. I let them chill a few minutes.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

Then I closed the candies with the dark chocolate.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

They got a different color of packaging, so we recognize the flavors.

Szaloncukor by Tunde Dugantsi

Now, we are ready to decorate our Chrismas tree the 24th. (Yes, this is when we decorate our tree).

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Saturday, December 19, 2015

3D Christmas tree

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

 While my little girls are decorating some gingerbread cookies in the Kitchen, let me show you real quick one way to make 3D Christmas tree cookies.

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

First bake 5-6 half Christmas tree cookies (I used 5). You can use the special cutter from Cookie Cutter Kingdom, or cut a Christmas tree shape in half before you bake it.

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

Use egg yolk glaze to color them green. (mix 1 egg yolk, 1 tbsp milk, green gel food coloring).

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

Decorate all the pieces both side.

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

Cover a cake board with royal icing if you need a base for your tree.

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

Glue the pieces together with thick royal icing.

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

Finish decorating with royal icing, connecting the pieces. Your icing needs to be on the thicker side, so the hanging line doesn't break.

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

This tree is a nice complement to the Santa Sleigh cookie from my earlier post.

3D Christmas tree gingerbread cookie by Tunde Dugantsi

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Thursday, December 17, 2015

Blue bell gingerbread cookies with snowy landscape

Blue bell gingerbread cookies with showy landscape by Tunde Dugantsi

This set is still from the blue airbrushed series. I used my favorite 6 inch bell shape from Foose. Flooded all of them with ice blue icing, then added some royal blue to parts of the cookie with airbrush.

Blue bell gingerbread cookies with showy landscape by Tunde Dugantsi

Then created a little scenery in the middle of each bell. (The center shape is different for each, I used cookie cutters to trace the middle window.

Blue bell gingerbread cookies with showy landscape by Tunde Dugantsi

To add a little frame to the scenery, I outlined them with one more line and added some dots to this line. This is a very simple border, but still attractive.

Blue bell gingerbread cookies with showy landscape by Tunde Dugantsi

As the last step, I filled the rest of the bell with some curly curves and dots.

Blue bell gingerbread cookies with showy landscape by Tunde Dugantsi

And here is all four of them again:

Blue bell gingerbread cookies with showy landscape by Tunde Dugantsi

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Monday, December 14, 2015

Christmas cookies with Hungarian folk art design

Christmas cookies with Hungarian folk art design by Tunde Dugantsi

I love to make Hungarian folk art flower cookie designs. However, I never thought about doing it for Christmas. This year, I got a request for them so I created a Christmas set with these gorgeous flowers. They are not your traditional Christmas decorations for sure. But these ornaments are cheerful and colorful.

Christmas cookies with Hungarian folk art design by Tunde Dugantsi

To complement the set, I made these bell shaped candle holders and an advent wreath centerpiece.

Christmas cookies with Hungarian folk art design by Tunde Dugantsi

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Friday, December 11, 2015

Blue Christmas ornaments and candle holder

Blue gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

Sunday, in my post about the Christmas sweater I promised to bring you more of these airbrushed blue cookies. Today, I show you some Christmas decoration gift sets. One candle holder with 6 ornaments make a beautiful gift set and fits perfectly in my gift boxes.

Blue gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

These candle holders are made of two snowflake cookies. The top part has a hole for a tea light or a votive candle.

Blue gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

I decorated some star cookie-ornaments. Of course they are all different. Each set will have two stars.

Blue gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

I will add two bell to each set. By now, I have numerous bell cookie cutters, but this one, from the basic 101 set of Wilton is still my favorite.

Blue gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

The two Christmas trees will also have the simple clean shape of the basic set.

Blue gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

This is one of the gift sets.

Blue gingerbread Christmas decoration by Tunde Dugantsi

And here is an other one. And I also promise you more blue Christmas cookies in the near future.

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Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Mini Christmas ornaments


You probably remember these ornament shapes from the ornaments with lace or the blue Christmas ornaments. This set was made with the mini version of the same cutters, available at Cookie Cutter Kingdom.

I started with white flood icing for all of them.


Then painted half of the with TruColor Super Red Shine Color an  the rest with Deep Blue Shine.



Then piped some filigree pattern to all of them.


Painted the filigree of the red cookies with TruColor Gold Shine.


 Here is the red and gold mini set:


And the blue and white mini ornaments:


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Sunday, December 6, 2015

Christmas sweater


I got this cool sweater cutter from Cookie Cutter Kingdom and I also have a highly neglected airbrush. So I decided to put them to work. I flooded the cookie with Sugarflair ice blue icing and airbrushed with royal blue. I love this color combination (so you will see more of it in the near future). Then decorated with white royal icing.


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Friday, December 4, 2015

Simple elegance for Christmas


Do you remember the 5 inch square chocolate cookies I used for the no-icing fall cookies? I had some more of them and I also had a bag of white icing, which looks wonderful on chocolate cookies.
I decided to draw a Christmas tree shape using curls and teardrops. Then I added a few tiny, shiny edible beads as accents. Different color for each cookie. I finished the cookies with a simple, double line border.


Here you can have a closer look at the cookie with the pink beads, and the one with the gold accents.


I also have a few more of these square cookies, waiting for inspiration. See you soon!

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