I am so happy! My favorite cross shape cutter is now available in metal form by Ann Clark. It's nice and big (5.25 inch high), so there is so much we can do with it! It can be a gorgeous centerpiece for any Easter or Baptism set. This first set is decorated with lace pattern.
Here is the amazing cutter and a chocolate cookie made with it.
You can also add some flowers to celebrate the season...
... or just doodle with some spring colors.
Stained glass effect looks amazing too.
I hope you will like this shape as much as I do. If you decorate it, please send me your pictures!
I can't believe that Easter is almost here! Yesterday we had snow in Kentucky and I am truly ready for spring!
I brought you some cheerful colors in this set. This is my newest party project on Vimeo. Check it out for step by step instructions and host a cookie decorating party for your friends and family!
These are real play-cookies. I had some leftover bunny cookies and a butterfly. They were flooded with white icing. I decided to mix some icing with TruColor gel colors and play with them. The mindless doodling was fun and I like the result.
This set is the main project of my Cookie Academy 3 - Needlepoint book and this is what we make during the needlepoint master classes.
It took me some time to edit all the videos and put them on Youtube, but this is the perfect timing right before Easter.
For this set I baked 4 inch egg cookies, using the recipe that has nice smooth surface and painted the cookies with TruColor airbrush shine colors using a paint brush. During the last class we used airbrushes and they turned out amazing too.
Enjoy the videos and make some beautiful cookies for Easter!
I got so busy around Easter, that I could not post anything. Now, I am trying to catch up and share the Easter egg cookies I made for my kids.
Before you ask, unfortunately I don't have the egg molds for sale. I was not able to get them, but if things change you will be the first to know. However Wilton has a cake pan with small eggs that might serve as a mold for these cookies.
As I made these for my kids, I used the all natural Trucolor Airbrush shine colors for them.
Being a sugar artist and a health conscious mother at the same time is not easy. But I try to do my best. This project is part of the mission.
I have an easy start as my favorite gingerbread recipe is already healthier than the traditional sugar cookies. It has just a little sugar, the rest is honey and one cookie has about 75 calories (while a sugar cookie can be anywhere between 150 and 250, depending on the recipe).
The tough part is the decoration. I usually use royal icing and color it with Americolor gel food colors. They come in gorgeous colors, they are affordable and easy to use. But they are artificial food colors, so I do not let my kids eat it. I do let them eat some colored food, but my cookies are laying around 365 days a year and that would add up in their bodies way too much. So they had to accept this general rule: no colored cookies for them.
However, as all kids, they love colorful things. Fortunately there is a healthy option! I can use Tru Color natural food colors. They are too pricey for me to use for keepsake and presentation cookies, but they come in beautiful vibrant colors. So this is the perfect solution for my project.
Now, the icing... Around Easter my kids eat way to much sugar with all the egg hunts and parties. So I just decided to skip icing. And here is what I came up with:
I chose five happy colors from the Tru Color standard metallic collection. They are really shiny and could be painted on icing as well. But now I am doing something different.
As they contain no preservatives, these colors come in powder form and have to be diluted before use. I took out a little of each color to a paint palette.
Added some distilled water to them and mixed well with a toothpick.
Then I added corn syrup to the colors. It's clear, will dry hard and helps to distribute the paint evenly.
The next step is painting the cookies.
The drying time is a little longer, than the drying time of royal icing, but it will dry hard and shiny.
It's been a while that I made stained glass cookies and I decided to make some for Easter. I will also teach the technique this weekend at Sweet Wise.
I tried this technique for the first time last year. I wanted to find a method to make my cookie shiny like the real glass and I've found it. My corn syrup mixture dries perfectly and looks like glass.
I also tried it with golden outlines on this Mother's Day cookie.
And now, I wanted to make some cross cookies. These are the original cookies of this cross cutter.
I wanted to make these cookies in real Easter colors. I had the feeling, that the light pastel colors we use and see everywhere are not the real, traditional colors. So I did some research. I have found a nice and simple summary of the Easter colors in Christianity at about.com:
What Easter colors symbolize in Christianity:
Red symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ and the blood of martyrs. [Crimson and Scarlet are associated with theology, the Church, and the Bible.]
Purple is the color of royalty (Jesus, King of Kings) and also the color of suffering.
Black represents darkness and sin and mourning.
White is purity and angels and resurrection.
Gold is a color of celebration and symbolizes the presence of God and richness (wealth, prosperity, or heavenly riches).
And here are my cross cookies in real Easter colors:
I really liked how beautifully the gold dust dissolved in this corn syrup mixture and covered the surface.
I also wanted to try this mixture on bare cookie, without flooding the cookie first and I really like the look:
I always wanted a BIG basket cookie cutter to have plenty of room for decoration. My time has arrived! With my collaboration with Cookie Cutter Kingdom, now I can have all the cutters I can think of. I just love to create my own designs! This one is a 3 piece set: an outline with two optional extra parts. (don't forget to use coupon code FRIENDSOFTUNDE to get 10% OFF if you buy them)
Let's see how they work:
If you use the outline with the simple rounded inside part, you get a simple basket. The focus is on the decoration. See the video tutorial below.
With the other inside part you will get a basket filled with Easter eggs. To see the tutorial for these cookies and learn how to make basket weave, watch this video:
If you use the outline by itself, then you can fill the basket with whatever you want. And here is the video for the bunny and the flower basket:
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, if you would like to join in the fun, get the basket cutter set and don't forget to use coupon code FRIENDSOFTUNDE to get 10% OFF.
"Paint your own" cookies are really popular in cookie world. They first appeared in Montreal Confection's blog in fall 2013, then everybody started making them.
I have two little girls who LOVE to paint and color. And I never made a paint your own cookie before. You know why? Because royal icing will melt if you use too much water and I was afraid the black outline would make other colors a mess. And one of my girls is a perfectionist and she could not deal with a disaster like this.
I was looking for a way to create a coloring cookie that can handle more water and decided to try fondant. I don't use fondant for cookies, because I don't like the flavor and the texture of it, but we can make exceptions for a good cause, right?
Then I asked my friends at Cookie Cutter Kingdom to print me the set I designed for this experiment and they did a wonderful job.
Let's see, how it works:
For this project I needed a whole different set of tools, than I am used to:
I work on a silicone pastry mat.
I brush corn starch to the work surface so the fondant doesn't stick.
Rub a little Crisco to my hand so the fondant doesn't stick to my hand.
I use my home made fondant (you know me, I like to make everything from scratch, but you can buy some at the grocery store).
This is the way I store my fondant during work. This prevents it from drying out. I learned this trick from my friend Ibolyka Kiss during her sugar flower classes last summer.
I rolled the fondant, used the cookie cutter to cut the egg shape and removed the excess fondant. (It went back under the cup.)
Brushed a little water on to make it sticky.
And placed the cookie on top, upside down.
My favorite cookie recipe spreads, so my cookie is bigger, than the fondant. If you have a non-spread cookie recipe, then your fondant will cover the whole cookie, as you use the same cutter.
Here comes the fun part: push the stamp in your fondant and your design is ready. (I love it!)
Bunny in the Easter egg stamped into the fondant with a 3D printed stamp.
You can stamp on the palette too, or just paint it on without the outline.
Next step is adding the colors. I use Americolor airbrush colors and about 2 drops was enough to paint the color on 12 cookies.
I have to practice staying inside the lines... or ask my perfectionist girl to paint these for me.
They are ready, my girls are excited!
Here are the painted cookies with the cutter and stamp set. If you want to purchase these cutters use coupon code FRIENDSOFTUNDE to get 10% OFF. Have fun!
