How to Make a Vintage Toy Drum Cookie

Another, I didn't have that cookie cutter story... this time the request was for a vintage toy drum. I went through some of my easy access cutters and realized the bottom of the rocking horse would give the curved lines I was looking for. I had intended to hand cut them, but after a busy week I looked for a simpler solution. I want to try these again, maybe at Christmas time with bright reds, greens and gold.

For this project I used:

1) Sugar Cookie Dough

2) Rocking Horse Cookie Cutter + Small spatula for cutting the shapes.

3) Royal icing in vintage blue, red and tan. Both thick piping consistency and thinner flooding consistency.

Here is how I cut out the the drum shape. The top and the bottom from the rocking horse and the sides using the small metal spatula. This went fairly quickly. One major mistake - I made this cookie a little too big.
I also used the rocking horse to make "guide lines" for decorating. This made the decorating so much simpler.
Here's how the cookie looked after baking. I have nice lines to help me make the sections of the drum.

To start, make a wide band at the top. I used a Wilton Size 3 tip.

After that I outlined the smaller blue sections and the large red section.

Now fill in the blue section. I tried making the larger bands with all piping consistency but It didn't give the drums the smooth look I wanted. Wait about 20-30 minutes for this to set up before continuing. I must have been pretty tired at this point, I stopped taking pictures.

From here, simply Fill in the top part with tan and the bottom portion with red. When this is dry add the final details. I made the lines with the tan and added more blue lines to add dimension.

When I took the photos all of a sudden the tan turned into a more blush color... hmmm. I need to be more careful mixing colors. It did look a lot better packaged and with the bow.

How to make a Vintage Toy Airplane Cookie

These toy airplane cookies were part of the custom order for a vintage-toy themed baby shower. The order came in with out enough time to order a vintage airplane cookie cutter. My cousin Emma (Click here to see her website) suggested altering the jet airplane cutter that I already have. This cutter is plastic so I had to work with changing around the dough after the shapes were cut. This is still less time than hand cutting each airplane.

For this project I used:

1) airplane cutter + small number 1 cutter

2) sugar cookie dough

3) Royal icing, both thick piping consistency and thinner flood consistency in tan, vintage red and vintage blue. For a good royal icing recipe check out SweetSugarBelle's blog and this post.

I modified the jet airplane shape by making the wings go out to the side and the edges straight. I also used the small number one cutter show for the propeller. In the oven the pieces form together on their own.
When I get to this point I'm so happy, all the hard work is over and the fun begins. I hurt my wrist rolling dough a couple of weeks ago so I only used disposable piping bags. I think I may do this more often. I felt I had better control over the flood icing and I didn't have to squeeze so hard to get the icing out.
Outline the airplanes with the blue piping consistency icing.
Now flood with the thinner icing. I love love love this step. I worked with about 5 cookies at a time for this project. Try to under fill the cookies as you will be adding more details to the wet icing. So many times I fill them too much and there is not room for the wet details. Icing ends up all over the sides of the cookie.

While the icing is still wet add a large red circle. Do this to all five cookies. Nice photo, huh? I really need a robot to help me with my pictures. It's hard to pipe dots and take a picture with a clunky camera.

Gently shake the cookie so the icing flattens out.
While the icing is still wet add the small lines. I wanted them flush with the blue icing. Don't work with too many cookies at a time or you will not get that look. I used a Wilton size 1 tip. Add the red propeller.
Here they are!
I made 20 of these cookies. Figuring out the design was the hardest part. Is that why people get mad when other's copy their designs? Copy away... even with a design to follow this is a lot of work. I bet someone with more cookie experience could even improve this design.
A sample of the cookies for this baby shower.

How to make a Vintage Teddy Bear Cookie

These Teddy Bears were for a "Vintage Toy" themed birthday party. I have a few bear cookie cutters, but they just weren't right. A vintage bear is thin and lanky. I didn't want the traditional chubby bear found in most baby sets. So, I think I should re-name my blog "and I didn't have the cookie cutter" - In this case I made a rough cookie shape and I like the way it turned out, kind of jagged and rustic looking behind the bear.
All dressed and ready to go to the baby shower. Please excuse the photo quality - you can tell this one was taken late late at night. I don't photoshop anything, I just want to give it to you as is. If the photos are getting dark, you'll know I'm up late decorating!

Here's what you will need

1) Sugar cookies baked in a rough outline of the bear (I trace the image onto the back of a paper plate before cutting the dough.)

2) Tan colored royal icing, keep some thick for outlining and thin some for flooding. I mixed a little bit of brown with the icing... For a good royal icing recipe look here.

3) Accent colored thick icing for the bear's bows. I used red (deep pink + tulip red + super red all americolor) and blue (royal blue + black americolor)

4) Piping consistency black icing for the facial details.

5) Not too much time for decorating :) This one is pretty easy.

Outline cookies using an edible ink marker. It is best if the color of the marker blends with the icing color. I used the KopyKake 300xk for this step because this was such a big order. The bear itself would be fairly simple do do with out the projector - lots of simple circle and oval shapes. Now outline the bear with the piping consistency tan icing. I used a Wilton size 2 tip.

Flood in alternating sections. I really wanted the bears appendages to look separate. Allow one section to dry for about 20 minutes before filling in the next area.

At this point I was exhausted and stopped taking pictures. When the face has set (about 30 minutes later) add a small circle for the bear's face and flood that circle. This adds depth to the bears face. I also added detail to the ears and the bow. Pretty easy!
These bears were a favorite of last week's work.
Here are the other cookies for the baby shower. I will post the other tutorials soon.

Baby Girl Shower Cookies decorated with Royal Icing

My favorites from this group.

All the cookies.

Baby rattle cookie.

New Baby Onesie Design, actually by me and not a copy!

I made these for my sister-in-law's sister. My brother flew in from Miami and entertained the kids for close to an hour at the specialty cake store in Phoenix. It's a good one. So I made him a bunch of cookies as a thank you. I had to try out my new cookie cutters anyways. I'm happy with the new carriage cutter; it no longer resembles pac-man.

What I learned from making these... Listen to your ten-year-old daughter - it was her idea to put the stripes on the bibs. Very cute. When doing wet on wet technique work quickly - some of the swirls aren't flat on the cookie.

Inspiration for these: Beeinourbonnet, Cookiecrazy onsies, Cookie crazy rattles, and an actual book! Sometimes I forget there are cookie decorating books out there. This is a fun one! I found it at our local library, Pretty Party Cakes by Peggy Porschen.

Baby Boy Cookies

I was not going to make cookies this week. I really wasn't... then I found out someone at church had a baby and decided to bring her dinner. I spent a lot of time on these cookies that I had to buy the meal from the Costco ready-made section. Lame! Even the bread was store-bought. I hope they didn't mind the store-bought food and enjoyed the cookies.

This time around I left out the baking soda and baked the cookies at 400 degrees. They did not spread; however, I was a little disappointed about the flavor. It's hard to explain but my taste buds must having been wanting whatever it is that leavening leaves behind.

Maybe I like the bits of air bubbles and the flakiness from eh baking soda. So, I need to find another way to have perfect shapes with the baking soda. Does anyone have any secrets?

Who can tell me what is wrong with this picture???? Anyone??? Anyone??? Yes I put Hello Kitty in there as a special surprise for the big sister... but after taking the pics I realized I forgot the whiskers. I quickly added them after. I also think she should have put on a blue bow for the ocassion.

Baby Shower Cookies - Retro geometric cookies with Royal Icing - How to make a cube on a cookie

I had so much fun making cookies for a baby shower this weekend. This was based on the logo a friend designed for the baby shower

I think I should have just kept it simple and stayed with these...

...but I always like trying something new, I had extra dough and icing so I paired them with hearts.

...and I did not make enough of the ivory colored flood icing - doh!!!

that's why i love giving cookies away, no pressure!

above, you can see images from the invite and me scrambling to come up with something else...

I decided to go with the whole rounded square theme (from the invitation again). In the process I figured out how to make a cube. I don't have the cube cookie cutter, but now I know how to make one. I simply outlined the squares with the edible food marker and filled in the sides of the cube.

Filling in the sides of the cube. After it had dried I added the letter "H" for the family's last name.

Thanks for looking!

Beautiful Hearts with Royal Icing and Fondant

Simple Circle cookies with royal icing and fondant accents

I like making my own fondant embellishments. For more info look at this post.

I absolutely love Lilaloa's chocolate cookie recipe. I thought I would never go through my Costco size cocoa powder but now it's gone. I think I'm addicted to these chocolate cookies. One of the great things about this recipe is that it as long as you have your butter nice ready at room temperature it goes fairly quickly.

Here are some chocolate cookie tips.

#1) stick with Lilaloa's recipe. Use the best ingredients you can afford. I've tried this with fancy cocoa powder and they were amazing. I want to try this with a mix of dark and regular chocolates. Just like I do with my favorite drop cookie recipe.

#2) Once my dough pulls away from the sides I know it's done. I'm using the Bosche mixer here. I'm so superstitious about my royal icing I mix my dough in the Bosch and only royal icing in the kitchenaid. I don't think the kitchenaid is happy about this, but the whole oil in the icing thing scares me.

#3) When you can buy a silcone rolling pin and the rubber bands to keep the dough even. I love these two tools. I am rolling at a 1/4 inch thickness.

4) It's not necessary for this cookie, but out of habit I'm chilling the cut cookies in the freezer for a bit. It will soon be summer in Phoenix and I will be relying on this technique a lot more as the temperature in my house rises.

5) Bake on a silpat. I recently did a side by side comparison between parchment and silpat baking and I had less spreading with the silicon mat... such an easy clean up as well. I let them cool on the baking sheet.

Now I am simply outlining the cookies with a thick royal icing and will flood them with a thinner royal icing. I need to practice taking pictures while I decorate. I still haven't figured out how to flood a cookie and take a picture at the same time.

Allow the icing to set for just a moment and ever so carefully drop the heart in the center of the cookie. If it falls in the wrong place, eat that cookie. YUM! Ideally, in the end it will look like the heart is sitting on a soft pillow. I love heart cookies. I think they can work for so many different events. The ones I did here are about 1 1/2 inches across.

This is a great choice if you're not a big fan of food dyes and if you don't like that break my tooth feeling from royal icing layered upon more royal icing.

Happy Baking!

Star Cookies - Baby Shower Cookies or Dora Cookies

Estrella! Can you say, estrella?

I made these to go with the Baby Shower cookies but they didn't quite fit. Once I finished I realized the cookie cutter I have been using and this particular design would be great for a Dora Birthday Party. I would just have to dye the stars different colors. Simply outline and flood the cookie. Let it dry overnight. Outline the edges and sprinkle sanding sugar on. Attach eyeballs with royal icing, or use white and black to make them fresh. Add smiley face. These little guys make me happy.

Baby Carriage Cookies with Royal Icing

Baby Carriages

I made these late at night and they started to look like pac-ma n cookies. I think the use of white for the top helped break it up a little bit. My favorite was number seven, the simple green with the white dots.