How to make a small Hello Kitty Cookie

I love the Hello Kitty Cookie Cutter set - it comes with a larger head and a smaller Hello Kitty with a body. Sometimes the simple head cutter is a little big so I decided to modify the full body cutter to make this little Hello Kitty Cookie.

Use the full Hello Kitty to make the head.
This part seems cruel, but to make a perfectly smooth edge use a little duck cutter, or whatever else you can find to form the bottom of her face.
Voila! Mini Hello Kitty cookie. This measures about 2 inches across and would be the perfect size for a little party tray. I should have done side by side pictures of the two cookies, but take my word for it, this cookie is a great size. The cutter of just her head is sometimes a little big. I like one batch of cookie dough to go a long way.

This little Hello Kitty went to a proud big sister and her bow coordinated with this baby set. If I make a Hello Kitty Cookie to go with every set I create will you start to question my sanity... just a thought. Maybe it could be like "Where's Waldo...?" Maybe someday if you search "Hello Kitty Cookie" my blog will come up. Maybe not.

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.

Happy Leap Year - Keroppi Cookie

Happy Leap Year - Frog Cookies & Sanrio Keroppi Cookies

Keroppi is my favorite

You really don't even need cookies cutters to make shaped cookies. Today we cut out the image and put i on the back of a paper plate. The plate had enough was on it to keep oil from bleeding through the cutout.

Totally cheating on the Keroppi cookies. The others were done freehand. You have to be so careful with characters - they need to look just right.

Keroppi Cookies

Frog Cookies

Happy Leap Year Frog Cookies - so random...

I realized I'd have to wait four more years until leap year comes again, and who knows, maybe by then I will be into something else... basketweaving, organic gardening... quien sabe. We talked about how old each of the kids would be in four years. Timmy was so excited, and "I'm going to be seven!"

Hello Kitty Easter Cookies

Hello Kitty Easter Cookies

I used the KopyKake to help make these. My icing was from a project I did yesterday and it was all falling apart making this very frustrating. I'm not happy with the Wilton meringue powder today and may need to try another brand. Any suggestions?

You can see how I made these on my St. Patrick's Day post.

Don't look to closely these are not perfect

This one was my favorite. I didn't feel like making brown so I used coral for the basket.

Hello Kitty St. Patrick's Day Cookies using the KopyKake 300XK Projector

Happy Almost St. Patrick's Day

I made these cookies using a design off of some Hello Kitty St. Patrick's Day cookies. If you haven't noticed I am a huge Sanrio fan. I think Sanrio is right up there with Disney. Someday I'll make all the characters on a cookie. I may be taking this cookie thing a bit far, but I ordered a KopyKake 300 XK to help make cookies. I was going to do a side by side cookie with and without the KopyKake, but I think the one without the projector wouldn't even be worth the sugar. So here's how I made them, I am no artist and almost feel like I'm cheating with this new monster of a tool.

St. Patrick's Day Hello Kitty

Another St. Patrick's Day Hello Kitty

Outline and Flood cookies - Using cheap Ziploc bags and a coupler

We were making so many cookies that we ran out of piping bags and tubes so we used really cheap ziploc bags with a coupler to outline and another bag with a small hole at the end to flood. This makes for a very easy clean-up and is helpful when you just need a little bit of flood icing. I let these dry overnight before adding Hello Kitty.

Outlining Hello Kitty using the KopyKake 300XK Projector

Here I'm using the kopykake to project the image on to the cookie. The lighting in the room was dim so it was fairly easy to see the image. It was a little difficult to get used to putting my hands off to the side so I didn't block the image being projected from above.

More outlining, notice how my hands had to be off to the side

Guiding the icing to create an outline - using P.M.E. 1.5 tip

All the images are outlined, and I'll let them dry for about 15 minutes

Fill with thinner flood icing

To finish, I filled the image with icing and allowed the icing to dry for about 1 hour, just to be safe and to take a breather from the cookies. My sister-in-law Rayanne said this step looked like advanced coloring. It was probably my favorite step, just adding the color to each section. It felt like that dump tool on most paint programs. I didn't take a picture of the last step, but I put the cookie back under the kopykake and added details - eyes, bows, clovers, etc.

The clovers seemed so easy to complete after completing the characters. These were so much fun to decorate!

Very very amateur video using the Kopykake. What is up with my voice? Is my Michigan accent coming through? My sister just started filming.

Another video showing how to use the kopykake to decorate a cookie. What me and my sister Becca do for fun...

Hello Kitty Cupcake Toppers for Valentines Day - Rolled Fondant

The Finished Cupcake

Inspiration for the cupcake - an image I found online. I was going to make a cookie but chose a cupcake instead, because I'll be making close to 200 cookies next week.

I placed the jpeg image in word and re-sized, because I hadn't decided yet what I was going to do with this image. I ended up using one of the small ones for the cupcake toppers. I will make a cookie of this, but not today. It's a no flour mess kind of day.

Step 1, gently roll fondant

To start buy some fondant, I used a Joann's cupon and bought some Wilton prepared fondant 50% off. It has been so much fun playing with this and I wonder why I would waste money on play dough when I could just buy fondant and for men and the kids.

To dye the fondant, use either Wilton or Americolor food dyes and gently knead. Wear non-latex gloves if you don't want red hands and to keep it very clean. Place a small amount of shortening on your counter to prevent sticking. You will notice the fondant will loosen up as you go.

Step 2, quickly roll fondant

Using a small fondant rolling pin, flatten and roll the fondant using the purple (higher) band. Important note, because I'm just making embellishments I'm not going to get carried away by taking out too much of the fondant. It dries very quickly here in Arizona and I usually have to discard all the scraps. So less is more.

Step 3, place fondant through Kitchen KPSA pasta roller

If you don't have this attachment you will have to continue with the plastic rolling pin until the sheet of fondant is very very thin using the thinner pink band. I love this attachment. I took a fondant/gumpaste flower class and this is how the instructor quickly prepared roses. I returned one of my Christmas presents and bought this three set of Kitchenaid attachments - this one is called the Kitchenaid KPRA set as it includes the roller and the cutters for fettucine. You can buy the KPSA alone, but for me it was worthwhile to buy the set of three. I had to do a lot of research beforehand to make sure I was buying the right one. Kitchenaid says it shouldn't be used for this, but I'll spend more time rolling fondant than I will rolling pasta.

Put it through the KPSA pasta roller two times to get it very thin. I have the knob turned on the number two to get it just the right thickness. Again, without the attachment just gently roll and roll. No big deal! This is how I prepared the fondant for my Valentines Cookies a couple of weeks ago. It saves a lot of time.

Nice thin sheets of Fondant - keep covered to prevent drying.

Sort of carve the image onto wax paper

Trace the image on to wax paper - you can see how the pattern transfers as you scrape off the wax layer.

You can also outline the trace marks with an edible marker to make it easier to see. Be careful with the marker because it will get on the Fondant. In this case I can just flip the cut-out over.

Gently place the image transfer on top of the fondant

The wax paper goes over the fondant and you will use a small tool (I used one of my metal pics) to trace the image. Very gently push into the fondant to outline the image. You will later cut around these lines. I used a paring knife to cut out the shape. You could also use an exacto knife. Just make sure whatever you use is sharp. After cutting you can place the shape back over the original image or the wax paper and make adjustments as necessary. I don't have any fancy fondant tools so I just used knives and spoons to smooth the edges. Hello Kitty is pretty symmetrical so I don't really have to worry about the direction. With other shapes I would need to pay attention to right and wrong sides.

Outline and transfer the bow

I got a picture of one of my favorite tools. I need to take a better picture. This is sold at the dollar store with turkey ties and is supposed to be used for poultry. I decided it would be great for helping me flood cookies. The tips are so small it works great to clear the clogged decorating tips.

Transfer Heart Image

My heart cookie cutter was not quite right so I made it the shape of the jpeg image.

Add Details

I placed the template back on the Hello Kitty and gently pressed where the head and the nose needed to be placed. I drew on the eyes and whiskers with a black pen. I used yellow royal icing for the nose (just because I already had it prepared) and used royal icing to glue the pieces together. You could just use water to stick fondant to fondant. I used my favorite little fondant PME plunger cutters to make the flowers and hearts with the scraps.

Completed Toppers, I could stop here but thought I'd make some cupcakes.

Use a coupler with a ziploc bag to make clean up easy. 1 part butter + 1 part shortening + a lot of powdered sugar and just a little milk and vanilla. Thank you Cathy Olsen.

Frosting ready to go.

Completed Cupcakes

Look at Cathy's info and tips on making delicious cupcakes.

I have to also acknowledge sweetsugarbelle for her post about transferring with pins for her Hello Kitty Cookies.

I also want to show this cute little Angry Bird cupcake Julianna (age 10) prepared.

Thanks to those helping me and encouraging me to have fun with this hobby.