Starry Night Cookie

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A little while ago after I pointed out on here that I am able to almost paint with the icing someone commented on facebook saying that they could just see me doing (van Gogh's) Starry Night on a cookie...challenge accepted :)

The perfect opportunity arose when I was able to have a booth at a small art fair to benefit the Carmel Arts Council. Not only did I have pictures of some of my other cookies, but I was able to display this latest cookie and it looked great!


I'll just let the cookie speak for itself on this one!

Kelton's First Birthday Cookie

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My sister-in-law's nephew just turned one and to celebrate that special occasion his mom contacted me to make a cookie for the event. She told me that the theme was going to be giraffes and circles and sent me an image of his adorable bedding from which I got a lot of inspiration. I decided to use the patchwork design of the circles to create yet another circle containing a graphic of a giraffe that I found particularly cute. Because I wanted the focus to be on the design aspect here and the birthday boy can't read I used a smaller but more artful font to convey the birthday message. Together the simple giraffe and the simple lettering work well within the patchwork design of the circles. 

Nothing about this cookie is the biggest or most attention grabbing, but each simple element works well with the others creating a complete and coherent design with enough detail to keep it interesting and exciting. 

My favorite part has to be the border. The white is a great contrast to the middle graphic and the thin and random colored lines make it a lot of fun while being a clean ending to the cookie. 

The colors are one reason this cookie is successful. Thankfully! 

I have used this palette before and due to poor execution of the colors I felt  that the cookie as a whole suffered. I believe I remedied that with this cookie so that each color compliments the other and works well with the brown and the white.

mini cookie just for the birthday boy

   

Since traditionally there is a special little cake or slice of cake made for a 1 year old's birthday, and to capture that candid messy eater shot that parents love, I was asked to create a cookie for that purpose with maximum icing for the birthday boy to dig in to. 

As I was making this little 6 inch cookie, all I could think about was how good this little cookie looked covered in all that icing!!! Poor Kelton almost didn't get his cookie because everyone around my house including myself thought it looked so yummy :) We managed to restrain ourselves and the final design was just perfect for the little guy. One more patchwork circle with a big shimmery "1" all set against the white background with the giraffe spots all along the edge and there it is, a personalized cookie just for Kelton on his first birthday. 

Tie-Dye Cookie

 
This post will be more of a progression through the creation of this cookie, 
and what a progression it was!

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I have to say that I even surprised myself with how well this Tie-Dye cookie turned out! The order came in from a woman and her daughter who was graduating and wanted a tie-dye and peace sign cookie for her graduation party. That was it, no words, no reference to graduation, just the design. So, I thought that I would go all out and create a really bright, really fun tie-dye design that took up the whole cookie, then overlay some white and outlined peace signs to finish. Well, that was the plan and that's what ended up being the final product, but in between was a lot of work!! 

It started out simple enough with adding each color around the center and it was going quicker than I had thought it would, but the minute I moved outside of the compacted center area that's when the work started. That first picture probably took about an hour and half. From that point to finishing the tie-dye probably took another 6-7 hours... a couple of breaks included. 

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I LOVE the look of this cookie just the way it is here. The colors and design are just so much fun and it was such a learning experience to complete just this part of the cookie. I've never done anything like this so the approach I took was an experiment, and although it took sooo long to complete, the final product was amazing (apologies for boasting, but I loved this cookie :)

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Another hour or 2 and the cookie was done. Quite a feat! The outlined peace signs are filled in with sugar flakes to create some sparkle while allowing the tie-dye to show through. The solid peace signs are painted with ivory iridescent paint so that all the peace signs stand out and sparkle against the more matte background. The contrast worked really well and helped the peace signs stand up to the brightness of the tie-dye. Since the Tie-dye design didn't continue around and down the side of the cookie I put a simple white scallop around the edge to make it a clean look. 


Another good addition to this cookie was the colored sugar flakes around the edge. The picture does it little justice, but as the flake colors run together they continue the tie-dye theme. The effect was a pleasant surprise as I have never used the flakes on a border and usually use sprinkles. Just another addition to my repertoire :) 

George Strait Cookie

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My old boss, the one I had made the Harley Cookie for, came back for another order (much appreciated!). This time she knew exactly what she wanted on a cookie and it was just a matter of whether I could do it for her or not....

So she sent me along this picture of the birthday girl's favorite 

concert tour t-shirt and wanted me to recreate the logo on a cookie.

 

And I told her that OF COURSE I could do it!!!! 

I'm not one to back down from a challenge :)

In reality it was actually very easy for me to create this cookie. The bulk of  my work comes from my desire to make a perfect cookie every time I do one. That means when I get a design theme I obsess about the design and colors and composition until it's finished. With this cookie the design was right there and all it took was my ability with the icing to make it look as realistic as possible, and it turned out GREAT!! I loved the final product and outside of deciding were to put the 'Happy Birthday' and what to do to finish the border it was all laid out for me. I couldn't ask for much more!

I utilized some of the technique of adding more dimension that I had worked on in the last cookie, Maddie's Birthday Cookie, to make the scull look as realistic as possible and in person at least it was very effective and gave is so much added depth.

This cookie design only reiterated to me that somehow I do have a real talent for recreating something taken from a picture or a logo and being able to make it look surprisingly accurate! Some other examples include the Cancer-Free Tattoo Cookie (from a camera phone image of the tattoo), the Cars Cookies, and Mo's 30th Birthday Cookie (from an image of her dog) not to mention many of the other logos and designs seen on my cookies. No matter how many I do though, I never stop loving the feeling of completing a design and seeing how well I was able to achieve my latest goal or challenge. 

Keep 'em coming!!

Maddie's Birthday Cookie

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Be careful what you tell me about the cookie recipient because it's likely to end up on their cookie. Since I don't know a recipient and all I have to go off of is the orderer's info, that's what I do.  So when I got the order for Maddie's cookie and was told that she likes basketball, soccer, and tubing behind a boat, that's what ended up on there. Not that that's a bad thing of course! I really liked the way this turned out. 

When I was designing the cookie the first thing that came to mind was the fact that a part of all three things that she liked (the basket and soccer ball and the tube itself) were round and would fit together nicely spaced around the cookie and create a very interesting composition while the center would be a big bright 11 that I  make stand out as much as possible. After I had decided on all of that, I thought that filling the rest of the remaining space around each object with a theme appropriate background would really help bring everything together. A grass field for behind the soccer ball, a net for behind the basketball, and a wake made by the tube to show it in action. The finished product was successful though I had some doubts while executing it.

 I really liked the way the whole of the design works together though each individual object stands out on its own as well.  I will say it again, the picture never does the cookie justice, but I heard it a lot about this cookie, especially about the soccer ball, and I have to agree. The soccer ball was actually one of the best parts about this cookie, it had 3 dimensional shape for each of the hexagons as well as clear sprinkles and iridescent paint to highlight and create more depth. Though the average viewer doesn't recognize the tube at first from the picture, in real life with its dimension it has real character and Maddie knew exactly what it was from all her years of tubing on Geist Lake. 

Even with the center design all complete the whole cookie wasn't complete until I added the 'Happy Birthday Maddie' around the edge which made the whole thing a coherent circular design perfect for my circular cookie!

This cookie was not only fun but really let me work on some techniques to make my designs a bit more 3 dimensional and interesting. I think that aspect really helped this cookie and brought it to a new level. In the end it was fun to make and even more fun to look at....I guess for those lucky people at the party it was fun to eat too  :)

Caribbean 50th Birthday Cookie

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This is the third cookie in a series of 50th Birthday Cookies that I made for a group of old friends. Each name came with a list of interests and favorite things that I got to pick and choose from to make a complete cookie. 'Chief' enjoys hanging out on his pontoon boat every summer weekend and enjoys a good Miller Lite. His list also mentioned that he loves the Caribbean so I decided to transplant his favorite pastimes onto a Caribbean beach complete with palm trees and crashing waves. The pontoon is based off of his own black and tan boat but set in bright blue tropical waters instead of the Geist reservoir. Besides the detail already involved in the Miller Lite logo I also decided to make this particular bottle one of the new Vortex bottles. It was as simple as using some edible copper iridescent powder to create the look, but it made it something a little extra special. That's what I tried to do for each elements of this cookie, add something special to make it stand out and be a little more personal. 

Surprise Mother's Day Cookie

I wanted to do something special for my mom on mother's day. 
Even though I don't usually freely admit this, my mom actually frequently bakes these cookies while I'm at work so I can have enough time to decorate. Without her help I would probably skip sleep more often than I do now just to make sure these cookies get done on time and I couldn't be more thankful. I'm usually the one taking all the credit for the cookies, but when I can I let people know of my mom's contributions. One thing is for sure, she doesn't get enough appreciation for the cookies or for allowing me to make a mess of the kitchen and then even helping me clean afterward. 

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For all this, and just because we never get to actually eat these cookies much anymore, I decided to make one for my mom without her knowledge. That meant that I had to bake the cookie and clean up the kitchen without her knowing then move all my decorating stuff up into my room so as to keep the existence of the cookie quite and the mess involved out of her kitchen...an added bonus for her :) but ultimately pretty tricky to pull off.

My makeshift workspace...a bit cramped

I wanted to create a beautiful and elegant cookie for my mom, one that showed how much she means to me and how much I appreciate all that she does for us. Since I've been working on my flower making lately and they have been turning out pretty well I decided to keep up the practice and create a beautiful bouquet of my mom's favorite flowers. I chose to do a yellow rose (the flowers from her wedding) and orchid bouquet. Each flower is extremely detailed and something I spent a lot of time trying to perfect for my mom. I think that the white and plum colors of the orchids complimented the yellow extremely well and make the orchids pop while giving them a lot of depth. 


The bouquet itself is well balanced with the long tapering orchids creating a soft silhouette while the roses created a full bouquet all balanced out with some subtle baby's breath. I put the bouquet in a simple and modern glass vase that I think my mom would like if it were for a real bouquet then completed the cookie with some delicate detailing around the bottom half of the cookie. The title was easy enough to come up with, but it was the messages that I added around the vase that made it a bit more personal and special. And even though they are just extra writing they didn't detract from the central focus of the bouquet like I thought that they might, but rather the addition helped add to the composition and the personal feel that I wanted the cookie to have.

A traditional but elegant scalloped edge dotted with yellow stars topped with sugar pearls and finished with a contrasting green border completes the design and wraps up a cookie that I was very proud to present to my mom on mother's day. And, it was made even better because we both got to enjoy eating this cookie after putting so much time and effort into making all the cookies lately.

I already said it on the cookie, but I guess you can never say it too much.

I Love You Mug!

Happy Mother's Day

50th Birthday Cookies

A recent trip to the dentist office yielded more than just pearlier whites, I actually came away with an order for 3 different cookies, 2 of which were made for the same occasion just days later. My dentist is a friend of my sister-in-law and had seen the cancer-free tattoo cookie that I made for her sister, so after I showed her a couple of pictures of my other cookies she asked me to make these two cookies for her husband's friends who are both turning 50!

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What I was given to work off of was a list of some of the things each guy likes. 'Eddie's' list included ski boats, computers, absolute and orange juice, and photography. Since these things don't lend themselves to a very coherent scene of any kind, I tried to break up the list into each element and then incorporate everything else that was needed on the cookie like the name, the Happy Birthday, and the 50 into those elements which took some planning.

I started with the ski boat because I thought it would be a good anchor for all the other elements. But, what's a ski boat without pulling something on ski's? This something happens to be a 5 and a 0...I haven't attempted trying to put people on my cookies yet. To tie in the computers I created a browser page which contains the name and birthday wish not just in plain text but written in html code which I thought was a clever idea. I completed the rest of the cookie by filling in the space with a camera and his favorite drink. I believe this is the first attempt I have made at recreating clear glass and both the Absolut bottle and the glass with the orange juice turned out really well and very realistic. I think all the elements in this cookie, though varied, work well together to create a unique picture of the cookie recipient.

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For 'Chitter's cookie, the list included 'bass boats', 'bass fishing', and 'Budweiser'. This list was a bit easier to work with.  A lazy day spent fishing on the river with some cold drinks sounds like the perfect way to celebrate a birthday so I wanted to recreate that feel on the cookie. 

The bass is my favorite element. It's the next progression of my technique of painting with the icing. I was able to create texture and gradient as well as a lot of shade and shadow which gives the fish a lot of character and depth as well as the realistic look that I was going trying to achieve.

Since the bass turned out so well and I'm feeling more confident in my ability to do the whole painting with icing thing, for my next challenge I want to try and recreate a famous painting on a cookie. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance, but I've been thinking about it for sometime, and I think I'm ready to try. Who knows maybe the next cookie I post will look like a VanGogh!

Field of Tulips Cookie

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I'm such a nice sister... :)

My youngest brother just drove home from Colorado where he has been attending school at UC Boulder and before he even got home he already had an order for me that he was going to take to a friend that night for her birthday. With only a day's notice and work on my schedule for the next day I'm not quite sure why I agreed, but I think it might have something to do with how easily I am persuaded by this particular brother. None the less, the cookie was for a good friend of his who happens to love Tulips. 

I chose to focus on a few detailed tulips of different colors in the foreground that fade out to a full field of beautifully colored tulips. I kept the design very simple beyond that to keep the focus on the flowers. I do however think that the border goes very well with this design and its simplicity puts the focus back on the flowers while containing the scene. 

With the completion of this cookie I can add another flower to my portfolio which now includes tropical flowers, roses, daisies, gerbera daisies, and carnations.

Michigan Graduation Cookies

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My cousin graduated from the University of Michigan today!

Her mom contacted me with an order for two cookies in celebration of the weekend. The first cookie, the one pictured above, is a more personal one documenting her time and interests while at Michigan and also her future plans which include a move to DC!  Represented in the cookie is Michigan football, her sorority Alpha Chi Omega which includes their symbol the lyre and their flower the red carnation, and the Phi Beta Kappa key which is the symbol of her academic honor society. Of course, I couldn't forget to make Michigan the center of attention in this cookie! Meg absolutely loves the school and everything it stands for as do her parents and this day was a celebration for all of 4 great years at Michigan.

 Congrats Smeg! :D

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There are 9 more congratulations that need to be extended as well. One for each of the other housemates that have all lived together at 849 Tappan for 2 years. When I heard that the next cookie I needed to decorate was for 10 housemates who are all graduating, I knew just what to do for the design. I decided that I would create the Michigan sign again, but that this time it would serve as the base for a house. All that I needed to add was the roof, a few areas of siding, and the address and I had created a unique representation of their beloved house and university.

It was important to include each girls name on the cookie and with there being 10 girls, that took a little planning. In the end the continuation of text around the edge of the cookie was a good look and the addition of a graduation cap above each name really brought the whole theme of the cookie together.

To make the cookie a bit more special I added some delicate yellow detailing around the graduation year and between each of the girls names to connect that aspect to the simple scallop border. I was very happy with how well both of the cookies turned out and so happy for all of the girls on such a big day, especially for my cousin!!

Secretary's Day Cookie

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A big thanks to an old friend for passing on this link to her mom. I was so excited when she contacted me and happy to create a cookie for the mother of a family that has meant a lot to me since my childhood.

Formerly Secretary's day, April 27th is now referred to as administrative professional's day, but that's a bit much to try and put on a cookie! So, instead of trying to put a label on this cookie I decided to pick a symbol that would represent the day best and let that be the message. Since the day is about thanking those who do all the little things that make any office run smoothly, I thought that flowers can literally say 'thank you' as this bouquet does while being a beautiful centerpiece and conversation piece.

Since this was for the administrative professionals at a local High School I chose to use the schools colors in the bouquet and in the vase which includes the school's crest as well. I haven't done many specific flowers in my cookies except for the gerbera daisy bridal shower cookie up until recently and I am learning how best to create each unique flower out of icing. The daises were simple but very striking when I added in the purple while the yellow roses were a challenge, but I ultimately figured out the best approach and now feel confident in creating them for future cookies. The message cards were a simple way to get the message of the day across without having to say specifically on the cookie 'Happy Administrative Professional's Day' which created a simpler and cleaner design which I really like.

 

What better way to express your thanks for someone's hard work than with a beautiful bouquet that can also say exactly what you want with message cards?  Well how about a beautiful bouquet that says exactly what you want to say but then satisfies your sweet tooth when the novelty wears off...yeah I think that's better :)

Thanks to all those 'Administrative Professionals' who do such great work, especially those at Guerin Catholic High School who were so gracious and kind when I delivered the cookie.

mmmm....individual size cookies

As I try to expand whatever it is that I am doing in terms of selling my cookies I have been advised that I might try and include an option of selling additional smaller cookies along with the large cookie so that it feeds more people and perhaps delays the cutting of the cookie. Some people apparently have a problem with this. I personally don't understand that and would prefer to dig in as soon as possible, but the feeding more people is always a good thing.

So my mom set off to try and convert our unique recipe for the large cookie into individual sized cookies. This was our first attempt and though we might change some things about the baking process, and I'll have to figure out some better designs, the taste was right on and they are something I would be happy to include with any order!

Island Themed Bridal Shower Cookie

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I'm so glad my Aunt has such a big family, otherwise I wouldn't have any cookies to update :)

This Island Themed Cookie was for her soon to be daughter-in-law who is getting married in Cancun!!! I thought I would bring a bit of the feel of the tropics to this cookie for her bridal shower. I used corals, yellows, and greens, also the accent colors to her wedding, to really create that effect. I chose a simple beautiful flower to surround the central beach scene which includes a palm tree, (much improved  from my last attempt with the Sunset Housewarming Cookie),  bright blue water washing up on the beach, and his and her sandals resting in the sand. With all the colors and details in the design, simply listing their names and the date of their wedding was all that was necessary to complete the design. 

The simple yet detailed flowers really bring this cookie to life and are my favorite element. I did spend the most time on them making sure they were perfect, but I think it paid off in the way that they define the feel of this cookie. This is really the first time I used the technique of painting the icing to fade out right to the cookie as I did for the water, the sand, and around the names. For this particular design I think it was very successful. With such attention to detail, the realistic effects of all the elements let them stand on their own and bring the whole cookie together without the need for a conventional border. 

I hope the cookie captured the beauty and elegance that the gorgeous bride has planned for her big day, and maybe even helped get her more excited about that beach wedding that's not too far away!!

Congrats Tony and Sarah!

Another big thanks to my Aunt for the beautiful photo

Puppy Birthday Cookie

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Right after I finished the Valpo Baseball Cookie for another of my Aunts, I quickly got a request from her son and daughter-in-law for a Birthday cookie for their 3 year old daughter Addison or 'Addi'. 


Lucky Addi had even gotten to pick out the theme for her own Birthday party this year so 'Puppy Themed' was the order of the day for this cookie.  After the last dog that I had recreated for Mo's 30th Birthday Cookie turned out so well I was feeling pretty confident about my ability to do another dog and make it work well with the cookie.


Overall, I really like the way the puppy turned out with the bone with Addi's name on it in her mouth and the number 3 hanging from her collar to complete the Happy 3rd Birthday title. My mother actually really helped bring the cookie together by suggesting that I add the adorable little bows to the puppy's ears, both to bring some of those bright colors to the top of the cookie, and to make it a girl puppy for the little girl's birthday. The bright glitter filled paws and the fun detailing around the center are all great elements on this cookie. If I had to do it again I might arrange all the elements differently. I was very pleased with the way each turned out, but just not in that configuration.


But, a 3 year old doesn't have to know that part :) As long as Addi enjoyed her puppy cookie and it tasted as good as I know it did then I can't complain because it was a really bright, fun, glitter filled cookie to celebrate an adorable little girl's Big 3rd Birthday party.

Young Baker's Birthday Cookie

Another order for my best customer :)
 

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My Aunt asked me to design another birthday cookie, 

this time for her 5 year old granddaughter who loves baking and using her kitchenaid. (The Girl's Birthday Cookie was for another granddaughter and was a big success)

I started with the Birthday design template that I use unless there is a  request for a more specific design, but in my sketches I got so caught up in the idea of adding baking stuff to the cookie that I forgot to leave room for the 'Happy Birthday' and her name! I ended up having to cut out some of the number to fit the name, but it was an easy fix and I like the way it emphasizes her name against the white background. Of course I had to incorporate a replica of her kitchenaid mixer, and the rest of the cookie I filled with her favorite things to bake like cookies and cakes. 

The color palette turned out better than expected and the lime and pinkish lavender contrasted and complimented the turquoise base sooo well, enhancing the design of the cookie. A cookie can always look great in a sketch, but the colors are key to making it work.

I love to use the fact that a cookie is for a little girl as my excuse 

to add as many sparkles and sprinkles to a cookie as I can!!! And this one was no exception. The '5' is filled with white sugar flakes and then finished with the swirl details. I used silver edible paint to make everything that would be metal shine and sparkle, I used the iridescent sugar pearls around the edge, and then added even more of the sugar flakes to the cupcake icing around the edge. 

 

The border of this cookie is my absolute favorite design element 
of not only this cookie, but maybe any of the cookies I have created!! 
This was the first time I used an object and not just an icing technique as a starting point for the border design. Ally also bakes cupcakes and I thought that the sides of the cookie would be a perfect place to add them so they looked as though they were standing up. The top of the icing then comes over the edge. So, from above it creates a border around the central design and from the side it is a unique design in itself. I was so happy when the actual product turned out as well as my mental image. I wish that would happen more often :)

I hope Ally loves this cookie as much as I loved making it for her. 

Looks like she did!! :)

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Cancer-Free Tattoo Cookie

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After a battle with bladder cancer that left her with a scar, my sister-in-law's younger sister decided to put a tattoo over that scar and for five years the scar and the tattoo are all that she has left from her battle, because she has successfully been cancer free for that entire time, which is truly amazing!

To celebrate that anniversary, my sister-in-law asked me to make her a cookie. This was truly a custom cookie. I knew that she had a tattoo so I suggested that we make the cookie and the anniversary very personal and very special by recreating the tattoo that means so much to her. 

The tattoo itself is a very intricate, detailed and highly personal reflection of a very hard time, so I used orange (her favorite color) and green along with a bright white to contrast and compliment the very artful tattoo that an artist had created just for her. The white border around the top of the cookie and highlighting the date of remission, along with the multiple details I included in it, contrast well with the center image making both elements stand out and work cohesively together. 

I do not have the skill of a tattoo artist, but I was rather proud of my work here recreating from a cell phone image what an artist spent hours designing and applying. The fact that it was to commemorate something so special and so meaningful not only to my sister-in-law's sister and  family but on a different level to me as well made this cookie very personal and something I was very proud to be able to surprise her with.

Congratulations Karen!

Valpo Baseball Cookie(s)

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I was soo excited when my Aunt, after looking at this blog,
contacted me to make a cookie for her upcoming party. She has made and decorated these cookies for years and she trusted me to make one for her big party and I was honored to do it!  Plus, sports themes and mascot recreations are something I love doing for cookies and I was really pumped to get started on this one and make a great impression.

My cousin is a pitcher for the Valpo University baseball team.

Today, my Aunt and Uncle hosted 70 baseball players and parents at their house after a game against Butler. Their house and decor for parties always impress guests so I knew this cookie needed to do the same. 

And yes I said cookie (singular), but I'll discuss that later :)

My Aunt was a great help in designing the cookie. She had an idea of everything that she wanted to see included on the cookie and she sent me all the logos and info I needed which saved me time, but still gave me the freedom to put together the cookie and do all the finishing in my own way. 

I chose to do the more intricate Valpo logo because I think it makes a much stronger impression and a better look for the cookie. The 'baseball' banner underneath the University name is my own addition as an attempt to incorporate baseball into that center image. The baseballs themselves balance the cookie and stand out well along the edges while giving it a little extra detail with some clear sprinkles. The ribbon border is one of my favorite looks and the yellow ribbon connecting the baseballs was perfect for this cookie! The finishing touch was a generous sprinkling of silver sprinkles all around the edge to contrast the black tray and add a special touch. With a little text to cheer on the crusaders and some graphic designs to help bring the baseballs and the logo together I think I achieved a pretty well executed cookie that I am really proud to have created. 

but....

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Unfortunately, I had made a mistake!!

That cookie that I just decorated was supposed to be made without nuts! (A point that apparently slipped my mind while baking). To remedy this situation I decided to bake and design another cookie, the way my aunt had ordered it this time. Even though it was made and decorated in a short amount of time, the second cookie needed to match the look and quality of the first. For this second cookie, I wanted to do something more directly related to the baseball team itself so I chose to put their jersey as a center piece. I outlined the jersey with some similar graphics as the first cookie, included another shout out to the crusaders, and finished it off with another ribbon border and a round of sprinkles just like the first. 

It was a good thing they were hosting 70 people because in the end they received both cookies for the party since I had made such a mistake. My Aunt was gracious enough to accept 2 cookies and happily they both worked extremely well together and looked great in the party roomed decked out in Valpo gear.

Real Estate Function Cookie

I donated one of my cookies to a fund raising auction at my nephews'

school a couple of months back. The winning bidder decided to use the cookie for a real estate event that she was putting on today. 

The theme of the event was setting goals and in terms of the design she said "surprise me" so I tried another ambitious scene design for this cookie.

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To showcase a lofty goal, I wanted to show a street with all the homes on the street boasting sold signs.  I chose to use a one point perspective leading off into the sunrise to give the idea that these sold homes continue down the street. That's quite a goal for any real estate agent I think!

This wasn't the deign for all the flashy sparkly details, so instead I chose to focus on the homes and make them as realistic as possible. I used a specific tip with the icing to create horizontal lines of the siding which was very important to the look of the cookie. I did use sparkles in the cookie, but mostly to add texture to the roof. I think the technique and the roofs looked great in the end. A little more texture added in the landscaping and the whole scene comes together as it fades back to the focal point and highlights the whole street.

The cookie was meant to be inspirational and set the mood for the event that was being hosted. The theme of the event was well represented in the cookie and hopefully eating the cookie was the perfect end to the meal and to the event.

Omelets and Experiments

New idea.

Sugar Cookies!!

Although the chocolate chip cookie recipe I have is fantastic I thought it would be good if I added a sugar cookie recipe into the mix as well for a couple of reasons. First, it's always good to give people options when it's truly supposed to be something custom and second, the light color of a sugar cookie would give me a completely different canvas to work on. I wouldn't need to outline things in white icing any more to make sure they stand out against the cookie. 

10:30 pm Saturday

 Time for some experimentation...

I started my first and easiest experiment so late tonight due to an (on the house) extra shot in my cappuccino, which I had too late anyway, but I digress.  For this first attempt, I just used a couple of store bought sugar cookie dough rolls because I haven't looked around for a good recipe yet. It would be an understatement to say that I wasn't very optimistic when I started. I was so sure that the cooking time would be difficult to manage and what would come out would be burned and dark around the edge while being undercooked in the center, but...

I couldn't have been more happy to be wrong!!

All it took was a watchful eye and the cookie pretty much told me when it was done. Except for a raised lip around the edge from where to cookie raised up while cooking and then fell in the pan, what came out looked to be the perfect sugar cookie to decorate...but only time would tell. I simply cut the lip off with a knife and created a flat edge and that was that.

After it cooled and set I could tell it was the right density for decorating and then to make things better it pulled out of the pan with no problems. I removed the foil around the edge flipped it back over and voila!!! A perfectly even baked sugar cookie ready for decorating!!! Now all I need is my own recipe that reacts the same way and I'm in business...hopefully its as simple as I'm making it seem :) 

11:30 pm Saurday

Sugar Cookie Experiment #1...Success!

Fast forward (through a 1am trip to the ER with my brother) to the next morning.

 9:30 am Sunday 

Breakfast time

I had invited another of my brothers and sister-in-law over to the house for some homemade omelets and it was time to showcase and more importantly test my new cookie. (In addition to attempting to create the perfect cookie I am also working on the perfect omelet recipe as well and I'm getting pretty good at it in my humble opinion)

'popeye' omelet: 
spinach, broccoli, red pepper, pepper jack

 

Back to the Cookie...
I used the leftover icing from the Mardi Gras Cookie (see below) that I had made the day before and in between cooking the sausage and the other omelet ingredients and making made-to-order omelets for the fam I threw some 'decorations' on the cookie to hopefully brighten everyone's morning. 

The 'decoration' served another purpose as well. I needed to test the flavor of the decorator's icing with the sugar cookie and also see if the fact that I had to cut around the edge would distract from the integrity of the cookie and the design. That part is still up for debate, but thanks to my brother's suggestions I have some options to remedy that. There is however a very noticeable difference between the surface textures of the two different types of cookies. Although packed with chocolate chips and nuts the original cookie has a fairly even surface with a lot of little unobtrusive bumps whereas this first sugar cookie has larger crevasse that are more difficult to control the icing around. It's not a deal breaker, and I'm still waiting to see what my next experiment turns up, but for now I'm pretty happy it turned out this well and I'm excited for what I can do with the sugar cookie in terms of design now.

10:30 am Sunday

Time to dig in...

Why make a cookie if not to enjoy with family and friends? and did we ever enjoy it! It even made it around to a couple other family members that day so everyone could have a taste.

The cookie itself was evenly cooked from one end to the other with no discoloration around the edge. It has a very nice dense and chewy consistency that I adore in a good sugar cookie. The icing was perfect with the vanilla in the sugar cookie and the colors stand out so well against the light cookie color. Overall I am sooo excited to find the perfect recipe and start decorating these sugar cookies. I think people are going to love them and love the options that I can offer for a custom cookie.