Please Eat the Wrapping Paper (cookies inspired by Paper Source)

Have you ever been to a Paper Source shop?  Oh, they are so beautiful..and fun...and inspiring.

I don't get to ours very often because it's about 45 minutes away and in a pretty dangerous part of town.  By dangerous, I mean, it's next door to Sprinkles Cupcakes and just a few steps away from Crate and Barrel. See what I mean?

Well, Paper Source has the most beautiful wrapping paper sheets.  I've used them before for photo backgrounds, like for these Homemade Oreos:


And for these Posie Cakes:

When I saw this wrapping paper, I decided to use it ON an cookie.  Well, not the wrapping paper itself, the wrapping paper printed onto a frosting sheet. 

So, that's just what I did.

• I scanned the wrapping paper. 
• printed it onto a frosting sheet,
• baked the cookies (remember these?),
(you can see a bit of the rough edges from the trimming)
• outlined and filled the cookies with white royal icing,
• plopped on the edible images, 
• and added a few details.

That's it!  These went to school with kiddo for his teacher's birthday.  I hope he didn't tell her she was eating wrapping paper.  I guess we will find out when report cards come home. ;)

Hey There, Cupcake

 
You know what's weird?  I was shopping at Crate & Barrel recently and these cookie cutters popped in my shopping basket.  Strange how things like that happen.

I can already tell that this is going to be one of those cookie cutters that I use over and over again.  They'd look cute in any color and would be darling for a birthday party or just as an "everyday" cookie.

This version is so, so simple.  Two colors (I used brown and a light pink), some sprinkles and a few red sixlets.  (I'm starting to love sixlets...remember those cherry cookies?)



For the cupcake cookies, you will need:

• cupcake sugar cookies
• royal icing, tinted with AmeriColor Chocolate Brown and Soft Pink
• disposable icing bag
• coupler and tips (#3 & #1)
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks
• chocolate jimmies
• red sixlets (or a bit of red icing)

Using a #3 tip, outline the cookie in brown. (I like a larger tip here so the outline stands out.)  Reserve some of this piping consistency for later.

Thin the brown and pink icings with water, a little at a time, until it is the consistency of thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.

Stir gently with a rubber spatula to pop any large air bubbles that have formed. Transfer to squeeze bottles.


Fill in the bottoms of the cupcakes in brown.  Use a toothpick to guide to edges or pop and large air bubbles.


Flood the tops of the cupcakes with the pink icing, working about 6 at a time.


Leave the bottoms solid, or come back over the wet icing with a squiggle of pink icing going across.


After flooding, sprinkle chocolate jimmies on the tops....don't worry, the icing won't dry before you get back to it.


Add a bit of piping consistency royal icing to the top of the cookie to attach the sixlet.  (If you don't have sixlets, just add a dot of red icing.)

Switch the tip on the brown icing to a #1 or #2 and pipe lines on the "wrappers" that don't have the pink squiggle.

Let dry 6-8 hours, or overnight.

That's it!  Easy as pie cupcake!

Guilty.

I am one of *those* people.  My emails are littered with :) and ;).  (Not to mention all of the ... and !!!.)

Those little faces are called Emoticons. And I'm addicted to them.  I can't help myself.  {And, yes, I recall going through a stage of dotting my i's with little hearts.}


So, when I saw this card at Target a few weeks ago, I knew those little emoticons needed to be made into cookies.

(Except, I made the cookies in white.  I might overuse my emoticons, but I don't mess with the background color.  So there.)


These are probably the easiest cookies you will ever make.  

First, I cut out the cookies with my square cutter, then divided it into smaller squares with a bench scraper...just like I did here for the Scrabble cookies.

The baked and cooled cookies were then outlined and filled in royal icing tinted with AmeriColor Bright White.

{Oops, I put that heart <3 in there backwards.}

The "smileys," as I like to call them, were added using a 1.5 tip from PME, but you could use any #1 or #2 tip. (Black icing was tinted with AmeriColor Super Black.)

So, fess up.  Are you a lover of emoticons as well?  

What's your favorite? ;)

So Long, Summer.

Dear Summer,  
this is what you're supposed to be about, right?

{darling camper found via Jen's pinterest board & from this blog}

Tooling around the country with a cute little vintage camper?  Visiting national parks, roasting hot dogs, making s'mores?

You are NOT supposed to be about massive flooding, wildfires, and drought.
 
So long, summer.  This is the end of the road; we're breaking up.  I'll miss your delicious tomatoes and juicy, sweet peaches.  But still, we're through.  It's not me, it's you.

My new love Fall will be along any day.  And guess what?  We're going camping.
 


Well, at least we're making camping cookies.


To make the vintage-y camper cookies, you'll need:

• camper-shaped cookies (I used a template)
• royal icing tinted with AmeriColor Super Black, Turquoise mixed with Leaf Green, Bright White, and Super Red
• disposable icing bags
• couplers and tips: #2, #1 
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks

 
First, with a #2 tip, pipe a wheel on the camper.
{Yes, the cookies are speckled...a recipe I'll share with you *someday.*  <<< that's called a teaser.}


Outline the campers in black, using a #2 tip.

Since we're working with black, give it a little extra time to dry.  I outlined the cookies, folded laundry and ran to the grocery store before filling.

Thin the white and green icings with water, a little at a time, until it is the consistency of thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.

Stir gently with a rubber spatula to pop any large air bubbles that have formed. Transfer to squeeze bottles.


Fill in the camper with the thinned icings.  Use a toothpick to guide into corners, edges and pop any air bubbles.


Let the cookies sit for at least 1 hour. Again, since we're working with black, I'll give it a little more time.  Go for a walk, play a board game, watch Real Housewives...give the flood at least an hour to set.


Use a #1 tip to pipe the window in black.


Use a #2 tip to add details in red.

 
 {Thanks to Jen for the camper inspiration!}

See ya next year, Summer.

Good Luck with that.

 
We could all use a little luck, couldn't we?

Starting college,
Job interview,
Moving to a new city,
Losing weight (ok...maybe these aren't the best choice for that)

These horseshoe cookies are really easy...and the flowers can be changed to any color of the rainbow to customize for the recipient.


First, you'll need a horseshoe cookie cutter.  I got mine here.
{I used my "go-to" cookie recipe.}

Next, you'll need all of this:

• royal icing tinted with AmeriColor Gold, Regal Purple, Bright White, Sky Blue and Leaf Green


• disposable icing bags


• couplers and tips: #2, #1 


• squeeze bottle


• toothpicks


• gold luster dust


• vodka


• small paintbrush

 
First, outline the horseshoes in gold, using a #2 tip.

Thin the gold icing with water (reserve some of the piping consistency for later), a little at a time, until it is the consistency of thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dishtowel and let sit several minutes.

Stir gently with a rubber spatula to pop any large air bubbles that have formed. Transfer to a squeeze bottle.


Fill in the horseshoe with the thinned icing.  Use a toothpick to guide into corners, edges and pop any air bubbles.

Let the cookies sit for 1 hour.

{Will you pretend that you see pictures for the rest of the tutorial?  Oh, good.}

OK...use a #1 tip to pipe "Good Luck" on the cookies.

Use a #2 tip, add flower "dots" in purple.

Use a #1 tip to pipe flowers in white.

Use a #1 tip to pipe small dots in blue.

Use a #1 tip to add leaves in green.

Let the cookies dry overnight.

The next day, apply the luster dust.  You'll need: luster dust, small ramekin, small paintbrush and vodka (or EverClear says the guy at the bakery supply shop....I don't happen to keep EverClear in the house ;)).

Starbucks is optional, but recommended.

Mix up your luster dust with a few drops of the vodka and brush it on. (The alcohol will evaporate, leaving just the gold sheen.)  Add a few drops of vodka to the ramekin as you're working if it starts to get clumpy on you.  A little goes a long way, so don't worry about using all of the container in one shot.  (Here's a video about applying luster dust...)

Now, if you want your cookies to look perfect, apply the luster dust, THEN pipe the flowers.  Those little buggers were hard to get around with the luster dust.  But, I still think they're ok.

Could you use a little luck this week?

*Cue the Theme from Jaws*

Da nuh
Da nuh
Da nuh Da nuh Da nuh Da nuh


Did you know that it's Shark Week?  Yep.  It just happened to start on the only day that we've been to the beach all summer.  It didn't stop me from going out into the ocean.  I went out *almost* waist deep.


Here's what I've learned from Shark Week:

1. Sharks don't *want* to eat you, but when they see you out there on that surfboard, they think you're a seal.  They can't help themselves.
2. Sharks really don't like dolphins OR their sonar. [Note to Self: next summer buy a greyish-blue wet suit, complete with snout and built-in sonar.

You know how cookie inspiration can happen anywhere?  See this picture from my phone?

Well, I happened to run across this cute shark picture in a magazine at...
...my OB/GYN's office.
{Not someplace I would normally break out my camera.}

Anyway...I cannot remember name of the magazine.  I was so worried the doctor would come in and I would have to launch into some nonsensical explanation...

"You see, Doctor...next week is Shark Week and well, I make cookies, for my blog...and this idea is so cute and I didn't want to rip the picture out of the magazine...I'll just stop talking and put my camera away now..."

So, if you've seen this in a magazine, let me know and I'll update the post with the source from which the cookie was inspired stolen.

Want to make your own Shark Week cookies?

You will need:

• circle cookies
• royal icing, tinted with AmeriColor: grey (using Super Black), orange, bright white and super black
• disposable icing bags
• couplers and tips: #2, #1
• squeeze bottle
• toothpicks

Use a #2 tip to outline the shark body in grey. (Do not forget to take picture.)

Use a #2 tip to pipe a starfish near the shark's mouth in orange. (Do not forget to take picture.)

Thin the grey icing with water to the consistency of a thick syrup.  Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit several minutes.  Gently stir with a rubber spatula and transfer to a squeeze bottle.


Flood the shark with the thinned icing.  Use a toothpick to guide into corners and edges.


Use a #1 tip to add teeth to the shark in white.


Use a #2 tip and grey icing to add gills.


Use a #1 tip to add eyes on the shark and eyes and a mouth on the starfish.

Show that shark who's boss.  Eat HIM!
***update, update! This little shark image is from Beatrix New York's Nigel.***