got icing?

Just a little peek at the icing I made last night. One of the things I love about royal icing is that is can be made ahead of time. I've heard a week or more, but I never plan that well. This icing is for cookies I'm making today and tomorrow.

Once the icing is made and tinted, I press a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the icing, then cover and refrigerate. When I'm ready to use it, I just bring it to room temperature.
....and here's my helper sneaking into a picture of goodies from a trip to the bakery supply store. I am so happy to have a stash of my beloved Ateco meringue powder! I hate that Sur La Table quit carrying it! Ooooo...and I was really excited to find black non-pareils! :)

Little Sweet Pea

Our neighbors just had a baby girl, so we brought them a batch of sweet pea...or pea in the pod...cookies.
I guessed a blond-haired baby. The mom is blond and so is big sister, but when we delivered the cookies, we saw the baby is an adorable little redhead! Well, after the cookies are eaten, there won't be any evidence that I picked the wrong hair color. :)

I used AmeriColor Gourmet Writer food coloring pens to make the eyes and mouths on the cookies.

For the hostess with the mostest . . .

Texas hospitality is nowhere more evident than in my dad's neighborhood in Amarillo. When my son and I visited recently, a "come on over and use our pool" invitation by dad's friends, Kim & Vance, turned into an impromptu 5-hour pool party! Kim forced me (ok...not really) to have a few (3, 4, 10?...I lost count) of her poolside cocktails. I wanted to make cookies for her inspired by her drink. (It is a perfect summer/poolside drink: cherry 7-up, lime juice and vodka over ice...it beats the Texas heat, let me tell ya!)

I used my candy corn cookie cutter for these cookies. Here's a peek at just some of my drawings. I threw about half of the pages away before thinking to snap a picture. Sometimes, what is in my head just won't translate to the paper!

• With a #2 tip, pipe the outline of the lime in one corner. (AmeriColor Leaf Green)
• With a #3 tip, pipe the outline of the cherry in red, meeting up with the lime outline. (AmeriColor Super Red)
• Using the lime as a guide for the corner of the glass, pipe the outline of the glass in black using a #2 or 3 tip. (Spectrum Super Black)
• Thin white and light pink icing with water to a syrup-like consistency and cover both with a damp dishtowel. Let sit several minutes. (AmeriColor Soft pink with a smidge of Spectrum Peach)
• Gently stir the white icing with a rubber spatula to pop any air bubbles that have risen to the surface and transfer to a squeeze bottle.
• Fill in the top of the glass with the white flood icing.
• Stir and transfer pink icing to a squeeze bottle.
• Working with 6 to 8 cookies at a time, flood just below the glass "rim" with an uneven line of white icing.
• Go back through your 6 to 8 cookies and flood with the pink icing butting up against the wet white icing.
• While this is drying, add light green to the lime wedges using a #1 tip (or thin to flood). (AmeriColor Leaf Green)
• Using a #3 tip, fill in the cherry outline (or thin to flood).
• With a #46 basket weave tip, pipe the straw in white (un-thinned icing). Smooth side of the tip facing up.
• If the flood icing has come up over the glass rims, like mine did, go back over the glass rim in black outline icing.
• Switch the tip on the black icing to a #1 and pipe on the cherry stem.
• Using a #1 tip, pipe stripes on the straws in red icing.

Things are not always what they seem...

I love cookie cutters. For me, they are hard to resist. OK...the copper cutters that cost $12.95 plus shipping are a little easier to resist than the tin ones costing $2.95, but having the perfect cutter is really fun.

Do you always have to have the perfect cutter? No. Take a look at the cutters in your stash/basket/closet. Turn them around, look at them with a different eye. What else could they be?
These little bees were made with my pumpkin cutter. Is the shape perfect? No. Did it work? Absolutely. Not a soul said, "hey...this is supposed to be a pumpkin!"

I love this bee! It is perfect for so many occasions. With a note attached, the cookies can say:

BEE my honey
You've been a busy bee!
Thanks for BEEing there!
BEE sweet
You'll BEE great!

Have you re-purposed any of your cookie cutters?

Scottie Dog cookies for a birthday

My friend Janet and I met when we worked at the Mary Engelbreit store in Chicago together. We had the most fun...whenever something new came into the store, we would play a little game called, "Do we NEED this?!?" Well, whether it was a cherry Christmas ornament in July, a scottie garden statue or a set of kitchen canisters, with a forty percent discount and a friend to talk us into it, we found that we usually did need it, whatever it was!

These cookies are for Janet's birthday. Even though we haven't laid eyes on each other in years, I still think of her every time I see a scottie dog or something with cherries on it. One more thing about Janet...she is the queen of gift giving! I don't know where she shops, but she always finds the absolute perfect gift and it is always wrapped in the cutest way!

This plaid cookie design is from a Martha Stewart cookie book. I decided on white scotties instead of black because who wants black icing teeth on their birthday?!?

Janet...thanks for being such a great friend! I miss seeing your smiling face every day!

And the winner is...

My official, impartial name selector...

...and the winner is....
...Bethany!!!

I am so happy that anyone entered at all!!! Over 20 comments and only 3 were relatives!!! Wow, I'm amazed! :) I will do this again; it is fun!

The funny thing about the drawing was that I was reading the comments to my husband and Bethany asked in hers if I was "the cookie angel." I said to my husband..."well, that's it. I'm sending them to Bethany right now." :) I guess a cookie angel was looking over her name in the drawing!!!

Bethany...I didn't see a way to contact you, so please email me. There is a link to my email at the very bottom of the blog (and in the comments from the last post). Thanks! Off to decorate some cookies...

Birthday cookies and a GIVEAWAY!

I am currently working on a batch of cookies for a friend's birthday and am making a few extras for a giveaway! Anyone interested? Leave a comment by 7:00pm Central on Sunday (July 20th) and a winner will be randomly selected. I'll contact the winner Sunday night to get your address. The only rule is, the cookies have to be shipped within the US. (Yes, Molly...Hawaii counts!) I'll ship the cookies out on Monday. Yay! :)