Mad about Decorated Cookies
I’d been planning on making these cookies since late January, but never got round to it. After teaching a one-on-one decorated cookie class (and dusting off my cookie cutters) just last week, I was once again reminded of the plan I’d shelved in favour of Valentine’s Day macarons.
The wonderful thing about cookie decorating is that you’re free to embellish the cookies in any way you please. To me, an undecorated cookie is like a clean sheet of canvas, just screaming to be painted on. And the icing on the cookie (sorry, I couldn’t resist!) is this: If you’re unhappy with your masterpiece, you can just eat it and no one would be any wiser! Absolutely no waste and completely environmentally friendly too. :o)
A simple heart-shaped cookie can be personalised with the recipient’s name, a simple message or ornately decorated with dots, swirls and curls.
Don’t have much time to mess around with detailed icing? Simply flood your cookies with runny consistency royal icing. This lovely idea for a simple trio of baby hearts comes from Peggy Porschen’s delightful book, Romantic Cakes. I think they make excellent wedding favours!
Preferring something a little more ornate myself, I also made butterflies, decked out in pure white. A pair of these would make the perfect wedding favour! And where there are butterflies, there’d also be flowers.
I went with tulips, complete with leaves and stems. These do take a little more time to make, but the dramatic end results are completely worth the effort!
And since I already had the cookie dough all rolled out and the royal icing all prepared, I didn’t think it would hurt to try out wedding cake and birthday cake designs. My favourite detail on these cookies are the candles on the birthday cake. And once again, I have Peggy Porschen to thank for these wonderful ideas. :o)
If you’re already sick of looking at cookies by now, I’m afraid my cookie decorating madness isn’t quite over yet. There are more cookie cutters on their way in the mail. I can’t wait for them to arrive!
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:13 pm
They all look so wonderful! Great work.
*feeling a need to bake*
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm
Hi Karen, I’m interested in your decorated cookie class. Would appreciate if you could provide me with more details. Regards.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:30 am
Hi Karen
I am so honoured to received these treats from u!! they are sooo delicious and enchanted, I realli loves them!!
Thank you for giving me these treats and I must say your macarons tastes heavenly too!!!! Would loves to order other flavours from u soon hehe~
Love
Philia
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:36 am
I love the tulips and butterflys!!!
Perfect to greet spring. Do you take orders? Ohh, I’ll go look for a cute tulip cookie cutter. Beautiful!
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:51 am
Hi Karen! I came to your blog via Flickr. Your blog is so lovely I am practically licking the screen. Everything looks so beautiful!
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:29 am
Your decorating skills are awesome!
March 3rd, 2008 at 8:42 am
Love them all! The birthday cake with the candles is my favorite. Great idea
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
these look fantastic and I wish I could fly over there for your class. I was wondering though if you would ever think of doing a blog entry on the cooking books you would recommend. I’d be really interested.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
Thank you for all your kind comments, everyone!
I’ve just realised that comments had been disabled on this post for the last couple of days and am trying to fix that.
March 8th, 2008 at 6:29 am
I HATE YOU! Well, I hate you in the way that I hate all fabulously talented bakers!
Keep up the inspiring work!
March 8th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Those are amazingly beautiful.
March 8th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I will be bookmarking this page for future inspiration - I love the “event” that is receiving a gorgeously-decorated cookie. The effort is evident, and the results are simply stunning. Well done!
March 8th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
*__* Amazing! Your skills are awesome. Can I have one? hehehe
March 8th, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Boy, are you ever talented! These cookies have to be the best decorated ones I’ve seen. Beautiful!
March 9th, 2008 at 11:28 am
What perfect cookies!
Do you share your recipes?
March 9th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Karen, nice cookies, where do you order your cookie cutters from?
March 10th, 2008 at 2:03 am
those cookies are amazing! Each is a miniature piece of art!
March 10th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Hi Karen,
Your cookie look so pretty, may I know where to get the tulip cookie cutter?
March 10th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Hi there Karen, I love your cookies, they’re so pretty! I have a question though, hope you don’t mind. I tried decorating them before but the cookies got soft while airing-dry the cookies. Do you just leave them on the counter to air-dry or do you keep them in an airtight container to dry? I’ve long given up because the cookies get soft so quickly
Also, I can never get the correct consistency of the icing because whenever I use strong colours like red, the icing gets too liquidy whenever i add too much colouring. Just feel like giving up! Hope you can give me your advice, I trust you!
Thanks.
March 10th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Thank you, all!
Whitney: I used the recipes in Peggy Porschen’s Romantic Cakes.
Chris & Cecilia: These days I get my cookie cutters online. I get them from various sites, but I love the copper cookie cutters found here: http://www.kitchengifts.com. Another good source is: http://www.blossomsugarart.com
Desiree: I leave the cookies to air-dry on the counter. Turning on the air-conditioning or a fan will help speed up the process. The best thing to do is to ice the cookies on a really hot day. Alternatively, bake your cookies a little crisper than normal.
For red, mix in the colouring a day ahead. The colour will get darker over time, so you don’t have to mix in that much colouring. You might also like to try using Wilton coloring paste instead of liquid colouring.
Hope this helps!
March 10th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Karen,
Thanks for sharing the websites. What is the min that you usually order so that the shipping cost per piece will be minimized?
March 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Everything is always so bright, beautiful and perfect on your site. Its like a ray of sunshine after a weekend of clouds and rain.
March 11th, 2008 at 1:09 am
I just found your site and it’s amazing!! I love meticulous decoration, so I’m impressed. I have a kind of off topic question…. I have the same wordpress template as you. How did you get your header picture to fit the rounded corners? Mine won’t do that…
Thanks, and love your blog!
-Caitlin
March 18th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
i’m going to a puppy party (yes, no kidding) this weekend and am thinking of making some frosted sugar cookies too.. wish me luck!
March 21st, 2008 at 1:16 am
Once again you have worked your magic! Just gorgeous!
March 30th, 2008 at 1:04 am
Hi, your cookies are amazing. I have the peggy porschen book and it inspired me to buy tons of cutters…how do you find the time for all this??
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Your cookies are so pretty and perfect!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:49 am
The tulips and butterflies are so Spring I just want to keep them close to remind me of the sunshine we aren’t getting in my neck of the woods.
Just gorgeous…
April 9th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
those cookies are stunning!! it’s been a while since your last post; I hope everything is going great! I can’t wait to see what you’re Mad About next : )
April 10th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Hi Karen!! I’ve presented you with an award on my blog!
April 19th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Thank you, all!
Chris: Hmm, I usually order about 5 - 8 cookie cutters, but since I can’t get them locally, I’m not too concerned about the shipping costs.
Antonio: Thanks! Which reminds me that I still have 2 memes to pass on!
April 24th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Hey I was wondering if you could tell me how you tint your royal icing with out it tasting bitter? I have heard of using lemon juice and/or a pinch of salt to counter act the bitterness. I use gel colors currently. Just a student looking to improve on her skills.
May 9th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I was looking at your photo’s…beautiful! Can I ask what camera you use? How do you do your lighting for your cookie shots? Thanks
June 4th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Hi there,
WOW your cookies are just amazing and sooooooo cute! I just got into decorated cookies. Trying cookies recipes til I find the one I like! I think I found it yay! I have been decorating cakes for a long time now and never got into the cookie thing but for some reason this year I had the urge to do cookies and stop the cake thing for right now! I am learning that I am enjoying cookies more lol! They are alot of fun and addicting lol! Well keep up the beautiful work! They are so pretty!
July 1st, 2008 at 1:26 am
hi, i will be holding my wedding next yr may…looking ard for wedding favours. would like to enquire for the price of wedding cake and birthday cake cookie designs & wedding-themed cookies, i need abt 350pc. thkq