Thursday, May 23, 2013

Black - Eyed Susan and Crab Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Sugar cookies celebrating the fabulous state of Maryland.

Our state flower - the Black-Eyed Susan.

Our state crustacean - the Blue Crab.  I always think that it's funny that we have a "state crustacean".  I wonder if any other state has one.

These crabs are no longer blue.  I suppose they represent the crabs as seen just before digging in at a crab feast!



Some of my fondest childhood memories involve the Black-Eyed Susan and crabs.

Every summer, we spent time at my Aunt and Uncle's house on a river.  We spent long days on the boats water-skiing, hours exploring, and running through cornfields.  At night, we'd pile into the jeep, wave and holler "Howdy neighbor" at anyone we'd see.  Yep, that was a highlight for me.

We always had crabs.  My dad and uncle would pick up those snapping guys with their hands.  I thought they were so brave.  I was too scared to go near them.

Then it would be hours and hours of crab picking.  All of the kids were expected to pick their own and not to waste one bit of meat.  We were to pick them clean before taking another.

At my uncle's house is where I fell in love with the Black-Eyed Susan.  During one of our adventures, we saw some Black-Eyed Susans.  I wanted to pick them, but was stopped by my cousin, telling me that it was illegal.  A flower so special that it was illegal to pick?  I was in love.

All these years later, I have no idea if it truly is illegal to pick Black-Eyed Susans or if it's just illegal to pick any flower that's not on your own property.  Back then, and for most of my life, that thought never even occurred to me.  All I knew was that it was "our" flower, it was protected, and I loved them.

When I got a house and had my very own garden, the Black-Eyed Susan was one of the first flowers to go in. I could pick them anytime I want.  A childhood dream come true.  We've moved to a new house and guess what had to go in this garden too?  I love these very special flowers!



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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Sports Jersey Cookies

It's the end of the season. Time to celebrate with cookies.



Each player will get a cookie with her number. 

We can't forget coaches and managers!  They each get one too!


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Thursday, May 16, 2013

Royal Icing Transfer Flowers


I love flowers - both in real life and in icing form.  Royal icing transfer flowers are a great way to decorate.  They're easy to make up ahead of time and they make quick work decorating the "day of".


The little daisies are just like the ones I used for my Kentucky Derby horses.  Thanks to Julia Usher for those.  I elongated the petals on some of them.  I love having two different kinds of daisies.

I've seen similar swirl roses to the ones I made here.  Most recently, Sugarbelle wrote up a tutorial on them.

Simple flowers and leaves on plain round cookies. 


I wanted to showcase my flowers on a different background.  I remembered the amazing "Twelve Days of Christmas" copper cutters that I won from Lilaloa.  I've been wanting to use the "Partridge in a Pear Tree" cutter to make a topiary.  Here was my chance!

I added one more type of flower to these - another "swirl" rose.  These were made with stiff icing and a tiny star tip, Wilton number 14.  These are the roses that I use frequently on my engagement stick figure cookies.

These topiary cookies are off to a far away land - Afghanistan.  There's a very special cookie decorator over there that also happens to be a warrior.  A hero.  I hope she enjoys the cookies!



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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Graduation Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

These were for a mother and daughter, both graduating from college.  Luckily their two schools each had the same colors - blue and gold.  The red was thrown in for good measure.



Actually, the red was thrown in because of the ever-present crabs.  I felt the need to spread that red around on a few other cookies.  It was a nice, bold color for the message and names.

The daughter graduated from a school on Maryland's eastern shore - hence the crabs and sailboats.


I was not happy at all with the graduation cap cookies.  I had the proportions way off.  The top of the hat should have been larger and the bottom should have been smaller.

Apparently I only took photos of Alyssa's cookies.  There were some for Cheryl.  And a few for a friend - Jonathan.  About 15 dozen cookies total.  Must have been quite the party!


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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Summer Cookie Decorating Class in Frederick, MD

I have another class scheduled. Would you like to learn how to decorate cookies with royal icing? Would you like to learn how to make these cookies?


They're mini cookies decorated to look like tiny deserts!  Cute, huh?


We'll also be constructing this 3D cake stand.


I was inspired by Bakerella's multi-level dessert stands and mini desserts.  So cute!


Chocolate and vanilla dough!

This class is perfect for beginners.  It's a lot easier than it looks!

The class is scheduled for Thursday, May 30, 2013 in Frederick, MD.  If you'd like to attend, you can sign up here.

Hope to see you!



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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Kentucky Derby Bridal Shower Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

I had sooooo much fun decorating these! I've never decorated horse cookies or pretty hats. Loved doing them!!

Beautiful ladies' hats.  (They could be Easter bonnets too!)  I made tiny little daisy royal icing transfers a la  Julia Usher.  I really thought these would break when releasing them from the paper or placing them on the cookies.  Not one broke!



Perhaps you can see their 3-D-ness better in this photo.  Each hat is two cookies stacked.



And a few race horses.  Bake at 350 inspired these, though I changed them up a bit.  For some reason, the tails and manes make me happy.



Here they are together, along with a message cookie.  I talked about how I did the message using my Kopykake projector here.


Fun, fun set!

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