My New Cookie Cutters

I ordered some new cookie cutters online...and they have arrived!  <big grin>  I mixed up a batch of sugar cookie dough yesterday and left it chilling in the fridge overnight.  Today, I've rolled and cut and baked off several cookies using the new cookie cutters.  They all have a "tropical" theme... I got a dolphin, a palm tree, a sea turtle, a sea shell, and a hummingbird.  I also got a mini dolphin - because when I get to the point where I'm ready to use fondant, I want a tiny cookie cutter to use to cut shapes for fondant cupcake toppers.  That's down the road though.  Right now I just have a tiny heart and a tiny dolphin....I'll need more.

So, here's a photo of the cookie cutters.  I purchased them from The Cookie Cutter Shop and I felt like they had a really good selection for a reasonable price.  I love the big heavy duty and copper cookie cutters - but those come after I try the shapes with a lower-cost product...and make sure the higher price is warranted...like, can I decorate them and do they look pretty enough that I want to repeat using them?  I found these cookie cutters under the "Nautical" section, except for the hummingbird...it was under "Birds". The ones I purchased ranged from $1.75 to $1.95 each...very reasonable.  They sent them by US Mail and it didn't take very long to get here.  So far, very pleased with their website and their service. 

Since I took this photo - I broke one of the tails off the hummingbird
while moving it - I thought it would be a beak!

Typical sugar cookie challenges...tiny pointed portions are difficult to release from the cutter and they tend to bake more rapidly than the big thick portions of the cookie.  Point in case - the dolphin's fluke got stuck each and every time...as did the hummingbird's beak.  I had to use my pinkie fingernail to gently release the dolphin parts and a butter knife helped with the hummingbird.  Each time I tried to heavily flour the cookie cutter to help things along.  That certainly helped but didn't do the trick 100% of the time. 

I made these cookies a bit thicker than I usually do.  I was working on keeping the thickness even and smooth (to avoid those lumps and bumps in my cookies I am so cursed with).  Thicker cookies seemed to help.  As a result, I got a lot less cookies from the batch than I usually do...but that's okay...they are all pretty big cookies.  I hope I have the artistic skills to make these pretty when I break out the royal icing tomorrow.  Hmmm, better check the humidity level for tomorrow...today is only 59%, so I hope that holds for me!!!  That's low humidity for us!

My hand is still sore from the overly-firm buttercream frosting debacle yesterday.  Otherwise, I would mix up the frosting and decorate right now.  However, I don't want to risk having my cookies look crappy because I have a shaky hand!  I'll keep you posted on how these progress.  I've got to package these up and hide them before the teen gets home.  He likes plain sugar cookies and he'd plough his way through these without my even knowing it :-)

Until tomorrow - Bon Appetit, Y'all!