Tropical Sugar Cookies - Warmth in Winter!

I started these cookies on the last day of February...it was 85 degrees outside and gorgeously sunny.  The joys of living at the tip of Texas in the Winter.  I felt compelled to make some sugar cookies in tropical shapes so I got busy baking.  I knew this would be a multi-day task...baking one day, base coats the next day, and details on the final day.  I finished up late Friday night amidst a most hectic Thursday and Friday with errands, school meetings lasting until 7:00 at night, an unexpected trip into "town" - 30 miles away - which took most of the day.  All-in-all, it was not what I planned, but still they turned out okay.  I used up all of my royal icing before I got some additional colors for further details I had planned...and some of it wasn't the right consistency...and a couple were sacrificed to the teen-ager (he gets the ones I mess up).  Then, I wake up Saturday morning and a windy "cold front" has blown in...it's 67 now instead of a lovely mid-70s.  However, I feel certain my Northern friends will not give me any sympathy as they are being coated in snow.  News of horrific tornadoes throughout the South and Midwest states also bring a pall to the days.  Still...for us, we are entering the period of time that brings a ton of visitors to the area...SPRING BREAK!  Some of the far Northerners began arriving Friday.  It was noticeable on the road and at the grocery store.  As Winter Texans began their trek home, college students begin their treks South, seeking warmth, sun, and the fun to be had on South Padre Island.  They will come in waves...small wave this week, a monster wave next week, dwindling waves the following two weeks and then it's over.

To celebrate the onset of Spring, despite the blustery winds, I have tropical cookies!  Using my favorite sugar cookie recipe and royal icing recipe, I'll share the progress in pictures below!  Enjoy :-)

Cookies are baked and decorating station ready to rock and roll.  I have said it before and I'll say it again.  Mis en place is important, even when decorating cookies!
Maybe ESPECIALLY when decorating cookies!

The dolphins were outlined, floated, and then happy smiles and eyes drawn with edible marker

The flowers were going to be much more detailed...but I got tired and ran out of icing...
so tired, I didn't have energy to make more.  Still, happy flowers.

Palm trees will be my next task to "make better".  The detail piping on the trumk was done with icing not thick enough to stand alone...and I had some running.  The palm leaf top layer was going to be much different than it ended up with.
My hands were cramping...these were the very last thing I did.  I'd just done all I could!

The turtles take the most steps.  I start with the green base for
the shell, then do the heads and flippers after the shell
is well-firmed up.  About 6 to 8 hours later, I do the shell detail.
The next day after all is very dried and can be handled
easily, I do the eyes and flipper detail with an edible marker.
I do love my sea turtles!

So, there we have it.  I was sad that the sea horse and star fish and lighthouse cookie cutters had not arrived in time for this batch...but I'll be attempting those when I next get the hankerin' to bake and decorate sugar cookies.  This seems to be the season...It starts with Christmas, segues into Valentine's Day (which I skipped this year in the cookie department) and then we have Spring Break and Easter.  After that, I probably won't do any for a while.  Maybe until 4th of July...and then, of course, I have a lot of humidity to deal with so...we'll see!

Thanks for reading along!  Hmmmm. wonder who I will share these cookies with today???  Maybe my friends at Island Wheelies and The Salty Seagull!  If you are Spring Breaking on the island, please stop by their venue in the Palmetto Shopping Center just north of the bridge by a few blocks!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!

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