Pikachu - Gotta Eat 'em All!

My granddaughter always likes to make cookies when she visits...and eat those cookies too!  I noticed she had a "how to draw" book in her suitcase from home and asked if she thought we might make one of those Pokemon on a cookie?  She thought that was a grand idea.

Because we are so busy going to Schlitterbahn at the Beach (she is a Boogie Bahn addict), the project has taken several days.  I had Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookie dough in the freezer because I knew she was going to want to bake.  We rolled out a few cookies together (she now understands that is very hard work).  We cut and baked and waited for the next day.  Then, we made royal icing together (again, "gee Grandma, no wonder it takes so much time to make your cookies" - yep).  I base coated the cookies because she recalled not enjoying that last year.  She did, however, like eating one of the cookies where the base coat fell over the edge.  We ended up with three large 5 inch circles and a few stars to play with.

Today we decided to decorate (is it sad that it took us all morning to finish one big cookie?).  She is so happy with the cookie she is just bouncing up and down wanting to eat it.  I asked if she didn't want to wait and show it to Grandpa when he got home from work.  "Yes, Yes!" she yells and runs back to her Kindle where she is building some incredible roller coaster on her farm in Mine Craft!  There is a plane and an UFO involved as well.  She is very creative!

So, anyway, I'm not great at drawing in general and my hands were particularly shaky today so I printed off a couple of copies of the Pikachu she selected for the design and I used the tissue paper method of tracing the design onto the dry royal iced cookie.  I think I first saw the technique on SweetAmbs' blog and I know I have seen Haniela demonstrate it, as well as others.  The technique is easy to Google.  In a nut-shell, you use white tissue paper (like the kind used in a gift bag) and trace the image onto the tissue paper with a food color marker.  Then, you re-trace (using food color marker of course) on top of the cookie.  The first trace may or may not go through the tissue paper, the second tracing transfers the image to the cookie very easily.

I also thought it would be better to paint the cookie so my granddaughter would have a better chance at participating.  I explained how painting a cookie with food color worked - she thought that was pretty cool and asked how I got the food color on the M&Ms I used on her Paint-Your-Own Easter cookie.  I am enjoying the teaching - she is always so wide-eyed in wonder.  Montreal Confections was the creator of the PYO cookie using the M&Ms...and boy were they a hit!

She and I both painted portions of the cookie and she helped select all of the colors and guided me on any specifics of the Pikachu that I was unfamiliar with.  The we decided to add some of the lightening bolts.  I think Pikachu has some kind of shocking power ... so, of course, that was added.

After she returned to her Mine Craft creation, I outlined everything in black piping consistency royal icing and made up a small amount of red and yellow for a border.  She is very happy with the end result...and can't wait to eat the cookie!

It was fun - and a day I hope she looks back on when she is older and thinks "you know that day we made Pokemon cookies Grandma?  That was so fun".  It's what we live for!

Bon Appetit, Y'all 
- and thanks for reading my blog all these years!

Painting Cookies...practice required!

Inspiration - My Tervis Tumbler coffee mug!

When I think back to high school art class, I remember feeling so incredibly incompetent.  I think even further back to a class I took at the Austin PARD in my pre-teen years and I remember the teacher shaking her head because I couldn't get my head around painting a windmill in a field of tulips.  I couldn't see depth, I couldn't see that I didn't have to detail each and every tulip...I had such a literal sense of the visual that I could not put it on canvas.  I began to hate drawing and painting..despite my mother buying me an easel, paints, and a plethora of canvas so I could "practice".  I have ever since always said I am NOT an artist.

However, now that I am past that double-nickel point in time, I am a bit more forgiving of my abilities and find that I enjoy "trying" again.  I can step back and try to see the whole instead of every single little detail.  Decorating cookies has helped me see that I can be artistic without having to be "an artist".  Of course, the obvious benefit of working on cookies, as I've said before...you get to eat the mistakes and they are gone forever!

I have spent the last couple of days of this lazy week-end painting Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies and Apple Butter Sugar Cookies.  I had only done a couple of painted cookies in the past and they took so much time I wasn't sure I would do it again.  However, I had some leftover base coated plaque sugar cookies and decided to spend some time playing with painting.  I watched some Arty McGoo and SweetAmbs youtube tutorials for inspiration today (I had seen both of them before).  I only finished a few...I'm still very slow.  However, I am trying!

I long to take a watercolor painting class...but I'm still afraid...leftover from those previous feelings of incompetence.  I know, however, that I really need to do exactly that!

Here's what I accomplished... and at the end, I'm adding one of the 1st two I did as well.



Inspired by SweetAmbs - I painted the flowery things
and used a FooDoodler to write the words.

Scribble Roses - Inspired by Arty McGoo

My second time to consider painting a cookie.
My son said "paint a rose" and was appalled when
I began a scribble rose :-)

My first time painting (my second cookie - both were herons)
At first I was hypercritical...then I let up on myself.
It's not awful...

Well, thanks for stopping by to see what I've been up to over the past few days.  I'm happy that I had some leftover cookies to practice with.  I think I'll base coat some more cookies and keep them "ready for the moment"... kind of like having a canvas on hand!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!

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The Cookie Decorating Experiment

My second attempt at painting a cookie

This week has been "experiment" week.  I have learned many lessons!  Good lessons and "eek" BAD lessons!

I tried using Karen's Cookies Meringue Powder Buttercream this week...I had printed her recipe - but it's been over a year since I watched the video...and I missed some key things this time around...now duly noted on my printed copy. 

1.  Need to measure loose powdered sugar, not packed (I was in a hurry and dug it right out of the bag).  Which follows rapidly with, don't make anything at midnight right before going to bed - the reason "I was in a hurry"!
2.  Those living in more humid areas were advised to use extra meringue powder.  I did not.  Two days of being under the fan and I still have a softness under the crust. (not me, silly, the COOKIES).
3.  Either #2 is in play, or you cannot use food color markers without breaking through Meringue Powder Buttercream. 
4.  Air brushing is different on MPB than on RI...I guess the buttercream aspect makes it slick and much harder to use a stencil.  I wrecked a couple of cookies trying to work that out.  I'll stick to Royal Icing for stenciling and air brushing in my immediate future!  Here's a photo of a couple of the fails (my friends tell me they want to see the fails too - so I am begrudgingly showing the ones that have not been eaten yet - the hubs gets the fails). 

Mr. Flip Flop said (as he was biting into the sister failure of this cookie)
that it looks like a tile - kind of an old tile...he thought I did it on purpose.
In reality, I used an adhesive back stencil (which never has damaged
a RI cookie) and it ripped the crust right off the cookie after
I airbrushed it.  Yikes.

I used a lot of "stuff " to cover up the defects
in this cookie.  The pearl sheen pink air brush color
on a vinyl stencil seemed gummy...and then I touched it...
after I mushed the not totally crusted white base.  This
cookie didn't have a chance.  So, I over-decorated it with
some dots and royal icing ribbon roses I had on hand.
It ended up being "okay" - but a wee bit too busy!

5.  MPB works beautifully for flowers - I have not had much luck with getting my royal icing to an appropriate consistency to hold up well, yet not cramp my hand while piping it.  The blue cookie flower was RI and the orange one below was MPB - you can really see the difference in how they stood up - same tip was used (#102 or #103 Wilton - can't recall which one I ended up with)

Royal Icing flower accented with a RI transfer I made last month

The Meringue Powder Buttercream really held
the shape better although it did not do so well with
the border piping...I used a PME 1.5 tip so I know
it was the icing that was the issue.

I wanted to make some Zinnia's to honor my late sister and they turned out pretty good.  They do, however, have a LOT of icing on them.  Who knows how long it will take for these to dry!!!  I also did some mini leaf cookies topped with royal icing that I had left over in the fridge.  I managed to use up the last of all I had saved via several of these cookies.

MPB Zinnia and RI leaves!

I also experimented with the airbrush (as noted above) and used the technique learned from Montreal Confections wherein one places a piece of lace over the cookie and then airbrushes over it.  I tried it on mini butterfly cookies - they turned out cute!  Was able to do 4 cookies at a time under one piece of lace.  The lace was light enough not to disturb the crust and it cleaned up beautifully after the experiment too.  I went ahead and embellished afterwards - not my best piping, but again, working late at night is not my best time for keeping an even hand.  Note to self...when spraying straight downwards, don't tip the air gun to the point food color runs out onto your cookies - not pretty.  Lots of blue splatter on one cookie...which was eaten before anyone saw the evidence.

Lace Airbrush Butterfly Minis

The larger butterflies were all airbrushed with pink sheen air brush by AmeriColor.  It took a long time to dry.  My completion of the butterflies was at a point where I just wanted to use up some of the colored icing I had on hand.  I actually like the pink,gray, and white theme I ended up with...maybe not so much the blue one - it was a bit "busy"...but...week of experiments, right?

I made some Sea Gulls with fairly basic feathering...couldn't seem to get the perspective right though.  I've seen different Sea Gull cookie cutters - I may have to get one so I'm not making this so hard on myself.

Last, but not least, I took the scary, heart-pounding leap and decorated two cookies by hand painting them.  I am so NOT an artist.  The first one is a better bird, with a kindergardenish sun in the background...the second one the bird's beak is way too big and his legs are too fat...and I messed up by painting yellow into blue...which magically became green (duh)!  I love looking at the blue herons wading in the shallow bay outside my window.  This was my homage to herons.  I need to take an art class - I need help with perspective and simple "how to draw things".  It does not come naturally to me at all!

Well - that's this week's enterprise.  I'll be seeing family this week-end so I hope they are willing to eat the experiments!

All cookies used this week were Apple Butter Sugar Cookies (recipe linked here).  It is a wonderful spicy cookie and is tender to the tooth.  I do bake the large ones a little longer so they don't break - better to be a little hard than too soft when decorating.  My icing was flavored with pure vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp cinnamon extract.  The combo goes beautifully with this cookie.

Thanks for sticking with me, I finally feel like I'm getting back into the swing of baking and decorating after several months of not being able to gather the energy... and that is a VERY good thing!

Bon Appetit, Y'all!!!



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