Designer Cookies

I love to read - and my house shows it. I have many, many, many books. So of course I have plenty of cake decorating books. But even with all of those books, my cookies (and cakes and cupcakes) just weren't quite looking professional. I just knew that there had to be some tricks that I wasn't getting out of those books.

Plus, I'm a visual and hands-on learner. If I actually saw somebody do it; I could usually do it. But the pictures in the books just weren't enough.

I was so excited when I found Yummy Arts. This is a membership site that has over 100 videos that takes you step-by-step through cookies decorating - also cakes, cupcakes and candy too! I was thrilled!!! I was finally actually getting to see how these wonderful looking designer cookies were being created.

This is what helped me so much to be able to make professional cookies. Now whenever I take cookies to someone - they always think I bought them. Check them out at Yummy Arts.

Have you ever wanted to learn to make those beautiful designer cookies. that you see as wedding favors? Or maybe those cutesy baby rattle and baby buggie cookies at baby showers? Well you can. You can learn to make these designer cookies to sell or just to give to make your friends and family happy, but the first thing you need to start with is a great and easy sugar cookie recipe. After trying many, many different recipes, here is my favorite with the instuctions to get them to turn out great every time.

Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 1/2 cups butter/softened
1 cup of white sugar
1 cup of confectioners sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

First, make sure your butter is softened. 1 1/2 cups of butter is three sticks. I soften them for 45 seconds in the microwave. You want them softened, not completely melted.

Next, add you white sugar a little at a time. Make sure it is mixed and finish mixing it on high. Then add the confectioners sugar, a little at a time with the mixer on a slow speed. After all the confectioners sugar is mixed in, once again, turn the mixer on high to really "fluff" up the mixture.

Now add the vanilla. I use clear vanilla to make my cookies look as white as possible. Next add the eggs, one at a time. Also, crack your eggs in a small bowl to make sure you don't get pieces of shell in your cookie dough.

Once you have your eggs mixed in, add your salt and baking powder. Then add the flour slowly and again, one cup at a time, keeping the sides of the bowl scraped clean with a spatula. It takes a little more time to add the ingredients slowly like this, but it really makes a difference in the quality of cookie.

There you have it. Everyone will love this easy sugar cookie recipe whether you make plain cookies or go all out and really make them into designer cookies.

You have the perfect sugar cookie recipe. You've made the cookie dough and you've tried to cut out the cookies, but it just doesn't quite work. They stick, they tear, they lose their shape. No more! Here are some tips that will have you making sugar cookies that look like a pro made them.

The first step to the perfect cut out cookie is to make the dough and then refrigerate it preferably overnight. At the very least, the dough has to be chilled for a couple of hours. You know the dough is just right to work with when you really have to "mash" it to flatten it out. You absolutely cannot cut out cookies when the dough is freshly made - don't even try it.

If you are in a mad rush and have to have some cookies pronto, you can take a cookie sheet, line it with parchment paper, put a blob of dough on it, cover it with another sheet of parchment and then roll it out to 1/4 inch thick. Then take the cookie sheet and place it in the freezer for about fifteen minutes. Continue to do this with several cookie sheets and you should have enough dough to work with shortly.

Now, if you aren't in a mad rush, get your dough good and cold. When you are ready to make the cookies, preheat the oven to 400. Make sure your oven heats up for at least 30 minutes - not just until the oven reads 400 degrees. The reason being is that your oven may not be heated to 400 in the center of the oven and will cause your cookies to bake unevenly.

Take out of the refrigerator only the amount of dough that you are going to work with at one time. Leave the rest of the dough in the refrigerator so it doesn't get warm or you will be right back where you started.

"Flour" your work surface with confectioners sugar. Yes, you can use regular flour, but the sugar adds an extra sweetness that tastes great. Also rub your rolling pin with confectioners sugar. Roll your dough to approximately 1/4" thick. If you are going to be making cookie bouquets, they need to be 1/2" thick.

Dip your cookie cutter in confectioners sugar and place it on your dough and press down to cut it out. Before you lift the cookie cutter, give it a little jiggle, wiggleing the cookie cutter back and forth. Do this until you can't get anymore cookies out of the dough that you have rolled out. Begin picking up the dough that surrounds the cut outs. Mash the dough back into a ball and put it back in the refrigerator with the other dough that is chilling.

Use a spatula that is thin, preferably a metal spatula not a rubber spatula to lift your cookies onto the cookie sheet. Rubber spatulas tend to be thicker on the end and will mash and distort your cookie. Using a thin-edged metal spatula place your cookies on the cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper about 1" apart. If you have chosen the proper sugar cookie recipe, they shouldn't puff up or spread.

Bake your cookies for 7 1/2 minutes at 400 degrees or just until the edges are golden brown. Remove the cookie sheet and let your cookies cool for just a minuet. Taking your metal spatula again, ligtly loosen the cookies from the parchment paper without moving them. Let the cool on the cookies sheet until they are ready for you to decorate.

When it comes to decorating designer cookies, there are three techinques that used; decorating the cookie with royal icing, color flow, and fondant. Using these three techniques will produce the professional designer cookie look that you are after.

The first technique is to use royal icing to decorate the cookie. Using a basic royal icing recipe, a decorating bag and tip, you can decorate your cookie any way you like. Most often tip #1 is used for fine outlining the cookie and decorating the details. You can also use other decorating tips like the star tips #16 and #21 to achieve zig zags and interesting borders.

The second technique is the color flow method. This is a method made popular by Wilton Cake Decorating. To make the color flow icing, combine:

1 pound of confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons of Wilton Color Flow Mix
1/4 plus 1 teaspoon of water

Blend on low speed for seven minutes.

This color flow icing will be stiff. Using a small piping tip (#1 or #2) outline your cookie. After the outline of the cookie has "set" or hardened, you need to "flood" the cookie with the thinned icing. To thin your color flow icing, add a few drops of water at a time until it is a thinner consistency that will run.

Now take your thinned icing and pipe it into the center area of your cookie. The icing will spread and fill in your cookie area. After the color flow has set, you can add more detail to your cookie with more of the thicker color flow icing or the royal icing.

The third technique for decorating designer cookies is using fondant. Many people are "afraid" to try fondant but it is actually very easy. You first need to tint the fondant the color that you need for your cookie and then roll it out to approximately 1/18" thick. Using the same cookie cutter that you used to cut out the cookie, cut the same shape out of your fondant.

Next, lightly moisten the back of the fondant shape with water - not too much or you will make the fondant "soggy". Lay the fondant shape on your cookie and lightly press down, shape, and smooth the edges with your fingers. After you have the fondant on the cookie, you can decorate it giving it details with the royal icing or the full-strength color flow icing.

Using these tips and techniques, you will be making professional designer cookies for your friends and family in no time!

Making Royal Icing is very easy and the possibilities are endless in the ways that you can use it to decorate your cookies.

Here is the basic recipe:

3 level tablespoons of Meringue Powder
1 lb of sifted confectioners sugar (about 4 cups)
5-6 tablespoons of lukewarm water

Mix the sugar and meringue powder together in the bowl. Add the water and mix with an electric mixer for 7-10 minutes or until it is no longer shiny.

If you have been looking up how to make fondant and have come across the "traditional" recipe, you probably said, "Forget it!" That's exactly what I thought until I found this recipe for Marshmallow Fondant. Not only is this recipe easy and fun to make, it looks professional and tastes great. Traditional fondant tastes terrible and has to be peeled off like skin - yuck!

Here's the recipe for fondant:

1 16oz package of marshmallows
1 2lb bag of confectioners sugar
2 tsp of water

Take a glass, microwave proof bowl and lightly spray it with cooking spray. Put all of the marshmallows in the bowl and place in the microwave for 10 seconds. Stir (I also lightly spray my spoon with cooking spray) and heat for 10 seconds again. Continue doing this until the marshmallows have melted.

Gradually add the confectioners sugar. I sift my sugar first. Continue stirring in the sugar until you can't stir it anymore.

Take some of the remaining confectioners sugar and spread it on your clean countertop. Turn the fondant mixture on to it. Knead the remaining confectioners sugar into it.

That's it! Kneading the confectioners sugar into the mixture is fun. My daughter says it's like squishing a cloud. :)

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