Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Cookie Craft Inspirations
Welcome to Cookie Craft! Part baking, part artful expression, cookie crafting allows you to create treats that are as delightful to the eye as they are to the taste buds. You may be a cookie beginner, or you may have years of decorating behind you. Our goal is to give you all the information you need to take your cookie crafting to the next level — whatever level that may be. We'll share our hard-won hints and tips so you can maximize your cookie-making enjoyment and minimize wasted energy. We've broken down the various steps as thoroughly as possible for those of you who've never decorated before. But once you get started, you'll see it's easier than it seems — then it becomes addictive.
But where to start? Here's what you'll find as you work your way through the book. We always start with a delicious cookie — and the best cookies for decorating are flat on top, to create a uniform decorating surface. Using our recipes and our roll-chill-cut method with cookie slats (here) ensures that every cookie you bake will be the same thickness and speeds the baking process.
The cookies shown here are ideas to inspire you. You're the creative genius – we're just here to nudge you along!
If you're a beginning cookie crafter, you may want to start with decorating your unbaked cookies. There are a variety of easy prebaking decorating techniques (outlined in chapter 5), such as affixing cookie add-ons (such as the nuts on the Thanksgiving turkeys) or imprinting cookies (as on some of the acorns). Because most of these techniques don't require special equipment, it's a good place for you to get your decorating feet wet.
In the realm of cookie crafting, decorating with royal icing can be a tremendous amount of fun — think of the cookie as your canvas and your icing colors as your paint (wearing a beret is optional). It does take a little practice, but you can get some experience with simple designs even before you buy any special decorating equipment by using just a zip-top freezer bag (as we did with the snowflakes and some of the fall leaves).
Maybe you're a confident baker who's handy in the kitchen; maybe you've even amassed a collection of cookie cutters but have never been motivated to use them beyond cutting out shapes and sprinkling them with some colored sugar. If so, you're much like we were when we first started decorating. There's a bit to learn — but you'll have a great time unleashing your inner cookie crafter. You'll want to master the royal icing piping and flooding techniques (that is, outlining and filling the cookies with royal icing). You can practice your piping skills with the template, and then you're ready to explore the wealth of royal icing techniques pictured on cookies throughout the book.
If you're already an accomplished decorator, we hope to provide you with a few hints you haven't thought of or ideas to inspire you, especially with the Cookie Craft Showstoppers in chapter 7.
For all levels, the extensive photo arrays that follow provide more than two hundred designs for you to copy or use for inspiration in your own decorated cookie planning. Let your cookie cutters' boundaries inspire you! A six-pointed Star of David can become a sheriff's badge for a birthday boy's party. A gingerbread man can become an astronaut. Round cookie cutters can make everything from a spiderweb to a baby's bib. Look at your cookie cutters with an open mind — what can you create? For sharing your cookie crafting, we tell you how to pack and ship your cookies and how to orchestrate parties, swaps, and bake sales (see chapters 8 and 9).
So now you're ready to begin. And if you have any hesitation, we'll give you this food for thought: In cookies as in life, we learn from our mistakes. In Cookie Craft the lessons will be sweet, because you get to eat your mistakes — they're pretty tasty!
Cookie Craft for Holidays and Seasons
Holidays are the times to keep traditions and make new ones. Cookie making has long been a beloved activity, shared by parents and children, friends and neighbors. While shortcuts sometimes seem efficient, there is no substitute for a home-baked cookie made with fresh ingredients. Iconic holiday shapes, such as Valentine's Day hearts, Halloween pumpkins, and Christmas ornaments, lend themselves to a wide variety of decorating possibilities. Cookie craft time can be family together time — many beloved memories are made and kept in the kitchen.
NEW YEAR'S
Usher in "the new" with sweet celebrations! (Maybe a last hurrah before the diet resolutions kick in?) In addition to the cookies pictured here, number-shaped cookies can proclaim the date on the new calendar. Some traditional New Year's cookie-cutter shapes can double for other milestones — for example, champagne glasses for wedding congratulations and party hats for birthdays.
COOKIES FEATURED
1. Champagne glass
2. White champagne glass
3. Striped noisemaker
4. Nearly midnight clock
5. Champagne bottle
6. Striped party hat
7. Polkadot party hat
8. Times Square ball
9. Polka-dot noisemaker
10. Striped party hat
DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS
1. CHAMPAGNE GLASS. Pipe and flood "champagne"; sugar on wet flood. Affix gold dragees with piping icing on dry sugar.
2. WHITE CHAMPAGNE GLASS.Layer 1: Pipe and flood glass; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe and flood "champagne"; sugar on wet flood.
3. STRIPED NOISEMAKER.Prebaking: Use candy cane cookie cutter. After baking: Pipe and flood body; flood stripes on wet flood. Paint mouthpiece and band with luster dust on dry flood; pipe "noise."
4. NEARLY MIDNIGHT CLOCK. Pipe and flood circle; add concentric circles with wet on wet flood. Pipe hands and numbers on dry flood; affix dragee with piping icing on dry flood.
5. CHAMPAGNE BOTTLE.Layer 1: Pipe and flood neck, cork, and label; let dry. Layer 2: Paint neck, cork, and label design with luster dust; pipe outline detail on label; let dry to touch. Paint plain portions of bottle with corn syrup; sprinkle with sanding sugar. In addition, we like to write in the actual new year with a food-safe marking pen.
6. STRIPED PARTY HAT. Pipe and flood triangle; flood stripes on wet flood; drop dragee on wet flood.
7. POLKA-DOT PARTY HAT. Pipe and flood triangle; flood dots on wet flood. Pipe pom-pom and edge accents on dry flood.
8. TIMES SQUARE BALL. Pipe and flood circle; paint luster dust on dry flood. Affix dragees with piping icing on dry luster dust. For a quicker cookie, skip the luster dust and drop the dragees right onto the wet flood.
9. POLKA-DOT NOISEMAKER.Prebaking: Use candy cane cookie cutter. After baking: Pipe and flood body; flood polka dots on wet flood; pipe "noise."
10. STRIPED PARTY HAT. See cookie 6.
WINTER
Snow day? When it's time to come in from the cold, cookie baking and decorating can provide hours of indoor fun for kids and adults alike. It doesn't have to be complicated — for super-simple snowflakes, round, dark (chocolate or gingerbread) cookies can be piped with white icing using just a zip-top bag.
COOKIES FEATURED
1. Blue-scarfed snowman
2. Round snowflake
3. Blue snowflake
4. Silver snowflake
5. Blue hat with white jimmies
6. Cutout snowflake
7. Pretzelarmed snowman
8. Ice skate
9. Three-dot mitten
10. Polka-dot mitten
11. Three-dot hat
12. Dotted snowflake
DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS
1.BLUE-SCARFED SNOWMAN.Layer 1: Pipe and flood body; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe and flood hat and scarf; sugar on wet flood. Pipe eyes and mouth on dry flood.
2. ROUND SNOWFLAKE. Pipe lines and dots; sugar on wet piping. Try this one with a zip-top bag.
3. BLUE SNOWFLAKE. Pipe and flood; flood snowflake lines with wet flood. For a more precise effect, do the lines with piping on wet flood.
4. SILVER SNOWFLAKE.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Paint luster dust on dry icing; pipe lines on dry luster dust; sugar on wet piped icing. For a quicker cookie, omit layer one, and instead paint entire cookie with luster dust; proceed with icing.
5. BLUE HAT WITH WHITE JIMMIES. Pipe and flood body of hat; let dry to the touch. Pipe and flood band and pompom; sprinkle wet flood with jimmies. Pipe stripes.
6. CUTOUT SNOWFLAKE. Pipe outlines and snowflake tips; sugar on wet piping. Pipe dots after sugaring.
7. PRETZEL-ARMED SNOWMAN.Layer 1: Pipe, flood, and sugar hat. Pipe and flood body; let dry completely. Layer 2: Pipe mouth and nose. Affix candy eyes and pretzel arms with piping icing.
8. ICE SKATE.Layer 1: Pipe and flood entire skate; let dry. Layer 2: Paint luster dust on skate blade; let dry. Pipe outline and laces.
9. THREE-DOT MITTEN.Layer 1: Pipe and flood entire mitten; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe dots using small round pastry tip; pipe band using larger round pastry tip.
10. POLKA-DOT MITTEN.Layer 1: Pipe and flood entire mitten. Flood polka dots on wet flood. Layer 2: Pipe and flood band; sugar on wet flood.
11. THREE-DOT HAT.Layer 1: Pipe and flood entire hat; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe dots using small round pastry tip; pipe pom-pom and band using larger round pastry tip.
12. DOTTED SNOWFLAKE. Pipe details; sugar on wet piping.
VALENTINE'S DAY
Nothing says "I love you" like handmade cookies — especially if they're beautifully decorated. Like love, heart cutters come in many variations, and the resulting cookies will certainly be the way to anyone's affections.
COOKIES FEATURED
1. Pink heart with cutout
2. White heart with grid
3. Red heart with heart stripes
4. Chocolate and pink heart with small cookie heart
5. Pink heart with grid
6. Chocolate heart with jimmies
7. Sugared heart
8. Red heart with cutout
9. Hugs and kisses
10. Small red heart
11. Chocolate herringbone heart
12. Pink herringbone heart
DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS
1. PINK HEART WITH CUTOUT.Prebaking: Cut out center heart. After baking, layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe dots; pipe and flood white heart; sugar wet piping and flood.
2. WHITE HEART WITH GRID.Layer 1: Pipe and flood entire heart; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe pink grid lines; pipe red grid lines over pink. Pipe dots at grid intersections.
3. RED HEART WITH HEART STRIPES. Pipe and flood entire heart; apply wet flood dots in alternating colors in rows; draw a toothpick from top to bottom of row, through the centers of the dots, to create hearts.
4. CHOCOLATE AND PINK HEART WITH SMALL COOKIE HEART.Layer 1: Pipe and flood heart within the heart; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe dot border around dried flood; affix smaller cutout cookie with piping icing.
5. PINK HEART WITH GRID.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe grid and outline; affix dragees to wet piping at grid intersections.
6. CHOCOLATE HEART WITH JIMMIES. Pipe and flood white heart; sprinkle jimmies on wet flood. Pipe dots.
7. SUGARED HEART. Pipe and flood; sugar on wet flood.
8. RED HEART WITH CUTOUT.Prebaking: Cut out small heart in center of cookie. After baking: Pipe and flood; let dry. Pipe dots on dry flood.
9. HUGS AND KISSES. Pipe and flood. Flood dots on wet flood. For hearts, draw toothpick through dots.
10. SMALL RED HEART. Pipe and flood.
11. CHOCOLATE HERRINGBONE HEART.Layer 1: Pipe and flood pink heart. Flood horizontal red stripes on wet flood; draw toothpick vertically through wet stripe, alternating direction from top to bottom, bottom to top; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe dots around border of flood and of cookie.
12. PINK HERRINGBONE HEART.Layer 1: Pipe and flood. Flood horizontal stripes on wet flood; draw toothpick vertically through wet stripe, alternating direction from top to bottom, bottom to top; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe dots.
WINTER INTO SPRING
It's not yet warm enough to come out of hibernation, but you're longing for flowers and greenery. Why not use your snowflake cookie cutters and span the seasons with images that evoke both?
COOKIES FEATURED
1. Sparkling dotted flower
2. Yellow outline flower
3. Blue and yellow flower
4. Blue filigree flower
5. Sparkling dotted flower
6. Sparkling blue flower
7. Blue and yellow outline flower
8. Sparkling yellow flower
9. Plaid flower
10. Blue flower
DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS
1. SPARKLING DOTTED FLOWER.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe dots; sugar on wet piping.
2. YELLOW OUTLINE FLOWER. Pipe outline and center dots; sugar on wet piped dots.
3. BLUE AND YELLOW FLOWER.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe petal outlines and center; sugar on wet piping.
4. BLUE FILIGREE FLOWER. Pipe filigree pattern; sugar on wet piping.
5. SPARKLING DOTTED FLOWER. See cookie 1.
6. SPARKLING BLUE FLOWER.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe petal outlines and center; sugar on wet piping.
7. BLUE AND YELLOW OUTLINE FLOWER. Pipe petal outlines on plain cookie; affix dragees with piping icing.
8. SPARKLING YELLOW FLOWER. Pipe center and leaf details; flood center; sugar entire cookie on wet flood and piping.
9. PLAID FLOWER. Pipe first color line in crosshatch pattern; pipe second color over first; affix dragees to wet piping.
10. BLUE FLOWER.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe outline; affix dragees to wet piping.
EASTER AND SPRING
Celebrate rebirth and nature's reawakening with a pastel icing palette and traditional symbols of Easter and spring. Egg shapes are perfect for creative interpretation and are great for filling Easter baskets — why not "dye" cookie eggs this year?
COOKIES FEATURED
1. Easter basket
2. Pink Easter egg
3. Yellow flower
4. Watering can
5. Pink flower
6. Double-cookie yellow hat
7. Easter bunny
8. Polka-dot egg
9. Small fancy Easter egg
10. Chick
DECORATING INSTRUCTIONS
1. EASTER BASKET.Layer 1: Pipe and flood top third of the cookie; sprinkle flower-shaped paillettes on wet flood; let dry. Layer 2: Using small basketweave tip, pipe basketweave pattern on bottom two-thirds of cookie. Pipe basket handle and border using the same tip and a ribbon motion.
2. PINK EASTER EGG. Pipe and flood. Flood horizontal stripes on wet flood; draw toothpick from bottom to top of egg; repeat at intervals.
3. YELLOW FLOWER.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe outline with contrasting color. Pipe dots in center.
4. WATERING CAN. Pipe and flood watering-can shape, leaving space for "handle" and flowers. Sugar on wet flood. Affix flowers with piping icing.
5. PINK FLOWER.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe outline with contrasting color. Pipe dots in center.
6. DOUBLE-COOKIE YELLOW HAT.Prebaking: Stack smaller round on top of larger and bake. After baking, layer 1: Pipe and flood brim of hat; pipe and flood crown of hat; let dry. Layer 2: Using small leaf tip, pipe leaves around hat band; pipe dots in center of leaves. For a quicker cookie, skip the piping and flooding and simply create a colorful hat band!
7. EASTER BUNNY. Pipe and flood; sprinkle jimmies on wet flood. Pipe rabbit ear, eye, and nose/whisker details.
8. POLKA-DOT EGG. Pipe and flood. Flood dots on wet flood; sprinkle colorless sanding sugar on wet flood.
9. SMALL FANCY EASTER EGG.Layer 1: Pipe and flood; let dry. Layer 2: Pipe lines, dots, and squiggles. For a quicker cookie and quicker cleanup, make chocolate cookie eggs, skip the flooding, and use zip-top bags to pipe lines, dots, and squiggles!
10. CHICK. Pipe and flood; sprinkle orange sanding sugar on wet flood to create beak and feet. Pipe eye.
MOTHER'S DAY
Show Mom your appreciation for all she's done with a special cookie treat. If tea and bridge or fashionable hats aren't her thing, decorate cookie shapes that reflect her interests or hobbies. Of course, you could always make a three-dimensional cookie card that says how you feel.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Cookie Craft"
by .
Copyright © 2007 Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer.
Excerpted by permission of Storey Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
