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Balloon Animal Cookies

September 12, 2013 By Francois 6 Comments

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I don’t know what it is about balloon animals that makes me so happy but I always have to stop and watch whenever I see a street performer work his magic. The way they turn plain balloons into whimsical shapes with a few twists is so entertaining. Is it a sword? Is it a hat? A flower? It got me inspired. I had to turn them into cookies. Here is how to make them:

Balloon Animal Cookies
 
Print
makes 24 cookies
Ingredients
  • for the cookies:
  • 1½ stick of butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups flour
  • to make royal icing:
  • 1 2lbs bag of confectioner sugar
  • ⅓ cup meringue powder
  • ¾ cup water
  • food coloring
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy in texture. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Add all the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
  2. Roll out your dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350°F.
  3. Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
  4. To make royal icing, mix all 3 ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed for a minute to combine. Then crank up to high speed and mix for 7 minutes.
3.1.08

 Let’s start by making our cookies.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy in texture:

Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined:

Add all the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together:

Roll out your dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350°F:

To shape those cookies, we are going to create “beans” of various sizes and assemble them into our cookie. I am using some of my letter cookies with long straight lines and rounded corners. The letters I and H worked well. Start by cutting “logs”:

Using a pairing knife, cut out excess parts:

Using the letter cutter, shorten each log into your desired length:

To create each balloon animal you will need 1 short piece (neck), 2 medium pieces (head and tail) and 4 longer pieces (legs, ear and body).

Assemble your cookie by gently pressing the shapes close together. No need to smush them, they’ll expand and merge and they bake:

To decorate these cookies, I wanted to keep a puffy look, as opposed to one flat layer of icing. To do so, decorate each section of cookie one at a time, giving it time to set before filling the next one. This will give your cookies the look of balloon sections. After each section was filled, I also added highlights with white icing to accentuate the round shape effect I was trying to achieve:

That’s it! =)

Happy Summer!!!

 

Filed Under: Cookies, Recipes Tagged With: animal, balloon, cookie, summer

Independence Day Balloon Cookies

July 1, 2013 By Francois 3 Comments

As far back as I can remember, it was always my dream to live in the USA. I could not shake it. Something inside my heart was telling me that America was where I truly belonged. So I finished college, bought myself a ticket and came here with nothing but a bag of clothes and big dreams. Fast forward many years later, I am lucky enough to have made that dream a reality and the United States is now my home. That’s why to this day, as an immigrant, American holidays hold a special place in my heart. Today’s cookie project is a yummy tribute to my country of adoption: Independence Days Balloon Cookies. Here is how to make them:

Independence Day Balloon Cookies
 
Print
makes 15 cookies
Ingredients
  • for the cookies:
  • 1½ stick of butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2½ cups flour
  • for royal icing:
  • 2lbs of confectioner sugar
  • ⅓ cup meringue powder
  • ¾ cup water
Instructions
  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy in texture. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined. Add all the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
  2. Roll out your dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350°F.
  3. Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
  4. To make royal icing, mix all 3 ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer on low speed for a minute to combine. Then crank up to high speed and mix for 7 minutes.
3.1.08

Let’s start by making our cookies.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light in color and fluffy in texture:

Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined:

Add all the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together:

Roll out your dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350°F:

To shape the cookies I am using a basic round cutter and a diamond cutter:

…

Read More

Filed Under: Cookies, Recipes Tagged With: 4th, america, balloon, Cookies, july

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