Cookies

Cranberry Almond Fall Biscotti

October 4, 2015 By Francois 1 Comment

biscotti5wm

Biscotti are one of those recipes that look super impressive to anyone who’s never made them. It’s kind of like chocolate bark or meringues. All super easy recipes but not that common. So when I bring a batch of biscotti to work I get a lot of ooh’s and ash’s even though they took me less than an hour to put together and I was watching re-runs of Judge Judy the whole time. You can imagine how thrilled I get when I figure out a way to make it even easier.

The best part about biscotti are the mix-ins. Pistachio, chocolate, lemon or hazelnuts…there are so many options. The trick is to find the right balance of flavors between sweet, crunchy and unexpected. I tried something new for my biscotti mix-ins this time and it came out great. If you know me, you know that I love Trader Joe’s. It’s filled with fun products, new ideas and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (I’m looking at you, Whole Foods!). One of the products I like to get for work are trail mixes and they have a whole bunch to choose from. I was shopping for mix-in’s so I started grabbing a bag of dried cranberries, a bags of pistachios, some seeds and then it clicked when I saw the trail mix section. Why not use pre-made trail mix for my biscotti? 1- it’s easier 2- it’s cheaper 3- it works!

biscotti 1

Here are all the ingredients you’ll need for biscotti. Not a ton and I usually have them all on hand. You gotta love old recipes.

biscotti 2

And here is the star ingredient. For this round I used the Omega Trek Mix. It’s got cranberries, pumpkin seeds, pecans and walnuts. I added extra almonds because I love more crunch but looking back I could have skipped them. Whatever ratio of mix-in’s you want to go for, make sure to keep at 2 cups total….

Strawberry Molded Cookies

June 11, 2014 By Francois 5 Comments

It’s been way too long since my last post but I am finally back in the kitchen. Yay! Turns out that making cookie dough is a bit like riding a bike. You never forget how to do it.

A lot has happened in the last couple of months. I sold my company, I got a new job that I love and I got on a serious diet; but that’s no excuse for the lack of sweets. After all, what would my world be without cakes and cookies? Sad, that’s what. So what better way to get back in the mix than by trying a new cookie-shaping technique?

During one of my visits at the local Michael’s, I found these awesome silicone molds from the Martha Stewart collection. They were originally made to shape clay into cute little strawberries but there had got to be a way to use them for cookies, right? An hour later and I had myself the cutest cookies ever! Tiny little Strawberry Cookies. Here is how to make them:

…

Tiny Robot Cookies

January 7, 2014 By Francois 10 Comments

My friend James is as obsessed with robots as I am with monkeys. It’s kind of our thing. He’s robot. I’m monkey. We’re grown ass dudes and we’re cool with that. =) So the other day I got this idea for a tiny robot cookie and I am so pleased with how they turned out. Oh and they’re really easy to make so yay!

…

Frosted Snowflakes Cookies

December 20, 2013 By Francois Leave a Comment

IMG_8854 rv3

Did you know that all snowflakes have 6 sides? I was gathering my cutters for today’s project when I realized I’d never noticed that before. I mean, I know the general shape but for some reason I thought that maybe some had 5 sides, others 8. Since every snowflake is different, I wondered, are there always 6 sides? I had to look this up.

Well, according to learner.org, “The oxygen atom has a particularly strong attraction to the electron clouds of the two hydrogen atoms and pulls them closer. This leaves the two hydrogen ends more positively charged, and the center of the “V” more negatively charged. When other water molecules “brush up” against this growing snowflake, strong forces between the negatively charged and positively charged parts of different particles cause them to join together in a very specific three-dimensional pattern with a six-sided symmetry. Each water molecule that joins the snowflake reflects this pattern until eventually we can see its macroscopic six-sided shape.” Science!!!

For today’s project I want to share with you an easy decorating technique to give your cookies a frosted look. Here is how to do it:

Frosted Snowflakes Cookies

makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

1 stick butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup molasses
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
2 tbsp water
¼ cup corn syrup
white deco sugar

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix together butter, brown sugar and molasses. Add spices, flour and baking soda and start mixing again on low. With the mixer on, add 2 tbsp of water and continue mixing until the dough comes together. Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut your cookies and bake for 12 minutes or until set.
To decorate, brush each cookie with a thin coat of corn syrup and cover in white deco sugar.

To make gingerbread dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix together butter, brown sugar and molasses. Add spices, flour and baking soda and start mixing again on low. With the mixer on, add 2 tbsp of water and continue mixing until the dough comes together. Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Cut your cookies with snowflake cutters. The more shapes the better:

Bake for 12 minutes.

To decorate your cookies without getting sticky sugar all over the place, here is my set-up: cookies on a cooling rack over a baking sheet to catch any drips, corn syrup in a small bowl and white deco sugar in a large bowl:

Brush each cookie with a thin layer of corn syrup and immediately dunk them in the white sugar. Shake off the excess and set your cookie back on the cooling rack:

Let your cookies dry and enjoy!

IMG_8854 rv3

Christmas Carols Cookies

December 18, 2013 By Francois Leave a Comment

IMG_8870 rvt2

Christmas music has been blasting at my house for over a week now and so far no one has cracked. Success! Today’s cookie project will have you singing your favorite holiday tunes as you decorate the tree: Christmas Carol Ornament Cookies!

Christmas Carols Cookies

makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
Food coloring

Instructions

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 food coloring of your choosing and mix again. 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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies according to directions below. Bake for 12 minutes.

To make your doughIn 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 food coloring of your choosing and mix again. 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:

I ended up making green and red dough for this project =)

Cut your cookies in seasonal shapes and place on a baking sheet:

Using a wooden skewer, poke a hole into each cookie:

To add carol lyrics to each cookie, I am using my trusted letter stamp set:

Here is a link to a set under $5: Cookie Letter Numbers Stamp Set

Press into some cookies and switch lyrics:

Bake for 12 minutes.

Once the cookies have baked and cooled, you can choose to add deco details with royal icing. I added some notes to echo the music theme. Once those have dried, use holiday thread to hang your cookies and you’re done!

IMG_8870 rvt2

Happy Holidays!!!

Gingerbread Train

December 3, 2013 By Francois 13 Comments

The holidays are finally here!!! And what better way to start December than with gingerbread cookies? Today’s cookie project takes the classic gingerbread cookie to a whole new level. I’ve wanted to do a cookie train for awhile and finally found an easy way to put it together.

Here is how to make it:

Gingerbread Train

makes one train

Ingredients

For the Gingerbread Cookie Dough:
1 stick butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup molasses
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
2 tbsp water
For Royal Icing:
One 2lb pack of confectioner sugar
⅓ cup meringue powder
¾ cup water

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix together butter, brown sugar and molasses. Add spices, flour and baking soda and start mixing again on low. With the mixer on, add 2 tbsp of water and continue mixing until the dough comes together. Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut your cookies according to directions and bake for 12 minutes or until set.
To make royal icing, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix sugar and meringue powder on low and gradually add water. Once all ingredients are combined, crank up to high speed and mix for 8 minutes.

To make the dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, mix together butter, brown sugar and molasses:

Add spices, flour and baking soda and start mixing again on low:

With the mixer on, add 2 tbsp of water and continue mixing until the dough comes together. Roll it between 2 pieces of plastic wrap.

I used rolling pin spacer bands to get my dough as thin and as even as possible:

Rolling Pin Spacer Bands

Place the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

To shape the cookies, I used plain locomotive and train car cutters and tweaked them to create a 3D effect. Here is how it works: Each train car is made of 5 cookies that are sandwiched together with royal icing. To create a 3D effect, each of the 5 cookies is modified just a tiny bit.

Let’s start with the train cars. First, cut 5 cookies using the same cutter and set them on your baking sheet (the pic only shows 4 but you’ll get the idea):

Next we are going to tweak the cookies to add a 3D effect. The 2 outermost cookies will need windows so cut those out using a tiny square cutter or a pairing knife. To shape the 3 other cookie layers, simply cut off the wheels:

To shape the locomotive, it’s a bit more tricky so I took a better pic =) Cut 5 cookies and set on another baking sheet. The center cookie is the easiest (on the far right). You just leave that one alone. For the other layer, you just cut out pieces like so:

Bake your cookies for 12 minutes or until completely set. You will want them crispy.

Here is how to assemble and decorate the locomotive using royal icing. First add the following details (no need to decorate the areas that will be sandwiched over):

Then add a bunch of frosting where the cookies will be sandwiched:

And stack together:

For the train cars, have fun with different designs. I used peppermint candies for the wheels:

And use royal icing to sandwich them together (oh yeah, avoid royal icing on the upper part of layer #2 or it will show through the window cut-outs):

Done!

Happy Holidays!!!

Thanksgiving Place Card Cookies

November 22, 2013 By Francois 6 Comments

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. A whole day dedicated to friends, family and food sounds just about right. I am never really sure what to eat leading up to the big dinner though. Should I have a big breakfast or eat as little as possible and save room? Should I have lunch? What time is dinner anyway? 2? 3? 4? No one’s ever sure. Whatever I choose, I always end us with a growling stomach for a few hours. I’m like a kid the night before Christmas. All this deliciousness just hours away… Today’s project is a cute way to sneak in a snack before dinner – Place Card Cookies! Here is how to make them:

Thanksgiving Place Card Cookies

makes 8 cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
¼ cup corn syrup
½ cup sugar
Orange food coloring

Instructions

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
In a microwave-proof glass measuring cup, mix ¼ cup of corn syrup with ½ cup sugar. Microwave for 90 seconds. Mix and add food coloring. Microwave for another 90 seconds. Pour into each cookie.

To make the dough, 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 your cookies, start by cutting out large fluted circles:

I am using these:

Cuisipro Fluted Cookie Cutters Set of 5

Using pie cutters, punch out seasonal shapes out of each cookie. I like the way the acorn looked the most:

Basic tiny cutters like this one will work just fine too:

Acorn Cookie Cutter

To personalize each cookie, I am using my trusted letter cookie stamps:

Here is a super affordable set (under $5) if you don’t already own one:

Estone Biscuit Cookie Alphabet Stamp

Using a wooden skewer, poke a hole into each cookie:

Bake your cookies for 12 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.

To create the stained-glass effect in the acorn, in a microwave-proof glass measuring cup, mix 1/4 cup of corn syrup with 1/2 cup sugar. Microwave for 90 seconds:

Mix and add food coloring. Microwave for another 90 seconds:

Place your cookies on a silicone mat for easy release. Pour some of the melted sugar syrup into each cookie:

Let cool completely. If you live in a humid area (most likely this time of year), store your cookies in a single layer in an airtight container.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Argyle Pumpkin Cookies

November 19, 2013 By Francois 8 Comments

Yay, I’m baking again! I know, it’s been a while since my last post and I feel really bad about it. Apparently some of my friends started counting the days. Oops. I don’t even have a good excuse. I actually feel pretty nerdy about it. See, I got the latest Batman video game for my birthday and that’s pretty much all I’ve been doing. Yes, nerd. But enough saving the world for awhile, my oven needs me. That and I finished the game so I’m over it but whatever, my ovens need me. Today’s cookie celebrates the fall season and my love for argyle vests. Delicious and easy-to-make Argyle Pumpkin Cookies:

Argyle Pumpkin Cookies

makes 8 cookies

Ingredients

for vanilla dough:
2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
for chocolate dough:
2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2½ cups flour
½ cup cocoa powder

Instructions

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. Split the dough in half. Add yellow food coloring to one half and orange food coloring to the other half. Mix each half with 1½ cups of flour 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 make chocolate dough, mix flour and cocoa powder in a bowl and set aside. 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 cocoa flour mixture and mix until the dough comes together. Roll out your dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate.
Unwrap your yellow and orange dough. Using a small diamond-shape cookie cutter, cut out a bunch of shapes. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Unwrap your chocolate dough and cut out pumpkin shapes using a large cutter.
Using the same small diamond cutter used earlier, punch out diamond shapes out of the pumpkin and replace them with yellow and orange dough pieces.
Bake for 12 minutes.
To replicate the look of argyle, add dot details with royal icing.

Apple Pie Cookies

October 1, 2013 By Francois 12 Comments

Fall is here, and it only means one thing: it’s Pie Season!!! Apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie. I love them all. If you’ve been following SweetExplorations, you know that, back in July, I came up with a concept for lattice pie cookies (check them out here if you haven’t already). Since you guys loved them as much as I did, I could not wait to make new versions. Today is apple pie! I love these apple pie cookies and they’re really easy to make so I hope you’ll love them too. Here is how to make them:

Apple Pie Cookies

makes 8 cookies

Ingredients

2 sticks of butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
½ cup apple butter

Instructions

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Sandwich 2 tsp of apple butter between cookies and press to seal. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.

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 fluted circle cutter. Start by cutting your cookies:

Spoon about 2 tsp of apple butter on a cookie:

Cover with another cookie and use the backside of your cookie cutter to seal the 2 cookies together:

Don’t be afraid to press. You really need to seal the edges together. Then, using the flat end of a wooden skewer, press along the edge to add a crimped crust design:

Finally, poke a couple of holes with the tip of a pairing knife:

Bake for 12 minutes and you’re done!

Enjoy!!!

“Home is Where the Heart Is” Cookies

September 16, 2013 By Francois 4 Comments

My friend Will is in town from NYC and I had to make him something sweet to celebrate. My inspiration was pretty easy. See, Will is super social. Everyone knows him. Ever since he moved from SF to NYC over 5 years ago, there has been one question out of everyone’s mouth: “when is he moving back?” So to celebrate our friend of 2 cities, I made him these simple cookies. Here is how to make them:

"Home is Where the Heart Is" Cookies

makes 12 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

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
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.

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:

Cut your cookies using a US map cutter and bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.

Outline with white icing:

Fill with flood icing:

While the icing is still wet, add 2 sugar hearts:

Let the icing set completely and draw a dotted line using a red food coloring pen.

Tadaaaaa!!!

Movie Night Cookies

September 3, 2013 By Francois 3 Comments

As much as my friends expect to find freshly baked cookies at my house on any major holidays, I find that baking sweets for casual get-together’s can be more gratifying. Maybe it is the element of surprise or getting to work on a whole new theme. Whatever it is, it gets my creativity going and that’s always a good thing. Today’s theme is Movie Night and these bite-sized cookies will be the star of the evening. Here is how to make them:

Movie Night 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

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
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.

I made 4 different kinds of cookies for this theme using different techniques but they are all made of the same dough.

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:

Cookie #1: Vintage Marquee Letters

I am obsessed with vintage marquee letters, the kind you’d find on old theaters. Here are some of my favorites:

To create edible versions, simply out cookies with letter cutters:

Bake them at 350°F until the edges start to turn golden.

To decorate, cover each letter with red royal icing. Once the icing has set, top each cookie with dots of yellow icing. Yes, now is when I realize I didn’t take any pictures when I was icing these bad boys. Oops!

Cookie #2 Popcorn Cookies

To shape these cookies, I am using a round cutter and a daisy-shaped cutter.

First, cut out a round cookies:

Then place your daisy cutter slightly off from the first spot. You just want to capture 3 petals worth of dough:

To assemble, place your round cookie on a baking sheet and place the petal cookie right next to it:

The 2 cookies will merge as they bake.

To decorate, outline each cookie with yellow royal icing, then flood with white icing. With the icing still wet, add shadow details in yellow icing. I varied the shapes and position of the yellow accents to look more like random kernels:

Pretty cool, huh? =)

Cookies #3 Movie Tickets

Since not everyone loves royal icing I wanted to make sure to keep some of the cookies icing-free. I still had to decorated them somehow so I used my trusted letter stamps.

Start by cutting rectangle cookies:

Using your letter stamps, spell out the words “ADMIT ONE” and press that onto each cookie:

Don’t have a stamp set? Here is a link to an affordable set on amazon: Letters and Numbers Cookie Stamp Set

Using a tiny round cutter, cut out details on each side:

Add more details like dots using a toothpick and bake for 10 minutes. That’s it! =)

Cookie #4 Star Cookies

What would be a movie night without stars? Nothing super fancy here. I just cut regular star-shaped cookies and covered each one in yellow icing =)

And here is what it looks like all together:

Happy Movie Night!!!

Baby Octopus Cookies

August 29, 2013 By Francois 2 Comments

I hope everyone is having a great summer. It’s been way too many days since my last post so I hope the cuteness overload of today’s cookies will make up for it. There is a reason I haven’t posted sooner. See, my dog ate my last batch of cookies. Nope, not even joking.

Everyone, this is my dog Louis:

Louis is a French bulldog. If you know anything about that breed, you’ll know that French bulldogs are as loving as they are stubborn and lately Louis has been acting up. Who knew he would develop an obsession with butter? Must be the French in him. So last month I came across some art by Kim Roundtree. Kim is a super talented illustrator and many of her homemade charms are Kawaii classics, like her Octobabies. I just could not wait to make a cookie version. I figured out how to shape the cookies, decorated them in different colors and set them all aside to dry before adding the last touches. Fast forward 3 hours later and my roommate Scott wonders why there are crumbs all over his backpack. That’s when, from the corner of my eye, I notice Louis lower his ears, duck his head and quietly exit the room. In other words, busted. Yes, my tank-shaped dog had managed to climb onto a backpack to get to a baking sheet full of cookies. I have to admit it was some of his best work. All but one cookie were gone.

So here we are, a week later, and I am finally ready to share these cookies with you. Let’s just say I can make them with my eyes closed now. =)

Here is how to make them:

Baby Octopus Cookies

makes 12 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

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
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.

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 figure out which cutters to use, I first sketched the octopuses. I wanted to try a few body shapes with some octopuses floating, some resting and some swimming away. I figured 2 cutters per shape would do the trick. I used a round cutter for the head part and various cutters for the bottom parts. I put them together on baking sheets and they merged as they baked:

To decorate them, I wanted to give “body” to the tentacles instead of one flat layer of icing. To do that, I first traced the shape of my baby octopus onto the cookie using a food coloring pen. Then I filled the outer tentacles and let them set. Finally I filled the rest of the body:

Once the icing was set, all I had to do was to add face details using a black food coloring pen and some pink icing for rosy cheeks.

I also wanted to give them little buddies so I made a few baby starfish. To decorate those, I simply covered each one with yellow icing:

And once that was set I added a few dots of the same icing to add texture:

Add face details with a food coloring pen and you’re good to go!

Happy Swimming!

Cool Summer Cookies

July 11, 2013 By Francois 5 Comments

Sometimes the most simple ideas make for the best cookies. I don’t know what it is. Maybe after spending weeks piping royal icing into intricate designs and hunting for deco sugars, your brain just goes “you know what, how ’bout we keep it simple?” Today’s cookie project is one of those times. The concept popped up in my head. I had some dough in the fridge. I had leftover icing. Fast forward an hour later and the cookies were finished. Gotta love it!

Here is how to make Cool Summer Cookies:

Cool Summer Cookies

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

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
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.

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:

Cut your cookies using your favorite scalloped cutter:

Take a sunglasses-shaped cutter and press it into the dough without going all the way through:

Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges of your cookies start to turn golden. The cookies will keep the sunglass outline:

To decorate, simply follow the outline with black icing and fill it in:

And add a little smirk:

Done!

Happy Summer!!!

Lattice Pie Cookies

July 8, 2013 By Francois 19 Comments

You have to love the fact that everything is in season right now. Strawberries, peaches, raspberries…I can’t get enough. Obviously, one of the best ways to enjoy summer fruit is to turn them into delicious pies and that’s the inspiration for today’s cookie. Don’t get me wrong, I love pies. I just love cookies more =) My favorite kind of pie is the classic lattice pie and I figured out a way to make a cookie version that will be a hit at your next picnic. Here is how to make them:

Lattice Pie Cookies

makes 6 cookies

Ingredients

1½ stick of butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2½ cups flour
½ cup strawberry jam

Instructions

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 14 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
Sandwich your cookies with 2 tsp of jam each.

To make the 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:

Cut out an even number of cookies using a large scalloped cutter and place them on parchment-lined baking sheets:

Bake half of them of them for 14 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden. Those will be the bottom layers for our cookies.

Now let’s work on the top layers. Take a round cutter slightly smaller than the scalloped cutter and cut out the inside of each cookie. Place the scalloped edges back in the fridge until you need them:

Set the circles onto your work surface. Using the smallest square cutter you can find, cut out pieces of the round cookies to look like a lattice pattern:

The cutter I used is part of a geometric cutter set made by Ateco. Here is where you can fin it:

Ateco 4845 Geometric Shape Cutter, Set of 24

Once your lattice is done, place the scalloped edge back around the lattice:

To add more detail, using a pairing knife, score the dough where the lines meet to look like overlapping strands of dough:

Bake them for 12 minutes.

Now to assemble, take one solid cookie and spread 2 tbsp of strawberry jam on it:

Cover it with a lattice cookie top:

Keep in a cool area so the jam can set.

Enjoy!!!

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

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

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.
Unwrap your dough and cut out your cookies. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn a light golden color.
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.

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:

…

Meringue Cloud Cookies

March 27, 2013 By Francois 5 Comments

It’s a cloudy day today in SF but I have just what you need to turn this gloomy sky into the cutest little cookies: Meringue Cloud Cookies! Meringue cookies are surprisingly easy to make. It only takes about 10 minutes to prep the batter. The secret to turn a few egg whites and some sugar into pillowy cookies is gentle, low heat baking. You want to set them without caramelizing the sugar. Lucky for us, that is just as easy to do as making the batter. So dig up your blankie, make some tea and gather ’round. Here is how to make Meringue Cloud Cookies:

Meringue Cloud Cookies

makes 18 cookies

Ingredients

3 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together 3 egg whites on medium speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and mix until soft peaks form.
With the mixer of high speed, gradually add the sugar, one tbsp at a time, making up the sugar is completely dissolved before each consecutive spoonful. The egg whites will slowly turn glossy and bright white.
Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate. To test your meringue, rub some batter between your thumb and index finger. You want the sugar to be completely dissolved. If you can still feel the grains of sugar, continue mixing for another minute.
Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe cloud shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 1½ hours. At that point you should be able to lift the cookies off the parchment paper easily. At that point, turn off the oven and leave your cookies in overnight to dry out.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip together 3 egg whites on medium speed until frothy:

Add cream of tartar and mix until soft peaks form:

With the mixer of high speed, gradually add the sugar, one tbsp at a time, making up the sugar is completely dissolved before each consecutive spoonful. The egg whites will slowly turn glossy and bright white:

Add vanilla extract and mix to incorporate. To test your meringue, rub some batter between your thumb and index finger. You want the sugar to be completely dissolved. If you can still feel the grains of sugar, continue mixing for another minute.
Spoon batter into a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe cloud shapes onto a parchment-lined baking sheet:

To get the right shape, pipe 3 dots at the bottom and then 2 dots on top. Add a little swirl here and there…

Bake for 1 1/2 hours. At that point you should be able to lift the cookies off the parchment paper easily. At that point, turn off the oven and leave your cookies in overnight to dry out.

Happy Spring!!!

3D Glasses Cookies

March 12, 2013 By Francois 4 Comments

I still remember my first 3D movie. It was a cheesy horror flick on TV with some kind of swamp monster. I was around 6 and it must have been a big deal back then because even TV guide had a pair of 3D glasses in that week’s issue. I am saying “must have been” because I am sure that any kid today would look at me and my pair of cardboard glasses and feel sorry for me. But that’s what we had in the 80’s: cheap cardboard pieces of awesomeness. Here is my yummy tribute to old school 3D glasses:

3D Glasses Cookies

makes 16 cookies

Ingredients

for the cookies:
1½ stick butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2½ cups flour
½ cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
red and blue food coloring
for royal icing (makes enough for 60 cookies):
One 2lb pack of confectioner sugar
⅓ cup meringue powder
¾ cup water

Instructions

To make cookie dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate. Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Cut out your cookies and place them on baking sheets. Cut out holes for each eye.
Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden.
In a glass Pyrex measuring cup, mix ¼ cup syrup and ½ cup sugar until mixture resembles wet sand. Microwave for 1½ minutes. Stir and add red food coloring. Microwave for another minute. Pour red liquid sugar into each cookie. Repeat with blue.
To make royal icing, place all 3 ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on slow for a minute to combine your ingredients. Turn the mixer to high speed and mix for 7 minutes. Pour icing into a pastry bag or squeeze bottle and pipe onto each cookie.

To make the dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy:

Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate:

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

Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes:

For this project I am using a glasses cookie cutter I found on Amazon for under $1 (Click here to find that cookie cutter).

Start by cutting your cookies and place them on a baking sheet:

Using a tiny round or teardrop-shaped cookie cutter, cut out holes in each cookie:

Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden.
In a glass Pyrex measuring cup, mix 1/4 cup syrup and 1/2 cup sugar until mixture resembles wet sand:

Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes:

Stir and add red food coloring. Microwave for another minute:

Pour red liquid sugar into each cookie:

Repeat with blue. Remember, red on the right side, blue on the left side:

Now here is a tip. See how the red sugar glass looks all funky? I waited too long before I started pouring the sugar so it had started to thicken up. No worries, to fix that, take your heating gun and warm up the sugar.

It will go from this…

…to this:

If you don’t have a heating gun, a kitchen torch works too. Or you can also pop the cookies back in the oven for a minute.

All these cookies need is a coat of white royal icing:

All done!

Cute Fortune Cookies

February 8, 2013 By Francois 1 Comment

Gung Hey Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year! I learned something funny recently. Did you know that fortune cookies were invented in California? It sounds so odd since every Chinese meal ends with those but it’s true. The cookie’s hometown is disputed between San Francisco and Los Angeles but one thing is sure: Fortune cookies are an American thing. So just in time for Chinese New Year, here is my take on the classic fortune cookie. Except, why make them plain when you can add patterns? Here is how to make them:

Cute Fortune Cookies

makes 12 fortune cookies

Ingredients

these ingredients are enough for one batch or classic fortune cookies. We will need to make 2 batches to add designs to our cookies:
2 egg whites
½ cup sugar
½ cup flour, sifted
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp water

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
In a small bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar, flour, extracts and water. Whisk together until combined.
Line a cookie sheet with a silicone mat. Pour 1 tbsp of batter and spread with the back of the spoon into a 4" circle.
Bake for 7 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
Take out the oven and immediately remove the cookie with an offset spatula. While the cookie is still hot, flip the cookie, place a fortune in the center, fold in half and then curl it oven the edge of a glass. Let cool.

This cookie is fairly easy to make but you have to be quick to shape it before it cools. With practice, I also found that using a template to shape my cookies helped give them a consistent size.

To make a template, you’ll need the top of a large plastic container (I used a large pot of yogurt), a glass that is roughly 4″ in diameter and a marker. Start by drawing a circle onto the lid using the glass as a guide:

Using an exacto knife, cut out the circle in the center and wash off the marker ink:

Now let’s make our fortunes. I found some on Google, printed them with double spacing and cut them into strips:

Now let’s make the cookies. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form:

Add sugar, flour, extracts and water:

Whisk together until combined and no lumps of flour remain:

Add red food coloring and mix to combine:

Pour the red batter into a squeeze bottle:

Now make another batch of batter but don’t color it.

Line a cookie sheet with a silicone mat. Place your template down and pour 1 tbsp of plain batter in the center. Spread with the back of the spoon into a 4″ circle:

Use your red batter to add designs to your cookie. Polka dots and lines were my favorites:

Lift the template:

Bake for 7 minutes of until the edges of your cookie turn golden brown:

Once your cookies have baked, you’ll need to work fairly quickly. the cookie will harden as it cools. Start by making only 2 cookies at a time until you master the next steps and can go up to 4 cookies or more.

With the cookie still hot and using an offset spatula, loosen the cookie from the silicone mat and place it upside down on your work surface. Place a fortune in the center:

Fold the cookie in half:

Now fold it over the edge of a glass to give it its traditional shape:

Let it cool completely.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Tetris Cookies

January 7, 2013 By Francois 18 Comments

Did you know the Game Boy game console was launched almost 24 years ago? I don’t care if that makes me old, GameBoy was awesome. If there was one game I obsessed over, it was Tetris. To this day, as much as 8-bit video games have lost most of their appeal, give someone an old GameBoy with Tetris and they will be hooked. So here is my tribute to this amazing game: Tetris cookies. It will help me forget that it’s been 24 years =) Here is how to make them:

Tetris Cookies

makes 80 Tetris pieces

Ingredients

for the cookies:
1½ stick butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2½ cups flour
for royal icing:
One 2lb pack of confectioner sugar
⅓ cup meringue powder
¾ cup water

Instructions

To make cookie dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate. Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Cut out your cookies and place them on baking sheets.
Bake for 8 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden.
To make royal icing, place all 3 ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on slow for a minute to combine your ingredients. Turn the mixer to high speed and mix for 7 minutes. Divide the royal icing in 6 parts to make each of the following colors: yellow, orange, red, blue, purple, green.

To make the dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy:

Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate:

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

Roll between 2 pieces of plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes:

To cut these cookies, we need to score the dough in a pixel pattern. To do so, using a carving knife or any long blade, score the dough with vertical lines, about 1/4″ apart. Then score the dough with horizontal lines.

Here is what you get:

Using a pairing knife and following the lines on the dough, cut out your Tetris pieces.

In case you need a refresher, here are the pieces you want to cut out:

Place the pieces on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 8 minutes:

To decorate the cookies, start by covering each one in the right color of royal icing.

Here is what they look like without icing:

And now with icing:

Let the icing set completely. These are small cookies so it doesn’t take that long. You can stick them in the oven overnight with the light on.

To add the final details, using a food coloring pen, add lines to divide each piece into little squares:

Tadaaaa!!!

8-bit Christmas Cookies

November 30, 2012 By Francois 3 Comments

Here is a great cookie idea for your favorite computer nerd. Yes, I know a few =) How about some old school 8-bit Christmas Cookies? That’s right, watch your favorite geek freak out when you bring them these cute little cookies. Best of all, here are 2 different techniques to make them:

8 Bit Christmas Cookies

makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

for the cookies:
12 tbsp butter (1½ sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2½ cups flour
for the icing:
1 2lb bag of confectioner sugar
⅓ cup meringue powder
¾ cup water

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed to incorporate.
Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
To make royal icing, place all 3 ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute to incorporate. Then increase to high speed and mix for 8 minutes. Split the icing in 2 bowls and add red food coloring to one of them.

Technique #1: the cut-off method

Roll out your cookie dough to 1/8 thick:

Cut cookies in festive shapes using your favorite cutters. Here I am using a candy cane cookie cutter:

Take a cookie cutter shaped like the letter “i” and cut off any round edges into square pixel-like lines:

Easy right?

Technique #2: the grid method

This method seems a bit more tricky at first but if you plan on icing your cookies, this is the better option. To start, you first need to put together pixelized versions of Christmas icons. I used Excel and drew my shapes using colors. Here is the template I made:

Roll out your cookies dough and imprint a grid on it using a ruler or a carving knife. First, vertical lines:

Then, horizontal lines:

Now using your Excel template, count how many squares you need for your first shape and cut away. For instance, to make a candy cane, we will need a piece of dough that is 9 squares by 5 squares:

Following the template and using a pairing knife, cut away the details:

Voilà! Now that you got it, you can easily work in batches:

Bake your cookie creations at 350°F for 12 minutes:

I love the fact that the grid stays on the cookies even after baking. It makes decorating so much easier. In fact, it’s a bit like painting by numbers. Just follow the same Excel template we used earlier.

Start with red details first:

Let the red icing dry completely before filling the rest of the cookie with white icing or the colors will “bleed”.

That’s it! =)

Happy Holidays!

Edge of the Cup Cookies

November 20, 2012 By Francois Leave a Comment

Winter is finally approaching. Each morning gets a little colder than the last and getting out from under warm blankets gets a lot harder. These days the only thing that gets me out of bed is the smell of coffee. I love that smell. The machine sounds, I could do without. =) No matter your brew of choice, today’s cookie idea is sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face, even those who will never be morning people. After all, what’s better than a hot drink with a cookie hanging on the side of the cup? Here is how to make them:

Edge of the Cup Cookies

makes 30 cookies

Ingredients

Ingredients
for the cookies:
12 tbsp butter (1½ sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2½ cups flour
for the royal icing:
One 2lb bag of confectioner sugar
⅓ cup meringue powder
¾ cup water
food coloring (brown)

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate.
Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
Cut and bake the cookies at 350°F for 10 minutes.
To make royal icing, place confectioner sugar, meringue powder and water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute then increase to high speed and mix for 8 minutes. Split the icing in 2 bowls and add food coloring.

We are using our classic sugar cookie dough. Roll out your dough to 1/8″ thick and cut your favorite shapes. I like to keep things seasonal so I am using acorn and leaf cookie cutters today:

Using a pairing knife or a cookie cutter shaped like the letter “i”, cut a notch in each cookie:

Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

To decorate them, I kept things simple and used royal icing in 2 shades of brown:

Done!

All you have to do is hang your finished cookies on the edge of cups for maximum wow factor.

Now would you please get out of bed?

Enjoy!!!

Owl Cookies

November 19, 2012 By Francois 1 Comment

You know what? I want more owls =) Unfortunately I have one big problem: I could not get my hands on an owl cookie cutter. Was that going to stop me? Not a chance. Give me an egg cookie cutter, a heart cookie cutter and I give you owls! Here is how to make them:

Owl Cookies

Ingredients

12 tbsp butter (1½ sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2½ cups flour
One 2lb bag of confectioner sugar
⅓ cup meringue powder
¾ cup water
food coloring

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate.
Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
Cut and bake the cookies at 350°F for 10 minutes.
To make royal icing, place confectioner sugar, meringue powder and water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute then increase to high speed and mix for 8 minutes. Split the icing in small bowls and add colors.

For our cookie dough, we are using our trusted Basic Sugar Cookie recipe (follow the link). Here is how to shape the cookies.

First, cut out some egg shapes:

Then, using a heart cookie cutter or any round cutter you have on hand, cut a piece off the top of each cookie:

Tadaaa! Owls!!! Bake for 10 minutes until the edges start to turn golden brown:

Now let’s decorate these tiny owls. Here is a link to our trusted Royal Icing recipe (click link to follow).

First, pipe the base layer:

Then the eyes:

Now have fun with the other details. OK, for this project I went a little nuts and made royal icing in a bunch of colors. Don’t judge me. I just wanted to have options =) Here is what my dining table looked like around 11pm last night:

The more you play with colors and shapes, the more you’ll come up with new ideas. See the light brown cookie with dark brown tips? Wouldn’t that make a cute fox? OK, file that under future projects.

Anywho, here is what the finished cookies look like:

Happy Baking!!!

Burberry Cookies

November 7, 2012 By Francois 5 Comments

I love Burberry. The scarves, trench coats, shirts… Their classic tartan pattern looks great on pretty much anything. So why not put it on a cookie? Bonus reason: my friend Aileen is also a big Burberry fan so this would make the perfect treat to bring her to work and make her day =) Here is how to make them:

Burberry Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients

12 tbsp butter (1½ sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2½ cups flour
One 2lb bag of confectioner sugar
⅓ cup meringue powder
¾ cup water
food coloring (brown, red, black)

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate.
Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
Cut and bake the cookies at 350°F for 10 minutes.
To make royal icing, place confectioner sugar, meringue powder and water in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute then increase to high speed and mix for 8 minutes. Split the icing in 4 bowls and add colors.

First let’s make the cookies. For detailed recipe instructions on how to make the dough, click here.

I am using a Scotty dog cookie cutter I found at SurLaTable. Aren’t they cute?:

The Burberry pattern is multi-dimensional with stripes of red, white and black criss-crossing and mixing with each other. It can be pretty tricky to replicate but here is an easy way. Start with a base coat of brown:

Add thin lines of red criss-crossing each other:

Now add black lines in groups of 3 and center them between the red lines:

Finally, fill in the spaces between the black lines with white lines. White lines go over red line but do not cross black lines:

Done!!!

Here are all the steps in one shot:

Happy Baking!!!

Falling Leaves Cookies

November 5, 2012 By Francois 3 Comments

With Halloween behind us and Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s time to celebrate fall and all its goodies. The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of Fall are falling leaves. Leaf cookies are cute but they tend to look flat. Here is a easy project to give leaf cookies that just-fallen-off-the-tree look:

For the cookie dough, we are using our Basic Sugar Cookie recipe (follow link for detailed recipe instructions).

Falling Leaves Cookies

Ingredients

12 tbsp butter (1½ sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2½ cups flour

Instructions

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar together on high speed until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and any flavorings and mix on medium speed to incorporate.
Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.

Start by cutting your cookies:

Using a pairing knife, score each leaf cookie to add veins:

Now here comes the trick. To add movement to these leaves, we are going to bake them on a wavy base. Here is how to make it: Take a paper towel roll and cut it in half:

Split those rolls into half pipes and place on a baking sheet:

Cover with parchment paper:

Now place your leaf cookies over and in between the bumps:

Bake at 350°F for 11 minutes.

Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet
before moving them.

Enjoy!

GO GIANTS!!! (a.k.a. Baseball Cookies)

October 31, 2012 By Francois 4 Comments

The San Francisco Giants did it again! World Series champions for the 2nd time in 3 years. Let me tell you, the city went nuts Sunday night. Everyone got out into the streets and celebrated this victory. Today Wednesday is the victory parade in downtown San Francisco. 1 million people are expected! Can you believe it? One thing is for sure, we love our Giants.

In honor of this victory, I made some baseball cookies that sport the Giants logo. As usual, easy technique, maximum effect. Here is how to make them:

First we need to make SF Giants logos out of royal icing using an easy tracing method. Make Royal Icing (see recipe) in white, orange and red. Pour each color in a piping bag or squeeze bottle fitted with a #1 tip (teeny tiny tip). Place a piece of parchment paper over the template you want to use. For this project, I cut and pasted the SF Giants logo all over a page in Microsoft Word:

Pipe the orange icing following the template:

Easy, right? Now let these babies dry completely and they’ll pop right off the paper:

In the meantime, let’s bake some cookies. I used our Basic Sugar Cookie recipe and a 2″ round cutter:

Once the cookies have cooled, pipe a white base coat all over each cookie. Let the icing dry for a minute and then drop a logo sugar deco right on top of each cookie:

Once the icing has dried completely, take the same 2″ cutter you used to shape the cookies and use it as a template to mark the seams on each baseball with a food coloring pen:

Using red royal icing, pipe tiny chevron stitches along the seams:

Tadaaa! Baseball Cookies!!

GO GIANTS!!!

Halloween Stamped Cookies

October 12, 2012 By Francois 4 Comments

As with most decorating techniques, I started using stamps by accident. I was looking for ways to draw intricate patterns on cookies using food coloring. I was playing with brushes, stencils and sprays but my results weren’t cutting it. So I took a trip to Michael’s to get inspired when I saw $1 stamps in the bargain bins. I figured “why not?”, got a couple of shapes and rushed home. I gave it a shot and O…M…G, it worked! Yay! So many possibilities! Here are some fun ideas for Halloween:

To make these cookies, we first need to bake our cookie canvases. I used my basic sugar recipe.

For these cookies, I made white and orange icing. Here is a link to our Royal Icing 101. Give each cookie a nice coat and let them dry overnight. They might seem long but it takes a while for the icing to dry all the way through. Now here comes the tough part: explain to my roommates that, yes these are cookies, and no they cannot have any yet. They’ll have to wait until tomorrow.

Once the royal icing has completely set, we can stamp our designs. We will use food coloring for our ink. I use food coloring pastes and gels. I find that they work perfectly with stamps. Liquid food coloring tends to “bleed” and messes up smaller details.

To apply the ink to your stamps, use a sponge brush and gently dab color onto the stamp itself. Don’t brush. Dab dab dab dab…

Now print your design.

And Voilà! Easy, right?

Happy Baking!!!

Strawberry Stained Glass Cookies

October 10, 2012 By Francois 20 Comments

Did you know that one strawberry has over 200 seeds? That’s one of the fun facts I just learned from my plot neighbor at our community garden. See, I have been obsessed with growing strawberries for the past year. I am not the worst gardener but for some reason I can’t keep a strawberry plant alive. To make it worse, all my neighbors grow amazing strawberries. Luckily, my neighbors are pretty awesome and love to share. Love you guys! To thank them for their advice – and their strawberries – I made these Strawberry Cookies over the weekend. It started with a simple idea but I was really impressed with the way they turned out.

Here is how to make them:

First let’s make the cookies. I am using my basic sugar cookie recipe.

I like that recipe because the cookies don’t expand much during baking. To shape them, I am using a fluted 2″ round cutter and a mini strawberry cutter. First the fluted circles: