Sweet Explorations

geek

“Get Better” Zelda Heart Cookies

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What do you do when your geek roommate has shoulder surgery and can’t play video games for a few weeks? You make him Zelda Heart Cookies, that’s what. Butter heals everything.

Here is how to make them:

"Get Better" Zelda Heart Cookies
 
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Ingredients
  • for the cookies:
  • 2 sticks 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.

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, I created a template using Excel:

I then printed it, trimmed it and placed in on my dough and cut around it using a pairing knife:

 Bake your hearts in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.

To decorate, outline each cookie with black royal icing. I wanted a thicker outline so I used a #2 tip:

We will make 3 different kinds of hearts to mimic when you regain health in Zelda.

To make the half heart (50% health), fill the right side with white icing and the left with red:

The make the 75% health heart, fill the top right corner with white icing and the rest with red:

And finally, for full health, fill the whole cookie with red icing:

Hang in there, buddy! Only a few weeks to go and the Playstation is all yours =)

8-bit Heart Cookies

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Now that we’re in February, pink cuteness is all around us. Heart-shaped chocolate box, fluffy teddy bears, it’s everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, hearts are cute, but most guys aren’t into fluffy stuff. So what do you do? Look no further. Today’s cookie project is the perfect way to wish a Happy Valentine’s Day to the gamer in your life. My 8-bit heart cookie is inspired by 80’s video games like Zelda and is super easy to make. Here is how to do it:

8-bit Heart Cookies
 
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makes 12 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 (makes enough icing for 36 cookies):
  • 1 2lb bag of confectioner sugar
  • ⅓ cup meringue powder
  • ¾ cup water
Instructions
  1. 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.
  2. Add the egg and vanilla extract. Mix on medium speed to incorporate.
  3. Add the flour and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
  4. 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. Add red food coloring.

Let’s start with our 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 one egg and vanilla extract:

Mix until combined. Add the flour:

Mix on low speed until the dough comes together.

 

Place one piece of plastic wrap on the counter. Form your dough into a ball and place it in the center of your plastic wrap. Cover with another piece of plastic wrap.

Roll out your dough to 1/4 or 1/8″ depending on the size of your cutters and how thick you like your cookies. The thinner the cookie, the crispier it will be.

Place the dough on a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Using a heart cookie cutter, shape your cookies:

To pixelize the cookie, we will use the following template:

I created it using Excel and screenshots of 8-bit video games.

Print out the template, cut it out and place on top of your cookie:

Using a pairing knife, cut out the extra dough:

Bake at 350°F for 8 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown:

Using red royal icing, cover each cookie with a shiny coat:

 That’s it. You could add white squares in one of the upper corners to look like a reflection but I liked them plain.

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Tetris Cookies

By 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
 
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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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Bake for 8 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden.
  4. 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!!!