Are you thinking what I'm thinking Love Bird Valentine Cookies

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

If your thinking these cookies are kinda cute then you totally are.

And if your thinking they will be easy to make - it's like you're some kind of mind reader.

However if your thinking more birds!!! What is with the birds, will she ever stop.......Where is that recipe for the peanut butter chocolate cheesecake that she posted the picture on facebook off - I need it now! Why is she toying with us. Then no we are not thinking the same thing at all, although if I was you I might be :) I am pretty sure I will have the cheesecake recipe fine tuned and typed up for next weekend.

 Disclaimer - the statement in the picture is not true - I pretty much always want to be right :)

Anyhoo back to the cookies, they didn't go quite to plan, I had originally wanted the hearts to come out of the birdies into one big heart in the middle but I just don't think it worked, it made the cookie look a bit weird and unbalanced so I kinda tipped the top idea over.

Yup I'm thinking it looks much better now.

So then I made some extra filler cookies with plain red hearts that look super sweet, and 'cause y'know waaaay less fiddly making plain hearts so you can double up your cookies for about a 10th of the time.

and then I wrapped them up with plain parchment (baking) paper, pink twine and press out hearts I made myself with a Martha Stewart heart cutter/punch.

I'm thinking it worked out pretty sweet in the end.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking Cookies

Square Sugar Cookies (around 6cm or 2 1/2 ") I used the recipe from my book details and link below or you can use this recipe here
Ready Roll Fondant *(or marshmallow fondant)
Blue, pink and red food color - gel type like Wilton or Americolor
Black edible pen - I like the Americolor Gourmet Writers
Square cookie cutter (around 6cm or 2 1/2 ")
tear shaped fondant cutter (around 3.2cm or 1 3/8")
3 different shaped fondant heart cutters/ ejectors (1.5 cm, 1cm & 0.7cm) or (9/16" 3/8" and 1/4")
brush and water
small rolling pin
Corn flour (corn starch for dusting)
* Fondant dries out fast, work quickly and when not in use pop it into a ziplock bag or air tight container. Knead before use to make more pliable before each use.

Color small amounts of the fondant light blue, light pink and red by kneading the fondant until pliable and then working in the gel color until evenly distributed. It is preferable to color the red fondant a day before use to allow time for the color to develop. Pop each color into a separate bag until needed.

Dust the workbench with a little cornflour, roll out the white fondant until around a couple of mm thin (1/16") and even and using the square cookie cutter cut out shapes. Brush the cookie lightly with a little water and using the small rolling pin adhere the fondant to the cookie pressing down lightly with the roller. If necessary I carfully roll the fondant to the edges of each cookie. Cover each cookie with white fondant.

Roll out the pink fondant on a lightly dusted workbench. Using the teardrop shaped cutter press out a shape for each cookie. Using your fingers pinch the pointed end of the teardrop and pull it up slightly upwards to make the 'tail' curve upwards (like in the pictures).

 
Place the tear shape onto the bottom of the square fondant covered cookie with the large rounded end pointing inwards to the center of the cookie and the pointed curved tails pointing outwards (don't stick it on yet). Make sure this shape is less than halfway across the cookie as you will need to pop another one on the other side. Lift the shape up and using an edible black pen draw 2 small lines in a V shape to make a beak (see picture for example) and some lines for the legs and then adhere the pink fondant shape to the cookie with a small amount of water. Repeat for all the cookies.

Roll out the blue fondant and follow the same steps as for the pink fondant but make sure when you are pinching the tail upwards that the tear drop shapes are reversed to the opposite direction so that the blue bird will be facing inwards.

Roll out the pink and blue colors again and cut out a small heart in each color for each cookie. Adhere the hearts to each tear shaped bird with the pointed edge facing inwards to represent wings.

(I actually just roll out both colors and working quickly cut out about 10 or so of each tear drop and heart shape I need, pinch them into shape and adhere them to the cookies. Once you have the hang of what you are doing and if you work quickly you should be able to do this without the fondant drying out.)

Dust the workbench with a little cornflour, roll out the red fondant until around a couple of mm thin (1/16") and even. Get the 3 different heart shaped cutters ready and cut 1 small heart, 2 medium hearts and 2 larger hearts. Starting in the top outside corners adhere one large heart into each corner. Make sure you only use a small amount of water to do this otherwise the color may bleed. Then adhere the one small heart directly above the middle of the pink and blue birds. Finally add the medium hearts spacing it evenly between the small and larger hearts so that they make a V shape (see picture for example.)

Finally finish by adding a dot to each of the birdies for an eye.

I used the vanilla sugar cookie recipe from my book Sweets on a Stick to make the square cookies.

I know I have said it before but the book is a US Release however there is a conversion chart in the back to the book for metric.

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Love is in the Air cake pops with cute birds and hearts for valentines day

I actually came up with the name for these cake pops first and then had to work out a design to match. ' Love is in the Air' cake pops sounded ever so sweet, and the original idea I had was to make the clouds with just some hearts. Sweet but simple.

So I made them up but then they weren't quite as sweet as I thought they would be. Maybe I should have made the hearts red - I'm not sure, but I wasn't feeling the love in the air, so I pulled out the 'ole backup plan.

Yup birds, you know they always make everything seem kinda cuter, it's like the bird squared cuteness rule or something ;)

Yeah I'm just making stuff up now, but you all get the idea. Bird is the word - if the word you want is cute.

and talking about cute :)  I had a lovely invitation from the Dollhouse Bake Shoppe to join in their Virtual Valentine Party and it seemed like such a fun idea that I am totally in and this is my contribution.

On the 5th of February the Dollhouse Bake Shop will be showcasing a round up of other blog contributions. Here is a link to the original post opening the Dollhouse doors.

 

By the way I have to apologise for the photo's of these pops (and also the Thought Bubble pops in a previous post). It was the 6th week of school holidays and I had 3 kids behind, in front and underneath me begging to eat the pops. I was desperate, I would have done anything for the few minutes silence that shoveling cake pops in their mouth would bring, so after a couple of photo's I let them take them all. Wasn't until later that I realised how bad the light was and as a result how blurry most of the shots were.

Pretty much the 3 photo's above are the only ones you can actually see anything in.

Oh well - that couple of minutes silence was worth it's weight in gold so I'm sure you all will forgive me.

Love is in the Air cake pops
It is best to start the decorations for these pops the day before to make it easier to handle the fondant decorations. The fondant decorations can be replaced with royal icing or premade - shop purchased decorations if you like.

Ingredients

cake pop mixture (any type)
lollipop sticks
white candy melts
fondant colored blue and pink - you will only need a small amount  about 1/2 the size of your fist.
Flower shaped fondant or cookie cutter (4cm (1 3/4inch) 
Heart shaped fondant cutter - approx 1.5cm (5/8 inch) in height
Tear drop shaped fondant cutter - approx 2cm (3/4 inch) in length
heart shaped sprinkles
edible pen

These are the fondant cutter sets I got my cutters from

1st Day make the heart and bird fondant decorations

Knead the pink fondant and roll out on a corn flour (corn starch) dusted workbench with a small plastic rolling pin. Use a heart shape fondant cutter to cut out hearts and then lay them on a tray lined with parchment paper. You don't have to but I like to pinch the bottoms of mine to go to the side, or you can leave then like normal hearts. Allow them to set overnight.

Knead the blue fondant and roll out on a corn flour (corn starch) dusted workbench with a small plastic rolling pin. Use the tear drop shaped fondant cutter to cut out shapes and then lay them on a tray lined with parchment paper.

Pinch the tail and pull it up to look like a bird and then quickly press a heart sprinkle into each tear shape (see picture for directions).

If you have worked quickly the sprinkle should stick to the fondant, however if you have taken too long the fondant may have dried out already. In that case you can use a little royal icing, edible glue or melted chocolate to attach the heart.

Use an edible pen to draw on a little black dot for an eye.

Leave to set overnight.

2nd Day make the cake pops

Holding the flower/blossom cutter between your thumb and pointer squish together to shape into a mini cloud.

Line a tray with parchment paper and place the cloud cutter on top of the paper lined tray. Take a few teaspoons of the cake pop mixture and press it into the cloud cutter pressing down firmly until it is evenly packed in, turn it over to check that there are no gaps underneath. Use your fingers to gently press the mixture out of the cutter so it remains on the lined tray.  Place tray in fridge to chill until firm

Melt up a bag of white melts/ candy coating. Mix in quite a bit of copha or paramount crystals during the melting process until the mixture is very fluid (but not so much that it is watery). The mixture should be like thick cream.

I melt my chocolate in the microwave on medium low, medium is too hot and high is way too hot. If you heat your chocolate at too high a temperature it will burn and not be salvageable for dipping .Remember medium/low for short bursts of 60 to 90 seconds.

Grab a bunch of lollipop sticks. Holding one end of the stick dip the other end into the melted chocolate/candy coating and insert it into a cloud cake pop shape so the stick is sitting in the bottom side of the cloud and the stick is parallel to the tray. Repeat for remaining clouds.

Place the tray back into the fridge to chill for 10 minutes or until the sticks are secure.

Make sure the chocolate/candy coating is still melted, if needed remelt in the microwave. Holding the end of the stick dip the whole cloud cake pop into the melted chocolate/candy coating. Lift it up and allow as much of the candy/chocolate mixture to fall off as possible. tap gently on the side of the bowl if necessary. Place upright in a stryofoam block to set.

Once set you can lay the cloud pops back down on a tray to work on. Using a toothpick take some of the melted candy coating and stick a bird and heart onto the front of each pop. Allow to set and then using an edible pen draw 2 small lines to look like a beak coming out of the blue bird shape (see pic below)

Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

 and if your a bit of a fan of bird pops, check out my book Sweets on a Stick, there are instructions for cute bird cake pops and even cuter birdhouse pops.

here is the link to my book Sweets on a Stick it is a US Release however there is a conversion chart in the back to the book for metric.It's available from bookstores in the US and here online at:

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Blue Ruffle Birdie Baby Shower

So I am going to come right out and say I love bird themes. Oh and ruffles, love them too.

So when Terri Vandermeer asked me to make up some baked treats for a baby shower she was creating with a ruffle and bird theme I couldn't wait to see the results.

Here are some of the images. The mother to be was expecting twin boys so the color theme was a muted baby blue and brown.

Terri whipped up a ruffled tablecloth and fabric backdrop for the table, and when I say whipped I really mean sewed for hours on end. You may have previously seen some of Terri's crafty work on this pretty polka dot party here.

To work in with the ruffly theme Terri made up some co-ordinating paper pom poms, and then she made up the labels herself as well.

I made a chocolate chip cake with whipped chocolate ganache and a few fondant decorations and then.......you guessed it Terri whipped up the bunting decoration for the top.

Also on the menu were coffee ganache macarons with a baby blue shell that was speckled with a coffee/water mixture to resemble bird eggs.

and baby bird cookies with a crafty feel to them inspired by Terri's decorations.

Simple iced cupcakes were packed in take home favor boxes with co-ordinating thank you tags.

Fudge looks even more delicious in a beautiful cloche covered display.

What a super sweet party.

All decorations including the backdrop, tablecloth, pom poms and tags made by Terri Vandermeer. Terri also made the take home cupcakes.

Macarons, Baby Bird Cookies and Cake made by Bubble and Sweet.

Similar Pom Poms available through Ah Tissue
Similar take home favor boxes available through Mon Tresor


and the blog tour for my book is winding up now. I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who reviewed my book.

Whimsical Bird Cookies and a Hampton's inspired party

 
One of the things I really love doing is when I am asked to create cookies to match party printables. 

This sweet birdie cookie is based on the Whimsical Bird range over at Polka Dot Prints which was the printable theme behind a beautiful Hamptons themed dessert table and party on the beach styled by Whimsy Petite Styling.

I have a tutorial on how to make the cookies at the bottom of the post but first I wanted to share the party pics with you.

Photos by Sheila Higgins Photography  

Here are a couple of photo's of the kids having a fabulous time it looks like such a perfect party. I like how there seems to be less focus on an overly styled table ladden with candy and more focus on the gorgeous kids having fun and I think that these images capture it perfectly.

Photo by Sheila Higgins Photography 

Although you notice I said seems to be less focus on the table. If I throw a few things together on a table I can promise you it never looks this pretty, this carefree relaxed styling takes great talent. The party was featured on Amy Atlas so kudos to Whimsy Petite Styling, Polka Dot Prints and everyone else involved in the creation of the party.

Photo by Sheila Higgins Photography  

party styling Whimsy Petite Styling
printables Polka Dot Prints
Cake and cupcakes Cake Chic Sam
Photography Sheila Higgins Photography

Children's dresses Wild Blossom

Macarons and cookies Bubble and Sweet

This lovely cake was made by Cake Chic Sam  not me but it was so cute I just had to show you :)

Cake Cake Chic Sam, Photo Sheila Higgins Photography

Oh look I made some macaron pops for the table as well.......

Photo by Sheila Higgins Photography 

Whimsy Bird Cookies

Instructions are for the round cookie - to make the square cookie follow the instructions using a square cutter and place the smaller bird up higher as per the pictures.

Round cookies (see note below re recipe)
Round cookie cutters
small sharp knife
set of tear shaped fondant cutters
edible pen in black
Ready Roll Fondant (or marshmallow fondant) colored with wedgewood blue and dusky pink/burgandy (the light pink and burgandy are the same gel color with just more added for the deeper hue), leave a small amount white*
cornflour (cornstarch) for dusting
small rolling pin
water and clean brush
* Fondant dries out fast, work quickly and when not in use pop it into a ziplock bag or air tight container. Knead before use to make more pliable. 

Dust the workbench with a little cornflour, roll out the wedgewood blue fondant until thin and even and using the round cookie cutter cut out shapes. Brush the cookie lightly with a little water and using the small rolling pin adhere the fondant to the cookie pressing down lightly with the roller.

Roll out the light pink and medium pink fondants on a lightly dusted workbench. Using the medium and large teardrop cut out one large light pink and one medium sized medium-pink tear shape for each cookie. Using your fingers pinch the pointed end of the teardrop and pull it up slightly to make the 'tail' curve upwards (like in the pictures). Using a tiny amount of water adhere one large and one medium of the tear shapes onto the blue fondant covered cookies with the large rounded ends pointing inwards to the center of the cookie and the pointed curved tails pointing outwards.

Roll out a small amount of burgandy and white fondant and using the medium and small tear shaped fondant cutters cut a wing in each color for each cookie (small for white and medium for burgundy). Use the sharp knife to trim off the edges until the wind is in proportion to the body, using the same technique as for the body pinch the pointed end and pull it up a little to make the wing look a little curved. Use a tiny amount of water to adhere the  wings to the body of the cookie.

Allow the cookies to dry/set a little for a couple of hours. Once set you can use a black edible pen to draw on eyes, 2 small lines in a V for a beak and legs.

I used the vanilla sugar cookie recipe from my book Sweets on a Stick to make the round and square cookies. However you can use any recipe you have that you like or search this blog and I had a couple of other recipes hree.

I know I have said it before but it is a US Release however there is a conversion chart in the back to the book for metric.

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)