Showing posts with label cookie swap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookie swap. Show all posts

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Elegant Jewelled Snowflake cookies


I made up a list and I checked it twice,

trying to work out who was naught and who was nice.


But seriously my nice list way waaay too long and I really had to cut it back.

In the end I sent out just a few of cookie packages to a couple of people on my nice list.


Well actually the people that I did a cookie swap with last year because I forgot to organise one this year.

It seems Noo from Dessert Menu Please had the same idea and the day after I posted out my treats I received a package with a cracker and inside the sweetest hand drawn little festive cookies :)

Follow random pictures of my life on instagram: http://instagram.com/p/Tewm3zwlAy/

Above is a picture that I posted on my new instagram account. If your following me there you may have seen a few random photo's of my new creative/craft space and other random pictures of my life.

Anyhoo the cookies I sent out are an updated version of the elegant snowflake cookies I made a few years back but I added jelly gems.

Which by the way I am a bit smitten with at the moment.

Oooooohhhhhh Jelly Gems, so pretty..........

The actual cookie was a Christmas inspired cinnamon and cranberry sugar cookie. You can find my recipe in the free online Christmas edition of 'Tickle the Imagination' Magazine if you CLICK HERE.


The original decorating tutorial for the Winter Wonderland Snowflake cookies has a recipe for plain vanilla sugar cookies if your not keen on the Christmassy version. CLICK HERE for the original post and recipe. 


and thank you all so much for reading this year, it always brightens my day to receive comments or see my treats pinned.

From my family to yours wishing you safe and happy Holidays.

Xx
Linda V

Elegant Jewelled Snowflake Cookies

Sugar cookie dough
Snowflake cookie cutter (mine from Bisk-art)
Decorative stamp or embosser
White fondant#
Small plastic rolling pin
brush and water
Jelly Gems
2 round tip (mine was Wilton)
Royal Icing (I used queens royal icing mix from Woolworths - just add water)
Piping bag with small tip
 
edit update - I have a youtube video tutorial on how to make sugar cookie dough

#Fondant dries out pretty quickly so I work with a little fondant at a time covering one or two cookies. The remaining fondant I leave wrapped in a little cling wrap/ glad wrap until I need it.

Line a couple of trays with parchment paper.

Make up batch of sugar cookie dough, chill, roll out on workbench lightly dusted with flour and cut out snowflake cookies.

Pop the cookies onto the prepared trays and put in the freezer for around 15 minutes.
 

Meanwhile preheat over to160C (320 F) and then bake cookies for around 12 - 15 mins.

Remove from oven when they just start to become golden and using the small end of the icing tip quickly remove a small hole from the center of each cookie.

Ooops - no photos of the cookies with holes in them. Just use your imagination :)

Knead fondant until pliable and roll out on a surface lightly dusted with cornflour and using the same snowflake cookie cutter cut out the snowflake shape. Make sure the cookie cutter is clean and dry before you start cutting.

Brush a tiny amount of water onto the cookie and then adhere the snowflake fondant cut out to the cookie, gently rolling on with a small rolling pin if required.

Take the #12 tip and press down to remove a round of fondant from the center of each cookie. I needed to poke it out with the end of my brush.

OK just imagine there is a hole in the middle - I didn't get a picture of one :)

Using a clean foodsafe stamp or embosser press into the middle of each cookie to make a pretty indentation.

Pipe a circle of royal icing around the edge of the round hold in the center of each cookie and place a jelly gem inside using the royal icing to glue it into place.

Pipe decorative dots on the cookie as desired.


Leave out until royal icing is set.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a week.


....................

Recipe, photo's and post by Linda Vandermeer author of Sweets on a Stick: More than 150 Kid Friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go. You can pick it up at all good online book shops including these shops:



Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)

Sweets on a Stick: More Than 150 Kid-Friendly Recipes for Cakes, Candies, Cookies, and Pies on the Go!


Thursday, November 10, 2011

A Christmas Cookie Swap 2011

Cookie by hello naomi 

I've never dreamed of a white Christmas, but many a time I have watched online as others have shared photo's of fabulous Christmas Cookies that they have swapped and hoped one day I might be participating in something similar.

Well this year my cookie dreams came true and I had the great pleasure of joining in a Christmas Cookie Swap with a group of talented Australian Cookie Decorators.

Cookies by hello naomi

The swap resembled a secret Santa whereby each decorator was provided with a name of one other person and it was their task to decorate a small batch of cookies and send them off. The guidelines were pretty simple, mostly that the cookies were all to be posted off on the same agreed date, that the cookies should be some type of Christmas theme of around 4 to 6 cookies and that no one should reveal the name of their swappee or any pictures until everyone had received their cookies.

Jordan from Polkadot Prints helped us out with some of the administration and drew out the swappee names and emailed out the addresses. Super Big Thanks to Jordan - she is such a good sport.

and my secret cookie sender turned out to be none other than the awesomely talented and sweet Naomi from hello naomi. I have been a fan of Naomi's clean simple style for many years and it was a treat to receive her package which consisted of a forest of elegant white Christmas trees and a super sweet and pretty garland of mini cookies in muted pink and green.

and I secretly sent my cookies to Kate, from Kiss me Kate. I made a set of 5 Christmas themed cookies using my babushka (nesting doll) cookie cutters.

How did I come up with such an awesome idea you might ask....well last year after I did up my babushka cookie tutorial a lovely lady called Jody emailed me with a picture of a set of Santa nesting dolls suggesting it would make a good cookie and ever since it has been in the back of my mind. I just came up with the rest to match.

I'll be doing up a tutorial for at least a couple of these cookies here on the blog soon.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this cookie swap, you were all such good sports. Here is the list of lovely decorators who joined in:

I don't have photo's of everyone's cookies yet but here are some that I managed to grab, photo and cookie credits under each photo:

Cookies and Photo by Jacki at Blissfully Sweet (cookies sent to Kylie at Three Honeybees)

Photo by Jacki at Blissfully Sweet, cookies by Noo at Dessert Menu Please

photo by hello naomi, cookie by Kiss me Kate

if you pop over HERE to flickr you will be able to see some of Kylie from Three Honey Bees pretty Christmas cookies as well.

and you'll be happy to know that the cookies I received from Naomi tasted even better than they looked. Thanks to everyone for joining in the preChristmas fun.

Cookie by Naomi at hello naomi - YUMmmmmm