I'm a flower girl Babushka nesting doll cookies

Who and what inspires you? I am often inspired by my children, their wonderment and joy of seeing the world and ability to find beauty in every little thing. But Sometimes I get my inspiration elsewhere.

Many years ago I had an inquiry asking if I could make some treats for a garden party photoshoot. I had seen Jordan from Polkadot Prints' work and blog which was fun and innovative and I agreed. I popped off an email saying yes, but pick up or post only and provided my address.

Back came an email, of course pick up was fine, in fact it was not a problem at all. It turned out we lived in the same suburb with 3 streets between us. The world wide web can be a small place indeed. It was the start of a lovely friendship and irregular coffee catch ups that lasted until Jordan moved over to Canada a year ago.

Our friendship and sometimes collaboration resulted in a few of my all time fav cookie designs, including this pretty cookie set, inspired by an invitation/ printable range.

I never actually got around to doing up a tutorial for these cookies when originally posted, I guess they are kind of fiddly and have a lot of fondant cutters. Rather than worrying about matching up cutters exactly the same, you can just use this tutorial as a guide.

I would say the only essential are a babushka cookie cutter set, a carnation set and a blossom set.....oh maybe a daisy set as well. I'm teasing y'all, once you get the nesting doll cutter, really I'm sure you can use what you have :) Or maybe not, luckily if you shop around these days you can pick all the fondant sets up pretty cheaply.

To match these cookies up to the original invitations CLICK HERE .

Invitation by Polkadot Prints, Photography this photo Naomi V Photography

Oh and just in case your thinking your options are limited with those cookie cutters check out these other cookies I have made with them in the past. Yup all using the nesting doll cutters. Links to tutorials listed under photo:

Penguin nesting doll Tutorial ; Santa Tutorial;  Snow man Tutorial;  Elf Nesting doll tutorial;  Monster nesting doll tutorial;  Mummy nesting doll tutorial;  Evil Ghost tutorial;  Screaming ghoul nesting doll tutorial

I'm a flower girl Babushka Doll
* If you prefer Royal Icing to fondant covered cookies you can replace the initial step with a light pink royal icing cover and then adhere the floral fondant decorations. Marshmallow fondant can also easily be used in place of shop bought fondant. CLICK HERE for an easy Marshmallow Fondant recipe

Ingredients and Equipment
Babushka Cookies (cookie recipe and instructions below)
Small Babushka Cookie Cutter 8.5cm (3") (mine from Bisc-Art)
Small Rolling Pin
Regular size piping tip (you are using the open round end so any regular size)
Various flower cutters
- Carnation cutter 3.5cm (1  1/2")
- Daisy cutter 14mm (9/16 ")
- Daisy cutter 2cm (13/16")
- Blossom Cutter 6mm (1/4")
- Blossom Cutter 9mm (3/8")
- Blossom Cutter 14mm (9/16 ")

Rolled fondant (coloured yellow, light yellow, Pink, dark pink, skintone and brown) pink used is Sugarflair dusky pink which will make both the light and dark colours^
Sharp knife
Cornflour (cornstarch)
Black edible pen

^fondant dries out quickly, when not in use store in an airtight container or ziplock bag. To use fondant knead until pliable and smooth and roll out on a workbench dusted with cornflour (cornstarch)

Knead light pink fondant until smooth and pliable. Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out fondant until quite thin then using the babushka cutter cut out a fondant shape. Using the large round end of the piping tip cut out a round shape so that a face can be inserted.

Roll out the skintone fondant until quite thin then using the large round end of the piping tip cut out a round shape for the face.

Brush the cookie with a little water and adhere the pink fondant to the cookie and then insert the skintone face into the round hole. Use the rolling pin to press fondant on gently and push out to the edges where required.

Roll out the brown fondant then using the large round end of the piping tip cut out a round shape. Using the edge of the babushka cookie cutter where the head meets the shoulder, cut into the round to make hair.

Knead and roll out separately the white, light yellow, dark yellow, light pink and dark dusky pink fondants and cut the following shapes from the fondant for each cookie. (If you are making a number of cookies it can be more time effective to work on a number of cookies at the same time instead of doing each separately.)

For each cookie you will need to cut out:

Daisy cutter 14mm (9/16 ") - 2 X dark dusky pink
Daisy cutter 2cm (13/16")- 1 X light dusky pink
Blossom Cutter 5mm (1/4") - 1 X light yellow
Blossom Cutter 9mm (3/8") - 1 X light yellow + 1 X light dusky pink
Blossom Cutter 14mm (9/16 ") - 1 X dark yellow
Carnation cutter 3.5cm (1  1/2") - 1 X white + 1 X light yellow
A little extra white and dark dusky pink for making flower centers.


Use a tiny amount of water to adhere the flowers to the cookie as detailed in the picture. Yes some of those flowers are hanging over the edge - you'll fix that in the next step. Finish off each flower with a little dot of fondant rolled into a ball and pressed on with a small amount of water.

Use the sharp knife to trim off any excess overhang.

Then draw on a face, 2 eyes and a mouth with the edible black pen.

Sugar Cookie Recipe (makes 24 regular sized cookies)

460 grams plain flour (16 1/4 oz all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
230 grams unsalted butter (8 1/8oz)room temperature
220 grams caster sugar (7 3/4 oz superfine sugar)#
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
#use regular white sugar if you do not have caster/ superfine sugar

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium low, add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in the sifted flour mixture until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes or so.

Line a few baking trays with parchment/ baking paper.

Dust workbench with plain flour and using a large rolling pin roll out the dough until around 1/2 cm (1/4") in thickness. If the dough is to hard you may need to work/knead it a bit until you can roll it out.

Cut out cookies shapes and place the cookies on the prepared trays. (Knead and reroll dough as necessary, if it becomes to soft you can pop it back in the fridge.)

Pop the cut cookie dough trays into the fridge to chill again for around 30 minutes until firm (or in the freezer for 10 minutes).

Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F) and cook the cookies until they just start to turn golden, around 15 minutes (less or more depending on cookie size).

Cool on trays for 5 minutes and then carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool completely prior to decorating.

- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.

Unless stated otherwise, the above pictures and post are original works and the property of Linda Vandermeer.

Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author of the cookbook ' Sweets on a Stick': More than 150 kid friendly recipes for cakes, candies, cookies and pies on the go!. Published in the US the book is available at most online book stores: 

This post is not sponsored.

Elf in my Tummy - Christmas nesting doll cookies

Um.....are you bored of the nesting doll cookies yet? Don't worry it's ok this is the last Christmas one :)

I came up with a new one the other day while I was doing up the Santa Nesting doll cookies.

Actually I came up with it at the cinema while I was watching 'Arthur Christmas' which I really enjoyed. While I was sitting there watching it hit me and I couldn't believe I had missed elves out of my original set.

So I rectified it straight away.

and in case you didn't get the lame joke reference in the title I was alluding to The Elf on the Shelf which is an adorable tradition based on the fact that before Christmas Santa must send out an elf to every house to check if the kids are being naughty or nice. It is a fun book that comes with a little elf and the tradition is to move the elf around every day to be found in different parts of your house. So fun you should check it out.

The cookie cut out recipe I made the nesting doll cookies from is from my book Sweets on a Stick available here at Amazon, the book also has a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant.



Or the book depository (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)



You can find similar recipes for vanilla sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies and marshmallow fondant on my blog by using the search function :)

Elf in my tummy nesting doll cookies

These instructions use the small nesting cookie cutter, follow the exact same instructions for medium or large nesting doll cutter. In Australian I got my nesting doll cookie cutters from Bisk-art HERE.  In the US I have noticed that Fancy Flours have an ok priced nesting doll set and Ecrandal have a super pretty copper 5 set.

Sugar cookies made using small nesting doll cookie cutter
Green, Red, White, Skin tone, black and yellow rolled fondant shop bought or home made marshmallow fondant (I used shop bought fondant colored with gel colors)*
small oval cutter with ruffled edges - I picked this up on Ebay in a set of 4
small rolling pin
piping tip - regular size like a Wilton #2
small nesting doll cookie cutter
small sharp knife
clean brush and water
black edible writing pen
pink dusting powder plus dry clean brush
*Fondant dries out very quickly. Use small amounts work quickly and when not in use place the fondant in an airtight container or ziplock bag to minimise the chances of it drying out and cracking.

Roll out the green fondant onto a clean benchtop dusted with cornflour/ cornstarch until a couple of mm (1/8") in thickness. I like to lift my fondant frequently and turn it like pie dough to ensure it does now stick to the bench while rolling it out.

Use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out a shape. Do the same with the red and black colored fondant.

 
Place the green, red and black fondant next to each other to use as a guide and using the sharp knife cut out boots, pants and a belt from the black fondant, at the bottom of the red fondant cut a matching piece off that will be replaced with the black 'boots'. Use a small amount of water to adhere the green body and black boots to the cookie, using the rolling pin to press into place as necessary. Attach the belt to Santa's middle using a tiny amount of water and press in place. Take a small amount of yellow fondant shape into small rectangle and press into the middle of the belt using a tiny amount of water if necessary.

Roll out a small amount of skin tone fondant and using the large round end of a regular size piping tip cut out the face. The Cut a little bit off the top of the round as per picture, this is where the hat will sit. Using a tiny amount of water attach the skin tone face to the cookie (use completed cookie picture as guide).

 

You will need to roll out a bit more of the green fondant and use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out the head area, then use the sharp knife to cut out a beanie/hat and attach it to the fondant covered cookie. 

Roll out some white fondant and cut out a shape using the oval ruffle cutter. Then use the sharp knife to trim it so you can use it as the fluffly furry edge to the elf's hat.

 

Take a small amount of the skin tone fondant and shape a very small oval to attach to the middle of the face for a nose. Then take a couple of pieces a little larger and shape into tear drops to make the ears. Attach them to the sides of the face with the point facing up, the tops will sit over the edge of the hat. I pressed the ears on with the wrong end of a paint brush, placing the end of the brush in the center of the base of the teardrop to make the indents in the inside of the ear and then used a clean toothpick to make further indents up towards the point of the ear.

Roll out more of the green fondant and again cut out the nesting doll shape. Using the sharp knife cut out the arms from the nesting doll shape as per the picture.

Take a small piece of red fondant and shape a couple of small mitten like hands and attach them to the cookie at the ends of the arms.

Take a small amount of white fondant and shape into a small ball for the top of the beanie/hat and attach with a little water and then do the same for the trim on the arms where they meet the red mittens.

Add some detail around the neck. I made a type of turtle neck sweater by rolling out red fondant and using the sharp knife to cut out a strip that I attached below the face, then I added indents with the back of the knife. Or you can make a collar by cutting out a couple of triangles from white fondant and attaching them under the face. 

Allow the fondant on the Elf to dry a couple of hours and then using the edible pen draw on 2 eyes.

 If you like use a clean brush to brush on a couple of circles of pink dusting powder to the cheeks.

  The End 

Santa nesting doll cookies

So finally the Santa nesting doll cookie, and this is where the Christmas nesting doll set all started.

A little over a year ago just after I had posted my original babushka cookies Jody R sent me an email with an attached picture of a nesting doll Santa suggesting I make it.

Which I did, although really it doesn't look like the original picture and it did take over a year, but I have to say it was awesome inspiration Jody so thanks very much.

It inspired me to make a whole set of Christmas themed nesting doll cookies.

I have already posted tutorials for the snowman, nutcraker and the penguin which were also part of my swap cookie set, you can find the the tutorials as well as some other helpful links below:

Snowman Cookie tutorial Click Here

Penguin Cookie tutorial Click Here

Nutcracker Cookie tutorial Click Here

In Australian I got my nesting doll cookie cutters from Bisk-art HERE

In the US I have noticed that Fancy Flours have an ok priced nesting doll set and Ecrandal have a super pretty copper 5 set.

The cookie recipe I used is from my newly released book Sweets on a Stick available here at Amazon, the book also has a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant.



Or the book depository (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)



You can find similar recipes for vanilla sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies and marshmallow fondant on my blog by using the search function :)

Nesting doll news update - while I was doing up the tutorial for Santa I whipped up some little elf nesting doll cookies using the smallest of the nesting doll cookie cutters.

Santa nesting doll cookies

These instructions use the medium nesting cookie cutter, follow the exact same instructions for small or large nesting doll cutter.

Sugar cookies made using medium nesting doll cookie cutter (CLICK HERE for you tube cookie recipe)
Red, White, Skin tone, black and yellow rolled fondant shop bought or home made marshmallow fondant (I used shop bought fondant colored with black americolor gel)*
small oval cutter with ruffled edges(around 5cm or 2ish inch) - I picked this up on Ebay in a set of 4
Medium/Large piping tip (I used #195)
small rolling pin
medium nesting doll cookie cutter (around 9.5cm or 3 3/4 inch)
small sharp knife
clean brush and water
black edible writing pen
pink dusting powder plus dry clean brush
*Fondant dries out very quickly. Use small amounts work quickly and when not in use place the fondant in an airtight container or ziplock bag to minimise the chances of it drying out and cracking.

Roll out the red fondant onto a clean benchtop dusted with cornflour/ cornstarch until a couple of mm (1/8") in thickness. I like to lift my fondant frequently and turn it like pie dough to ensure it does now stick to the bench while rolling it out.

Use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out a shape. Do the same with the black colored fondant.

 
Place the red and black fondant next to each other to use as a guide and using the sharp knife cut out boots and a belt from the black fondant, at the bottom of the red fondant cut a matching piece off that will be replaced with the black 'boots'. Use a small amount of water to adhere the red body and black boots to the cookie, using the rolling pin to press into place as necessary. Attach the belt to Santa's middle using a tiny amount of water and press in place.

Roll out a small amount of skin tone fondant and using the large round end of a piping tip - I used a Wilton #195 which is a bit bigger than the regular piping tips. Cut a little bit off the top of the round as per picture, this is where the hat will sit. Using a tiny amount of water attach the skin tone face to the cookie (use completed cookie picture as guide). You will need to roll out a bit more of the red fondant and use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out the head area, then use the sharp knife to cut out a beanie/hat and attach it to the fondant covered cookie. Take a little bit extra of the red fondant and  press into a small round to make a mouth. Attach it to the bottom of the skin tone face.

 

Roll out some white fondant and cut out a shape using the oval ruffle cutter. Then use the piping tip to remove the 'face' to make a beard- see the picture. You can then remove a small amount of the top and fit the white 'beard' around the skin tone face which you have already attached to the cookie.
 

Roll out a little more of the white fondant and once again using the ruffled oval cutter make the ruffle on the edge of the hat and the mustache. You will need to cut out the oval and then use the knife to trim a long thin ruffle to make the hat trim, attach it with a small amount of water. Use the same technique to make the mustache and then attach it using a tiny amount of water on top of the red mouth on the skin tone face. Pinch a little bit of the excess skintone fondant shape into a tiny nose and attach to the face right above the mustache.

Roll out more of the red fondant and again cut out the nesting doll shape. Using the sharp knife cut out the arms from the nesting doll shape as per the picture.

The rest is pretty much rolling out the small shapes by hand and attaching them to the cookies. Once again super fiddly like the nutcracker so don't say I didn't warn you.

Take a small piece of black fondant and shape a couple of small mitten like hands and attach them to the cookie at the ends of the arms.

Take a tiny amount of yellow fondant and shape little rectangles to make the belt buckle. If you like you can roll out tiny little ropes and make a more realistic looking buckle like I did for the original cookies but if your doing lots of them it would be easier to do the rectangles.

Take a small amount of white fondant and shape into a small ball for the top of the beanie/hat and attach with a little water and then do the same for a couple of eyebrows and trim on the arms where they meet the black mittens.

Allow the fondant on the Santa to dry a couple of hours and then using the edible pen draw on 2 eyes. If you like use a clean brush to brush on a couple of circles of pink dusting powder to the cheeks.

 

The End 

Nutcracker nesting doll Christmas Cookie

OK - I'm going to have to admit something kinda embarrassing here.

I only know the story of the nutcraker as told by Barbie and even then I have pretty much failed to sit through the whole thing.

But I do know that nutcracker decorations are totally cool, and cookies doubly so, which meant when I was making up the Christmas cookie swap set of nesting cookies I posted over to Kiss Me Kate I had to include a nutcracker cookie.

In case you have missed my previous posts I was involved in a lovely Christmas cookie swap a few weeks back with some very talented cookie artists. It was super fun and I have posted most of the cookies from the swap in this post HERE.

I have already posted tutorials for the snowman and the penguin which were also part of my swap cookie set, and as far as fondant cookies go they are pretty simple, in fact way simpler that the one below for the nutcracker. I would recommend starting with one of them first if your not overly confident with fondant cookies:

Snowman Cookie tutorial Click Here

Penguin Cookie tutorial Click Here 
In Australian I got my nesting doll cookie cutters from Bisk-art HERE

In the US I have noticed that Fancy Flours have an ok priced nesting doll set and Ecrandal have a super pretty copper 5 set.

The cookie recipe I used is from my newly released book Sweets on a Stick available here at Amazon, the book also has a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant.



Or the book depository UK (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)



Or you can find similar recipes for vanilla sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies and marshmallow fondant on my blog by using the search function :)

Nutcracker nesting doll cookies

These instructions use the medium nesting cookie cutter, follow the exact same instructions for small or large nesting doll cutter.

Sugar cookies made using medium nesting doll cookie cutter
Red, White, Skin tone, black, navy and yellow rolled fondant shop bought or home made marshmallow fondant (I used shop bought fondant colored with black americolor gel)*

small square cutter with ruffled edges(around 2cm or 3/4 inch)

small rolling pin
medium nesting doll cookie cutter (around 9.5cm or 3 3/4 inch)
small sharp knife

clean brush and water
black edible writing pen
gold non toxic food glitter (optional) plus dry clean brush
pink dusting powder plus dry clean brush

*Fondant dries out very quickly. Use small amounts work quickly and when not in use place the fondant in an airtight container or ziplock bag to minimise the chances of it drying out and cracking.

Roll out the red fondant onto a clean benchtop dusted with cornflour/ cornstarch until a couple of mm (1/8") in thickness. I like to lift my fondant frequently and turn it like pie dough to ensure it does now stick to the bench while rolling it out.


Use the nesting doll cookie cutter to cut out a shape. Do the same with the navy colored fondant and the  skintone colored fondant (the navy you can just cut out the bottom half of the shape and the skin tone you can just cut out the top half of the shape).

 
Working very quickly lay the skin tone on top of the red and cut along the neckline to make the head. Remove the excess skintone and red fondant.

Then lay the navy fondant over the red fondant and cut out the legs. Remove the excess navy and red fondant
.

Lightly brush a cookie with water and place the 3 different fondants onto the cookie, using the rolling pin to lightly press down to adhere the fondant to the cookie. You don't really need to worry about the joins looking perfect as they will be covered with other details.

Roll out the black fondant to a couple of mm (1/18th ") and cut out the nesting doll shape again.

Place it next to the fondant covered cookie to use as a guide and using the sharp knife cut out boots, a belt and a hat as per the picture. Use a small amount of water to adhere the boots and belt to the fondant covered cookie.

 
Roll out some white fondant and cut out the nesting doll shape using the cookie cutter (you will only need the top half. Take the square cookie cutter with the ruffled edge and cut out 2 side pieces of hair as per the picture. Place the black hat on top of the white hair pieces and using the sharp knife trim off any of the white fondant that will be under the black fondant hat. Adhere the hair to the fondant covered cookie and then adhere the black fondant hat on top of the hair.

Roll out a little more of the white fondant and once again using the ruffled edge of the square cookie cutter cut a small rectangle which will be the nutcrackers beard. Adhere it to the fondant covered cookie with a tiny amount of water.

Sorry about this super blue photo umm it's the best I could do tonight (shrugs shoulders)

Roll out more of the red fondant and again cut out the nesting doll shape. Using the sharp knife cut out the arms from the nesting doll shape as per the picture.

The rest is pretty much rolling out the small shapes by hand and attaching them to the cookies. I know super fiddly don't say I didn't warn you.

Flatten a small piece of red fondant and adhere it to the face right above the beard for the mouth.

Take a small piece of black fondant and roll out a couple of short thin logs to make the mustache and press them onto the face on top of the red mouth. While you have the black fondant out shape a couple of small mitten like hands and attach them to the cookie at the ends of the arms.

Roll out a very small oval of skin toned fondant and attach it to the face above the mustache to make a nose.

Phew nearly finished take the yellow fondant and shape little ovals to go onto the shoulders and thin straps for the wrist and attach them carefully with the tiniest amount of water. Roll out a couple of very thin logs of the yellow fondant to make the details on the front of the jacket and attach using the picture as a guide. Make 6 small rounds and attach them to the end of each short log. Shape a final round a little larger than the buttons and adhere it in the center of the black fondant hat.

Brush on a very tiny amount of water to the yellow details and using another clean dry brush dab on the non toxic food glitter.

Allow the fondant on the nutcracker to dry a couple of hours and then using the edible pen draw on 2 eyes and eyebrows. If you like use a clean brush to brush on a couple of circles of pink dusting powder to the cheeks.

 

The End