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
