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 

Christmas Tree Cake pop - Yup double sided cake pops

 Double sided Christmas cake pops.

Yes this solves that age old dilema of what to serve your cake pops in, no running around trying to find the right size Styrofoam block, these pops hold themselves up.

All jokes aside these pops do stand up by themselves as long as you manage to set them to dry on a parchment paper lined tray before the candy coating has dried so they set flat. Also you need to make sure that the bottom pop is a bit bigger than the top pop to weigh it down, and finally as you can not hold onto the stick you need to make sure the coating is the type that sets hard like regular Wilton melts and other types of candy coating that I usually suggest for cake pops. I just know sometime people like the taste of regular chocolate better but in this instance y'all will end up with sticky fingers.

These little trees are decorated with candy writers (melted candy coating in a tube), green sanding sugar, pink sugar pearls and pink sugar sprinkles (for the star topper).

I cut regular 6" sticks in half so that makes the sticks 3" (of course, I know you can work it out I just couldn't help myself).

So anyway time is running out to get a copy of Sweets on a Stick in time for Christmas, you all know I like to be helpful so here are a couple of links to a couple of the online shops:

It's available here at Amazon.



Or the book depository (Click HERE)

Or here at fishpond (Aus/NZ)



and I noticed that the publishing house has it for a really great price (HERE) as well.