Portfolio: Sun & Sea Cookies

My husband and I had a couple of folks over for a movie night this evening and it being the end of summer, I thought I'd whip up a batch of summer themed sugar cookies for dessert. I'd made the dough earlier in the week and tested these designs then, but while they were yummy they weren't exactly the most eye appealing. I know my husband and my co-worker who witnessed them would disagree, but I'll be the first to admit I'm a control freak and a perfectionist. So I had to take these to the next level! For my Ode to Summer, I created happy little suns and tropical fish.

Happy little suns...too bad the Texas sun isn't so nice!

A school of cookie fish

I'll post a tutorial on the technique later, but I employed what is known as the "outline and flood" method for icing these babies. You basically use a very stiff royal icing to pipe an outline and then "flood" within those lines with a thinner icing to finish it off. It creates a very clean line, not to mention the possibilities of the designs you can create. If you've seen my green eggs and ham cake, I used the same method to make green egg cookies.

A cookie fish aquarium...yum!

The cookies were a hit...especially with my daughter. One of her daddy's major irritations is that she horks down her food when she eats, but Mama's cookies must be a real treat because she takes her time and nibbles it in small bites and very slowly!

Tune in soon for some new tutorials on the best practice for consistent sugar cookies and how to outline and flood.

Happy Baking,
Kelly