These tri-color flower cookies are the perfect way to use up leftover dough and icing! They're created by layering different icing colors in a single decorating bag (versus striping the inside of the bag with colors). Best of all, you can make them with whatever icing colors you have on hand! In this case, I had leftover red and navy blue icing- perfect for a patriotic platter of cookies! Deeply tinted icing is tough to re-purpose into another color because it's already saturated with food dye. So why not use it up to make some small treats to share with friends and family?

* Take note: prepping the icing bags takes some time, so don't let the next series of pictures alarm you. Once the final icing bag is ready to go, the flower cookies are really quick to decorate! 

What You'll Need
* baked cookie flower shapes (I used a 2 1/8" flower cutter from a concentric flower cutter set, similar to this one)
* stiff royal icing in 2-3 colors
* disposable icing bags; thin ones and at least one thicker bag 
* plastic wrap
* Wilton petal icing tip #104, and coupler/ring set (I love Ateco couplers and rings)

1. Bake your cookie shapes using your favorite roll-out cookie dough.

2. Prep your icing. You'll need 2-3 colors of icing in stiff consistency. Put each color in its own disposable icing bag. Generously cut the ends off of each bag.

3. Spread out a piece of plastic wrap, about 12" long. Squeeze the icing into a thick consistent layer, one color on top of another. I wanted the traditional red-white-blue color combo, so I layered the icing accordingly. Each icing "squirt" is about 1.25" wide x .75" tall x 4" long. It's a lot of icing. 

4. Gently fold the plastic wrap over the "pod" of icing, and continue to roll the pod to use up the remaining of the plastic wrap. Twist the plastic wrap at each end of the icing pod. 

5. Feed one end of the icing pod into an icing coupler. Turn down the opposite end. Drop the whole pod into a thicker icing bag, keeping the one end tucked next to the pod. This will prevent icing from squirting out the back of the bag when you use it!

6. Cut the exposed end of the icing pod. Squeeze out icing until you see the all of the icing colors. 

7. Time to add the icing petal tip! Petal tips have a thick and thin end. The thick end will create the middle/bottom sections of the flower petal. The thin end will create the outer edge of the flower petal. Place the icing tip according to how you want your flowers to look. Be careful as you screw down the outer ring of the coupler, because it's easy to turn the icing tip by accident. Make sure you squeeze out a little icing to make sure it looks right before you go to your cookie.

Whew! Still with me? I told you that the icing prep was lengthy! Time to actually decorate the cookies! This is easy! Hold the icing bag so that the THICK end of the icing tip is closest to the middle of the cookie. Gently squeeze the icing bag as you move the bag towards the outer edge of the cookie and then pull it back down towards where you started. Release the pressure on the bag. You made the first flower petal! Turn the cookie a bit to pipe the next petal, then repeat to create the rest of the flower. I topped off the completed flower with a few white nonpareils and sugar pearls. Perfect! 

To change the look of the flower, remove the icing tip, clean and dry it well, and replace it in a different orientation. If you're going to platter the cookies, make some flowers in solid colors so that the tri-color blooms POP!

Looking to change up the blossoms even more? Just pipe another layer of petals. BOOM!

Have a wonderful July 4th holiday!

Yard Maintenance: One of those grown-up tasks that both my husband and I dislike. Between pulling weeds and trimming with the weed-whacker, we would much rather spend our weekend afternoons doing something other than yard-work. It was a glorious day when our eldest child was old enough to work the lawnmower, and we happily pay him a small fee to take care of the grass cutting chore. Unfortunately, pulling weeds is akin to pulling teeth- you literally can't pay my kids to do it. I'm not looking forward to the day where the voluntold help no longer lives under my roof.

Mind you, we have great appreciation for those who live for that well-manicured lawn. My dad and my father-in-law are both lawn guys, so it's higher on their priority list than an afternoon pilgrimage to IKEA. It was only fitting to make them lawn mower cookies for Father's Day because they truly are "A Cut Above The Rest". 

For these cookies, I re-purposed the top hat/toast cutter from the Sweet Sugarbelle Shape Shifter 2 set. You don't have to use this exact cutter- a basic rectangle would work too. I just like to make creative use of the cutters I own. Here's a sketch so you can see where we're going!

Here's what you'll need:
* Baked cookie shapes
* Royal Icing in the following colors and consistencies
    White: flood or 20-second (optional)
     Red: 25 second
     Gray: 25 second
     Black: 25 second
     Green: piping
* Optional: airbrush with blue and green airbrush colors

1. Cut and bake the cookie shapes using your favorite roll-out recipe.

OPTIONAL STEPS:
Flood the cookie with white royal icing. Allow it to fully dry. Airbrush the sky and grass background. I used Creative Cookier's airbrush colors and pearl sheen found here. But it's totally ok to skip these steps if you're short on time, or you want to go to IKEA for the afternoon...

2. Use the red royal icing to pipe these lawn mower sections. Allow these sections to crust over.

3. Use gray icing to pipe the middle section and pull cord. Use black icing to pipe the wheels and mower handle. I used a size 3 decorating tip to pipe the handle, as I wanted a rounded look. Allow these sections to crust over.

4. Use smaller tips, like PME 1.5 or Wilton 1, to pipe details. Don't get hung up on where the lines should go. Pipe details where you want them. Remember, you're just striving for the impression of a lawn mower. Allow these details to dry for a few minutes.

5. Use the green icing to pipe some grass, if you want! Pipe a little, pipe a lot. It's up to you!

Another Option: Add a cute face to your mower! Because who doesn't smile when doing yard-work? (imagine me sheepishly raising my hand)...

Cute cookies deserve cute packaging! I added some icing sprinkles (just dried icing pieces) inside the bags. You could also just buy some green sprinkles to add to the bottom of the bags.

Happy Father's Day!
Now go out and do some yard-work. You know you want to.
I'll be on my way to IKEA. 

It happened again.
I had every intention of planning out new Thanksgiving designs and shopping around for the cutest and newest Thanksgiving cookie cutters..

And then life happened. Wasn't Easter just yesterday?! Where did the time go?

Needless to say, I turned to my old trusty creative cutter skills to bail me out once again. I was able to freshen up my Thanksgiving designs, and I didn't need new cutters after all! 

If you are a design procrastinator like me, and if you have one of these Sweet Sugarbelle cutters, you too can make the most adorable Turkey Pilgrim! There's a slight difference between the cutters (the red one is slightly smaller and the outside curves are not even), but it will still work for this design!

I used the aqua-colored cutter (one on the left) for my Turkey Pilgrim, upside down of course!

Here's what you'll need:
* baked cupcake cookie shapes using your favorite roll-out cookie recipe
* Royal icing, in the following colors and consistencies:
     Brown: 20 second
     Black: loose piping (maybe around 25-seconds?)
     Gray: 20 second, and piping if you want to line the hat brim
     White: 20 second
     Yellow: loose piping, like the black color
     Red: 20 second
* edible food marker (optional). If you use a projector, you can omit this step!

1. Sketch the basic lines of the Turkey Pilgrim with the edible marker. The sketch for the Turkey Pilgrim is here. 

2. Pipe the head of the turkey with brown icing. Pipe the hat band and exposed shirt with the black icing. Allow these sections to dry well.

3. Lots of details can be made at this step! Pipe the hat, beak, eyes, shirt collar, eyebrows. Allow these sections to dry. 

4. Final steps! Make sure that the underlying icing is dried well, to help prevent color bleed. Pipe the waddle and buckle. I trimmed the hat brim with gray icing. That's it! 

This Turkey Pilgrim will definitely make his way to my Thanksgiving table for years to come. He might just be the star of the Thanksgiving Dinner Show!

But Thanksgiving is all about family and friends!

I am thankful and blessed to have the means to share my cookie journey with you! Thank you for coming along with me! Happy Thanksgiving!

CANDY CORN.
You're either Team Candy Corn or not.
Even if you're not on Team Candy Corn, we all can agree that the appearance of candy corn in stores means that fall and Halloween is on the way! So if you like the look of candy corn, but not the taste, there's another option to adorn your decorated cookies this Halloween season- ROYAL ICING CANDY CORN!

All of the cuteness of candy corn without the candy corn taste! These royal icing transfers can be made in advance, and are the perfect accent your Halloween cookies.

What you'll need:
* candy corn template, found here!
* parchment paper or acetate sheet 
* white royal icing, in a 25-28 second consistency; placed in an icing bag with tip
* scribe tool or toothpick 
* airbrush machine
* yellow and orange airbrush colors
* a "shield"- I used the edge of a another stencil or a piece of parchment, but Stencibelle has some great blockers (including curved and shaped ones) on her page here!
* optional: magnets, cooling rack, fan

LET'S GET STARTED!

1. Print out a copy of the candy corn template. Place the acetate or parchment on top of the template. I used acetate because it's crystal clear, but parchment paper will work just fine, too! Magnets helped to secure the acetate and template to a metal cooling rack (as my cookie sheets are aluminum and therefore not magnetic). Or you can just tape the template and top sheet on a table or cookie sheet.

2. Pipe the candy corn shapes with the royal icing. Use the scribe tool or toothpick to smooth any bumpy spots on the icing. 

3. After creating the desired quantity of candy corn transfers (remember to make more than you need!), allow the transfers to dry. I like to place them in front of an oscillating fan- here's where the magnets are especially helpful so your hard work doesn't blow away! If you piped your transfers on parchment paper, you can dry them in a very low heat oven (below 200*). Without the assistance of a fan or oven, transfers can take several hours to dry, or even overnight if the icing is thick. 

4. After the icing is completely dry, cover the very tip of the candy corn. I used the flat edge from a stencil and secured it in place with magnets. If you have a difficult time controlling your airbrush spray, use a second shield to cover the remaining transfers from getting hit with overspray.

5. Load yellow airbrush color into your airbrush. With your airbrush machine on LOW, gently spray several coats of yellow color onto your transfers. Spray parallel to the shield, with a side-to-side sweeping motion. Multiple light coats of color is always better than thick coats that puddle. Plus, light coats dry quickly.

6. Once the yellow airbrushed layer is dry, add a second shield to cover the bottom third of the candy corn shape. You'll be left with an exposed strip in the middle of the candy corn shape where the orange color will be added. 

7. Load orange airbrush color into your airbrush. With your airbrush machine on LOW, gently spray several coats of orange color onto your transfers. Yes, you'll be covering the yellow in the middle of the candy corn with orange color. That's ok! Use that same side-to-side sweeping motion to lay down the orange color. 

8. Carefully remove the shields and allow the transfers to dry. Oh my goodness, they're soooo cute! 

9. After the color has dried, the transfers can be easily popped off the acetate or parchment paper with an offset spatula or edging tool.

You can now affix your transfers to your cookies using royal icing or piping gel. You can drop them onto a fresh icing flood, or even use them as accents on your cookie platters!

FYI: I made these nerdy candy corn cookies from the Frankenstein/pilgrim
​boy cutter from this set.

Let's take a side-by-side comparison of the candy corn transfers vs the real thing!

Am I on Team Candy Corn? You bet! And here's my favorite way to eat them- with a small dollop of peanut butter. The candy corn + peanut butter tastes just like a Butterfinger candy bar (minus the chocolate). It's SOOOOO good!

I can't wait to add these little candy corn transfers to many Halloween cookie sets!