A rose by any other name would be . . . an acorn?  In this case, YES!  Thanks to Sugarbelle, you can create a cookie rose with many shapes- other than a rose cutter!  

I actually own a rose cookie cutter, but it was a little too small for my liking .  As I was digging through my many many many bins of cutters, this acorn cutter caught my eye!  Upside down, it's the perfect shape for a closed rosebud!

What you'll need:
* acorn shaped cookies
* flood and thicker royal icing consistencies, in your favorite rose color
* thick, green royal icing for the sepals (the little leaves at the base of a bud)
* petal dust for light shading (optional)

What to do:
1.  Cut and bake your favorite acorn shape and size.  
2.  Turn the cookie upside down.  Flood the base of the rosebud.  Let dry.
3.  Use thicker royal icing, in the same color as the rose, to pipe the lines of the petals.  Use my picture above as a guide.  Or just do a little swirl at the top!
4.  Use a petal decorating tip (my favorites are the PME leaf tips- 50, 51, 52) and the thick green icing to create the outer sepals
5.  After a few minutes, pipe the center sepal.  You're done!

If you wanted to, brush on a little petal dust to give some shading to the rosebud.  
​It's up to you!

These easy rosebuds are pretty on their own. . . 

. . . or great as accent cookies with some other Valentine's Day sweets!

These little swirly roses are a twist on Sugarbelle's Simple Swirl Rose.  As I was recreating her sweet little flowers, I made a mistake.  A mistake that I loved!

Sugarbelle's Simple Swirl Roses are a view of a rose from above the blossom, with the swirl centralized.  I offset my swirl so that you view the rose from the side of the blossom.  That sounds kinda confusing.  Let me show you!

I knew it would happen, I just wasn't ready for it.  The day that my eldest son pulled away from my attempted motherly embrace in public, followed by the stiff arm and stink eye in my direction.  Then, my heart sank even further when he called me "MOM", not "Mommy".  I knew that we had turned that fateful pre-teen corner in our relationship.  It was a sad day.  Mind you, at home he returns my hugs and "Mommy" is still the preferred title for me, but I now understand the boundaries.   

So let me get the mushy stuff out of the way.  I made these cookies for my husband (although my children will probably eat most of them) because I am, well, nuts about him.  The typical Valentines hearts and flowers just doesn't "fit" our relationship.  We are two crazy kids (err. .thirty-somethings) that were college sweethearts.  Our offspring think we're whack-o when we crank up Young MC's "Bust a Move" and rap every word.  Loudly.  Some think we're bonkers because Mike encouraged me to quit my job to create cookies every day.

Yup- I am crazy about him, and our nutty ways.

Which is why I made him some cookie nuts.  And some cookie squirrels too.  Because nothing says "Happy Valentine's Day" like some squirrels and their nuts.  At least it does in my house. 

Peanuts
I know that peanuts technically aren't nuts.  They're legumes.  But I have never seen a sign in the grocery store that says "Legumes, Aisle 4".  And besides, they have "nut" in their name.  So they're honorary nuts.

The peanut will be made with the number 8 cutter with a little squish in the middle.  See the difference?  You'll need an 20ish-second gold icing, and an 12ish-second warm brown (don't get hung up on the seconds).  Add a little of each color to each color to make them harmonize (put a little of the gold with the brown, and a little brown with the gold.

Outline the cookie with the gold.  Wait a minute or so.  Then flood with warm brown.

Here's the part where timing really counts, though.  We need to add the wonky grid lines to create the texture of the peanut.  Wait a minute or two before piping the lines so that they partially sink into the warm brown.

See how the texture is created?  I love it!

I trimmed a carrot shape to create the oblong pecan. 

After baking, use a food marker to draw the lines like in the picture.  Then paint really thin chocolate brown icing over the lines.  This will create the shadows of the indentations on the pecan. 

For the remainder of the pecan, use the same color brown, but in a 20-second icing.  Fill in the center section of the pecan- see how it comes to a point?  Next, create a squiggly outline for the pecan.

Here's where it starts getting tricky.  Bear with me.  Pipe two ovals around the painted brown icing.   

Use the brown icing to fill in anywhere you still see plain cookie showing, except at the top of the center point. 
It's hard to describe, so check out the pictures.

The first one or two pecans are definitely the hardest.  It gets easier!

Get out your airbrush or petal dusts to add some shading and you're done!  Your own pile of nuts.

 I didn't include the walnut tutorial- you're not nuts.  Let me know if you want it.  I'll add it!

Thanks for following me through this crazy adventure!

I hope you're NUTS about someone too :)