Push Mower Cookies

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 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.

BRP Boxes make great packaging! And this size is perfect for a 2-piece cookie set!

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.