Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fall. Show all posts

Monday, October 12, 2015

Fall Floral Cookies and a Few Firsts...

fall floral decorated cookies
Please excuse the plethora of pictures. You know me. I can't stop.

This fall floral set was for a special event at Jack's school. My friend Kristen from the blog We are THAT Family came to speak at a mother-daughter night. Kristen is such an inspiration. To hear Kristen speak, to read her story, makes you want to go out and change the world. She's the founder of Mercy House Kenya and Fair Trade Friday (be sure to click over and check them out).

In fact, watch the video about Fair Trade Friday. I bet you can't make it through dry-eyed. I've seen it 10 times and I still blubber my way through it.

I wanted the cookies for her night to be special.

fall floral decorated cookies ... how to mix colors to achieve this color palette

Of course, it took me forever to decide what cookies to make. I finally started with the color scheme and then went from there.

fall floral decorated cookies ... how to mix colors to achieve this color palette
fall floral decorated cookies ... how to mix colors to achieve this color palette
I used two new techniques for this set and I'll be telling you more about them later this week...otherwise, this post would be so long, you'd be reading it into next week.

The new techniques I used for these were toothpick roses...
fall floral decorated cookies

...and airbrushing!!!
fall floral decorated cookies

Oh my gosh. I'm obsessed with both.

fall floral decorated cookies ... how to mix colors to achieve this color palette
For this post, let me fill you in on the colors I used...

This pin was my color palette inspiration.

Blue: Regal Purple + Teal
Red: Super Red + Maroon
Yellow: Egg yellow + Gold
Orange: Copper
Green: Forest Green + Avocado
Airbrush: Copper Sheen airbrush color
(All colors Americolor food coloring)

fall floral decorated cookies ... how to mix colors to achieve this color palette
I used my go-to cut-out cookie recipe and my never-fail royal icing.

fall floral decorated cookies
OK...stay tuned for more detail on toothpick roses and airbrushing!

*this post contains affiliate links. thank you!
fall floral decorated cookies ... how to mix colors to achieve this color palette

Monday, September 7, 2015

Golden Delicious (cookie) Apples

Just like October and November require pumpkin cookies, September requires apples.

Fall is the season I look most forward to most. I'm not quite ready to say goodbye to summer produce: plumcots, apruims, cherries...you can keep your watermelon and corn...but my heart did skip a beat yesterday when I spied the first Honeycrisp apples of the season. Fall is around the corner! Yay!

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
Along with fall comes school, and I figured, since Jack is off learning new things like pre-calculus and social dance (the foxtrot!!!), I should probably learn something new as well. Here's what I tried:
  • tipless bags
  • Rolkem Gold 

So, tipless bags are made to be used, um, tipless. That is, you fill the bag with icing and snip the tip to the size you want. The bags are super inexpensive and thinner than your usual piping bag. 

Sweet Hope Cookies has a great video about using them here. 

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
For these cookies, you use the same consistency icing for the entire cookie. You know I've been doing the outline, thin, and flood method forEVER, so I need to work on getting the consistency down for going tipless. (Spell check is so wanting to change that to "topless.") Anyhoo...you'll see that some of my cookies aren't completely smooth. 

using rolkem gold for cookie decorating
Now, Rolkem Gold I didn't know I needed until about a week ago. Sharon from Truly Mad Plastics mentioned on Instagram that they'd be getting some in stock and people were going bananas in the comments. Well, that's good enough for me...I had to have some, too. (I'm not sure what this says about me, but I don't think it's good.)

Rolkem Gold is a gold powder that you mix with alcohol or extract to paint onto cookies like luster dust. Yes, it's edible.  Did I notice a difference over the luster dust I normally use? Yes. The Rolkem went on smoother and had better coverage. I'm looking forward to playing with it some more. 

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
OK...let's make some golden delicious apple cookies, shall we? 

You'll need: 
apple cut out cookies
Make the cookies. (I like to use these Do Stix for rolling.)

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
Once the icing has been divided and tinted, thin the 3 icings with a bit of water to a medium consistency, between a stiff piping consistency and a thin one for flooding. When you stir the icing, you'll want it to smooth out after jiggling the bowl several times. If it smooths out right away, add in some more powdered sugar. If it doesn't move, add in more water. 

Pour the icing into the tipless bag and cut off a bit of the tip. Outline the cookie. Once the cookies are outlined, cut off a bit more of the tip and fill in the cookie. (You don't have to cut off more of the bag, it just makes filling in the outline quicker. 

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
Add the stem and leaf. (You'll do the same with the pink and green apples, adding the stem and leaf with the untinted icing.)

Let the cookies dry uncovered for 6-8 hours or overnight. 

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
Once the cookies have dried, mix the Rolkem Gold (or any gold luster dust) with vodka. Paint on the gold as you wish, using paintbushes. 

For thick stripes, use a flat paintbrush. 

add gold dots to a cookie with a new, clean pencil eraser
For the dots, I used a pencil eraser. (It was brand new, but I cleaned it first anyway.) For the dots, make sure the gold mixture is stirred well, then dip the eraser into the gold and press onto the cookie. 

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
The gold will dry fairly quickly as the alcohol evaporates. (On that note, if you notice that your gold mixture is getting thick and difficult to work with, add in some more vodka. And as Mr. E always reminds me....put the cap back on the vodka bottle; it might evaporate!) 

golden delicious apple cookies : tips and decorating tutorial
Super simple apples made super fancy with a bit of gold. We didn't even have to wash tips or couplers! I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks! ;) 

 photo bothbooksgreyborderstamp.jpg
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