Cookie Pops for a Baby Naming

A few months ago, I made cookie pops for center pieces for a baby naming. The cookie pops served a dual purpose; Not only were they focal point at each table, they were also given to the guests at the end of the party. Talk about practical!

I'm sure you have figured out by now that the baby girl's name is Jenna! To make the letters in her name I used the same technique as I did here, using parchment paper and a chosen font from Microsoft Word. The font that I used was Curlz MT. This time, I used royal icing to make the letters. This meant that I had to make extras since they were quite fragile. To make the dark purple letters above, I immediately sprinkled the royal icing letters with purple sugar crystals and let them dry overnight. Had I only done the same for the pink and light purple letters...

But I didn't...The method that I used for the cookies above was a little more time consuming. Once the pink letters dried overnight, I gently removed them from the parchment paper. After flooding the cookies with purple royal icing, I placed each letter in the center of a cookie. The cookies needed to dry completely overnight before adding any sugar. The next day, I retraced the letters with a little more royal icing and added white sugar crystals. It was helpful to lay the cookies on a piece of wax/parchment paper.  This way, the excess sugar can be poured back into a bowl to be used to add sugar to the next set of cookies.

Here's a side profile!

Making cookie pops is quite simple. The way that has worked best for me is simply sticking the lollipop stick about halfway into the raw cookie dough after it has been cut and placed onto a parchment lined cookie sheet that is ready for baking. The cookies are baked with sticks in them at the same temperature as regular cookies. Above, are the three different combinations of cookie pops that I made for the center pieces.

I used both longer and shorter lollipop sticks.

I think they turned out pretty cute!

A fun and original center piece.

For my sugar cookie recipe, click here.

For the recipe that I use to make royal icing, click here.

Congratulations to Jenna's family!

Monogrammed Baby Cookies

A is for Audrey! Our friends Jeff and Julia gave birth to a baby girl named Audrey a few weeks ago.  I tried something new by adding a monogram of the letter A on top of flooded royal icing. 

To make all of the letters as uniform as possible, I printed a sheet of letter A's from the computer and traced them onto parchment paper using Wilton (chocolate) Candy Melts. Royal icing can also be used for the same purpose.

The letters took not even 5 minutes to dry.  As you can see above, they peel off very easily from the parchment paper.

Once the cookies dried, the letter A was added by using some royal icing as glue.  For the recipe that I use to make royal icing, click here.

Had I been a little more organized, I would have applied the letters to the cookies while the icing was still wet. 

Both ways will work, but the second way is a little more efficient and will allow for the letter to adhere to the cookie more securely.

We are so glad to have a little girl in our "crew."

Congrats, Jeff and Julia!

For my favourite sugar cookie recipe, click here.

Ryan has a Sister!

Yay! Our cutie petutie Ring Bearer Ryan has a little sister! I was so excited when I heard the great news that I began to bake and decorate as soon as we found out the baby was a girl. I was inspired to try out this adorable footprint idea by Callye from The Adventures of Sweet SugarBelle. I only recently discovered her fantastic cookie blog and immediately added it to my favourites!

I added the zest of one lemon to my sugar cookie recipe. (So, all of those marks you see in the dough above are lemon zest...not dirt!)

I bought the cutest mini baby cookie cutters a few weeks ago!  Surprisingly, I found them at a dollar store near my house.  It is hard to see how small they really are in the picture above, but by looking at the picture below, the size is easier to gage.

The mini bottles and onesies would make such cute cupcake toppers.  (But I'll save that idea for a future post!)

Here's the step-by-step of how I made the footprint cookie. First, I piped the border. Next, I flooded it with lemon flavoured royal icing and let it dry overnight. I wanted to compliment the flavour of the cookie so I made lemon royal icing this time. Finally, I piped the footprint and then piped Maryn's name on the right side.

Are these not adorable?

I tried to tie in brown royal icing wherever possible.  I love the combo of pink, white and brown! It reminds me of the cookie seating cards I made for my wedding!

Sugar Cookies with a Twist of Lemon

(Adapted from Cookie Craft)

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla 

zest of 1 lemon

Directions:
1. Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Using your mixer, use the paddle attachment to cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and lemon zest and mix until well blended.
3. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until the two are thoroughly blended.
4. Turn out dough onto work surface and divide into two or three equal portions. Form each one into a rough disk. Click here for step by step and visuals of how to roll out dough and attain cookies of the same thickness.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
7. After you have rolled and cut the dough and the cookie shapes are on parchment-lined cookie sheets, bake them in the middle rack of the oven for 12-16 minutes or until the cookies start to turn slightly golden around the edges. (The mini bottles and onesies were baked for about 8 minutes.)
8. Cool cookies completely on a rack before icing or decorating. Yield

2 1/2-inch cookies--about 30
3 1/2-inch cookies--about 16
4 1/2-inch cookies--about 12

Royal Icing with a Twist of Lemon

(Adapted from Cookie Craft)

4 cups (1 pound) icing sugar

3 tablespoons meringue powder

7 tablespoons warm water

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds. Add the lemon juice and mix for 30 seconds more. Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer. Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy. Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying. Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of warm water to reach the desired consistency.

All packed up and ready to be delivered to Maryn's mommy and daddy.

Cookies for Julie's Baby Shower

My friend Julie had a Baby Shower today.  She is due in January.  She is keeping the sex of the baby a surprise. So, I stuck with her favourite color, blue, and combined it with yellow.

Love the ducks...my latest cookie experiment. I bought so many animal cutters over the summer and love this little "rubber ducky" cutter.

Pipe...then flood...

Really adorable...

Baby Z...will you be a boy or a girl?

Happy Shower Julie!

Baby Cookie Bouquet

Congrats Sher and Al on the birth of your beautiful baby girl!

I was waiting for my girlfriend Sherri to have her baby to use these adorable baby cookie cutters.  I knew that I wanted to make cookie lollipops.

Before I "planted them into the pot," I had to take some pictures in the colorful cake stand that my friend Sarah bought me for my birthday! It's actually three tiers from the cutest store little tea salon in San Francisco called Crown and Crumpet. Above is the smallest tier.

And this is the middle sized tier.

Onto the Cookie Bouquet...I bought some craft supplies from Dollarama, including a terra cotta pot that was painted pink with the help of one of my former students...thanks Stephanie! Since I could not find a large enough piece of styrofoam, I used a piece of foam similar to what could be used to make a floral arrangement. It held the cookie lollipops in place. I had pink ribbon that said, "It's a Girl!" as well as brown tissue paper and cellophane that I used to wrap the bouquet.   

This is what it looked like before it was wrapped.

And this is what it looked like after!

I think it's pretty cute!

It's a Girl!

Our friends Clare and Jason had a baby girl on Wednesday, February 10th 2010, at 4:57 a.m.!  We are so happy for them! 

I decided to try something new to bring to Clare and Jason as part of their delivery present.  I added sticks to my cookies to make them lollipop cookies!  Before baking, add sticks through the middle of the dough until just below the tops of the cookies. Bake as usual. 

Aren't they adorable? I love the onesie cookie cutter.  I couldn't resist!

Clare and Jason named their baby, Liv Aliyah and we were thrilled to meet her earlier this week!

Congratulations!