Easter Cookie Project

Well everyone .. I finished my Easter cookie project for Dave's cafe last night. It took me close to 16 hours to prepare, bake and decorate 88 of them but I managed to get it all done. For all of you that are interested I took a few pics while I was working on the cookies to show you some of the different stages and transformations each cookie goes through before you have your finished product.

First you must start by selecting the correct type of cookie recipe. You want to work with a cookie dough that won't spread much when baked. If your cookie spreads too much while baking it will loose its shape. I like using a short dough recipe for my cookies. I feel it just tastes a lot better and the dough holds its shape nicely when the cookies are baked. If you have a cookie recipe you like but your cookies are spreading when baked you may want to research your basic creaming method for cookies. You can stop some spreading in your cookies by not overmixing during the first stage of the creaming method! Overmixing can cause a lot of faults in your finished product.

After my dough is prepared, divided, chilled, rolled and cut out I place each cookie a few inches apart on a half sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Parchment paper is great to use when baking cookies and cakes because it prevents browning on the bottom and sticking. I always chill my cutouts really well before placing them in the oven. By doing this the cookie holds its shape a lot better. I usually bake all of my cookies and cakes at 375 and they usually take between 14 and 16 minutes depending on the size or how many trays are baking at one time.

After the cookies are baked I leave them on their baking tray on a cooling rack and leave them be until they are completely cool. Once your cookies are completely cool you are ready to decorate them. Its always good to have an idea what you want your cookie to look like before starting a project like this. You can use a royal icing like I did with my Easter cookies or you may want to try working with fondant. If you check out the specialty cookie gallery you will see I used fondant to create my snowman cookies.

Try your best to have all of your materials prepared before you start decorating your cookies, this will make decorating cookies or even cakes a lot less stressful on you and remember to have fun with it! Its a lot of work and I think anyone in the business will tell you that, but with the right recipes, techniques, patience and endurance you can become a successful cookie decorator!

I will leave you tonight with a little treat. Here is a recipe for royal icing from the professionals!

Royal Icing

1 lb. 10X sugar
2-3 ounces of pasterized egg white.
1 tsp. lemon juice.
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar for whiteness
Vanilla or Almond extract or any clear drinking alcohol to thin your icing out.

With your KitchenAid mixer combine your sugar, cream of tartar and add your egg whites a little at a time mix together at moderate speed. Once this mixture is thick add your lemon juice and nix until all combined. If you need to thin out your royal icing do so by adding a bit of flavored extract or clear drinking alcohol.

If any of you reading this blog decide to experiment and jump into making decorative cookies ... I would love to see them and maybe I can get them posted here on my blog!

Happy Baking Everyone!

p.s. I have a huge amount of orders the next few weeks that I must take care of so I may not be able to post everyday. However I will try my best to drop a few lines to let all of you know how its going at One Part Sugar!