Cookie Journey Thursday ~A Tropical Palm Tree

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It has been really hot here in Las Vegas. Well ok, it is always hot here! But I am talking record breaking HOT! HOT! HOT! And I am beginning to daydream of cool ocean breezes, sipping a smooth, fruity concoction and relaxing under a swaying palm tree. Oh, my! How nice would that be! But instead, I am here making cookies, (which I love) and trying to stay cool in the air conditioning (which I love, but am sick of)! So I did the next best thing~I made palm tree cookies!

I used a #2 tip for the trunk and the top.

I used Americolor Chocolate Brown and a mix of 

Americolor Forest Green and Leaf Green.

Outline the trunk. Make an indentation at the top for

a palm frond that is in front of the tree trunk.

Fill in the tree trunk and let dry before moving forward.

Outline the palm fronds.

Fill in the top and let it dry completely.

If possible, let it dry overnight. 

While you are waiting for the top to dry,

put a few upside down v's on the trunk 

to give it some dimension.

Once the top is completely dry, outline the top again

in the same color and in the way as you did the first time.

Immediately sprinkle green sanding sugar along the outline.

Completely cover the outline.

Let dry.

When it is totally dry, turn the cookie over and let the excess sugar fall.

 Don't shake it.You don't want to risk breaking it after all your work.

Just gently brush the excess sugar off of the cookie with a thin paint brush.

Now you have your own beautiful palm tree.

I can feel those ocean breezes already!

Thanks for joining me for 

Cookie Journey Thursday

as I attempt to improve my meager cookie decorating

skills. I hope you are baking along with me!

Red, White and Blue Star Cookies!

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For this weeks Cookie Journey Thursday, we are making star cookies! Red, White and Blue ones! These cookies are simple, don't take all that much time, and oh, so pretty.They will make any table look festive and happy!

Red, White and Blue Star Cookies

I used the No Fail Sugar Cookies recipe, and 

Antonia74 for the icing. You can find both
of the recipes here.

Americolor Holiday Red

Americolor Royal Blue

I made 1 small, 1 medium, and 1 large star cookie

for each person attending the party I made these for.

Some will eat more, some less!

Outline your blue cookies.....

and fill in.

Do the same....

for the red cookies....

and once more....

for the white ones.

Let them dry completely.

I let these dry overnight.

Pipe small dots on the star. Use contrasting colors so that

you get the Red, White and Blue effect throughout your

cookies. Pipe the dots in the same place on each cookie.

Use blue dots on the white cookie at each angle.

Then place the red dots on the white cookie in 

between the blue dots.

Do the same dot design on the blue cookies, using

red and white icing.

Do the design one more time on the red cookies,

using blue and white icing.

Happy 4th of July!

Stay tuned for Day 10
of
15 Days of Red White and Blue!

Thanks for stopping by!

We are stopping by the following parties:
Crazy Sweet Tuesday 

A Red, White, and Blue Cookie Journey

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This weeks Cookie Journey is part of The Freshman Cooks 15 Days of Red, White and Blue!

  The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays and we always celebrate with cookies!

Lets start with a cutout #4. 

Outline and fill in a space at the top of the 4.

I used Americolor Royal Blue.

Then make a stripe, wider than a #2 piping, across the 4.

Let dry.

Make a thin line with Americolor Holiday Red.

I used a #2 tip.

Continue down the number until you reach the 

bottom of the triangle cutout in the middle of the 4.

Outline and fill in the blue across the widest part of the 4.

Go back to striping on the section below the field of blue.

Go to the top section of blue and make small white dots.

Allow the bottom blue section to dry, and then make the same 

small white dots there.

On another cookie, outline the cookie in the blue,

and fill in with the red.

When totally dry, outline again over the previous outline.

Add what is supposed to be fireworks.

I definitely need to work on these!! 

For this cookie, I outlined and filled in the entire cookie with

the royal blue, and then placed dots all over the cookie in 

holiday red and white!

I made this cookie just like the second one. Kind of.

I outlined the cookie in the holiday red. I filled it in 

with royal blue. I waited for everything to totally dry.

Then I outlined over the original

 outline with more red. I sprinkled the nonpareils

on the outline while it was wet.

I think most of it looks alright, but the right side of 

the bottom is lacking in sprinkles.

I need to be a little quicker!!

So, there are the 4th of July cookies for this week.

As I proceed through the 15 Days of 4th of July, we will be making lots of fun

holiday treats, and I hope you stop by!

Thanks for stopping by!

We are partying here this week:
Patriotic Project Parade Party Linky 

Beach Ball Cookies!

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It's Thursday already! I can't believe how fast the weeks fly by!! Today is Cookie Journey Thursday here at The Freshman Cook, and this week I worked on making a beach ball cookie. I used a round 2" diameter circle cookie cutter, and I copied an advertisement for a beach ball to determine color and placement of the color. It went pretty well, but I need a little practice with getting my icing ready to use. A couple times it got clogged in the tips. I made the icing last week, and I kept it covered in a plastic container with a lid, but it didn't seem as nice as when I first mixed it.

I used Americolor Orange, Leaf Green and Super Red.

I also used Wilton Lemon Yellow, Royal Blue, and 

plain white. I did everything with a #2 tip.

I used a food marker on the round cookies, marked off the center,

and the 6 color sections. I used an ad for a beach ball

as a guide. I filled in the green center first.

I outlined and filled in the white section first.

Then I outlined and filled in the 

yellow, red, and green sections.

I finished with the orange and blue.

That's it. It wasn't difficult. The toughest thing was

making sure the angles for the sections on the ball 

are correct. I think my spacing needs some work, but I 

love the colors, and beach balls are fun! I think I 

will go buy a beach ball. It may be helpful to have

it in front of me to get better spacing of the sections!

Thanks for joining me this week!

I hope you are learning along with me. 

Stop by next Friday for Cookie Journey Thursday.

I have another post due on Thursday, so I have pushed 

my cookie journey to Friday. I will continue with

summer funtime posts for a few weeks!

She's A Grand Old Flag!

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Today is another Cookie Journey Thursday, and we are making Flag cookies for Memorial Day! I love making cookies for special holidays!

I used a Wilton #2 tip for everything, and I used 

Wilton Royal Blue and Americolor Super Red #120 for the icing.

I cut out my cookie, and started the decorating by

outlining a circle at the top of the flag pole, and then filling it in.

Let it dry before going on to the next step.

Outline and then fill in the flag pole. 

Mark out a small square at the top for the bed of stars,

outline and then fill in. Let dry.

Here is a pic from the top of the cookie. The flag should look

like it is waving, so I brought the blue field all the way to the top,

and I made it as wide as the first scallop on the cookie.

Let the icing dry.

I made the first stripe red, and followed with 6 stripes total.

I let the stripe dry for about 20 minutes before 

moving on.

I piped the stripes freehand. It was very easy.

I made sure that the first red and the first white stripe

were equal in width to the field of blue. I was going to sketch

a line as a guide for the rest of the stripes, but instead

I estimated the width and drew the first line, like the red one above.

Then I came back along the previous white line. This was a

lot like the outlining I piped when I made the graduation cookies, 

but this looks much better. 

I guess it does pay to practice!

 (I should have listened to that advice a long time ago!)

Then I piped the line at the edge of the flag, and filled

in the stripe.

I think these turned out pretty well, but

I definitely need to perfect this, so look for these again

near the 4th of July.

Practice makes Perfect!

(or so I have heard :))

Looking for cookie cutters? 

I got a great email today from Foose Cookie Cutters,

and they have some fantastic new cutters!

Check them out!

Thanks for joining me today!

I hope someone is practicing along with me!

Have a great Memorial Day and weekend!!

The Freshman Cook can be found at the following parties:
Sweet Tooth Friday
Friday Favorites 

Strawberries, Cream, and a Cookie Journey

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Today is reveal day for the Improv Challenge! This challenge is always fun and this month our two ingredients are strawberries and cream. Does anything say summer more than that? So I went with cream cheese cookies covered with frosting made with strawberry coulis for taste and color.

 Here's to a Happy Summer!

Cream Cheese Cookies w/Strawberry Coulis Icing

 Cream Cheese Cutouts

 (from allrecipes)

1/2 cup Butter, softened

3 ounce Cream Cheese

1 cup Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla 

2 cups Flour

1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

Cream together your butter, cream cheese, and sugar until

light and fluffy.

Add your egg and vanilla. 

Combine your flour and baking powder and 

spoon into wet mixture. Mix. Divide your dough into

two pieces and cover and chill until firm; about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

On a lightly floured surface, cut out your dough.

Bake for 7-0 minutes until done.

Cool completely.

Strawberry Icing

(adapted from Antonia74-Cake Central.com)

6 oz warm Water

5 tablespoons Meringue Powder

1 teaspoon Cream of Tartar

2.25 pounds Confectioners Sugar

1/4 cup Strawberry Sauce

Pour the warm water in a mixing bowl.

Add the meringue powder.

Whisk for 30 seconds. It should be thicker and frothy.

Add your cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.

Pour all the confectioners sugar in the bowl at one time.

Mix on the lowest speed for 10 minutes.

Icing will get thick and creamy.

Cover icing immediately.

Tale about 2 cups of icing out of the bowl.

Slowly pour in just a little at a time of the strawberry sauce.

Mix well.

Icing should begin to turn color and take on the taste

of a strawberry. Add more as needed.

Start by outlining and filling in the leaves on your 

strawberry cookies. The leaves on real

strawberries are never perfect or the same, 

and mine aren't either. (That sounds like a good excuse

to cover a mistake, doesn't it?  :))

 Let all the leaves dry. I made 2 dozen of the cookies, so 

I just outlined and filled in all the leaves first.

Then I outlined the rest of the cookie in the strawberry icing.
I went rather low on the top outline because of the danger of
getting the strawberry icing on the green leaf.

Fill in the body of the strawberry, then go back to the top where
the leaf is and push the icing gently with your paintbrush.

There you have it.
When I made my frosting, I used a homemade
strawberry coulis that I made last week, instead
of a store bought sauce.(I'll be posting the recipe for the
coulis tomorrow) The fresh sauce gave the cookies a
true strawberry look because of the flecks of strawberry.
(you can barely see it in the pic)
However, the store bought sauce
might give a more intense flavor.

Check out what everyone else made!

The Freshman Cook is stopping by these parties:
Sunflower Supper Club
Friday Favorites
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Tasty Tuesday
Tutorial Tuesdays