With Sprinkles on Top

Last tropical post! Tomorrow I’ll be posting a very colorful and alcoholic treat for St. Patrick’s Day. But until then, SUNSHINES! Early March is usually the breaking point for people who live in cold, northern climates. Spring is so, so close — but not close enough. We frequently get snow well into March and most of us have just had ENOUGH. So I’m trying to be optimistic with these little sunshines. I hope your day is bright and happy!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• The sunshines were made using a flower cookie cutter — a Wilton comfort-grip daisy that I found on Amazon.
• You’ll need three icing colors: yellow, orange, and black. I used Wilton gel colorings for the yellow and orange, and AmeriColor’s Super Black for the black.
• I outlined and flooded the sunshines, waited for the icing to dry completely, then piped on the black eyes and smiley faces. I used a small round pastry tip for step.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes). My yield was about a dozen sunshines; if you need to make more, double the recipe.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

One batch of this icing was enough. The cookies are large, but not much icing is used because of the design.

Stop what you’re doing right now and watch Ze Frank’s True Facts About the Octopus. Just trust me. It’s WEIRD and hilarious and you will thank me. You will also realize that octopi are total badasses. And kind of cute.

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• Octopus cookie cutter was purchased on Amazon.
• I used Wilton’s Sky Blue and Violet gel food colorings. I also used AmeriColor’s Super Black to make the smile.
• The “eyes” were purchased at Target — they are a Wilton product and can be found in the baking aisle.
• I outlined and flooded each octopus with the sky blue icing. After flooding each cookie, drop two “eyes” onto the cookie — do this before the icing has a chance to set.
• Once the cookies were dry, I piped the detailing using purple icing and a small round pastry tip. I also piped a smile onto each octopus — but you could have fun with it and give them all different expressions.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes). The yield will depend on the size of your cookie cutter — I was able to make about a dozen octopi using this recipe.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Note: you may need to make two batches of this icing, depending on how many cookies you are making.

So, confession: I made these cookies after drinking a few cocktails. And I made the discovery that this cookie cutter could be used to make X-rated cookies — just modify these palm trees in a few ways and, uh, yeah. I’m not mature enough for this cookie cutter! But anyway, these are palm trees. Innocent palm trees.

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• As usual, the cookie cutter was purchased on Amazon.
• You’ll need green food coloring and two shades of brown. I used Wilton’s Leaf Green gel coloring, and AmeriColor’s Brown and Light Tan. If you can’t find brown food coloring, an alternative would be to make chocolate royal icing.
• I outlined and flooded the trunk of the tree and the leaves — and allowed the cookies to dry/set completely. Then I piped the detailing on the trunk and leaves. I used a small round pastry tip for the detailing.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes). The yield will depend on the size of your palm trees. My cookie cutter was rather large, so I was able to make about a dozen palm tees with this recipe.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Note: you’ll likely need two batches of this icing (depending on how many cookies you are making).

I’m a sucker for anything having to do with rainbows — because, duh, COLOR! Color that is so neatly organizing in a visually pleasing order. Swoon! Continuing on with my I-wish-I-were-in-Hawaii theme, Hawaii is full of rainbows. You will see at least one every day. I mean, the Hawaii license plate has a rainbow on it. So naturally I had to make rainbow cookies to continue with my tropical theme!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• I bought a rainbow cookie cutter on Amazon.
• You’ll need red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet food coloring. If you want to be super accurate, throw indigo into the mix as well. Because, you know, Roy G. Biv. I used Wilton gel colors.
• There is no outlining or flooding involved with these cookies. All I did was pipe lines of icing onto the cookies to make the rainbow. You’ll need a round pastry tip for this — I would stick with a medium-sized tip. Make sure that your royal icing isn’t too runny. You want icing that will hold its shape after piping.
• For some reason (likely due to white balancing issues with my camera), it looks like my rainbows are missing purple. It looks like I made two sweeps with blue icing. Weird!

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes). The yield will depend on the size of the cookies you make. I made a couple dozen rainbows.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

You will likely need to make two batches of this icing in order to have enough to make all the necessary colors for the rainbows.

Hope you enjoyed the pineapples, whales, and rainbows! Palm trees, octopi, and sunshines are comin’ up next.

One of my favorite things about going to Hawaii is whale watching. You can take boat trips out to see the whales — or you can sit on the beach and watch the whales from the shore. If you visit Hawaii in the winter, it’s like whale soup — the humpbacks are everywhere. Whales are such fascinating animals. They seem to be such gentle giants. As a result of these vacations, I’ve been obsessed with whales since childhood. If it’s got a whale on it, I will buy it!

If you are a new to decorating with royal icing, here are some helpful tips and links:

• I used my grandma’s sugar cookie recipe, which is listed below.  Another good cut-out cookie recipe can be found at Bridget’s wonderful Bake at 350.
• I used a royal icing recipe from Annie’s Eats, which is listed below.
• If you are new to decorating with royal icing, please visit this post by Annie’s Eats, which will teach you about outlining and flooding.  Bake at 350 is also a great resource for cookie decorating and ideas (I love Bridget’s book, too!).

Here are the specifics on how I made these cookies:

• I bought my whale cookie cutter on Amazon.
• The eyes were purchased at a local baking shop — but I know that Target sells the Wilton version of candy eyes.
• You will need the following food colorings: sky blue and royal blue. I use Wilton gel colorings.
• Outline the cookie in dark blue icing, and flood with a lighter shade of blue. Drop an eyeball onto each cookie before the light blue icing dries.
• Once the icing has dried, pipe a smile onto each whale with dark blue icing.

Omi’s Sugar Cookies
Print Recipe
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon nutmeg

Beat butter and sugar. Add egg, sour cream, and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients gradually. Chill the batter overnight or for at least 4 hours. Roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350F until golden (in true fashion, my grandma didn’t give a specific baking time. I baked the cookies for about 8 minutes). The yield will depend on the size of your cookie cutter — I made a few dozen whales with this recipe.

White Royal Icing
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tablespoons meringue powder
5 Tablespoons water

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the sheen has disappeared and the icing has a matte appearance (about 7-10 minutes).  Transfer the contents of the mixing bowl to an air-tight container. This will be the stiffest consistency of the icing, and at this point it is still too stiff to use for decorating. Add water a very small amount at a time and stir by hand until fully incorporated. Continue until the icing has reached a consistency appropriate for piping.

Note: depending on how many cookies you make, you may need to make two batches of this icing.