A Cookie for your Heart?

Cupcakes are my "thing." What does Sydney like doing? Baking cupcakes. We're having a party, who wants to bring cake? Sydney does. We need cupcakes for an upcoming event, who should we ask? Sydney probably wants to bring cupcakes.

Well guess what? Yes, I would agree to all those statements. But sometimes Sydney likes baking others things. Sydney has recently entered into an obsession with cookies. Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing. Yes, what a beautiful art.

Now don't get me wrong, I love cupcakes...but I also love cookies and cake and truffles and brownies. So with all of that in mind, I dedicate this post to cookies. Cookies for your heart.

I've been doing a lot of blog searching lately (more than usual) and have stumbled upon some breath-taking techniques for Royal Icing. And of course, I couldn't resist the urge to attempt each and every technique I found. And thanks to so many helpful tutorials, I have mastered lace piping, brush embroidery, and heart-lines.

This was a day-long task, but it was totally worth it in the end. Of course I was a bit sad to have to eat my new creations but they did taste lovely.

So lace piping has been something I've wanted to try for a really long time. But truth-be-told, it scared the crap out of me. It looks so intricate and delicate. But once I found SugarBelle's tutorial, I had to give it a try. And try I did. And to my surprise I did it!

It was so simple! If you examine lace closely, it's just lines connected with symmetry. I won't try to explain how to do it, but please do take a look at the tutorial.

The second technique I conquered was brush embroidery. This is something I've tried before...and failed miserably at. But wait! I did it this time!

So I may not be pro at this one, but it was a huge step up from my last try. This technique is explained over at the Wilton site. I will definitely be practising this more and more, but for a second attempt I'm very happy.

The last method was the easiest ever but it looks really complex. So if you're looking to impress something this Valentine's Day you have to try this.

I don't really know the "official name" for it, but I've decided to call it the heart-line. Because that is just what it is. A line of hearts. So for all of the above techniques, the pink icing has been flooded and set for about two hours before any further work happened. But for this one, that is not the case.

If you haven't heard about flood icing and the different thicknesses of icing, I suggest checking out SugarBelle's page once again. For these heart-line cookies, the icing needs to be at a flooding consistency.

These guys were so easy! My color smudged a bit, but I don't mind much. For a step-by-step guide check out Glorious Treats. Super cool and super easy!

Well this is probably my last post before Valentine's Day. So have a good one; eat lots of chocolate and watch a sappy, romantic movie or two.

T'is the Season of love,

Sydney