Sugar Coated Nanagrams

Beach Themed Cookie Tutorial

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Beach Cookie

The first time I saw these beach cookies with flip flops on the “sand,” I fell in love with them.

Mine aren’t even close to the ones that Michelle of Make Me Cake Me made, but hers were my inspiration.  If you read the About section of this blog, you will see that my main goal isn’t to produce perfect cookies, but to reach anyone, especially senior citizens, who are afraid to tackle cookie decorating and encourage them to give it a try.  It’s a lot of fun and learning something new is good for the brain!!

I started this journey very late in life (66) and my focus all along was to make fun things to send to my kids and grand-kids, and anyone else that I wanted to surprise with a goody box.  Everything you will see here are things that I have made and sent to friends and family.

 

My beach themed cookies!

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Start with a baked cookie in whatever shape you like.  My favorite recipe is here. You will need Royal Icing in white, blue and tan. You will also need sanding sugar for the “sand.”  I didn’t have any tan sanding sugar, so I improvised and colored my own. Did you know that you can color your own sanding sugar?  Neither did I until I read the fabulous Sugarbelle’s blog post.

Start by gathering your supplies.  I decorate my cookies on a folded paper towel because I make a mess of the frosting every time I try to rotate a cookie.  By putting it on the paper towel, I can rotate the cookie easily. In addition to the paper towel you will need:

  • a stylus or toothpicks
  • a damp paper towel to wipe your decorating tip
  • an edible marker to draw your design on the cookie
  • a flat edged paint brush to make the waves

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Draw the shape of the water with an edible marker,  and then outline and fill with the blue/green icing.

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Once the “water” has completely dried, you can outline and fill the sand part of the cookie.  While it is still wet, hold your cookie over a coffee filter and cover with the sanding sugar.  Using a coffee filter to catch your extra sanding sugar works great. When you are done it is very easy to pour all of the extra sanding sugar back into the jar.

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Next, pipe two dots of colored frosting onto the sand.  Using a stylus or toothpick, coax the two dots together to resemble a flip flop.  After that is dry, pipe small white lines to look like the top of flip flops.  I forgot to take a picture of this step!

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When the sand part of the cookie has dried (over night is best), brush the excess sanding sugar dust from the water part of the cookie, and pipe a line of stiff white Royal Icing along the edge of the water.

Dampen a paint brush and then dry it on a paper towel.  Use just the edge of the paintbrush to pull the frosting onto the water to make it look like foam.

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As a afterthought, I thought I would try to make a whale’s tail.  I piped a small blob of frosting and then used my stylus to make the tail shape.  Clearly I didn’t remember what a whale’s tale looks like, because mine are a little strange looking. Have I mentioned that perfection is over-rated?

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Starfish Cookie

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I used a star cookie cutter to make the Starfish Cookies. Once they were cut out, I bent the points a little to resemble a starfish.

After the cookies are cool, outline and fill them with the color of your choice.  I used tan, but it might be fun to make them in a variety of colors.  You don’t need to wait until the cookies are totally dry before adding the dots and the eyes. Once the frosting has crusted over, after about 30-45 minutes, you can (carefully) add the dots. The eyes that I used are transfers that I made a long time ago. Sometimes, when I have left over frosting, I make transfers to keep on hand.  I used to make the eyes complete with black centers, but I don’t anymore.  I found that the black rubs off onto the white parts when they are stored in a small container.  You can use a small dot of black icing or a dot of black edible marker to finish the eyes and to make the mouth.  The tweezers that I use are made to be used for threading serger sewing machines, but they work better than anything else I have tried for placing transfers onto frosting.  I will create a post about transfers soon.  They are so much fun to make!!

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I hope you have as much fun as I did, making these cookies.  Please share photos of your fun, summery cookies!

Sugar Cookies

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olaffinalThis is another recipe that my fabulous mother-in-law gave me.  This is the recipe she used for the Santa Claus cookies that were a part of every Christmas cookie plate that she made.  They continue to be part of her children and grandchildren’s Christmas tradition to this day.

Our family still makes them the same way every year. They are really silly looking, but we all love them and it wouldn’t be Christmas without these cookies.

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The reason that I love this recipe, in addition to its wonderful flavor, is they don’t spread at all, and they keep their cut out shape very well.  I re-roll my scraps at the very end, because the more you roll the dough, the less stable it becomes and it may bubble or lose shape.  I notice it most often on circles and squares.  The first ones I cut out are the ones that I need for a specific purpose.  The last ones I cut are for my home cookie jar because my husband doesn’t care if they are misshapen.  He loves them all!

One important thing I have learned is to not soften my butter too much.  You want to be able to press on it and leave your finger mark but not soft enough to spread on bread easily.  Another tip is to not mix the dough too long for the most tender cookie.  Mix it only until it all comes together.

Sugar Cookies

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Approx. 3+ dozen 3″ cookies

    • 1 Cup (8 ounces) butter, slightly softened*
    • 1 1/2 Cups (315 grams) granulated sugar
    • 3 large eggs
    • 1 tsp lemon extract**
    • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 4 1/4 Cups (522 grams) flour ***

Mix butter and granulated sugar until thoroughly blended. You don’t need to “cream” your butter and sugar. The more you mix your dough at each stage the more your cookies will spread while being baked. Add eggs and extracts.  Mix well.  Add flour, mix until just combined.  Do not over mix your dough. Separate the dough into 2 or 3 balls, flatten and wrap in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.  The dough can also be frozen at this point.  Defrost it in the refrigerator.  The dough will keep for a few days, in the refrigerator.

Take one piece of dough out and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes.  The dough will be very hard, but it softens quickly.  Working with one section of dough at a time, roll the dough on a floured surface, to about 1/4″ thickness, and cut into desired shapes.  Less is more when it comes to flouring your pastry cloth.  The more flour you incorporate into the rolled dough, the tougher your cookies will be.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are slightly brown on the bottom.  All ovens are different so keep an eye on your cookies the first time you make them to determine the best time for your oven.

*Make sure you don’t over soften your butter. You should be able to make an  dent with your finger when pressed but not so soft that your finger will go right into the butter.

**You may substitute any other flavoring you may prefer for the lemon but don’t eliminate the vanilla. Be aware of nut allergies if you choose to use almond extract.

***This dough is stickier than some recipes.  I roll my cookies out on a pastry cloth with flour so this recipe allows for some added flour from the rolling  process.  If you do not use flour to roll your cookies you may add an additional 1/4 cup of flour to the recipe.

Royal Icing recipe can be found here

This is the recipe for the original frosting that we used for the sugar cookies.  It’s a delicious frosting.  It will crust some which makes it perfect for stacking, with waxed paper between layers.

If you want to learn the easiest, most incredible way to fill your icing bag, check out Karen’s video.  Just so you know, I’m not compensated in any way to link Karen’s shop, but she is really terrific to deal with and very responsive to any questions you might have.