A little experiment in between...

So really, I have enough to do right now...just finished the retirement cookies and the tasty cookies, making a 20 piece set for a nice lady in Schaffhausen, and 24 cupcakes for tomorrow, but I so desperately wanted to try this stained glass window effect cookie...

Well it started with the cupcakes actually, having to make them for a collegue who works for a russian company. Then I wanted to see what type of "russian cookie" I could try and found nothing that was easy enough to pipe, so I thought why not paint. And then I found this exact picture, as a stained glass window and thought, there you go!

First I tried to make glaze instead of royal icing, to make it look shinier. I don't like this medium, and it made lots of bubbles, but, you can't tell when you paint over it. I don't know how long it takes to dry, so I was a bit too quick, and tracing the lines I needed made me poke through sometimes...! But I covered it with paint... 

Anyway, much too much detail for anything really. In reality, this cookie is a bit on the messy side, I will only show it off on picture to make myself look really talented, HA!!!

So that's it for the in between cookie, back to reality now!! Hope you like!!!

Yummy cookies

You know I love cookies, everything about them makes me happy really...I like that it's a portionned dessert...you know what I mean? I sort of don't ever know what to do faced with a cake. I tend to think, ok, not too big a piece but will I look like I am on a diet if I say cut me a sliver? What if I don't like the topping, I will have to finish the entire piece! Well, cookies are not only usually really tasty or at least pretty, they are quite litterally bite-sized. You can have one and be polite or 10 and be an ogre. Whatever you choose, the person who made them will be happy. My favortite cookies are still, the chocolate chip, and most specifically, this particular recipe that I am too lazy to write, but if someone wants it, I am more than willing to share! It is so soft and chewy, melt in your mouth! I am sure, if you prefer a crispier version, just leave it in the oven for 4 minutes more and you would have a perfect crispy CCC. But, I like soft and chewy...anyway, let me move on...

A few months ago, I delivered some whoopie pies for a lovely lady in Ireland whose sister lives here in Switzerland. Well, she has ordered again (yay a returning customer!!!) and this time, had another special request! How to integrate our wonderful swiss chocolate, specifically Cailler Branches Chocolates, into a cookie? I felt there was no point in chopping it up and use as CC because you wouldn't recognize them as that particular chocolate. We both agreed stuffing a piece in the middle would be best.

I made exactly 4 extras, took a picture and gave one piece to Andy, took the other for myself...needless to say, without tooting my own horn...they are delicious! Maybe the chocolate looks puny sized in the picture, but it is just right, and the dough is heavenly! So I will be sending them off this morning and hope that they will arrive tomorrow morning...and just to see, I used one of the spares to breakfast on this morning, and we were right last night...really really YUMMY!!! 

                                      

Hope you like these!! What kind of cookies do you guys like best to eat? Have a great day!!

A little cuteness after the Motörhead cookie...

Hello everyone! Well, after being so excited about posting my extremelly time consumming Motörhead cookie, I felt a bit cheated... LOL! Wow I sound like a big baby! No, the thing is, in the last few weeks, I have been getting huge feedback for my cookies on facebook, from people I don't know, and especially, from cookie decorators. When I posted my most complicated, and by far my best, I thought oooh, everyone will love this and everyone will share it and I will be blushing with pleasure...well, no. It didn't happen. People commented, yes, but only one dared put it on their own page! People want cute cookies! Or, they just don't want to talk about me anymore. Either way, I felt I needed to prove that I wasn't over, I needed to come up with something cute PRONTO!!! So I came up with CowHead. Why you ask? Well, not knowing if the Motörhead would work out, I had made about 10 cookies, but only used one. So I have a bunch of unused baked cookies...and I felt I needed to do the exact same cookie, but cute, and it had to have the word head in it, and it had to have some pink, some flowers and a pair of horns. This is what I came up with...

I wanted her to be chewing on some straw, and it had to have some dimension...

I am really happy about her mouth and teeth...

So that's it, this is my bid to save my cookie decorating reputation, produce some cuteness again, and I am very happy to say I used my own imagination, didn't use an internet image...but one thing is for sure, I will be going back to icing cookies for awhile, fondant is massively time consumming!!! Hope you guys like my cow! Have a nice weekend!

Motörhead Cookies...yes, you read correctly...

A few days ago, I was sort of wondering what my next project would be...pretty certain it would be something for me...I mean right now I am lucky to even be making so many things for others considering my site still isn't up...but mostly I try to improve my skills by making things I find pretty and trying new things. That same evening, after having decided what I was going to do (can't actually remember now!), I got an email from my brother-in-law with a picture asking if I could make a cookie. Just one. Of the Motörhead logo. I looked at it and sighed. Then I looked at it again and thought, my god, what an ugly logo. And by the 3rd time I looked, I saw a challenge. Once I printed the logo, I had figured out what my best option was.

Ok, so, first, I thought, I will be making a few and whichever, if any, turn out correctly, he will get. I thought, my best best, entirely out of fondant would look the best, but I have only ever made one cookie with fondant (canadian cancer society cookies) and it wasn't all too challenging... so I figured I would try with royal icing as well, and then if nothing worked, I would try to take an easier logo of motörhead than the sent picture. So I made about 10 cookies, but only ended up decorating one. Why?

Well, first of all, it took me 6 hours to make. Second, it turned out pretty much perfect, I wouldn't know how to get it better and I doubt I would be able to make it again! So here you have it people, 6 hours of work, hand cut, modeled, painted, repainted, repainted and repainted to produce probably my very best made cookie, but certainly one of the ugliest cookies ever made as well!!! 

3d effect...

Here next to the picture I got...the eyes aren't coming out much on this picture, but you can see from the others that they are indeed red.

I put it up on facebook last night, and to be honest, I think most people either think it's something else than a cookie or it's too creepy for them! Either way, it's not a favorite of most I think!! But, to counter such darkness, I have come up with a plan. An equally long task, but I am sure if it works out, most will melt under its cuteness factor. In the meantime, Rock On!!!

I love decorating cookies...

Hello everyone! You may have noticed something of a theme starting in the last few weeks...cookies. I do enjoy making cupcakes, and I really would like to try my hand more at fondant figures and such, and god knows I still need to work on the cakepops, but cookies are really starting to be an all consumming passion. I can't believe it's only been 9 months since my first cookie. I keep thinking about the fact that I didn't even know cookies like this existed! I knew you could get gingerbread men and all, but I really didn't think you could even decorate a cookie! Well, without my little Lily, I wouldn't have found this special world and I wouldn't have known about all my new cookie friends on facebook who are so talented I can actually sit in front of the computer for an hour in awe of their creations. I am just honored to even call myself a cookie decorator! I love cookies!

Ok, now you know how I feel, I can tell you about my latest ones. I have been playing around alot lately with cute designs I have found on the internet : on etsy, on facebook, on google...and always I get the permission for use to decorate cookies and post on the internet.  I get my trusty Kopykake and try to get my hand to not overshadow all the lines I am supposed to be pipping and I love it because it allows me to be way better at my passion than if I was doing free hand. Well, for these next cookies, I felt it was time to actually try a few designs I could do free hand. Turns out, when you have a concept and it is not too crazy, it can work out for people like me that are not particularly talented when it comes to drawing! So I am particularly proud of these birthday cookies I made upon request from my father-in-law for 2 friends. (Ok, I used the kopykake for the writing, I didn't want my squiggly writing on an otherwise pretty cookie!!)

The middle and right cakes are made using a Sweetambs technique...and although my royal icing wasn't of perfect consistency, they turned out quite well I find! The pink one, well the lines are a bit shaky, but I still like the effect...

These I really loved making. Sparkles, sugar, sprinkles, and, they look like cupcakes! Perfect! And I just love how the Happy 15th birthday came out. This was my best pipped writing yet! I am really happy about this!

Smiling...

And the best part...they loved the cookies! And I loved making them. Really, there is nothing quite as satisfying as cookie making. Can't wait to come up with the next designs!

British cookies!!

Hello everyone! If some of you look in regularly, you must've wondered why I was taking so long to post anything...the rest of you just looking in on a whim may be happy to see that it wasn't totally for nothing! For those wondering, my husband, baby and I were in London for a few days, shopping, enjoying our time off and just loving everything british. So when we came back, I was inspired...not that I can actually draw, so, all I knew is, I am looking for cute London/England designs that go well on cookies. And on etsy, I came upon this shop : http://www.etsy.com/shop/tinyapron?ref=ss_profile%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20?ref=ss_items  Sorry, I am terrible at linking things, I am not even sure if this'll work! Anyway, if you look up tinyapron on etsy, you will find this lovely lady's wonderful designs, as notes, and such. She was nice enough to make a special listing for me to just download the pictures...and voilà! British cookies!!

This is for you to see that the design is almost the same as the cookies (thank you kopykake projector), I tried to get as many small details as possible in there, but some of the colours I left out because there were too many and at some point I get tired, or Lily wants attention...I cut corners!!!

My favorite...colourful big ben! It's much prettier than the real thing I might add...

I love the bus! I even copied the way she writes. Any other type of writing wouldn't have went with the drawing I find...

A cup of tea perhaps?

I wish they all had hearts on the top...did I even see one in London though??

The little ones...I love the flag in a heart...great idea!!

Just so you know, I made these on a new recipe I found by a lovely baker : Created by Diane. I again don't know how to link it to the blog, but look her up...what are these cookies? PEANUT BUTTER roll out cookies!!!! Yeah!!! They are superb! Even for people who don't like peanut butter! So that's that! My hommage to England! Hope you all like them!!

Japanese Cookies!

A few days ago, I got some lovely scrapbooking paper for a project I am making from Scrapbook.com (the funnest place to shop online ever!!!). Amongst them, a Basic Grey collection with the name Konnichiwa. You guessed it, a japanese theme, with the most beautiful graphics...I knew right away I wanted to put this paper on cookie. Just for me, you know? I have been doing so much stuff, practicing, waiting for my website, working, baby, etc. I think I still make mistakes while making cookies, but, I am really getting close to being very good, so I want to do something I WANT TO DO!!!! So here it is! I hope you guys like them as much as I do!!

First I wanted to make a nice background-I decided to go ahead and make the outlines of the cookies black, and I think that was the best decision ever!! For the rest I used white, and went with wet on wet icing-for the fish, water waves, for the rest, either leaves or flowers.

I then made the outlines of the cookies I wanted to have in black. In retrospect, apart from the trees, I should have made them all like that-it really is the look I prefer.

The final result!

The girl on the bridge is my favorite but is still proof that I have to slow down and learn a bit more-I should have corrected my icing consistency before filling the bridge-I have holes everywhere in it!

I like how the tree came out-I gave it some background, to make it look like it has flowers in the front and the back of it-made it look fuller. I think the birdy is quite cute as well!

Got the icing really thick for the leaves...

I just really like the fish...

And this guy.

I know I should have taken a picture of the paper, or used it as background, but I was too lazy!! One thing I have to share though is this, it's pretty much a carbon copy. I loved the colours on the paper so much, that if there is a variation on it, then it's just because I was too lazy to make a colour, or I was to hasty to throw it out. I really really need to slow down with the cookie making-stop making so many mistakes Heidi!!!! How do you guys like them?

Mother's day cookies

Ok, so 2 postings in a day with cookies is a bit much maybe... I am reducing my chances of having more people read my blog and putting less emphasis on my last post, so really it's like shooting myself in the foot, right? But what could I do? I made the horsefly cookies a week ago and couldn't post them before because it had to be a surprise, and today I finished a new batch and I wanted to share them with you because they came out really well!!!

Ok, my inspiration, well, really, it's more like a copy (but copying is the highest form of flattery right?) is   http://iambaker.net/mothers-day-ideas . I saw this a few days ago on pinterest and felt there wasn't a prettier mother's day present out there, and because my husband didn't have anything for his mom, I decided to go ahead and make a german version of it! (To set things straight, I would have loved to make this for my mom, but I had already sent her something, and I was afraid that this would break in the post).

First step, pretty jar. Well, I didn't have to go far, just the next village! Step two, embellishements.  I found this pretty washi tape in the same store (a bit wintry really, but I loved the colour) and used another pinterest entry as inspiration to make my own baker's twine. You don't see it very well in the pictures but it turned out pretty enough, considering I spent about 1 minute on it.

Step three, the cookies! I flooded them white, put some sparkle on right away (unfortunately you don't see it very well in the picture, but it's a very pretty effect!) This morning I added some words to describe Andy's mom on them (chosen by me, approved by Andy). It was the first time writing came out pretty, I usually have problems with that...I mean they aren't perfect, but it's getting there!

The present is ready to be given!!

I wanted the hole for the twine to be extra cute and went for heart shaped...

Filled to the brim with love and tastiness!

What do you guys think? Will she be happy? Well, if Lily would give me this, I would be happy! It'll take a few more years though... Happy Mother's Day to all the good mother's out there!!

Feminine Horsefly Cookies!!!

Ok, so this cookie making adventure actually started with a cupcake order. A wonderful work collegue of mine wanted about 40 mini cupcakes for a fieldtrip with 20 other of my work collegues. She asked a few months ago, and the theme was going to be alcohol...or at least I had to deliver something with a bit of booze in there to get the ladies warmed up!! But realizing how much I love to make cookies, she changed her order about a month ago, to 20 pretty decorated cookies and 40 tasty ones. For those, no problem, black and white cookie all the way!!! But the pretty cookies... then she gave me a theme. An old Swiss song about, well I am not too sure what it's about, but in the refrain, it's about horseflies going over the Gotthard pass. And I had a flash that these 20 work collegues of mine were the horseflies, but cute! So I looked on the internet for inspiration and found NONE!!! What to do? Well, actually, pretty easy, ask my very talented brother to draw me a feminine horsefly! And this is the sketch he came up with, in 10 minutes he later revealed-this would have taken me a week to figure out how to draw...I loved it immediately and tried to figure out how to make every cookie unique, while using this sketch...(don't you love that her legs lengthen into high heel shoes???)

And this is what I came up with. I tried to make every fly have different colours, different wings, some with sparkle, others without, and slightly different purse shapes. I added a tiny fondant flower on every one of them to make even more feminine.
I needed a few very glamourous ones as well, they got sunglasses and loads of sparkling things...

The blue here was actually a very pretty purple, but my camera doesn't capture that colour correctly...

 Here is the entire lot of them!

 And finally, I got some treat bag labels designed on etsy for 7.- Francs, printed them out, and voilà! A nice souvenir of their trip, or a horsefly that one is happy to get in one's mouth! I hadn't told my collegue I would be making a special treat bag, I think it was a good step to take though, makes it look so much more finished and cute!

So that's that! My horsefly cookies, the funnest I have made till now, and thank you to my brother, Chris Keller, for the fantastic sketch. I hope I get unusual requests in the future so as to get more original sketches from him for my cookies again!!

Next time, mother's day cookies! Look in again at the end of the week!!

Always make time for a dozen mini cupcakes...

I was rather surprised when my mother-in-law asked me to make some cupcakes for her friends birthday a few days ago... How should I put this...I think she really liked the cupcakes I made for her birthday last year (they were a surprise) but she wasn't very vocal about it, so I really didn't quite know what she really thought. For those of you who used to read my old blog, they were the cupcakes with the tiny roses on them? Ah, let me put up a small reminder... Anyway, up until a few days ago, I wasn't sure if she was quite into the whole cupcake, That Baking Girl, new life direction thing... 

But then she asked if I had time to make something simple for her friend...well, I like simple, and I like complicated, I especially like trying a few new things while using the tried and tested. 

So while I was in the middle of a cookie order (will only be able to post up the result next wednesday, but ladies and gentleman be warned, the cookies are CUTE!!!), I fit in the making and decorating of 12 mini cupcakes. I made the fondant banner that same evening so it could get hard and stay in shape. Used rubber stamp letters to imprint into it and then filled it with powdered food paint. Happy Birthday!

And with the new came the routine...the buttercream flowers. They just always achieve a prettiness with simplicity... For those of you wondering, the buttercream is the exact colour of the banner, but I have noticed that my sony camera turns almost all purple tones into blue or grey. It probably left the right colour on the banner because of the contrast to the white buttercream? Anyway...won't get into technology tonight!

So these were my cupcakes in the midst of cookie overload! Stay tuned for some buzzing cookies!!!