So this post is WAY late but I did go to a lot of trouble to make these favors, especially since I was 7 months pregnant! So I definitely still wanted to put the post up, even though it's way too late to get credit for participating in the September Daring Baker's Challenge. It just so happened that the September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.
I have always wanted try my hand at making some of those "professional" looking cutout decorated sugar cookies around. Those Cookies By Design places can charge 3 or 4 dollars per cookie so that certainly would add up fast if you were to use them for a wedding or party favor.
My mom was having my baby shower at her house and we went back and forth about favors, she wanted to just hand out random desserts but I wanted a more uniform favor that was packaged and ready to go, and preferrably something special that I've handmade. We still had an assortment of delicious pastries and confections for dessert. So, I decided the sugar cookies would be great for favors, plus I'd be completing a Daring Baker's challenge, which I haven't done so much while being pregnant. I decided on the "onesie" cut out shape and chose four different designs that I liked, using neutral colors (since we didn't know if it would be a boy or a girl!).
I used royal icing to decorate the tops of the cookies, which isn't my favorite flavor of icing at all, but it hardens nicely and you can do some intricate decorating. This was my first time doing "fill in" work for cookie decorating and it went pretty well, though at first I overflowed on a few cookies until I got the right consistencies and techniques down. The cookie recipe was just OK, I added some grated nutmeg and also some flavorings into the royal icing but I must be honest I won't use this recipe again. You can find the recipe here on Mandy's great blog! I thought the cookies definitely kept their shape well, and the icing certainly was good for packaging.
Thanks to Mandy for a great Daring Baker's Challenge, and sorry that my post is about 6 months late! At least I did the challenge part on time!
I just may steal this idea if the right time comes along! My mom and I always make cut out Christmas cookies. Maybe I will try to add extra detail this year. Was the frosting good when you ate the cookie or was it too hard?
ReplyDeleteMelissa Byrne
The frosting wasn't too hard but it tasted like royal icing - so you know how that goes - not exactly my favorite cookie topping... however, if detail/design is the #1 priority, I think it is a good choice. Some kind of buttercream/cream cheese frosting would look frumpy (but taste good of course!). I think the royal icing could have been dressed up with more flavors - I only used a little vanilla and/or almond extract and they have all sorts of flavors out there - that may have helped! They tasted good, but just like general sugar cookies.
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