Ice Cream Cone & Pennant Banner Cookies

The past two weeks have been crazy busy in my kitchen! Unfortunately, all the craziness has left me no time to actually work on the blog recipes I’ve been intending to do....  So, instead, I’m going to do a little peek into one of my recent projects.

Two weeks ago, my kitchen was all about making banana pudding for roughly 200 people.  And, because I’m always paranoid that I’m not making enough food, I also made 6 dozen red velvet cupcakes *just in case.* Then, this past week has been all about a very important sugar cookie order....

I received an order for ice cream cone decorated sugar cookies for an almost-4-year-old’s birthday party.  While I was brainstorming the design, her mom sent me a picture of the birthday party invitation, because I always like to match colors where I can :)

But, in looking at the invitation, I came up with the idea of adding a second cookie design, based on the invitation design: some square cookies with a piped pennant banner/bunting.

Both the designs coordinated together, but they also had their differences.  The banner cookies had a touch more whimsy, in my opinion, while the ice cream cones were a little more stylized.

True to my art school background, I did a ton of sketches for these cookies, especially the ice cream cones!  I wanted there to be enough variation in the “flavors” with as few repeats as possible, which required me to sketch & color each and *every single* cone on paper before the piping process even began.

I added the piped cakes/cupcakes/ice cream cones to the banner cookies somewhat as an after thought (they were all elements of the invitation design).  But those little details have become one of my favorite parts! I would have piped even more detail, but I figured it was time to reign in my creative juices.   

I’ve also been chronicling this cookie adventure on Instagram & have had several people request royal icing recipe, so I’ll be including those at the bottom of the post.  And in case anyone wanted to know how I decorated each cookie design, I’m including that too. I seriously love decorating cookies! More than once this past week I’ve told my husband  how much I wish I could play with royal icing on a daily basis & get paid a decent wage for it.  But that dream probably won’t happen while we’re living in the middle of nowhere in Texas....  Oh well, a girl can dream :)

ICE CREAM CONE COOKIES 

Needed ingredients & equipment

• sugar cookies that have been baked two days previously & stored in airtight containers. 
• Royal Icing in pastry bags (I LOVE to use this method of putting the icing into plastic wrap first). 
• cone colored: outlining consistency & flooding consistency
• various ice cream colors (light pink, dark pink, orange, ivory/vanilla, chocolate, mint are the colors I used) in a 20-second-type consistency (sort of between outlining & flooding) 
• Multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles
• chocolate jimmies/sprinkles 
• Tweezers for placing jimmies/sprinkles 
• Toothpicks to spread icing & pop any bubbles
• Confectioners sugar, as needed, to thicken the icing. 

PLAIN ICE CREAM CONE COOKIES 

1.  Outline the bottom V of the cone with the cone colored icing. Reserve any leftover icing. Allow to dry. 
2. Flood the inner portion of the cone with the thinner icing. Use a toothpick to help spread the icing if necessary & to pop any bubbles that may appear.  On some cones, I left a “drip line”  free from icing (on the cone portion) that I would later fill with ice cream colored icing. Allow to dry. 
3. Use more of the outlining consistency to pipe the lines on the cone.  Allow to dry completely. I left mine at least 8 hrs to ensure it was totally dry. 
4. Once the cone icing is dry, use a 20-second-type icing consistency to make a general outline of the bottom ice cream scoop & fill in that outline. Be careful that the icing doesn’t spill over the edge.  Use a toothpick to help spread the icing & to pop any air bubbles as soon as they’re visible. Allow to dry roughly half an hour. 
5. Once the bottom ice cream flavor has begun to set, pipe the top ice cream scoop by making a general outline & then filling that outline. Allow to dry completely. I left mine overnight.  
6. Slightly thicken a portion of each ice cream colored icing by sifting a little confectioners sugar over the icing & gently stirring it to combine.  Place the thickened icing into a piping bag--because I didn’t need as much for this detail, I placed it into small parchment piping bags I made from triangles of parchment.  Pipe squiggly lines over the bottom of each ice cream cone to simulate the “ruffle” of the bottom of a scoop of ice cream.  

SPRINKLE & JIMMIE TOPPED ICE CREAM VARIATION

1.  After top ice cream scoop has been piped (and all other icing is dry) in step 5 above, carefully & evenly place the sprinkles or jimmies. I even use a pair of tweezers, if necessary. Try not to move the sprinkles around once placed.  Allow to harden completely, then continue with step 6. 

CHOCOLATE SAUCE & SPRINKLES TOPPED ICE CREAM VARIATION

1.  When piping the top ice cream scoop, in step 5 above, leave the top third of the scoop free from icing & leave spaces for the chocolate sauce to “drip”. Allow to dry completely. I left mine overnight.
2. Once the top ice cream scoop is dry, pipe the chocolate sauce pattern, making sure the “drips” are well visible.  
3. Then, carefully place sprinkles, using tweezers if necessary.  Allow to harden completely, then continue with step 6. 

PENNANT BANNER/BUNTING COOKIES

Needed ingredients & equipment

• square sugar cookies that have been baked two days previously & stored in airtight containers. 
• Royal Icing in pastry bags (I LOVE to use this method of putting the icing into plastic wrap first ) or in cornets, also known as pastry bags made from parchment triangles
• white colored: outlining consistency & flooding consistency
• pink, blue, green, and orange icing: slightly thinned outlining consistency. {I put these colors in cornets & just barely cut the tips right before use}
• add chocolate & cone colored icing, if planning to add the piped baked items. {I put these colors in parchment bags} 
• Multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles
• Toothpicks to spread icing & pop any bubbles
• Confectioners sugar, as needed, to thicken the icing.

1.  Begin by outlining the cookies with outlining consistency white icing.  Allow to dry.
2. Fill the inside of the cookies with the flooding consistency white icing.  Use a toothpick to pop any bubbles that appear. Allow to dry completely. I let mine dry overnight. 
3. Before beginning piping the banner, figure out the color order for the pennants. Place the piping bags in color order on a plate to make the process run more smoothly. 
4. Piping the pennant banner: Pipe a semi-diagonal line for the base of the banner.   Vary the line slightly, so that it goes different directions, if desired.  Let it dry slightly while piping lines on the rest of the cookies. Next, make the flags by piping connecting triangle outlines in different colors. Fill in the triangles, using a tooth pick to help with the bottom point, if necessary. 
5. Optional, piping the baked items. Pipe the bottom “table” color.  Allow to dry for 10 minutes. Use the chocolate colored icing to pipe the layer cake shape. Add sprinkles with a tooth pick, if desired. Pipe the cake stand shape. Add either a cupcake or an ice cream cone.  For the cupcake, pipe the liner color first, then a little bit of visible cake and finish by piping the icing swirl. For the ice cream cone, pipe the cone shape & the ice cream top. Let dry slightly then go back & add the ruffle to the bottom of the ice cream scoop. 
6. Optional, add a dot border around the edges of the cookies that didn’t get the piped baked goods. 

SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
can be found in this post 

ROYAL ICING RECIPE
I don’t remember where I initially found this recipe... I just have it written on a random post-it note in my recipe journal. If you know the source, please let me know and I will immediately credit this recipe! 

2lbs Confectioners sugar
2.25 oz / 6 Tbl Meringue Powder
3/4 c Warm Water
1 Tbl Vanilla Extract 

1.  In the very clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the confectioners sugar & meringue powder. Mix on low speed to combine. 
2. Add the warm water, increase the mixer speed to medium high & beat until thick, glossy & very white, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. 
3. Stir in the vanilla extract.  Scrape the sides of the bowl & mix on low speed until any unincorporated ingredients have been combined.  
4. Place the icing in a clean airtight container.  Wet a couple of paper towels & place the towels directly on the surface of the icing.  Top with a good cover & refrigerate until ready to use.  
5. When ready to use, remove from the fridge & add small portions of the icing into a bowl.  Color & thin the icing as necessary. Scrape the icing onto plastic wrap & form into packets (see instructions here). Store any unused packets or leftover icing in the refrigerator. I like to tint my icing at least a day before I plan to use it because some of the colors develop further overnight.  Save some icing as white in case you need to tone down any icing colors right before use.  
6. If you need to thin the icing for any reason, a clean spray bottle is the easiest way to add a little water as needed.  Colored icing that has been thinned should not be stored longterm (it begins to separate).  

RAWR! It's a baby shower!

This past weekend, I helped throw a baby shower for my friend Mary.  She & her husband are expecting their first baby (a boy!) in August.  We’re really so excited for them.

In honor of Mary & baby, we threw a brunch baby shower with copious amounts of amazing food, a mimosa bar (with sparkling juice for the expectant ladies), tasteful games & lots and lots of laughter! There’s nothing quite like a good celebration! Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, babies, just because.... I’ll take any excuse for a party.  I especially like the celebrations that have specific themes AND involve real paper invitations :)

Way back in the planning stages, I was given three specific “tasks” to oversee for the shower 1) the paper products (like the invitations, food tags, signs, etc.) 2) making some of my favorite croissants and 3) thank you favors for the ladies attending to take home with them.  Paper products, croissants & favors happen to be three of my favorite things!  I had SO much fun with the preparations for this shower.

The bedding Mary picked out for the baby had really adorable dinosaurs on it. The colors from the bedding & those dinosaurs became the inspiration for the paper products & the favors.

Originally, we had planned to do chocolate chip cookies for the favors.  But on a recent trip to San Antonio, I found adorable dinosaur cookie cutters at Hobby Lobby, and I was able to convince the other host-ladies to let me do decorated dinosaur cookies instead. I packaged the cookies so that each shower attendee received a brontosaurus cookie and either a stegosaurus or a t-rex.

I’ve done a fair number of cookie designs, but these cute dinosaurs might be some of my favorites....  They do take a bit of planning & time, but are totally worth it in the end! Here’s how I created them.

• My cookie workflow is this... 
• Day 1: make the dough. 
• Day 2: roll out & bake the cookies.  Store in an airtight container overnight. 
• Day 3: make icing, outline & flood cookies. 
• Day 4: add any intricate details.
• Day 5: package & deliver cookies. 
• If you’d like to reference my favorite cookie recipe, read this post .  
• The royal icing I use comes from Callye at Sweet Sugar Belle.  
• I always use AmeriColor Soft Gel Paste Food Color to dye my icing
• I only color as much icing as I need for each specific step & I always hold back a little original white icing in case I need to make icing thicker.  
• Last christmas I started putting my icing into plastic wrap packets before putting them into the pastry bags & that technique has been life changing!  So much easier & less messy (plus, I can easily re-use pastry bags). 
• Store any leftover icing in the refrigerator.  I never like to throw away any remaining icing until the cookies are all done, just in case of any accidents. Murphy’s Law does seem to love me....  

Brontosaurus cookies 

Colors used: sky blue, leaf green and a tiny bit of chocolate brown to make the body color, plus white for the dots and the eyes & super black for the pupils. 

1. Color enough icing to both outline and “flood” the cookies. Cover with wet paper towels so that the icing does not begin to dry.  
2. Outline the cookies with a Wilton #2 tip.  Allow the outline to dry for at least 30 minutes.  
3. Thin down the remaining icing to make a flooding consistency & pour the icing into a squeeze bottle.  Also prepare a little white icing, also flooding consistency, to make the white dots.  Make a plastic packet of the white flooding icing & use it in a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton #1 tip.  
4. Flood the outlined cookies with the thinned royal icing.  Use a toothpick to help move the icing out to the edges.  Flood three to four cookies in one batch.  Go back over each cookie & run a tooth pick through the icing to dislodge any bubbles.  Use the tip of the toothpick to pop any bubbles.  Immediately use the flooding white icing to make dots along the back of the dinosaur.  Remember that the white will spread, so do not place the dots too close together (or they might bleed or connect to each other).  
5. Allow the cookie to dry overnight in a low humidity area.  
6. To finish, once the icing has dried completely, take a little white icing (about the same consistency as the outlining icing is) & add little white dots for eyes.  Allow to dry 30 minutes. Add tiny black dots on top of the white dots to make the pupils of the eyes.  I usually put my icing into a parchment paper cone & just barely cut off the tip to pipe the eyes & pupils.  

Stegosaurus Cookies

Colors used: Lemon yellow with a tiny bit of chocolate brown to make the body color. The leftover lemon yellow/chocolate brown with a little orange added to make the dots & the spikes. White for the eyes & super black for the pupils.  

1. Color enough icing to outline and “flood” the cookies. Cover with wet paper towels so that the icing does not begin to dry.  
2.  Outline the cookies with a Wilton #2 tip. do not outline the individual spikes--instead make an arc underneath where the spikes would begin.  Allow the outline to dry for at least 30 minutes.  
3. Thin down the remaining icing to make a flooding consistency & pour the icing into a squeeze bottle. 
4. Flood the outlined cookies with the thinned royal icing.  Use a toothpick to help move the icing out to the edges.  Flood four to six cookies in one batch.  Go back over each cookie & run a tooth pick through the icing to dislodge any bubbles.  Use the tip of the toothpick to pop any bubbles.
5. Allow the cookie to dry overnight in a low humidity area. 
6. The following day, mix the remaining yellow icing with some white original icing to make a thicker consistency that does not flow as much... More of a “20 second” icing {LINK}. To the icing add a little orange & some additional chocolate brown to make the spike color. 
7. Make a plastic packet of the icing & use it in a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton #1 tip.  
8. Pipe the spike pattern & add dots over the back arch of the yellow body.  Use a toothpick as necessary to spread the icing and/or pop any bubbles. Allow to dry. 
9. To finish, take a little white icing (about the same consistency as the outlining icing is) & add little white dots for eyes.  Allow to dry 30 minutes. Add tiny black dots on top of the white dots to make the pupils of the eyes.  I usually put my icing into a parchment paper cone & just barely cut off the tip to pipe the eyes & pupils. 

T-Rex cookies

Colors used: Leaf green with a lemon yellow and a little chocolate brown to make the body.  Additional lemon yellow added to the remaining icing to make the green stripes.  White for the eyes & super black for the pupils.

1. Color enough icing to outline and “flood” the cookies. Cover with wet paper towels so that the icing does not begin to dry.  
2.  Outline the cookies with a Wilton #2 tip. Allow the outline to dry for at least 30 minutes.  
3. Thin down roughly 3/4 of the remaining icing to make a flooding consistency & pour the icing into a squeeze bottle. 
4. Flood the outlined cookies with the thinned royal icing.  Use a toothpick to help move the icing out to the edges.  Flood four to six cookies in one batch.  Go back over each cookie & run a tooth pick through the icing to dislodge any bubbles.  Use the tip of the toothpick to pop any bubbles.
5. Allow the cookie to dry overnight in a low humidity area. 
6. Take the remaining quarter of the green icing & add some additional lemon yellow & a little white to make a contrasting yellow green color.  Thin the icing to make a a “20 second” consistency icing {LINK}.  Make a plastic packet of the icing & use it in a pastry bag fitted with a Wilton #1 tip.
7. Pipe triangle-shaped stripes along the back of the dinosaur.  Use a toothpick as necessary to spread the icing and/or pop any bubbles.  Allow to dry.
8. To finish, take a little white icing (about the same consistency as the outlining icing is) & add little white dots for eyes.  Allow to dry 30 minutes. Add tiny black dots on top of the white dots to make the pupils of the eyes.  I usually put my icing into a parchment paper cone & just barely cut off the tip to pipe the eyes & pupils.