It’s almost back to school time, well at least in our area and that means Back to School cookies.  The first day of school can be a little scary, exciting, and for some very stressful but sharing a sweet treat can totally make it a brighter day.

I wanted to share a cookie that is not shy,

       this cookie is pretty big which is a perfect gift for teachers and/or students.

I love Iced Coffee and for most coffee is the perfect drink in the morning so why not make it into a cookie.

The flavor is Vanilla Sugar Cookie and the design is what we can see when we order an iced coffee drink.

I wanted to create the look of iced while adding a touch of drizzle with whipped cream.

This is everything I love jejeje..

Description

Here is a gift set that will be a perfect gift for a loved one, teacher, friend, or probably for yourself.

The cookies are made-to-order, so please include a note with your event date when ordering to ensure you will receive your cookies on time. Place your order many days before the due date to avoid rush orders.  Please allow over 5 days for the cookies to be done.  Please note the cookies include more detailed work like airbrushed and hand-painted so you will see a slight change in design.

(picture shows an idea of how the cookies will look, some minor details will be added to some of the cookies.

Gift Sets

• 4 Piece Gift Set $20.00
  • Includes 4 cookie shapes and designs shown in the picture

Cookie Sizes

The cookies gifted shown for this order fits in a 12-inch box

All of the cookies are about 3/8 ” (nice thickness)

Cookie Packaging

Each cookie will come individually packaged in a cellophane bag keeping them fresh.

Each box will include a cute tag, string, and/or twine.

More about the cookies

• Each cookie is hand-decorated and made freshly for each order.
• The colors shown on this image may vary slightly.
• The cookie sizes are between 2.5 to almost 4 inches.

Ingredients:

• Cookies include sugar, butter, flour, vanilla, hazelnut extract, eggs, and baking powder.
• Royal Icing includes sugar, water,  vanilla/lemon extract, and meringue powder.

The post Back to School Sugar Cookies appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.

It amazes me how we are almost ending the summertime but before we start to look at back to school and fall theme cookies I want to share a summer drink cookie I learn from a cookie class.

You will see the detail and how realistic each summer cocktail came together.  The inspiration cocktail cookies you will notice are Blue Hawaiian, Moscow Mule, and Watermelon Margarita.

Cookie Cutters

Getting Cookie cutters can get overwhelming with so many options and prices,  One company I enjoyed getting my cookie cutters from is Kaleida Cuts, Every season she shares new designs which make it a lot easier for all cookies.

If you would like to place an order one tip would be to spend the amount needed to save on some shipping jejej..  Also, you can sign up and start earning rewards for future savings.

The cookies are very elaborate, each has a great amount of detail to resemble a true Summer Cocktail Drink.  Even though the amount of detail and time it takes to create each cookie I really enjoyed decorating each drink.

Here is a more close-up look at Blue Hawaiian and Moscow Mule Cookie.

Packaging 

Making, Baking, and Decorating the cookies could be so much fun but adding cute packaging truly brings everything together.

• I like to add a clear bag for each cookie which helps with the freshness of the cookie but it also protects it from any other items placed in the box.

• Adding a tag that I have available to purchase for Valentine here, truly helps bring it together.   You can use ribbon, twine, strings, or anything you have to tie everything together.

• The boxes shown here can be purchased from Amazon or BRP boxes,  being honest the quality truly shows if I compare the one from Amazon vs BRP boxes.

• Amazon 7″ x 4 3/8″ x 1 1/2″ (perfect for most 2 sugar cookies)

• BRP Box Shop 12″ x 5″ x 1 1/2″

The recipe I will be using for the cookies, I took some cookie/baking classes back in 2006, and through the years making a few changes this is what best works for me,  below I share a few changes I have done to make the most sugar cookie recipe work a lot smoother.

Almond Sugar Cookie Recipe Here 

I have a post sharing how I make my sugar cookies, it is pretty easy to do, and what I love you can add the flavors you prefer.  For Valentines Day cookies I did Strawberry flavor.  You can see my sugar Cookie tutorial here: I do want to add since I started to do sugar cookies I have changed a few things. 

• For example, Now I make my cookies a bit thicker vs a few years ago, I like 3/8 cookie size. 

• I don’t add any flour or powdered sugar to my counter before rolling my dough.  Instead, I place my dough on a silicone mat and top it with parchment paper or saran wrap then I roll the dough.  (there is no mess and no need for extra flour)

The post Summer Drinks Sugar Cookies appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.

I love to make cookies and decorating them is so much fun,  lately, I just try something new from cookie cutter’s design and recipes and give them away.  In this post, I will share some ideas, cookie cutters I used, and how you can package them to give them as a special treat.

Cookie Cutters

Getting Cookie cutters can get overwhelming with so many options and prices,  One company I enjoyed getting my cookie cutters from is Kaleida Cuts, Every season she shares new designs which make it a lot easier for all cookies.

If you would like to place an order one tip would be to spend the amount needed to save on some shipping jejej..  Also, you can sign up and start earning rewards for future savings.

Free Tags

• For the easter season, I created a few tag variations which you can print here.  The round size tags can be cut using a 2.5 circle punch.  The rectangular tag is great for most box sizes as shown below.

Packaging 

Making, Baking, and Decorating the cookies could be so much fun but adding cute packaging truly brings everything together.

• I like to add a clear bag for each cookie which helps with the freshness of the cookie but it also protects it from any other items placed in the box.
• Adding a tag which I have available to purchase for Valentine here, truly helps bring it together.   You can use ribbon, twine, strings, or anything you have to tie everything together.
• The boxes shown here can be purchased from Amazon or BRP boxes,  being honest the quality truly shows if I compare the one from Amazon vs BRP boxes.

• Amazon 7″ x 4 3/8″ x 1 1/2″ (perfect for most 2 sugar cookies)

• BRP Box Shop 12″ x 5″ x 1 1/2″

The recipe I will be using for the cookies, I took some cookie/baking classes back in 2006, and through the years making a few changes this is what best works for me,  below I share a few changes I have done to make the most sugar cookie recipe work a lot smoother.

Almond Sugar Cookie Recipe Here 

I have a post sharing how I make my sugar cookies, it is pretty easy to do, and what I love you can add the flavors you prefer.  For Valentines Day cookies I did Strawberry flavor.  You can see my sugar Cookie tutorial here: I do want to add since I started to do sugar cookies I have changed a few things. 

• For example, Now I make my cookies a bit thicker vs a few years ago, I like 3/8 cookie size. 
• I don’t add any flour or powdered sugar to my counter before rolling my dough.  Instead, I place my dough on a silicone mat and top it with parchment paper or saran wrap then I roll the dough.  (there is no mess and no need for extra flour)

The post Easter Sugar Cookies Ideas and Free Tags appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.

The year 2020 (last year) was a strange and very hard year.  Once 2021 started I believe is the best time, to begin with, a fresh start.  Doing so I think Valentine cookies are such a great way to spread appreciation, love, care, and many uplifting treats.

I love to make cookies and decorating them is so much fun,  lately, I just try something new from cookie cutters design and recipes and give them away.  In this post, I will share some ideas, cookie cutters I used, and how you can package them to give them as a special treat.

Cookie Cutters

All of the cookie cutters I used I got from Kaleida Cuts, I usually tried to spend the amount needed to save on some shipping jejej.. (just a tip) Also you can sign up and start earning rewards for future savings.

Packaging 

Making, Baking, and Decorating the cookies could be so much fun but adding cute packaging truly brings everything together.

• I like to add a clear bag for each cookie which helps with the freshness of the cookie but it also protects it from any other items placed in the box.
• Adding a tag which I have some available to purchase for Valentine here, truly helps bring it together.   You can use ribbon, twine, strings, or anything you have to tie everything together.
• The boxes shown here can be purchased from Amazon or BRP boxes,  being honest the quality truly shows if I compare the one from Amazon vs BRP boxes.

• Amazon 7″ x 4 3/8″ x 1 1/2″ (perfect for most 2 sugar cookies)

• BRP Box Shop 12″ x 5″ x 1 1/2″

The recipe I will be using for the cookies, I took some cookie/baking classes back in 2006, and through the years making a few changes this is what best works for me,  below I share a few changes I have done to make the most sugar cookie recipe work a lot smoother.

Almond Sugar Cookie Recipe Here 

I have a post sharing how I make my sugar cookies, it is pretty easy to do, and what I love you can add the flavors you prefer.  For Valentines Day cookies I did Strawberry flavor.  You can see my sugar Cookie tutorial here: I do want to add since I started to do sugar cookies I have changed a few things. 

• For example, Now I make my cookies a bit thicker vs a few years ago, I like 3/4 cookie size. 
• I don’t add any flour or powdered sugar to my counter before rolling my dough.  Instead, I place my dough on a silicone mat and top it with parchment paper or saran wrap then I roll the dough.  (there is no mess and no need for extra flour)

The post Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies Ideas and Tags appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.

Swiss Meringue Frosting has been one of my go to, I love how soft it is making it easier to pipe, and frost any dessert.  I also enjoy how it looks when piped.  The regular buttercream was my go to frosting many many years ago, specially since it held the shape so perfectly but to be honest it can be so sweet.. This recipe is not that sweet what comes through is the buttery taste and cinnamon as your spice.

Tip – Using a good flavor extract can reduce the butter flavor but If you dont mind the Butter flavor on this type of frosting a regular vanilla extract will do.

Swiss Meringue Frosting

5 Egg Whites (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
4 Sticks of Butter ( I used salted)
1 tsp Flavor Extract ( I used Vanilla)
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

• On a stove place a pan with water to simmer
• In a separate clean bowl add egg whites and sugar
• whisk the ingredients and place the bowl over the simmer water (make sure water doesnt touch the egg mixture)
• this can take about 8 – 10 min until it reached 160 or you can see is softer, silky and when it comes to the touch it sticks easily to your fingers but you dont feel any grains from the raw sugar.
• remove from heat and add your egg mixture to a mixing bowl and with a whisk attachment mix for about 3 – 5 minutes until it forms a glossy nice peak on medium speed.
• before adding the butter touch the bowl and meringue you want to make sure is room temperature

• now is ready for the butter – Add the cut butter a little at a time, while it still mixing (this will take a few minutes)
• let it whisk until it has a nice glossy look
• add extracts mix and is done, ready to use.

The frosting is a lot softer and easy to pipe but also easy to decorate for a smooth finish. Here is a cake fully decorated using this recipe.

The post Cinnamon Swiss Meringue Frosting appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.

The challenging part is finding items to make the party come together.  Captain Marvel is the next movie we are excited to watch and right away my husband suggested for me to make cookies inspired of Captain Marvel.  As I was making the cookies, I then worked on sprinkles to use for todays cake.

Making those items from the cookies the sprinkles surely helped get this cake come together, the only thing different was tracing the star you see on this case which was pretty easy to do.

The fun part of making a cake is having fun and letting your ideas come to live. For this cake we picked Oreo as the main flavor, so this cake is Vanilla Cake filled with Oreo Buttercream and decorated in Swiss Meringue Frosting.

Yes that is the complete description for this recipe, at first it seems like a lot to do.  But when planning it out, I was thinking the cake should be light and I think the vanilla flavor came in perfect for that.

The Oreo Filling or Buttercream is the star on this recipe. You get the taste of the chocolate with a soft texture since the Oreos are well blended in the frosting/filling recipe.

I also chopped extra Oreos and used those to add on top of the filling. The extra texture with the smooth Oreo Filling/Buttercream surely tasted like eating Oreos on each bite.

I wanted the Frosting to be light and the Swiss Meringue was perfect for this recipe. If you are not a fan of the Swiss Meringue Buttercream due to the taste of butter you can skip that recipe and decorate with the Oreo Buttercream.

To use the Oreo Buttercream for decorating and for the filling you can add 25% up to 50% of the recipe shown below, just to make sure you have enough for the cake.  The Oreo Buttercream I am sharing below was good enough for the filling and crumbcoat.

Now we can get started with the recipe – The Vanilla Cake is pretty simple and is good enough for 2 – 6 in cake pans. The batter makes enough for up to 3 – 6 in but I like the height on the cake using only 2. Once the cake is made and cool you can cut and prepare to start assembling. With a pastry bag pipe around the edge and work your way inside the center of that layer.

This part is optional but for extra crunch I added some crushed Oreos on top of the filling.  Continue these stops until the last layer is on top.

Now you can fill any gaps between each layers, with a spatula smooth the cake and continue adding until you reach a crumb coat.  Place in refrigerator until it sets.  Since I wanted to decorate this cake with a touch of red, I prepared Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe here) and White Chocolate for a drip effect.

Swiss Meringue was prepared I started to apply another crumb coat and place in the refrigerator.  I continue working on with the white chocolate and colored it (it needs to be cool or room temperature before applying on cake).

Apply another coat using Swiss Meringue if needed, then apply some sprinkles on the border, with an offset spatula pick up the sprinkles that fell and attach to the cake gently.

If the frosting is not cool enough (dont rush) place the cake in the refrigerator to make sure you will get the drip effect. Once the cake is cool and white chocolate is room temperature, add your chocolate in a bottle (makes it easier to use) test one part of the cake (you will know if the consistency is right or runny).

Start on the edge squeeze gently and continue going around the edge to stop squeeze then continue.  Once you are happy with the drip effect fill the inside, once again place in fridge, let the chocolate cool before adding any decorations on top of it.

top of it. I think the cake looks pretty the way it is but to continue with the Captain Marvel theme, Pipe on top using a pastry bag and the 2d tip,  On the drip add some of the DIY sprinkles made for this theme.

I created a star using I cut the logo and trace on top of yellow colored fondant, let cool and apply gold luster dust to give that gold touch.

[ABTM id=270]

The post Captain Marvel Oreo Cake with Swiss Meringue Frosting appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.

The Flash is a TV Show we enjoy watching as a family and since our sons birthday is this weekend we decided to celebrate his 18th birthday with The Flash as our theme.  He doesn’t like to many birthday parties and we knew if we asked him he would say no, so since there is so much to celebrate this month we decided to make it a surprise.

My oldest son is turning 18 this year like I mentioned before( is still hard to believe he’s 18) is sad to see how quickly the years has passed by not only he turns 18, he graduates from high school and he also is schedule to go to the army so is a lot to take in.

We only have a few months to enjoy as much as we can with him and this is another moment we want to treasure before he enlist.  I did mentioned is sad to see how quickly the years has passed by simply because before you know it the kids you still see are now grown young man ready to be on there own.  Time has passed by so quickly that many times I wish I could go back in time and enjoy every moment with them again..

Well, now lets continue with the Flash theme Cookies

I created a Part 1, that shows you how to make the Almond Sugar Cookies – you can start here

Now that the cookies are baked, cooled and store in an air tight container, we are ready to begin the fun part (decorating the cookies)…

Once your Royal Icing is made, take about 1/4 of your icing and place in an air tight container, add your Red Food Coloring (the only one I use is the AmeriColor brand) you can order online or you should be able to find it at your local baking supplies store. Now I add a little bit of water (meaning a few drops at a time) and mix, add more drops of water and continue mixing until I find my desire consistency for piping (outlining the border of the cookie).

About 8 years ago when I took some cookie classes the Royal Icing recipe they gave us was very stiff making it hard for piping and outlining borders, my hand would hurt after a few cookies.  But searching for newer recipes I found that the consistency could be softer but not so watery when piping, making it a very enjoyable process.

Place part of the Royal Icing in a bag using #2 or #3 tip.  Outline outside or border of the cookie, you can trace a small circle using an edible marker and then Pipe the border with the Royal Icing.

• Once you pipe all of your cookies, let them cool.
• With the remaining Royal Icing in container, add drops of water and mix until the consistency is softer ( I like to place my spatula in the middle of the icing as deep as 1 inch and count how many seconds it takes for the line to disappear, should take about 10 seconds) .
• Once royal icing is set, test one cookie by placing a few dabs of the Royal Icing in the middle of the cookie using your spatula (if the surface sets and looks even then your icing is ready, if it doesn’t set or it looks a little lumpy add a few drops to the icing in container and repeat the test)
• once your middle icing is ready, place in a zip lock bag or in a bottle so it can be easier to place on top of the cookie.
• add your icing on the middle and spread with spatula, butter knife or toothpick
• let cool.

• take some fondant knead it first, with a rolling pin flatten fondant until is very thin
• with a smaller cookie cutter place on top of the fondant to get as many small circles as you can (enough for each cookie)
• add a few drops in the middle of the cookie and place fondant on top

• Take about 1/4 of your icing and place in an air tight container, add your Yellow Food Coloring.  Now I add a little bit of water (meaning a few drops at a time) and mix, add more drops of water and continue mixing until I find my desire consistency  for piping (outlining the lightning bolt in the middle of the cookie).
• once consistency is ready place icing in piping bag or in a bottle
• make your lightning shape on each cookie
• let them dry

• Once cookies are cool, place them in a small cellophane bag and decorate with a cute ribbon or like I did to keep them fresh longer ( we used a heat sealer) Since the birthday is a pool party and all the cookies were going to be outside we chose to keep them in a bag.

enjoy… hope these cookies can inspire you to make them for your special event or just to make something fun…

thank you for stopping by… your comments will be appreciated…

The post The Flash Sugar Cookies (Decorating Tutorial) Part 2 appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.

As a child I grew up eating cakes with Italian Meringue Frosting, I love how soft it was yet not so sweet. But comparing the decor using this frosting I started to see cakes can look so detail with frosting alone.  (If I compare my birthday cakes how small and almost flat looking to the master piece we see today is amazing how far we have come)

Years later buttercream became my favorite frosting I love the decorations and how detail each piping technique will look on a cake.  The taste on any buttercream cake is pretty good but many people find it too sweet, so how can you combine that fluffy soft look from the Italian Meringue and buttercream can holds decorations in a cake.

That being said, this recipe pipes really nicely, doesnt crust like buttercream and is not that sweet.

(win, win, check, check) At first it can feel nerve racking using the egg whites but if you follow a few steps you will see is an easy frosting to make.

Tip – Using a good flavor extract can reduce the butter flavor but If you dont mind the Butter flavor on this type of frosting a regular vanilla extract will do.

Swiss Meringue Frosting

5 Egg Whites (room temperature)
1 1/2 Cups Granulated Sugar
4 Sticks of Butter ( I used salted)
1 tsp Flavor Extract ( I used Vanilla)

• On a stove place a pan with water to simmer
• In a separate clean bowl add egg whites and sugar
• whisk the ingredients and place the bowl over the simmer water (make sure water doesnt touch the egg mixture)
• this can take about 8 – 10 min until it reached 160 or you can see is softer, silky and when it comes to the touch it sticks easily to your fingers but you dont feel any grains from the raw sugar.
• remove from heat and add your egg mixture to a mixing bowl and with a whisk attachment mix for about 3 – 5 minutes until it forms a glossy nice peak on medium speed.
• before adding the butter touch the bowl and meringue you want to make sure is room temperature

• now is ready for the butter – Add the cut butter a little at a time, while it still mixing (this will take a few minutes)
• let it whisk until it has a nice glossy look
• add extracts mix and is done, ready to use.

The frosting is a lot softer and easy to pipe but also easy to decorate for a smooth finish. Here is a cake fully decorated using this recipe.

The post Swiss Meringue Frosting appeared first on Sweet Cookie Journey.