Last week, I had the pleasure of making a set of graduation cookies for a special group of 8th grade girls.
Sunflowers are traditionally yellow and brown, but I tinkered with the design a little bit and used the sunflower design from the school's website. I made three different colors: sunny yellow, bright orange, and creamsicle.
First, I outlined each icing area with a thick (piping) royal icing. Next I filled in each icing area with a thinner flood of royal icing. I did centers of the flower first, then went back and flooded the petal areas. I allowed a little dry time for the centers (about an hour) so that the colors wouldn't bleed together.
Next I added the petal outline with pipe icing.
Then the petal detail...
When I added a ring of seeds around the center of the flower, I first added them as individual dots.
I know the above photo is a little fuzzy, but do you see the 'kisses' - the points on each dot that stick up? It looks messy to me. I could have taken my time and released each dot with just the right amount of pressure and a little swirl to avoid the kiss effect. But, I wanted to get the outline done a little quicker and I still wanted smooth dots around the circle, So instead of making them individually, I decided to make them in a bead border.
Holding my icing bag at a 45 degree angle, I made a continuous line of icing beads. I made a dot of icing and then dragged the bead of icing to the side. Each bead overlaps the next one, making a continuous line instead of individual dots. This saved me a lot of time and eliminated the kisses on each dot.
Here is a great visual/tutorial from the Wilton website if you want to learn or practice more bead borders!! http://www.wilton.com/technique/Bead
The finishing touch on the cookies were the polka dots in the middle.
I wrapped the cookies and finished each package with a pretty yellow satin ribbon.
Here are the two practice designs that did not make the cut. I changed the petal outline in the final design.
The final petal design matched the school's sunflower. I also liked it better than the tester cookie design. So there you have it, an in-depth look at the making of the sunflower cookies.
In other news, I'm working on an update about my Mommy Summer School that I'm doing with my little 3-year-old. I am putting together a list of the resources we are using and will share it with you soon. I hope you'll have some ideas to share with me too. I have lots of topic ideas, but would love to know what you do with your little ones at home. : )
Have a sweet day!!
Anne
A message from Anne
“My blog is a collection of tidbits about the things I love... sugar cookies, baking, great food, cute stuff, and life in Happy Valley. Check back often for updates!!”
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