MORE EASTER GOODNESS + PAINTED COOKIES

Hey there! Some more Easter cookies to share. I tried quite a few more techniques in this batch. Some went to share with my boyfriend's co-workers, some to Easter dinner with his lovely family and some for my own visual and palate pleasing enjoyment.

I was able to achieve a higher amount of detail since the last batch mostly due to an improved royal icing recipe (recipe to follow soon!). And also a new super tiny 00 piping tip. This icing made a lovely smooth piping consistency that dropped from the tip beautifully and made perfect little dots that rounded themselves. To reach this consistency you will need to thin out the royal icing until it has the consistency of toothpaste. It should still hold a small peak and a tall peak should fall just slightly. This perfected piping icing also created a refined version of brush embroidery as compared to my last attempt where I had used a flood consistency icing.

The multi-coloured floral cookies were made using the wet-on-wet technique. I loved how they turned out but I did get a little cratering on some colourways of the icing. You might not be able to tell from the photos but the darker pink petals and centers of the flower are a bit sunken. I believe this happened because I used a toothpick to drop these colours on the cookie and did not pipe them in. The amount of icing needed for these colours was too small for piping bags and even using ziplocs seemed wasteful. So what I really need to do is learn how to make parchment cones. They are less wasteful, biodegradable and pretty!

For Easter dinner treats I decided to make some name cookies because everyone enjoys a little cookie ownership.

I don't usually write in script but it seems to come quite easily when using a piping bag. I couldn't quite remember the composition of some script letters so used this free font site to type in each name to preview it in a hand written script that had lettering I liked. I used the 'Always in my heart' font and then went bananas piping other details. I think I need to learn to edit a titch for a more modern look but for now I'm loving the super detailed granny cookie.



The top left cookie is done in a quilt effect and a great tutorial can be seen here. With a little confidence behind my skills I tried a few free hand flowers. The bottom left green round was meant to represent a Bluebell and in the center of the pink round are Snowdrops. These are some of my favourite harbingers of Spring.



These perfectly smooth white canvases! Ah, so satisfying. In contrast to my last batch of royal icing which needed 48 hours to set these flooded beauties set up in only 2 hours and I was able to pipe and even paint away. 



I've wanted to try this technique for a while but have been a little chicken because painting does not come naturally to me. I tried once on a canvas and just don't have the techniques to manipulate the colours into what is in my head. I am pleased with how these cookies came out but, well, not ecstatic. I wish I could make the colours just a bit softer and incorporated in a way that doesn't mush all the colours together. What I would really love is to attain this level of impressionistic beauty on a cookie. Yes, I would like my hands to achieve Monet on a cookie. Is that asking too much?

I found it handy to have the dye pots beside the corresponding toothpick because the concentrated colours can look quite similar. I also had some copper and ivory on the palette to use to darken and muddle the bright pure colours that come straight from the pot.

For my set up I had a paper towel for drying off the brush, a small cup of water for cleaning brushes between colours and another small cup of vodka for thinning the paint. If you're like me you'll likely keep forgetting and almost use water to thin your paint but try to refrain. Water may dissolve your iced cookie so stick to the vodka.

To create the soft watercolour effect I painted flowers and leaves on the cookie with varying concentrations and let it dry for a minute or so. I then went back over the designs with just vodka on the brush. This spreads out the colour in a lovely graduated way. I then added back detail with some concentrated colour. From what little I know of painting I understand that the gradual layering of paint is what creates visual depth. So next time I might try even thinner layers of paint to build up colour.

The weather in Vancouver this weekend was record breaking-ly warm and gorgeous!

I hope your Easter was equally as beautiful.

xoxo Melissa