Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Jane Austen Month, Day 10: Silhouette Cookies

"If my children are silly, I must hope to be always sensible of it... "
-Mr. Bennet, Pride and Prejudice


My kids have certainly been silly these last couple of days, and I am very sensible of it. Therefore, this is not the most perfect batch of decorated cookies, but I defy you to produce something better with these little munchkins wreaking havoc all around you :)

I took a cookie decorating class from this amazing lady a couple of years ago. Mind you, it was like an hour long, so she couldn't teach us enough to make us pros or anything, but I did pick this little gem up from her, and what is more Austen-esque than a silhouette?

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Royal Icing!
1/2 lb Powdered Sugar (WEIGH THIS, or you can double the recipe and use a 1 lb. box instead.)
2.5 TBSP Meringue Powder
1/4 C water

Beat this for about 5 minutes with hand beaters.
 

It will get fluffy and gorgeous like this:

 

Add water a teaspoon at a time until it is just on the cusp of softness but still basically holds its shape. Take some out. This will be your stiff icing, and you will use it for outlining. Now add a little more water to the rest until you can see that it doesn't hold it's shape. You will use this to "Flood" the cookie once it is outlined. Add food coloring gel as desired. You can use regular old food color drops, but I recommend incorporating them with the water, because you don't want to get the perfect texture and then have it ruined by adding too much coloring fluid. Just a pointer.


Now for the silhouettes (Or whatever shape you are doing), print them out to a size that will fit on the cookie you are making. Now place that paper underneath a silpat or parchment paper, and trace with the stiff icing.

Fill it in...

and DRY! Overnight. Don't try to pull them up too early- they will break. Just ask the 8 that I broke and therefore *Had* to eat. :)


The next day...

Make your favorite cookie dough (I like the super soft kind for this kind of cookie), make rectangle shapes, bake, and cool according to your recipe.



Okay see the outlined cookie?
See how it's been flooded with the softer frosting now? And if you need to move some around a bit with a toothpick, feel free. 


Now pick up your pretty little silhouette and drop it into the wet frosting. It will just kind of sink in and the whole thing turns into this hard cookie. 


Then, if you are me, you go and ruin it by piping letters onto them that look weird. Oh well, you win some, you lose some :)



And I still think it is the cutest little placecard I have ever seen :) 
 
 
Linking up:
Dear Lillie's Valentine's Linky
Common Ground
Stuff and Nonsense
At The Picket Fence
Whipperberry
Shabby Nest
Fingerprints on the Fridge
One Artsy Momma
Family Ever After
Tatertots and Jello
LollyJane Boutique
Funky Junk Interiors
I Heart Naptime
Flamingo Toes

17 comments:

  1. What a fun idea! These are adorable!

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  2. Those ARE the cutest place cards ever! I love them! As a huge Jane Austen fan, I love your whole theme!!!!! These cookies are absolutely amazing. And I love how you placed the silhouettes underneath to guide the frosting! Very clever!!!

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    Replies
    1. Aw, THANKS! And I wish I could take credit for the whole tracing thing, but Melissa at The Good Apple totally thought that one up :) Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. Oh, wow! Those are so elegant looking...so very Austen-esque! I'm a total J.A. fanatic too! I just love these and you make them look so do-able; great tutorial! I'd be so excited if you'd share them here at my party:
    http://oneartmama.blogspot.com/2012/02/shine-on-fridays-14-and-some-fabulous.html

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  4. Super cute! I'd love for you to link up to Do Something Crafty Friday: http://seevanessacraft.com/

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  5. These are too cute! I love love love silhouettes!

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  6. Adorable! How cute for a little tea party with my princess and her cousins. Thanks for sharing! xoxo

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  7. I don't have a steady hand and always worry about messing up what I'm trying to pipe. I absolutely love your idea. I can trace, and would be able to do designs I could never imagine doing by hand. Thanks for sharing.

    Beth @ Hungry Happenings

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  8. So cute! I used the same silhouette to make little journal bags at Christmas time for Jane Austen journals. The cookies look delicious!

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  9. These look amazing!! I pinned them for a future party!

    If you are interested, we'd love to have you share this at our new link party, http://www.waywardgirlscrafts.com/2012/02/wayward-weekend-week-4.html

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  10. Love these! You didn't ruin it with the monogram! You did great! Those silhouettes are not easy and yours are fab!

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  11. Okay, these might be the cutest thing I've ever seen!

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  12. Visiting from I Heart Nap Time's Sundae Scoop :)

    Kristina
    http://www.yomichaelmichael.com

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  13. I love these! What a great tip on making the silhouettes. Would love it if you came by and linked up to my Manic Monday Linky Party!
    -Melissa
    http://serendipityandspice.blogspot.com

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  14. These cookies are just amazing, you all are so talented, and thanks so much for the tutorial! I'm pinning these!! Thanks so much for linking up to the party last week, Just love these!!

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