Happy Valentine's Day!
I know I'm a little late with this tutorial. Valentine's Day has a way of sneaking up on me! But these cookies are super easy to make, and I suppose if you have a big fan of ladybugs around, you could make them anytime!! (Or you could leave the dots round and just make them as ladybugs.)
What You Need:
One Recipe
Vanilla Sugar Cookies
One Recipe
Royal Icing (colored red and black with white reserved)
Nesting round cutters or biscuit cutters
Optional:
Cookie Treat Sticks for Cookie Pops
To make the cookie, I used two biscuit cutters, the largest and smallest of a three-cutter set. Cut out the largest circle, then use the smallest circle to cut a spot for the head to go, add the smallest circle cut-out in the open area. If you set them right next to each other, there is no need to squish them together, they will bake together just fine. (Sorry I didn't take any photos of the uniced cookies.)
To outline, use black for the head, and red for the body. You can use red or black for the line separating the "wings," and if you want to be more authentic, you could also leave about a diamond-shaped area near the "butt" in black where the wings come together. (I went for simple.) Let the outlines dry for a little while - 15-30 minutes or so.
Flood in just one wing with red. (The reason you want to go one wing at a time is that if you allow the wing to start to set a little, then if you slightly overflow the other wing, the chance of it all morphing into one is smaller... still a chance, but smaller.)
Immediately add small black dots using the black flooding icing - not the outline icing. (Do not wait or you can't make them into hearts.)
Use a toothpick to turn the lady bug in to a Love Bug. Pull the toothpick through each dot to make it look like a heart. (You need to wipe the toothpick off between each dot or you'll get a black line from the top through, and it doesn't look as nice.)
When the one side has set a little (maybe 30 minutes or so), add the other wing, dots and hearts.
Next, fill in the head with black icing.
When the black icing has set a while, again at least 30 minutes, add the whites of the eyes and the red lips. (Again, using your flooding consistency icing, not your outline icing.) Wait a little longer before adding the black dots to the eyes.
Then you can let the little "Love Bugs" join a few of their friends in a
bouquet of cookies-- or not. Your call.
*Note: Info on how to make the icing the right consistencies can be found on the Royal Icing Recipe post. I have yet to make a good post about getting these colors, which I know is hard. Just prepare yourself to use obscene amounts of food coloring to achieve the dark colors. And if you wait an hour or so after mixing up your colors, that helps, too. They darken as they sit.
Click the Links Below to See:
Vanilla Sugar Cookie Recipe
How to Make Cookie Pops
How to Make a Bouquet of Cookies
Grass, Bees and Ladybugs Cupcakes
If you shop at
Amazon.com through my link
, you support this blog and its contents. Thank you!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please note that comments containing profanity or those that are spam will not be approved on this website.