*

Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link to download.

*

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

 

Right click here if you’d like to download the audio file [mp3]

*

I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but, look at this one!

Cookie inspiration at its finest and without even cracking the cover! 

Julia Usher is the author of the recently published book, Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year, a wonderful book filled with inspiring party ideas, mouth-watering recipes, and of course - my personal favorite – gorgeous decorated cookies.  Hers are amongst the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, and I was thrilled to have her join me for an interview where she shared cookie tips of all kinds!

*

To hear the interview click on the play button at the top of this post.  You can also download it to your computer as an mp3 file by right clicking on the text link above.

I’m also happy to announce that I will be giving away one signed copy of Cookie Swap thanks to Gibbs Smith Publishing!  Details on how to enter can be found near the end of this post. 

*

Not only does Julia focus on cookies beautiful to look at, but she includes a multitude of unique and delicious sounding recipes such as Rosemary Blonde Brownies, Lemon-Thyme Bonbons and Under Her Thumb(print) Cookies pictured below.

I confess I haven’t actually tried making any of them yet, but as far as I’m concerned all I needed to buy this book were pages like this: 

 

And this:

* 

You can find Julia’s book on Amazon and visit her website at www.juliausher.com for more information.  Enjoy!

*

*

Cookie Swap GIVEAWAY!

Now on to the giveaway!  One lucky winner will receive a signed copy of Julia’s book, Cookie Swap!

*

How do you enter? 

It’s easy.   Just leave answer the following question in the comment section below before 7pm EST on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010:

*

What is your favorite cookie to eat or to make?

*

Another way of entering the draw is to retweet this post on twitter.  Tweets will be added to the draw!

*

The contest is international and the winner will be chosen randomly at www.random.org.

Hope you enjoyed the interview and good luck with the giveaway! 

xo,

Marian

*

Just wanted to say hi and let you know that, among other things, this is what’s been keeping me busy lately:

Or who, I should say.

Sorry about the blurry pics.  I didn’t want to take too many photos, even if they didn’t turn out.  (Don’t want to scare him).

This is Lionel, a Lionhead Lops, 3-month old rabbit we just adopted.

If I haven’t emailed you back yet – I haven’t forgotten about you and am happy to hear from you!  I’ll answer soon.

Here’s a sneak peek at the next GIVEAWAY and interview, also coming soon!

Until then,

Happy weekend!

xo,

Marian

Little craters in royal icing have always been a bit problematic for me.  There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of information on them out there.

It’s been a bit of an experimental journey, but my main theory was that air in the royal icing was causing the indents.

When it began to dry the icing would settle and air trapped underneath would ‘pop’ open, leaving a little crater.

On the off chance you hadn’t noticed them:

Before I go on, I have to mention that following the tips to avoiding air bubbles is good practice when decorating cookies with royal icing (for tips click here).

There might be something more to these little indents in the icing though.  The only thing I can’t figure out is why it usually happens in smaller flooded areas. I’m no scientist, but guess there must be some physical/chemical reason behind it.

*

I emailed the extremely talented Cookie Swap author Julia Usher, just before I posted my Valentine cookies, in the hopes of finding the definitive answer.  Here is her reply:

… Funny you should ask about the crater issue – that’s one problem with icing that I haven’t figured out how to reliably correct. I have most trouble with it when, as you said, trying to flood a particularly small area.  I actually don’t think it’s an issue of air bubbles, though, but one of surface tension. When wet, the icing looks fine; but as it dries, more surface tension and pressure on the drying skin causes the icing to sort of collapse into itself. The smaller the area, the more concentrated the surface tension – if you will – and the more likely the icing is to collapse. That’s my theory anyway. I can sometimes minimize the cratering effect by thinning the icing and applying less – using a toothpick to spread a smaller amount within the same area. The more I heavily flood a small area, the more it seems to collapse. If you come up with a better solution, let me know!!

*

So, to experiment, when making these decorated Easter cookies I filled many areas with a little less icing.

The beak, because of its small size, would be a typical place where a hole might occur.

 No craters!  Hurray!  Thank you Julia!

This is going to sound ungrateful, and I don’t mean it to be!  I’m just thinking more experimentation might be in order because I still prefer the look of a ‘full’ flooded cookie.

*

Since I last posted about how to prevent air bubbles some feedback was also provided by Noelle and Nancy in the comment section of the Valentine post, who seem to be thinking somewhat along the same lines as Julia.

Besides using less icing to fill in an area here’s what Noelle offered as a solution:

… My mentor finally decided that it helped to use a hand mixer on the royal icing that was being used in the small space. She would whip it for 5-10 minutes and use it immediately. She swore that it cuts down on the holes but I could never really tell a difference.

I recently tried a royal icing recipe out of one of the Cookie Craft books and it used lemon juice for the flavoring. I did not get any bubbles like these when I used it. It had a really nice flavor too, but I noticed that it separates much more quickly than traditional royal icing. I wonder if there’s something with the lemon juice that reduced the incidence of bubbles? Anyone else have a similar experience with that?

Interesting!  In my response I wondered if the acidity of the lemon and/or the amount of liquid in the icing had anything to do with it.

*

I’d also like to know why the craters occcur in some areas covered with a thick layer of royal icing and not others?

*

Lots of ideas and questions.  It would be great to hear your feedback on this issue.  What do you think?  Has anyone else tried the tips mentioned here with success?  Any new ideas, theories or information to build on what we have here?  Would love to hear from you in the comment section!

*

Just a side note for you too… I’m happy to share with you that Julia Usher of Cookie Swap will be sponsoring a giveaway for her book on Sweetopia!  That’s coming soon. 

*

I usually get emails regarding how to make cookies I post (if I haven’t explained it), so for anyone interested in a visual guide on making these Easter cookies, below are some step-by-step pictures:

*

Easter Cookies – Decorating Steps

If you’d like to make these, you’ll need:

1.  Sugar Cookie Recipe

2.  Royal Icing Recipe

4.  Decorating Bag/Piping Bag – (I use disposables which can be washed and re-used)

5.  Couplers

6.  Decorating Tips (#’s 1-4)

7.  Food Gel Coloring

*

For an in-depth Cookie Decorating Tutorial see here, and for my Top 10 Decorating Tips see here.

*

This is the order in which I piped the details of each cookie:

1.  Base of Royal Icing

*

2.  Outline Shapes

Of course I made these using a Kopykake Projectorand some cute Easter stickers.  You can freehand if you’re able to.

3.  Flood Cookie

*

**

4.  Bag and ribbon

*

*

*

Hoppy decorating!

xo,

Marian

p.s.  Thank you for your emails; I love hearing from you!  I’m a little behind though; if you’re waiting for a response I haven’t forgotten you and will reply soon.

p.s.s.  I dusted the Easter bunny ears and cheeks using a paintbrush and pink luster dust

I was going to just wish you a Happy Valentine’s but thought I’d turn this post into something helpful for you too. 

You may have noticed the air bubbles in these cookie pics already. 

My Sweetopia fairy cookies were a bit rushed… Because I was hurrying I ended up making a few blunders.  Check out the air bubbles in the icing above and below.

So, here’s how not to get these air bubbles in your icing when you’re decorating cookies.

*

How to Prevent Air Bubbles in Royal Icing

1.  When you’re making your royal icing, mix it on a very low speed so less air gets incorporated into it.

2.  Leave the icing sitting for a while until the air bubbles rise to the surface, where you can pop them by gently ’stirring’ just a little before you add the icing to the piping bags.

3.  To ’stir’ your icing use a rubber spatula or offset spatula and slowly smooth the icing or paddle the icing gently left to right.  Another way of explaining it; write the letter S over and over in your icing using the flat part of your spatula.

4.  When you’ve put your icing into your piping bag, massage the royal icing a bit before you twist the top end of the piping bag closed.  Press the icing in the bag upwards, starting from the tip and working your way up, pushing out the air bubbles as you go.   Then push it back down towards the piping tip.

5.  After you’ve finished applying the icing to the cookie, shake it gently left to right.

6.  If you notice any small air bubbles, pop them with a toothpick or pin right away.  If you don’t, the air bubble usually pops on it’s own and leaves a hole in your icing.  (As in pictures above).

7.  If your cookies isn’t too breakable, gently lift and tap it on your work surface.  This may help pop existing air bubbles you haven’t noticed.

*

I tried filling in the hole, crater, or indentation; whatever you call what was left behind, but even just a few minutes after the icing had been piped, it was already too dry for the patching not to be noticeable.

*

And just in case you’d like to see a basic step by step of how I decorated these cookies:

*

Visual Step by Step – How Cookies Were Decorated

1.  Ice the base of each cookie with white royal icing and let dry for 24 hours.  Oops, didn’t get a pic of that!

2.  Outline the shape using a Kopykake projector.  (Or freehand if you’re that talented!)  Let dry for 24 hours to be safe (To prevent bleeding; especially if you’re decorating in a humid environment).

3.  Flood or fill in lines with desired icing colors.  Let dry for 24 hours so facial features don’t bleed.

4.  Add facial features.

Finished!

*

Wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Time to announce the winner of Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes and the Cupcake Charm necklace!

Thank you all for entering; it was fun to see your responses and many of you left really sweet, informative and encouraging comments!  Thank you!!

Hélène, Grace, Lisa and Courtney P.; you asked about the winter coat.  Click here for the coat’s details.

*

Drumroll please.  

All the entries from the post and twitter were entered into the draw at www.random.org, at 7:23  pm Eastern Standard Time (17:23 UTC time) and the winner was comment #113; Nicole!

*

 

Congrats to you! I’ll be contacting you to find out which color Cupcake Charm you’d like and will send you the prizes through Amazon.

 

*

If you didn’t win, another sweet giveaway is on it’s way soon!

Thanks again for all your comments!

xo,

Marian

*

Every year our secondary school hosts an evening event called the Christmas Cabaret, where dance, drama and music classes, as well as auditioned acts, perform in front of an audience of parents, teachers, students etc. My hospitality classes prepare food for the event.

This past Christmas and last Christmas (see here for last year’s event), we hosted a Christmas Dessert-themed Cabaret. The menu consisted of gingerbread cookie favours for each place setting, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes arranged on cupcake tiers, and the main dessert was a decandent chocolate brownie topped with whipped cream, chocolate cigarellos and a strawberry garnish.  Also on that plate; a vanilla sauce and strawberry coulis sauce.

Before I jump to the night of, here are some of the preparations leading up to Cabaret.

Students began by experimenting with dessert choices and arrangements:

180 gum paste snowflake toppers were made for 180 cupcakes:

180 made-from-scratch brownies (forgot to take pics!), and 180 made-from-scratch gingerbread snowflake cookies were made by the students:

Table settings and floral arrangements were planned and created.  We went with a blue and silver theme.  The greens were gathered, pinecones glued to long skewers and painted & glittered, and ‘flower’ arrangements assembled (more on tablesettings etc. later):

Students decorated 180 snowflake cookies with royal icing and dusted them with white sanding sugar.  I forgot to get a picture of all of the cookies decorated and ready to be bagged!

These below are actually not even the ones we used for Cabaret, they were for another event the week after.  This is what 180 cookies looks like ready to go though:

The menu for the evening:

Dishes were rented, napkins folded, programs printed, centerpieces put together and tables set:

A gingerbread snowflake cookie was placed at each place setting.  Here’s a close-up of one:

Pretty chic venue huh?!  Lol.    The school’s large cafeteria is where the stage is located.  Here’s what half of the room looked like from the stage:

And some of the other half of the cafeteria where our cupcake table was:

Thanks to Ms. Balugas and some students for decorating the cupcake area!

The students made and arranged the wintery cupcakes on two tiers; vanilla and chocolate:

Each cupcake was topped with a gum paste snowflake which had been dusted with some pearl shimmer.

On to the assembly line!  Here I am beginning the plating for the demonstration dessert.

Students watched and made 179 more!

Not too many shots of this time period, but here’s an idea of what the desserts looked like when they were ready to go:

Oops, this one above had some mistakes.  We got to enjoy it and a few others at the end.    The chocolate cigarellos kind of remind me of antennae now.  (*Giggle*).  They tasted yummy though!  I’d LOVE to hear from you in the comment section below if you have some dessert ideas for us for next year!!

Last but not least, serving the desserts:

The students did such an awesome job in all areas of Christmas Cabaret involvement; planning, food preparation, decor, serving and cleaning-up.  I’m lucky to be teaching some amazing teens!

*

If you’re looking for a yummy strawberry (or raspberry) coulis and vanilla sauce recipe, try these ones below.  (By the way, we used Ina Garten’s “Outrageous Brownie” recipe from her book, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook). 

 

*

Strawberry Coulis Recipe

For a Printer-Friendly version, click here.

*

Ingredients:

1kg         raspberries or strawberries (can use frozen berries)

500g       sugar

30g         cornstarch or potato flour

*

Method:

1. Combine defrosted berries with sugar and bring to the boil slowly.
2. Dissolve cornstarch with just enough water to dissolve it.
3. As soon as it boils thicken with dissolved starch.
4. Puree in food processor and strain all the seeds out.
5. Wrap and cool in the fridge.
6. For service prepare squeeze bottles with coulee.

 Note:  May be flavoured with any suitable alcohol.

*

Vanilla Sauce Recipe

For the Printer-Friendly version, click here.
*

Ingredients:

0.5 Liter                35% cream

0.5 Liter                milk

12                          egg yolks

300 g                      sugar

4 tsp                      cornstarch dissolved in cold milk

1 fresh vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla extract

 *

Method:

1. Combine milk with cream and bring to the simmering point with the fresh vanilla.
2. Beat 12 egg yolks with 300 g of sugar in your (Kitchen aide) mixer until nice and creamy, approximately 10 -12 minutes.
3. Pour hot milk and cream into the creamed mixture nice and slowly to make sure it doesn’t curdle.
4. Add dissolved cornstarch
5. Remove from the mixing machine but leaving it in the bowl, heat over a double boiler or water bath until it thickens or until it covers the back of a spoon (85 degrees C).
6. Remove from heat and cool in an ice bath; again leaving it in the mixing bowl and stirring periodically to prevent it from curdling and speed up the cooling process.
7. When cold, store in appropriate container in fridge.

 

Note:  May be flavoured with any desired liqueur.

 

*

*

*

 

I thought I’d have a little giveaway to add some sunshine to the February blahs!  The giveaway includes two of my wishlist/favorite things here…  I’m sure you’ll guess by the end of the post which ones they are.

A clue; sorry, it’s not a Oprah-esque giveaway! 

*
This post isn’t really sugar related, but I do have other things I love besides my sweet hobby; a few of which I’ll share with you:

*

1.  Anne Taintor Products

Her name is Anne Taintor and she runs a humorous business selling greeting cards, notepads, magnets, purses etc., which, to quote the words on her site, “…give voice to modern women’s secretly subversive thoughts.”

I just knew that when I found this charming Anne Taintor I Don’t Recall Asking notepad, it would be a perfect gift for my female colleagues studying Culinary Arts in Kingston this past summer.  We definitely did enjoy some interesting, insolent humour together.  (That’s Liz and Delia below):

They did get a kick out of their parting gift from me.  (Notepad above). You can find Anne Taintor’s hilarious items on her site here or if you’re an Amazon fan, at my affiliate link here.

*

2.    Kindle

This one’s on the wish list.  Ever since I used a Kindle (a wireless reading device), at a friend’s place over the Christmas holidays, I’ve been thinking of getting one.  If you have one I’d love to hear what you think of it in the comment section.

*

3.    iPhone

The iPhone… Also don’t have one of these yet, but I’ve certainly looked at them longingly a few times.  I’ve pledged not to get one until my old phone dies, but I’m really looking forward to that day.

You should see my phone.  My students think it’s so old and retro that it’s ’sick’.  Here’s a pic:

Pretty battered huh?

I’m glad this pic is in my favorite things after all.  This phone has lasted me a long time, and (my DH will laugh at this), it has great reception.  Let me tell you, there’s been many a time that all the BlackBerries in the room didn’t get a signal and I did.  It is analog-digital after all.

Ahem… on to another favorite thing.  This one is a gadget as well – seems like I like a lot of them.

This one has helped me take better pictures this year.

*

 

4.    Canon Rebel Xsi Camera

The Canon Digital Rebel XSi is what I use.  I’m still learning lots on how to use it, but even on the automatic settings it does a great job!

I really do dislike getting my picture taken - it rarely works out.  So, only because I wanted to post a pic of the camera and needed a mirror to take a its snapshot, I’ve put a photo of me in here with it. (Okay, and because I actually paid some attention to my hair this day I was out with my friend.  I was waiting in change room for her to try on some clothes and I had recently acquired the camera).

Anyways, on to the next item.

*

5.  MACRO LENS

With this Canon Macro Lens you can easily get great close-up shots; I used it to take this next photo:

*

6.    Cupcake Charm

Of course something sweet related had to sneak in here.  I gave this cupcake charm to my friend Kim earlier this year… she’s a sweet-nut as well.  I don’t have one yet but might just head over to Amazon to order one.  They’re $17.99   (Guess you know now Kim.  Actuuuually, really they were SO expensive when I went to buy one.  They’re on sale now).

Ahem.

The next fave is, alright, another sweet related item.

*

7.   KopyKake Projector

Not a very pretty looking thing, is it?

It’s big, it’s awkward-looking, (although it doesn’t look quite as bad with the table clamp option), but I know I couldn’t have created many of the cookies I did this year without this Kopykake Projector .  If you’re new to visiting Sweetopia, you can find some examples of cookies I made using the projector by clicking these links:

Tea Party Cookies

Princess Cookies

Halloween Cookies

*

8.  My Winter Coat

 

What is there to say?  I love it!  I have to wear it every day in the climate I live in and never get tired of it.  (I don’t think I look like her in it though!)

*

9.  EMU Australia Winter Boot

These boots keep me so snuggly warm!  Enough said!

*

 

10.  Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes Book

I’d like to practice more of my cake skills in 2010 and am going to use this inspiring cake book by Martha Stewart and Wendy Kromer.  Here’s a small sampling of what you’ll find inside:

Excuse the crooked images; I took actual pictures of my book.

Wendy Kromer, the creator behind many of Martha’s cakes, is coming to the Bonnie Gordon School in April.  I’m so excited to be signed up for one of her classes and will keep you posted on that!

*

Now that I’ve shared my current 10 favorite items, it’s time to have a giveaway for TWO of them!

Wish I could be like Oprah, but even though they aren’t a KopyKake Projector or a Kindle, they are FREE!  (If you win!)

*

Martha Stewart Wedding Cakes and Cupcake Charm Giveaway!

If you’d like the chance to win a copy of Martha Stewart’s Wedding Cakes & a Cupcake Charm Necklace, leave a comment below, maybe sharing one of your favorite things or whatever you’d like to write!  CONTEST CLOSED

*

• Another way to enter is to retweet this post on twitter.  You can tweet as many times as you choose; they will be added to the draw!   CONTEST CLOSED.
• The contest is international
• The draw will be held on Sunday, February 7th, at 7 pm EST
• I’ll be using www.random.org to draw the winning comment.

*

Good luck!

xo,

Marian

 

In less than two weeks the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics will begin!

I keep seeing the adorable mascots, Miga, Quatchi, Sumi and Muk Muk wherever I go and was inspired to make cookies of them.

If you get a chance, check out the Olympic Mascot website (A whole website with games, activities and videos - it’s  GREAT for kids!). 

The cuteness factor and fantastic attention to detail got me to wondering about the artists behind these animated creations. 

Michael and Vicki of Meomi are in the incredibly talented imaginations who dreamed up these characters inspired by British Columbia folklore of the forest, the mountain and the land.  Their own site is also charming and whimsical.   Definitely fun to check out!

*

Here are the cookies I ended up with:

According to the artists, Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod.

Quatchi is a sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada.

The Quatchi and Sumi cookies are actually quite large.  To give you an idea of size, Quatchi is approximately 9 by 8 inches, or 23 cm by 20 cm.  I’ve included the quarter in the pic to give you a visual idea. 

Sumi is an animal spirit who comes from the mountains of British Columbia.

Muk Muk is a friendly Vancouver Island marmot who cheers for his friends during games and races.

**Of course I used my Kopykake to help me pipe the mascots.

You can make the cookies without the projector of course!  If you’d like to try either freehanding them or with the Kopykake, I’ve included instructions below:

8

How to Make the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Mascot Decorated Cookies:

If you’d like to make these, you’ll need:

1.  Sugar Cookie Recipe

2.  Royal Icing Recipe

3.  Round Cookie Cutters or a sharp knife to cut dough shapes

4.  Decorating Bag/Piping Bag - (I use disposables which can be washed and re-used)

5.  Couplers

6.  Decorating Tips (#’s 1-4)

7.  Food Gel Coloring

*

To see some more ideas of what you’ll need to set-up your cookie decorating area, see this post here. 

For in-depth cookie decorating tips see here, and for my top 10 decorating tips see here.

*

Here is  the order in which I piped the details of each cookie:

*

Miga

1. **Pipe black outlines and let dry for 24 hours (Black bleeds easily so I like to make sure the icing has set).

2. **Pipe white details and let dry for 12 hours.  (Black on top of white likes to bleed too, so I wanted to make sure the white was dry).

3. **Finishing touches.

*

Quatchi

1. 88Pipe brown base first and let dry for 24 hours (Although not as bad as black, brown can also bleed easily).

2. **Pipe details shown above and let dry for 12 hours. 

3. **Finishing touches.

*

Sumi

1. **Pipe brown base face and let dry for 24 hours. 

2. **Pipe dark wings, some facial details and edge of Sumi’s hat, and let dry for 12 hours.

3. **Pipe hat and green neck detail and let dry for 2 hours.

4. **Finishing touches.

*

 Muk Muk

1. 88Pipe brown base first and let dry for 24 hours (Although not as bad as black, brown can also bleed easily).

2. ** Marble cream and dark brown icing, add white snout and blue stripe and let dry for 12 hours. 

3. **Finishing touches.

 *

*

If you’re interested in buying the stuffed animal Miga, Quatchi and Sumi toys, they’re available on the official Olympic site in Canadian dollars here.

And in US dollars on Amazon here:
Miga
Quatchi
Sumi

*

Have fun decorating to you, and good luck to all the Olympians all over the world competing soon!

xo,

Marian