Saying "Happy Birthday" with Cookies

Hey- guess what? I'm still alive. You wouldn't know it based on my lack of blogging, but I promise I'm still here. Hank has been tasked with sharing our 98% finished bathroom remodel, so hopefully he'll entertain you with that sooner than later (ahem.) In the meantime, I'll share my latest little baking project.

I had two friends with birthdays this past weekend, so of course I used it as an excuse to try out some royal icing decorating techniques. I had seen this beautiful cookie set from one of my favorite cookie decorators and knew they would be perfect for my friends. I'm obsessed with making flowers and am desperately trying to perfect them. I have a ways to go, but was pretty happy with the final product of this set.

This particular group took several days to make. Day 1- making the dough and baking the cookies. Day 2- making and coloring the royal icing. Days 3 and 4 for laying the foundation and adding on the "fancy".


I really like seeing the cookies progress from just plain old sugar cookies, to the final product. But sometimes- the in-between cookie can be really pretty too.

After the first layer of white icing and the dark purple lines (it was late at night- so I apologize for the crummy picture quality), I added initials for the recipients, and royal icing ribbon roses that had been made the night before. This video gives a great demo on how to create them.

Once all of the cookies were finished and dried, I bagged them individually and put them in a gift box.