Vintage Easter Bunny Cookies

These vintage Easter bunny cookies I only finished last night, to be served after dinner to Grandma and Grandpa. I'm always making cookies for everyone else, it felt almost decadent to keep a whole set to ourselves. The pictures are from early 1900s Easter postcards.

I made lemon-flavored cookies with Sugarbelle's sugar cookie recipe, using the middle cutter (2"x3") from the Ateco 3-Piece Rectangular Cookie Cutter Set. The borders I piped with a #16 star tip, with white vanilla-flavored icing.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Colorful Floral Easter Egg Cookies

These are probably my favorite cookies this Easter—each little cookie is like a jewel, begging to be eaten! A set of 20, on 2.5" oval cookies from the Fox Run 9-Piece Plain and Crinkled Oval Cookie Cutter Set; they could just as well have been on 2.5" egg cookies, but the oval speaks to me right now. The images are all from early 1900s Easter postcards. As usual, piped and flooded with white, and "glued" on the wafer papers. They don't need a border if you make the edges neat, so that saves a lot of piping and a lot of time, while yielding a gorgeous result.  I made a few extras and gave a dozen each as Easter gifts.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Easter Musical and Circus Chick Cookies

These cookies were also for the Easter Egg Hunt and, like the previous set, the photos are terrible, because I didn't have time and just snapped with my phone. These cookies feature anthropomorphic chicks playing musical instruments, dressed as circus clowns, rollerskating, etc.

I don't generally make large cookies, but the detail in these would've been lost without, so I made them big. I used this Rectangular Cookie Cutter (2.375" x 3.5"), which the nice folks at CheapCookieCutters.com made for me upon request. I used my favorite sugar cookie dough, by Sugarbelle. I piped and flooded the cookies with white Royal Icing and, when it was hard, wafer-papered them and piped a border for them with a #16 star tip. They were a huge hit.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Easter Bunny Rabbit Egg Cookies

I made these bunny cookies, along with a few other sets, for our toddler Easter Egg Hunt last Saturday—I was scrambling for time before the party, and only managed to snap a pic with my phone, so the photo does not do justice to the cookies. And, of course, they were eaten and went home with the guests before I realized my pic was awful, so what can you do! Live and learn :)

Made with Sugarbelle's sugar cookie recipe, using the middle cutter (2"x3") from the Ateco 3-Piece Rectangular Cookie Cutter Set. The borders I piped with a #16 star tip, with pink cotton candy flavored icing.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Hatching Easter Chicks Cookies

We're having an Easter Egg Hunt for toddlers on Saturday—I'm making a few different Easter cookies, of course. Here is the first idea I came up with: chicks hatching from eggs. The images are all from early 1900s Easter postcards. I used a 2.5" scalloped cookie cutter from the Fox Run 9-Piece Plain and Crinkled Oval Cookie Cutter Set, piped and flooded with white, and "glued" on the wafer papers. Not a lot of work for a pretty cute result!

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Cowboy Western Cookies

This weekend, we went to Rodeo Austin, an annual faire with farm animals, tractors, a petting zoo, pony rides, and carnival rides. The actual rodeo takes place at night, but the mornings are quite enough excitement for a toddler. Our two-year-old wore his cowboy boots and hat, and I had made these cowboy cookies for us to have as a snack (in addition to the funnel cake, hot dogs and other things we got there). We had a blast!

The cookies were made with the largest cutter (2.5"x 3") from the R & M Fluted Rectangular Cookie Cutter Set, iced with white, then wafer-papered. I made a border on two of the cookies, but I really thought it too much—they didn't need it—so I left the rest plain. The whole set has 18 different cowboy scenes, with bull-riding, roping, sheriffs, wagons, etc. The images are from an early 1900s set of collectible cowboy cards.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Garden Party Flowers & Bugs Cookies

My friend Kara is throwing a birthday garden party this weekend for her baby girl, who is turning 1. It's already in the 70s here in Texas, so it's a befitting theme. She sent me a link to her Pinterest idea board, and asked me if I could make cookies for the party. I loved her idea of flowers, birds, bugs, frogs, snails, and so on, and I had an absolute blast making these. I licensed some clip art and made the others myself in Photoshop. I ended up with 53 cookies total (there were more, but some broke, some 'got et').

I once again used my favorite recipe: this sugar cookie recipe from Sugarbelle using vanilla flavoring. The round cookies were cut with a 1.75" round scalloped (fluted) cutter from the Fox Run Plain and Crinkled Double Sided Biscuit Cutter Set. The square cookies were cut with a 1.75" square cookie cutter from the Ateco 5-Piece Fluted Square Cookie Cutter Set. I then piped and flooded the cookies with white icing, flavored with Cotton Candy flavoring. Once the cookies were dry, I put on the wafer papers with corn syrup; they were pretty as they were and, since just the idea of piping fancy borders on 50+ tiny cookies made my carpal flare up, I decided to leave them borderless. I'm ridiculously pleased with these, I have to admit. (#~.~#)

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Easter Chicks on Egg Cookies

The wafer papers on these cookies were made from a sheet of Victorian die-cut scraps. I used a 2.5" egg cookie cutter (available everywhere) with sugar dough, then glazed the cookies. Glazing is a quick way to ice your cookies—make royal icing in a thick flooding consistency (3-5 second icing) and just dip the top of the cookie. The plus side is that it is quick and simple; simple enough to do with a toddler; the minus is that they won't be very pretty around the edges. I don't know that I'll be doing the glazing method very often (most of my cookies are either for serving to guests or for sending to friends and family), but for when I just want to make quick, cute cookies for home consumption, it's a viable option. I gave half to my neighbor, the other half we ate the same day!

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Easter Angels Cookies

For Easter, I made my friend Amber some angel cookies with wafer paper images from early 1900s postcards. I made them with my favorite, the sugar cookie recipe from Sugarbelle. I used the middle cutter (2"x3") from the Ateco 3-Piece Rectangular Cookie Cutter Set. The borders I piped with a #16 star tip, using beige icing; once the border was dry, I gilded it with a "paint" made by mixing a little lemon extract with Wilton Pearl Dust in Gold. For details, see the post entitled How to Decorate Cookies with Wafer Paper.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Little Pink Rose Cookies

Two things brought these cookies about: Firstly, I had an email requesting Cath Kidston-inspired rose cookies. I obviously couldn't use her designs, since I'm not about to knowingly violate copyright—her designs are inspired by Victorian roses, however, so I went back to those, because they are long since out of copyright. This rose cookie design is one of many I came up with, so if roses are your thing, keep your eyes peeled. Secondly, I had made some pink icing, which was too pink to use for the cookies I had originally intended the icing for, so I thought I'd make a cookie on which I could use it.

I made the cookies from sugar dough with a 1.75" round scalloped (fluted) cutter from the Fox Run Plain and Crinkled Double Sided Biscuit Cutter Set. The cookies were then piped and flooded and let dry 24hrs. I piped the borders with a #16 star cutter with pink icing (which was Cotton Candy flavored, as all pink icing should be). I'm giving these to my friend Amber's grandmother, but I was also thinking of making some for one of my toddler's dolls' teaparties.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor Cookies

Eight years ago, I played Mistress Ford in Shakespeare's Merry Wives. The production was a blast, and when I ran across a Victorian book with gorgeous black & white silhouette illustrations of the play's characters, I was kicking myself for not having found it sooner, when I could have used them for cast gifts. A few weeks ago, when a dear friend of mine told me she was playing Mistress Page in a production, I knew what to do: I would turn the silhouettes into cookies which she could give as gifts to her cast and crew. Most of these are exactly as the artist, Paul Konewka, presented them; some I carefully retooled or renamed in order to have cookies including all 20 cast members. Here they are, in cookie form:

I used Georganne's End-All for Chocolate Cookies recipe from LilaLoa. The cutter is the rectangular plaque from the Plaque Cookie Cutter Set at CheapCookieCutters.com. They will also work with this Rectangular Cookie Cutter (2.375" x 3.5"), also from CCC. They were piped and flooded with white icing, and I made the border with white super-stiff icing and a #16 star tip.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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St Patrick's Day Cookies, 2013

As we've already settled, I have a long-established love affair with the art of Ellen H. Clapsaddle. For this St. Patrick's Day, I made two different sets—one with the now-familiar "Clapsaddle kids", one of a more unusual bent, though still Clapsaddle: Clapsaddle Irish maidens and gents. The first set was sent to my aunt, the second to my good friend, Andrea.

Both were made with my trusty sugar cookie recipe from Sugarbelle, using the middle cutter (2"x3") from the Ateco 3-Piece Rectangular Cookie Cutter Set. The first set got a white border, the second a green border, both with super-stiff icing, with my beloved #16 star tip.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" Cookies

Someone wrote in and requested Jane Austen cookies—something that should have occurred to me before, since I love Austen's books. I chose to make Pride and Prejudice cookies, which each have a quote from P&P. The illustrations are from a few different early 1900s editions, illustrated by brothers H. M. and Charles E. Brock. The dozen cookies tell the story from beginning to end, from Darcy's initial put-down of Elizabeth Bennet, through Jane's relationship with Bingley, Elizabeth's rejection of Mr. Collins, the troubles with Wickham, etc., to the eventual happy ending. I sent these to my cousin, whose thesis was on Regency lit.

I made these cookies with this Rectangular Cookie Cutter (2.375" x 3.5"), which the nice folks at CheapCookieCutters.com made for me upon request. I used my favorite sugar cookie dough, by Sugarbelle. I piped and flooded the cookies with white Royal Icing and, when it was hard, wafer-papered them and piped a border for them with a #16 star tip in a color that can only be called "baby tutu pink"—in hindsight, I wish I had made the border a shade or two deeper in color, but there's always a next time :)

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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Shakespeare Plays Cookies

I've wanted to do Shakespeare cookies for a long time—in fact, this is the first of three sets I'm working on. From an early 20th-century illustrated Shakespeare for children, the 18 illustrations were painted by artist Norman M. Price. The comedies and tragedies are well represented; unfortunately, the book doesn't touch upon any of the histories.

Closeup of the Romeo and Juliet and King Lear cookies.


Closeup of the A Midsummer Night's Dream,
As You Like It, and Taming of the Shrew cookies.  

I made the cookies with this Rectangular Cookie Cutter (2.375" x 3.5"), which the nice folks at CheapCookieCutters.com made for me upon request. I used my favorite sugar cookie dough, by Sugarbelle. I piped and flooded the cookies with white Royal Icing and, when it was hard, wafer-papered them and piped a border for them with a #16 star tip using a color I like to think of as "Victorian Parchment" (you know, the exact shade that 19th-century book pages have turned). I made the color using pink and yellow, and added Godiva cocoa. I know I will never be able to duplicate that color, ever again, so I best enjoy it now :D Come Monday, these cookies will go to my good friend, a Shakespeare professor in Tennessee.

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The wafer papers are available at my shop.

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