Bake Sale!

Sweets graced the sweet table at a fundraiser to assist Staten Island families affected by Hurricane Sandy. The children of the affected families attend St. John Villa Academy.  The bake sale was the brainchild of professional baker Donna Balzano, Staten Island.

Yummy chocolate peppermint, pumpkin cupcakes, and mini gingerbread house were baked by Donna and assistant Samantha.  Donna piped her signature Swiss Meringue and Cheese Cake icing on the cupcakes; the melted snowman sugar cookies and ornament sugar cookies were made by Lynn Carbone and yours truly, respectively.

A close up view of my scratch sugar cookies.  The holly was made from fondant and affixed to the "ornament".  Then they were painted with luster dust. The tops of the cookies were painted with silver petal dust. Santa, snowman, reindeer, etc. are icing decorations picked up at Michael's. These are cute little decorations and really saved time.

These 6" reindeer cookies were a hit with the children.  The sugar cookies are covered with Wilton chocolate fondant. The antlers were cut with a poinsettia leaf cutter; bows were made from Fondarific fondant, the nose was also fondant but could easily be made with licorice jelly beans.

Spook-Ta-cu-lar Halloween Cookies!

These cool howl-o-ween sugar cookies are easy enough for beginner cakers, and busy moms and their kids to make. Sharing a "cookie moment" is sure to bring smiles and giggles to the entire family. We used a basic roll-out sugar cookie recipe. Any basic roll-out cookie recipe is fine. For those who want to go the extra mile, we suggest Elisa Strauss' sugar cookie recipe in her first book, Confetti Cakes. Even novice bakers can whip up a batch of cookie dough, roll, cut, and bake in a snap!

Both cookies were covered in Satin-Ice Fondant [which is Pareve]. Once the cookies are baked and cooled, the fun part comes--decorating!

You will need a small 2lb container of white and black vanilla flavored fondant
rolling pin
plastic mat to roll out the fondant
round cookie cutter
witches hat cookie cutter
small rectangle cutter or template
yellow and blue food gel colors
art brush
small pizza cutter
a small amount of water or clear corn syrup

Witch's Hat Cookie
Roll out the black fondant until about 1/8 inch thick. Cut with the witches hat cookie cutter.
Apply a small amount of water or clear corn syrup to the cookie and affix the fondant on the cookie.
Color a small amount of white fondant yellow. Roll out until about 1/8 inch thick and cut a small strip with the pizza cutter. Apply a small amount of water or clear corn syrup to the cookie and affix the yellow "hat band". Finally, color a small amount of white fondant blue and roll out a little thick. Cut a small rectangle buckle with a rectangle cutter or template. Apply a small amount of water or corn syrup and apply to the hat. You can continue to embellish the hat with tiny candy decors, edible glitter and such.

Mummy Cookie
Roll out the black fondant until about 1/8 inch thick. Cut with the round cookie cutter. Apply a small amount of water or clear corn syrup to the cookie and affix the black fondant on the cookie.
Take a small amount of white fondant and divide into two balls [for the eyes]. Put a small amount of water on the cookie and affix the balls. Then take a small amount of black fondant and divide into 3 balls. The first two affix to the eyeballs, the third flatten slightly and hallow to serve as the mummy's mouth.
To make the wrappings, roll an amount of white fondant until almost see-through. Cut strips using the pizza cutter. Brush the cookie with a damp art brush dipped in water, and crisscross the strips.

Enjoy!

Happy Father's Day Cookie Treats!

NYC Cake Decorators are also crazy about cookies! This cool Father's Day idea is totally inspired by Bakerella. The free paper tray and fries holder templates were downloaded from Bakerella's website and were a snap to put together.

The directions for making this fast food meal are easy enough for kids to follow, and would make a wonderful family project just before Father's Day.

Vanilla cookies were used instead of cupcakes for the bun. Bakerella uses a brownie for the burger patty; here a chocolate roll-out cookie was used. A bamboo skewer was used to mark the dough with "grill marks" and after the cookies baked and cooled, a little petal dust diluted in almond extract was brushed onto the cookies to give them a "juicy" burger look.

The lettuce was made with green colored buttercream and a 104 tip; the sesame seeds are fondant pushed through an extruder, cut into small pieces, and rolled between the fingers; the tomato is a small red fondant circle, and the fries were made according to Bakerella's directions--the cookies really look like fries. A touch of cocoa petal dust on the tips of the fries, really fool the eyes. This idea can also be adapted to any picnic, barbeque, or Fourth of July celebration.