red and white lovebird cookies

Just last week, a friend of a friend asked me to make cookies for her sister's wedding shower dinner. She wanted favors for the guests to take home with him, and after seeing the lovebird cookies that I made for my brother's wedding a couple of years ago, and she requested them in red and white.

For the cookies, I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe (you can find the recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), rolled it out to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out shapes with a heart-shaped cookie cutter (the largest one from this nested set of heart cookie cutters). Then I baked them at 350F for 10-12 minutes until they were golden around the edges.

Once all of the cookies were baked and cooled, I whipped up a batch of royal icing (recipe also in my book!), and used stiff icing to outline half of the heart, before filling it in with runny icing.

Next I tinted about a third of the icing super red (that's the actual name of the color!), and used stiff red icing to outline the other half of the cookie, before filling it in with red runny icing.

After letting the icing dry for several hours (I usually let them dry overnight), I was ready to add the lovebird details! I started by piping a brown branch for the lovebirds to sit on (done with medium running icing), and once that was dry I piped golden yellow beaks and little bird feet on the branch.

Then I used black stiff icing to pipe the little eyes, using the smallest piping tip I had.

I also added little wing details. And then they were done!

Aren't they cute?

Do you like them better in red and white, or the original blue and white?

Congratulations to the bride and groom!

lovebird cookies

This past summer, my little brother got married! And it was such a beautiful wedding! He and his wife were married on a beautiful ranch in Carmel, among beautiful scenery, a view of the ocean, and grazing sheep nearby. And all of our family were there to celebrate with them. It was a beautiful day. And I had the privilege of making cookies for their wedding favors!

My brother and his wife love birds, so we decided on these lovebird cookies. I saw the original design at Little Wonderland, and thought it would be perfect for them! Their wedding colors were robin's egg blue and coral, so we decided on blue and white birds, with a coral beak and feet. I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe, which you can find in my book, and this heart cookie cutter which I found on Amazon. (I actually purchased several different heart cookie cutters, because I was looking for the perfect size and shape of heart! Some were too narrow, or too small, but this one was perfect!)

After the cookies were baked and cooled, I started on the royal icing (recipe also in my book!). I used white stiff icing and a small round tip to pipe the outline for the white bird, and then I filled it in with white runny icing.

Then I did the same for the other half of the cookie, using stiff blue icing for the outline, and then filling in with runny blue icing. (I used this gel-based food coloring get the perfect robin's egg blue!)

I let the cookies dry for several hours, before adding the details. First, I used brown semi-runny icing to create the branches.

Once that was dry, I used coral icing to create the beaks and the feet.

Then I used black stiff icing for the eyes, and then stiff white and blue icing for the wing details.

Aren't they sweet?

My brother's wife even made cute little cookie tags for me to package them up with!

I'm SO happy for them! Here are some pictures from their amazing day.

Congratulations Michael and Robin!!!

decorated egg cookies for a red egg party

Remember these baby face cookies that I made for a baby shower several months ago for my friend Stephanie, who was hosting a baby shower for her twin sister Selena? Well Selena's adorable baby boy was welcomed into the world last April, and when he turned 1 month she asked me to make decorated egg cookies for his Red Egg and Ginger Party!

In case you're not familiar with it, here is a description that Selena had sent me: "A Red Egg and Ginger Party is a Chinese tradition that celebrates a newborn's 30th day (1 month of life).  Eggs were considered a delicacy in China and were usually the present brought by the maternal grandmother.  The egg symbolizes fertility and renewal of life, and when it is dyed red it is believed to bring good luck to the child."

For the design of the cookie, I referenced a picture that Selena had sent me of a decorated egg cookie, which I later found on the blog Lizy B Bakes (love her work!). For the cookie cutter, I used a custom copper cutter that my husband had made me a few years ago. It was meant for these Spiderman cookies, but worked just as well for egg cookies! And for the cookie dough, I used my favorite sugar cookie recipe which can be found in my book The Hello Kitty Baking Book (and I also used the royal icing recipe in the book as well!)

Once the cookies were baked and cooled, I piped an outline around the egg with stiff white icing, and then filled it in with runny white icing. Once that had hardened after several hours, I again outlined it with stiff red icing.

Next I used stiff yellow icing to pipe the baby's name at the bottom of the egg.

Then I used stiff brown icing to pipe branches and a tiny bird nest in the middle of the cookie.

After that I added a red egg and two little blue birds.

Next came more branches with red blossoms, along with little green leaves on the bottom branches. And the final touch was the eyes and beaks for the little blue birds.

Although they weren't as perfect as the ones by Lizy B Bakes, I thought they came out pretty cute!

To go along with these decorated egg cookies, I also made goat/ram cookies, as this is the Year of the Goat/Ram (details in my next post)!

Happy one month, little Dominic! Hope you had a wonderful Red Egg and Ginger Party!