Simple Cookie Tutorial

I just LOVE Valentine’s Day and especially all the baking and fun treats that go along with it! Here is a tutorial on how to make Valentine boxer shorts cookies!

These cookies may look difficult to make but honestly anyone can do these no matter what your skill level and they are sure to impress your honey! This technique can be used to make any shape of cookie… with St. Patrick’s Day and Easter coming up the possibilities are endless!

First bake up a batch of your favorite cut-out cookie recipe. I use this one for a basic sugar/butter cookie. http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Roll-Out-Cookie-Recipe. For these cookies I used a “swimming trunks” cutter that I found at www.karenscookies.net.

• Helpful Hint: If you don’t have one, don’t sweat it! Use a square cutter and with the corner of the square cut out a notch on the bottom of the square to define the legs of the shorts.

Let your cookies cool on a wire rack before decorating.

Next, make a batch of Royal Icing (I used Wilton’s Recipe found on www.wilton.com). The icing will be very thick. Separate the icing into 4 bowls.

Bowl #1: Add a few drops of red dye (I use Americolor)
Bowl #2: Leave white
Bowl #3: Dye the icing red and thin with a few drops of water (consistency of Elmer’s Glue)
Bowl #4: Leave white and thin with a few drops of water (consistency of Elmer’s Glue)
Fill two pastry bags (fitted with a #2 tip) with the thick consistency red and white icings (Bowls 1 & 2).

Outline half of your cookies red and the other half white. Let the icing dry for about an hour.

Next, fill two squeeze bottles with a bit of the red and white thinned icing. I used these handy little squeeze bottles that I picked up at www.karenscookies.net! They come with a plastic #2 tip and coupler, but any of your Wilton tips are interchangeable. Put the filled bottles to the side, we’ll get to them in a minute!

The next step is to flood your cookies with the red and white thin consistency icing. I just spooned it in, but you can fill a pastry bag or squeeze bottle to apply it.

The icing will slowly spread out but you may need to use a spatula to ease it towards the edges. Use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles that may have formed. Before the icing dries use the squeeze bottles filled with the thinned icing to make small polka-dots in the wet icing. This is called a “wet-on-wet technique”. When the icing dries, the finish will be smooth!

Let your cookies dry for several hours. Then with your thick consistency icing, pipe with a #2 tip the waistband and button details.

And there you have it! Valentine Boxer Shorts for your Honey!

Happy Baking!

-- Loren, http://www.thebakingsheet.blogspot.com, https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Baking-Sheet/210664827961