Pumpkin Pie Shaped Cookies (Royal Icing)

By now you know I'm now totally obsessed with royal icing for cookies. I try to always make something for the boys to take to school for each holiday. I found these really cute Pumpkin Pie cookies on My Cupcake Addiction's Instagram. I gave it a whirl and think they turned out very cute!

 

What you Need:

Sugar Cookies cut into leaves and acorn
Triangle Cookie Cutter or Pie Shaped Cookie Cutter

Royal Icing in orange (I used Terracotta) and Ivory (recipe below)

AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring Terracotta and Ivory (to dye Icing - This is my fav brand)

Food Marker - Black and Pink

I used the dipping method with my royal icing. I started to do the dipping method about 6 months ago to speed up my decorating time. You can pipe each cookie which is a little cleaner but I find the dipping method to be the best. You get your royal icing to the outline consistency and put into a pie dish (I find this is not too deep). Once you dip the top of the cookie you tap off the extra icing and then you let dry! Once dry you can add your details.

After the pie slice cookies were dry I added the pie crust top. I used a Ivory color that turned out a little browner than I wanted. I added the tops for the pie crust. I waited for everything to dry. I then added the face on the cookie. I added the rosy cheeks with a hot pink edible pen. I then added the mouth, eye and eyebrows using a black edible pen.

As you can see I made a Army size batch of cookies. The boys will take some to school for their friends and teachers. I also wanted to give some to my amazing Dance instructors that help me on my fitness journey.

Click HERE to see who I link with.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies

Caden's school was having a feast for Thanksgiving and his grade was assigned the desserts. So we went for a hunt on Pinterest and found Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies on Center Cut Cook. Caden said he liked them so I set out to make them for the kids. All and all it was a pretty easy cookie to make and I liked that they didn't spread so you could bake a lot at one time, especially since I was doubling the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 

1/2 cup butter, room temperature 

1/2 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) 

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups flour 

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs 

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice 

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs (for rolling the cookies) 

1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 sheet trays with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, stir together cream cheese, butter, and pumpkin until completely smooth. 

Add in the sugar and vanilla and stir until combined. 

Add the flour, 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. 

Carefully mix until it is completely mixed and smooth. Scoop into balls and roll in the remaining graham cracker crumbs (with the pumpkin pie spice mixed in if desired). 

Place on the tray and bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove and slightly press down so they are flat. 

Bake for 3 more minutes. 

Repeat with remaining dough. 

Let cool and store in the fridge. These are best served cold, just like regular cheesecake.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used the pumpkin puree that I made previously this week (click for post on how to roast full pumpkin and make puree). I ended up having a box of graham cracker crumbs that I bought for a project I was asked to make then they didn't end up go threw with the order (found at Target).

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Peek-a-boo Pumpkin and Spider Cookies

Last year I made a peek-a-boo Pumpkin Cookie (A pumpkin with a smaller pumpkin).  This time I made a pumpkin with a spider in the middle.

I started out with a Sugar cookie found on All Recipes, dubbed The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

What you Need:
Sugar Cookie Mix (see recipe above or your favorite)
Orange Food Coloring
Black Food Coloring
Large Pumpkin Cookie Cutter
Medium Spider Cookie Cutter

When the sugar cookie recipe was chilled.  I took about 1/2 of the dough and kneaded in some Americolor Orange Gel Food Color and the other 1/2 I kneaded in Americolor Black Food Color (This link is Amazon's but I by mine at Hobby Lobby for $1.99).  I find this is the best way to color anything from fondant to dough.  Once I got the orange I wanted I rolled out the dough.  I took my large pumpkin and cut out the cookies.   Take a spider cookie cutter to cut the middle out. REMEMBER to make sure your inner cookie cutter is smaller so you have enough cookie left around the whole. I then rolled out the black and cut out the spider cookie cutter.  Put the spider in the pumpkin (almost like a puzzle piece) and lightly press to make the two edges stick together.  Bake like normal and rest on a cooling rack or eat right away :).

And if you have black left over make a bunch of spider cookies!

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

One More update of what's been going on ...

The remodel is moving along here.  I am crazy busy with the kids and all their activities and me keep over volunteering to make cakes (but I love it so it's a good thing!). I'm trying to get around to say hi to everyone, sorry while we are in this mess.

This week Rick worked on putting in the upper cabinets.  We have a small galley kitchen so we had to put uppers back in, we were able to find a microwave with a vent to get rid of the ugly range fan we had.  It still has a little work to be done adding the back and staining the cabinets but we at least have the feel of how it's going to look.  The new chairs we picked up on clearance look amazing at the bar!

I also put together some fun pumpkin cookies with a spider in the middle for a friend who needed a little cheering up.  

And to end this week I signed up for 2 more cakes to make for Birthday Dreams .. yes I think I may be over doing it. LOL but I love to bring them to the kids.  Here is what is on my list to do.

Seahawk Cupcakes found on Bella Cupcake Couture

Spongebob Cupcakes found on Cakes n Stuff

Have a wonderful day!!