Memorial Day Cookies ... Lady Bugs (using a heart shape)

We had our annual Memorial Day party at the lake. I love that each year we have some familiar faces and some new. This year I wanted to make some fun cookies, I went with the patriotic color themed. Yesterday I showed the Flag Star Cookies. Today are the patriotic lady bugs. I love taking a shape and turning it into something totally different. These were simple but so fun!

If you're in need or cookies for a party or just to eat, shoot me a msg at SweetPea Cookie Therapy. Thank you!

What you Need:

Heart Cookie Cutter
Royal Icing - Red, Blue, Black and white/uncolored (see recipe below) 

Pipping Bags


I started with a basic heart shape and turned it into lady bugs. I started with making the head with a black triangle. I then added the red or blue (depending on what color I wanted). Before the Red dried I took a piping bag of white and made the dots for the back of the ladybug. I then made the eyes and the antenna's. For the eyes I made a small white dot and added a smaller black dot in the middle. The antenna's was a fancy looking V. Let them dry and you have some cute cookies!

  
Here are both the cookies made:

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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.

Cake Batter Dip

Next on the Fourth of July party menu was a Cake Batter Dip. Ok people this is a warning this stuff is so sweet but so good you may sit there with a spoon and it may not make it to the party. Just saying, not that this happened at my house .. lol!! You can use different sprinkle colors depending on theme or holiday. I found this super simple recipe on Sugar and Soul.

 Ingredients

• 8 oz whipped cream cheese
• 4 oz cool whip, thawed
• 1 cup white cake mix, dry
• ½ cup sprinkles

Instructions

1. Beat or stir together the cream cheese, cool whip, and cake mix until fully combined. Stir in the majority of the sprinkles. Transfer to a serving bowl and sprinkle with remaining sprinkles. Serve with fruit, crackers, or cookies.

I know I'm late save for next year .. lol

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

Another easy treat

I love rice krispy treats they can be made into any theme. For the Fourth of July I made red, white and blue. WELL I totally messed up the colors but it's still the right colors just not in the right order ... lol. You can make these with the kids which is fun and easy!

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 package 10 oz. Marshmallows or 4 cups Miniature Marshmallows
• 6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal

Directions

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.

2. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated.

3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.

Note

-For best results, use fresh marshmallows.
-1 jar (7 oz.) marshmallow crème can be substituted for marshmallows.
-Diet, reduced calorie or tub margarine is not recommended.
-Store no more than two days at room temperature in airtight container.
-To freeze, place in layers separated by wax paper in airtight container. Freeze for up to 6 weeks. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

 

For this theme I used Red and blue food coloring (my favorite to use is AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring). I did a double batch and split it into 3 pots, one I dyed red and one I dyed blue and one I left normal for the white layer. You can do this with many different colors to fit any theme or holiday. ALEXIS NOTE: I spray pam (or butter spray) on wax paper and push them down, this I found to be the easiest and less messy way to do this.

Let sit and then cut into squares and let the fun begin!!

I know I'm late save for next year .. lol

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