Super delicious birthday cookies

I wanted to bring Ree a few cookies, so I went through her Flickr stream and picked out some images to print on frosting sheets.  There were only a few thousand that I wanted to print.
Yes, the color is off.  Despite printing out a test page...on regular paper, my frosting sheet images were didn't look quite right. My guess is, in the 30 seconds between the test page and the frosting sheet, the yellow ink tank got clogged.  And wouldn't you know that the day I was making cookies to bring to the PIONEER WOMAN(!), I had no extra frosting sheets.
Curious about edible images? KopyKake has a listing of all of the printers compatible with food coloring ink cartridges.  Be sure to use a NEW printer :).  I have an Epson WorkForce 30.

Once you have the printer, ink and frosting sheets, applying them is easy.  Here is the set up....

Format, print and cut.  Remove the images from the paper backing and place directly onto wet royal icing.  As it dries, the edible image will "melt" into the icing.
For a border, I love using a #16 star tip.  For these, I used Gold AmeriColor Food Coloring and when dry, brushed on a little gold luster dust.  I was hoping the border would look like a little frame.

Did you know that Ree has a new book coming out?  It's called Black Heels to Tractor Wheels...and I'm thinking we need a book club....with wine, cheese and cookies!  Who's in?

Along with those, I brought along a few cookies for the cookie class for examples.

There was sanding sugar....

And marbling....

And even a little disco dust....


But, these....these were the ones I couldn't stop giggling over.

To be honest, this was one of the main reasons I bought an icing printer.  Saint cookies have been on my mind for years now.

If you don't have an icing printer, don't worry.  Scan the images you want, format them to fit your cookies and take your file to the grocery store bakery or local bakery supply shop to have your images printed.



Here's what you need to make them:

• cookies
• an awesome aunt who is sweet enough to scan and email you a zillion saint cards
• frosting sheets
• white royal icing
• #2 or 3 tip and #16 star tip

The cookies look cute plain, but I really like the something extra a little piping adds to them.  I added the border with a #16 star tip.

Did they all turn out perfectly? Well, no.

You might recognize the guy on the left.

St. Marguerite.  When my Nana traced our family tree she found we were related to her.  Which is obvious given my saintly nature.

My favorite saint?  St. Bridget (or Brigid), for obvious reasons.  BUT, when the priest who married us gave me a copy of this prayer attributed to her, well, it sealed the deal.  It's a must read.


Here's St. Lucy...
Yes, those are her eyes on a platter. You guys, the saints are interesting!!!

Usually when I use my icing printer, I format the image to the size I want before printing.  I decided to play around with something new and print out a patterned page frosting sheet and cut it to fit my cutters.

Some of you have asked....my printer is an Epson WorkForce 30 Color Printer ; it is compatible with the food coloring cartridges.  You can find a list of all the compatible printers from KopyKake.  The printer itself is pretty affordable; it's the ink that is expensive....$90 for the set.  {That's why it took me so long to order one!  It was a major dent in my Starbucks fund.}

First, I ordered some digital paper from etsy.  Oh my gosh, there are SO many cute designs available!  I think I now have 100 digital papers in my arsenal.

{The smart thing would have been to TRY my idea before buying all of them, but I got a little carried away.}

Second, I printed the image on a full sheet of icing paper.

Third, using a food coloring pen, I traced the cookie cutters I used and then cut the icing sheets.
Forth, the cookies were outlined and filled with white royal icing.  While the flood icing was still wet, I applied the icing sheet.  It's not a perfect fit, so....

Fifth, after the cookies were dry, I went over the borders and added piping.

Do I love my icing printer?  Yes.  

But here's my problem with it...and maybe somebody can help me. 
The original image was this:

It looks so different on the cookies.
But, when I made these cookies, the colors stayed pretty true.  I'm so confused.



Anyone have experience with this they'd like to share?

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I even learned what a Wubbzy was (I'm old). My cousin's little girl, Violet (don't you LOVE that name?), was turning 3. Her party was Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! themed and she needed Wubbzy  cookies.

To tell you the truth, I was a little crushed that kids weren't watching Blue's Clues anymore. You see, Steve and I had a relationship. Some days, he was the only adult contact I had until my husband got home...and he and I became *thisclose*.  (Then he left and they brought Joe on board, who might have been cuter, but didn't have Steve's charm. But I digress.)

Back to Wubbzy....character cookies make me nervous. Just look at Batman. So, I took the chicken's way out and used my icing printer.

But, I think the key to these cookies is the sprinkles.

I really like edible image cookies with a decorative edge. That's probably because I never get them on exactly centered.  Here's an example of edible image cookies with a piped edge.

If you don't have an icing printer, you can usually have them printed for you at a bakery supply shop...call ahead, you'll probably need to format the image for them. I've even heard you can get them from the grocery store!

Just cut the images and peel away from the backing and place on wet royal icing.  Allow 2 days of drying time. For the sprinkles, mix equal parts meringue powder and water. Brush on the edges and sprinkle. Voila!


Now, I'm going to check hulu for my old friend Steve.

This is my Uncle Mike. And when I saw that picture, I thought, THAT needs to be a cookie!!!

Let me tell you a little about my Uncle Mike....

• He was just 16 when I was born,

• When I was about 4 or so, he took me on a ROAD TRIP! I think it was from Texas to my grandparents' house in Oklahoma. Apparently, during the trip, he waited patiently outside the ladies' room door for me...and waited...and waited. I didn't come out. It seems my mother had trained me very well to line the toilet seat with toilet paper, BUT it kept falling off! I'm not sure how this was all resolved, but I did eventually make it out of that bathroom.

• One of my Uncle's favorite expressions is "Hootie Hoot!" I've never heard another person actually utter these words. :)

• He and kiddo have a private joke that involves the "hi-ho" song from Snow White. (I'll spare you the details.)
• And I can't forget....he LOVES the RED SOX!!!

I've always loved my Uncle Mike. Not only because he forgave me when I was 6 and I sat on his glasses and broke them....when he was visiting us....out-of-town.

After my mom died, he called. I mean, he called to check in on us every so often. To ask how we were doing, to ask about Kiddo, to have a laugh. My dad & sister & I had each other, but to hear my mom's brother's voice on the phone....it was a great comfort. It was another connection to her and I will never forget that.

I think some sort of border looks pretty on these edible image cookies....piping, a scalloped edge, sprinkles. This one was piped with a #16 star tip.

YES....these are EDIBLE images! Do not try this with your home printer. :) (You know, I had to say that, just in case.) My icing printer arrived a few weeks ago and I'm just getting to know it. The “paper” is a thin frosting sheet and the “ink” comes from food coloring jets.

I'll give a full tutorial on applying edible images in a future post, I promise! Until then, the quick version....format your picture, print on frosting sheets, cut and apply.