the one-elf kitchen

holy mistletoe did December kick my hiney. i still owe Vanessa and Theresa a dozen each for covering hubby's Christmas weekend, and Aunt Donna and family can expect a thank you package--had we drawn one of their names for the secret Santa game, a treat package would have accompanied the gift; alas, orders came in, snow fell, one car was shared, one toddler discovered "no" and now it's already 2 weeks after Christmas and i still twitch a little. i didn't bring any cookies to Christmas at my brother's, didn't do a plate for Jeff's family, and i didn't even bother sending cards this year. seriously, some years i'm Martha Stewart, this year i was Charlie Brown. but i do have pictures to prove i was busy, and i will take care of my back-logged cookie agenda.

onward.

Jeff's sister Heather and Aunt Dahlas lead the choir and bestow thank-you treats to singers, readers, and musicians who make the yearly musical service and pot luck dinner a success. once more, i was asked for a cookie creation based on this year's theme, "Emmanuel, God with us." at first, a nativity scene was suggested, but i pointed out that one would then have to bite and eat baby Jesus. the "Emmanuel" part comes from the angel informing Mary about Jesus, 9 months before Christmas, but if you say "angel" and "Christmas" one first thinks of the angel directing shepherds and kings. so i drew a sketch for a composite cookie of an angel gesturing to the star and got a thumbs up. the trickiest part was piping in the blue sky as negative space before filling in the angel, lest i cover detailed edges, like the face and hand, by trying to do the angel first. i heard one choir member thought the cookies came from a bakery; it's always nice to be mistaken for a professional. :)

next came Jeff's godmother Dorothy, who wanted 2 dozen. i included a slender white tree with dragees and something new i tried: there's a variety of cookie sprinkle that comes in different shapes--tiny hearts, tiny circles, etc.--and they're made with vegetable oil, i presume so they wont stick to each other. if you were to take a spoonful, and a little bit of pearl dust, and shake them in a tiny container, the dust sticks to the sprinkles. i can now make shiny blue ornaments.


then i did some red and green pinwheel stars, and by then the order was done, but i had just reorganized my sprinkles so i had to try my meta-cookie idea, little cookies on a cookie sheet. i sent these along too.


then i had just enough time to fill one more order--Jamie who ordered the bridesmaid dresses wanted to give a dozen to her godmother, so i did a dozen snowflakes with simple mint-green lines.
and by then i had enough time to tidy the house and pack for Indiana. much thanks for your orders, ladies, and many apologies to anyone who thought i might be slacking. fear not, i'm still baking.
coming soon, my other December order for a girl's night out, those cookies i owe people, and probably some birthdays... happy new year everyone!

Jamie's dresses

this is my favorite kind of order--one that starts with "oooh! you should call katie!" long story short, there have been parties this year featuring my cookies. one guest, former coworker Mary Jo, passed my website along to her daughter Jamie who wanted a fun way to surprise her friends with the big question. she wanted to leave it up to me, citing a creativity shortage on her part, but i said how about a color, or a picture you like, and she sent back one of pastel dresses hanging side by side, and a preference for blue. so i sent back this sketch.
i traced the dress cutter twice, and the mini bell twice for the dress combo, and showed 2 choices for the text. the two have the same motif with the question marks and hangers. once i got a thumbs up from Jamie, i had the big idea to try meringue powder.

my mother and i have been using the same icing recipe since at least the mid 80s. it involves egg whites, and we've never had one complaint about it. raves and requests yes, but not a peep about egg-related dissatisfaction. that said, our plan, once these cookies were done, was to drive them to Mary Jo, who will mail them out to Jamie's friends, as Jamie is in AZ and her friends are all over, like MN. i wasn't exactly worried for the cookies making these journeys, and i mused at those little million-to-one disasters that only happen to your package on the leaky truck, or in the hot weather, and i thought, why not try an alternate to egg whites, because one day we'll need to. this order has intricate piping, travelling, and the deadline was kinda soft, so if i hated it, i could start over. it seemed a good time to dabble.

it took some getting used to. it was a lot thicker, it dried with a glossier finish, and the cookie remained firmer. plus it didn't have that not-quite-dry, not-quite-dense, airiness from whipped egg whites. the meringue powder provided the elasticity, but not the slight fluff. the end result was a little more taffeta than organza, but still pretty with pearl dragees, pearl dust, and opal sugar. Jamie said they were a hit and all 4 ladies said yes. congrats! and thanks Jamie and Mary Jo for a fun order.

i look forward to a few valentines, marriage proposals, etc. it's such a fun way to pass a message. my favorite kind of art has always been the kind that translates and idea. when i was little i cut out snowflakes and papered the windows in wintertime. the view out the window wasn't enough, it had to be a perpetual flurry. in high school i didn't feel compelled to write a script or act it, but i thought make-up and model building were awesome--as important as the acting or writing, it was the visuals that got you there. Jamie could have sent some blank chocolates and a card, but here's the iconic image of the bridesmaid's duty, "The Dresses," all bright and edible and cheerful. there's that moment when your eyes stop seeing icing on a cookie and they see the picture. like when the paper snowflakes in the window become the weather outside. it's a neat thing to conjure up in people. and then they get to eat it! win-win!
ladies, i hoped you enjoyed your surprise, and to all, stay tuned for angels, stars, trees, more stars, snow, and a metagingerbread man.

black-friday, over the hill, triple birthday weekend

hubby's sister, and other sister's husband, and yours truly, all celebrate birthdays within 4 days at the end of november. somewhere in the haze of turkey and door-busters, we manage to gather at least for lunch. this year Dan turned 40, and Kristi's my age (i'll be vague: younger than Dan), so i whipped up a few purses for Kristi, and Dan got, well, Dan.

these were made with the tombstone and candy corn shapes from a Wilton halloween cookie cutter set. funky graphics were flood icing dots dragged with a toothpick. little snap clasps are dragees. these would be cute with matching shoes. maybe hats and dresses too?

Dan's Dan was made from a pretty-old (80's?) Wilton snowman. at least it said snowman on it; it seems more like Frosty, what with being a biped... anyway, i thought, if i can make a leprechaun with it, why not a different beard, and why not a trumpet in one hand? (yep, he plays, and he's a music teacher.) unfortunately, icing isn't the most flattering medium--Dan's nose isn't flat, for instance. but he is Vegas-sparkly. (chuckle) the treble clefs were black on toothpick-swirled blue and white, and the trumpet valves are tiny gold dragees.

Happy Birthday Dan and Kristi! coming soon, a bridesmaid surprise, a girl's night out, and lotsa Christmas.

"gobble gobble"

got a call from Lois from church, wondering if i had some time to make a few cookies for a the yearly bake sale. i always have time for cookies, plus i had an incomplete set of 2nd hand, brown, hand-glazed plates that i didn't need. 4 big plates, 2 small plates, and 3 mugs, all unfit for the microwave, and ultimately doomed to be dropped over the years. i'm a clutz. i buy my plates at the dollar store. anyway, i picked corn, leaves, apples, and mini pumpkins, leaves and acorns. then i arranged them all nicely in/on their mug/plate, wrapped with cellophane, and put the 12 or so extras in favor bags. i'm told they sold out. (yay!)
in the meantime, they caught Dian's eye, and she ordered more corn and leaves for thanksgiving. this time i added a few purple kernels. i love how any color works--this shape is definitly in my top 10 favorites. thanks Dian!

('hey katie, your pictures are starting to look a little fuzzy.' yeah, as it gets darker and colder, i'm working with poorer light, plus i just recently got new contacts, and it turns out i really needed them! moving on...)


then mom remembered the turkeys i made for Eldra last year and wanted 2 dozen made the same way. i wrecked about 6 before i remembered how i did the tail last time. these little guys drove with mom and dad to thanksgiving at my brother's in indiana.

and then for fun, i made these for Andrew and Grace. one lost a head en route. :( but i'm sure he was delicious.

petite periwinkle pachyderms parade preposterously-proportioned petunias to party in PA

Sharon from church was planning a trip to her granddaughter's 1st birthday and asked if i could whip up 2 dozen. this was an "up to me" order, but i asked if she had any art to reference, colors to pick from, the usual questions to fine tune the dials on my thinking cap. Sharon replied that her nickname for Lucy is "Lemondrop," and that there are elephants in her room.

it usually comes to me as i'm sitting on my living room floor, surrounded by zip lock freezer bags full of cookie cutters. remember those spatial relationship sections of the standardized tests, where you have to look at 6 joined squares and determine if, when folded, it would make a cube? we were actually allowed to use paper and scissors, which i refused to use since that would only test cutting and folding, not whether our brain could think of a solid object when looking at a flat one. turns out i aced that section. and now i sit on my floor, holding pieces of plastic together, and figuring out how to make baby elephants holding giant flowers. (and while i'm great at spatial relationships, the guitar baffles me, and i stink at subtraction. brains, huh?)

i made the flowers lemon-yellow, so "lemon" and "elephant" were both present. the technique of only frosting part of the elephant, letting it dry, and doing the next, made a nice bas-relief effect on the ears, and trunk at the stem. large white sprinkles were dotted and eye-lashed with black food coloring. they were met with Sharon's approval, and good feedback on the grapevine prompted another to request 2 dozen for thanksgiving, coming soon. (thanks Sharon!!)

also on the way: turkeys, birthdays, bridesmaids and the bake sale. plus i finally give meringue powder a try (spoiler alert: i won.)

my halloween disguise: fondant master!

i recently had an opportunity to apply for a cookie decorator position (i know, can you believe it?) and was asked if i had any pictures of my work with fondant. (i know, can you believe it?) they were really looking for cake decorators who also probably did cookies. i'm finding a sort of friendly bias against cookies among the pretty-dessert fans. i get that a monumental wedding cake, or a complex scene around the birthday cake is no small task, (believe it or not, i watch all the cake shows for ideas. i figure anything they can do vertically, unless it involves motors, can certainly lie flat on a cookie, right?) and that the magic that a cake creator is conjuring involves all the party goers all getting a chance to admire the piece, exclaim that they cant believe it's edible, and what hours it must have taken, and to let all that wonder seep in like they're looking at the thing itself, not the 3 foot recreation in devil's food, ganache and (you know it) fondant. i get that it's about the big ta-da. cookies are more one-on-one, but a cake is for the group's visual pleasure--then the party-goers relinquish its beauty to the knife, and everyone is served something that is only as wonderful as the execution of its recipe. in fact, their portions of the fondant shell are peeled off by those who know, or sampled, then peeled off by those who just figured it out: fondant is just for show.
a funny thing is happening to cakes though--they're shrinking into cupcakes. photorealist painter Audrey Flack (check her out) wrote about how culture is transported over time and space more by the small things we can carry--our totems and ingots and trinkets--than by the megalithic structures that are eventually abandoned or built over. economic pressure makes people take what's easy to carry. and i'm betting that during a recession, a box of cupcakes is way easier to drive around than a cake. they're also way-easy to make at home since a) you can fake it with a boxed mix and b) decorating is more about alluding to the flavors (a sexy swirl of chocolate drizzled with caramel, etc) rather than making the cupcake look like a frog (though the team behind Hello Cupcake are geniuses at that.)
plus, cupcakes are perfectly suited to that urge in humans to have something special all to themselves. that big 3-tiered cake is not yours alone, you have to share it. you only get a piece of it, with a fondant remnant stuck to the side. but a cupcake, with it's flourished whipped peak, and dazzling sprinkles, and perfect gooey bite of something in the middle--that is the essence of a full cake contained in a single serving art-form that you can take your selfish time enjoying.
but cupcakes are more like cake-meets-truffle. when i say "decorated" i mean "to look like something." frosting and sprinkles, though decorative, is really just "frosted and sprinkled." i like the illusions that people are inventing with cake. and if it must be wrapped in fondant to look like a giant birthday frog or whatever, so be it. but what if it could look like multiple whatevers, and be personal servings, and stackable and transportable, and didn't have fondant at all? (pointing obnoxiously to the cookies)
i must wait for this idea to gain momentum. until then, i must make friends with fondant.
i've worked with kneadable media. ceramics mostly, modeling clay, marzipan, all delightful. fondant has been my backdrops for my little scenes, but only as a canvas for icing and sugar. fondant on cookies seemed unnecessary, unless you want texture rolled into the surface, and i've even seen a neat printed effect, but both involve cutting out the same shape in fondant, then attaching it to the surface of the cookie. the whole surface. what do you do when that dries? scrape the cookie off the back with your bottom teeth? or try to look cool while you eat a big mouthful of fondant? maybe, i thought, since it is edible, if not exactly palatable, it were just tiny little bits that you might not notice? so i made a few prototypes. forgive their smudges, these were only for practice...


if you popped in yesterday, you saw my brother's over-the-hill cookies. i thought roses looked more mournful, but during the practice run i made a pumpkin patch. those stems are individual chocolate jimmy sprinkles.

this was a mini fondant ghost on a mini tombstone. i rolled the fondant paper thin so i could almost see through it, and so that it tore lightly at the bottom like a little sheet. a fine tipped brush and food coloring did the details.

paper-thin ribbons were cut and placed on wet white icing. the white icing on top made me think the fondant wasn't necessary, unless you didn't want to make time for layers of piping to dry. the red eyes are fun though.



a worm in an apple.










ruffles on some high-heels.








this was 3 colors of fondant rolled together, cut with a tiny leaf cutter, smooshed a little into a curve, dusted with bronze pearl dust, a little vein line painted with food coloring, then adhered to the "tree" to let the "moon" peek through.

hubby brought these to work. reviews were all positive. i ate a tree, and didn't hate the level of fondant, but i did prefer it picked off. would i do it again? sure. all the time? no. "can i work with fondant?" you betcha.

in "dog years" he's dead

i remember it this way: John was about 11 and drew a line drawing of his room. i was 3 and didn't get it because i only saw outlines. cartoons were colored in; you could tell Tom from Jerry, Bugs from Daffy, but in his drawing, i couldn't tell window from bookshelf. then he colored in the lamp. suddenly i had a point of reference, some context for scale and the like, and the rest of the picture fell into place. it fell, it so happens, during dinner while i stared at it, hanging on the fridge. i was like that guy in Mallrats looking at the sailboat. suddenly someone asked me a question, probably about the dinner conversation topic, as though no conclusion was being reached and the 3-year-old might have some insight, and i pointed to the fridge and replied "i look at the light." laughter ensued, and it became a catchphrase in my family, meaning, loosely, "i'm no longer paying attention to you and would rather stare at the light fixture," a preschooler's proto-"talk-to-the-hand."

but i wasn't dismissing them, i was meaning to say "sorry, i wasn't paying a bit of attention, you see that scribble that John made this afternoon suddenly makes sense to me, and my golly, that's his funky yellow metal 70's desk lamp right there!" then i noticed the outlines in cartoons, always a thin black ink line like comic books. then i got into coloring books--more lines. then i noticed nothing around me had lines. then i just had to learn to draw.

and so here i am, still making outlines and coloring them in. and my big brother (whose first word was seriously "cookie") turned the big four-O today. and whether or not the baby boomers are right, and 50 is the new 40, i marked the milestone with a snarky little graveyard.

light gray was piped just after the darker gray was applied so the designs were flush, then coated in table sugar for a stony texture when dry. the roses are icing stems and leaves with fondant flowers.

here's a closer look, and truer to color, in different lighting. that's my pinky in the foreground, so you can see those roses were tiny. i'll have more about fondant on cookies tomorrow. look forward to shiny shoes, leafy moonlit trees, a mummy, ghosts in the graveyard, a pumpkin patch, and wormy apples. mmmmm.....

and coming soon, lil' Lucy lemondrop turns 1. till then happy birthday John, everyone check out his blog (see link on the right, "Conan's Fiero") and happy Halloween-'een everyone!