Ladybugs and Sunflower Cookies

My wonderful niece3 asked me about some ideas for cookies for her friend’s daughter’s B-day who is turning 2. At 2, the kidlettes would be happy with a popsicle split in half but we know the party is really for adults anyway so let’s bring some fun cookies to show off!I thought about rainbows, smiley faces, ladybugs and sunflowers. Since I was making more fall cookies last night to send to college boy1 and had the colors ready to go I decided to see what I could come up with since I had not made ladybugs before and only made sunflowers once many moons ago.

Here is what I came up with…

I am naming this ladybug ‘Tammy Faye.’
A little too much mascara (icing too thin so it spread)
but she does have a perfect pout!

Dots or hearts on the wings?
Hmmm.

I am naming this lady bug “Tyra” because she smiles with her eyes.
I think Tyra coined the term “smize.”

Or we could always get the Raid and start all over.

Note: I would NEVER oft a real ladybug!

I didn’t have a small, round, smooth cutter for the ladybugs so I used a votive candle holder and then used a very small crinkle biscuit cutter for the head. The body and head fit perfectly together because I cut the head from the left over scraps of the body positioning the head cutter a little into where I had cut the body from. Therefore, the head cookie had a curve to it.
Does that make sense? Good. 🙂

Put a little water on the two pieces of the cookie edges and bake them touching and you have one cookie at the end of 12 minutes. Ta-Da!!

The sunflowers are cut from using a bar glass (I guess I need some plain edged cutters).
The petals are made using a standard leaf tip.

I pulled the leaves from the center and added chocolate chips on their sides.

They needed a little more color and sparkle so I added some green leaves and edible glitter.
When I made sunflowers before I used a nonpareil candy.

They look like large chocolate chips with little white round candy sprinkles (nonpareils) on their tops. Do you remember seeing these in the concessions counter at the movies?
Does the name Snow Caps ring a bell?
It is a prettier effect because it gives the center more interest than plain chips.

For the little kidlettes I would go smaller in size and decorate with butter cream icing because it would be just a little softer to bite into. I think the combo of the ladybugs and sunflowers would be very cute or even a whole tray of just ladybugs!

Here’s my recipe for butter cream icing.

Big secret… It’s from the C&H sugar box and it’s terrrrific!

1 lb. box powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. salt (optional)

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1/3 cup butter (2/3 stick)

Beat together but hold back a little of the milk until you see if the icing is the consistency you want. If the icing is too stiff add more milk.

If you’re not used to piping with butter cream icing it does tend to soften from the heat of your hands from gripping the pastry bag so I would make it more stiff than what you would use for icing a cake. You can also get lumps blocking the tip if the butter and sugar aren’t thoroughly mixed. If you work with royal icing these two problems will never occur. Royal icing is much easier to work with in my opinion. Just a little icing comparison there. 🙂

And talk about heat making your icing melt…

Don’t forget to enter my
“Beautastic Give-Away”
that is going on until Tuesday.

We all want to sparkle for the holidays and edible glitter won’t do it for us …. or will it?
Hmmm. Could be fun finding out! 😉

Have a wonderful weekend BFs!

“Wild Kids” ~ David Benoit

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Comments

MrsB says:

Oct 23, 2009 at 6:47 pm

LOVE those ladybugs!
Sjn says:

Oct 23, 2009 at 7:33 pm

Quite elaborate little cookies! I love the chocolate chips on the sunflowers, yum!
Tracy-Girl says:

Oct 23, 2009 at 7:44 pm

my sister loves ladybugs… so i think i need to make some of these!!
Ronda says:

Oct 24, 2009 at 12:02 am

I just can’t believe how good you are at making cookies! They are amazing! So pretty.
I also love nonpareils, one of my favorite candies of all time.
You seriously should have your own cookie cafe!
XOXO
Snooty Primadona says:

Oct 24, 2009 at 5:27 am

Okay, I hope you realize that you should be putting all of this into a cookbook and selling it, right?

I’d kill to have a cookie cookbook written like this with plenty of pictures. Well, I’d at least pay some money…
Chatterbox says:

Oct 25, 2009 at 4:10 am

Very pretty ladybugs. I haven’t seen any cookie so colourful.

Thanks for sharing. You definitely should consider writing a cookbook with these fabulous ideas.

Cheers!!
Sjn says:

Oct 25, 2009 at 2:02 pm

I agree with Snooty about the “Cookie cookbook” idea. Go for it!

As far as paint colors go… I usually use Duron colors b/c I have their fandeck, but you can have them mixed into any paint, like Behr at HD.
I have “Plantaion Beige” in my living areas (a warm tan-gold) or if you want a true beige try “Lulled Beige”, it’s a great color w/o any other added tints.
I have “Stone Lion” in my bedroom which is a subtle sage green. It would be great in the living areas too.
You inspired me to do a post on Hue New… check it out!
Natty says:

Oct 25, 2009 at 6:56 pm

Oh I think those ladybugs are the cutest EVER!!!
I liked your fall cokies too, those leaves looked awesome.
I just wish I had some time to make them myself 🙂
Fifi Flowers says:

Oct 25, 2009 at 7:11 pm

Those cookies are ADORABLE… I think they would taste pretty good with a pink martini too!!! I may have to have another cosmo tonight… hmmmm… ones last night were divine! oooh how did I get off the subject of cookies… must be the name of your blog… LOL… ENJOY your day!
Fifi