Peacock dress biscuits

Well. It's been one of those days today, you know, the sort where you sit down at nine o'clock and realise that you haven't had a drink since you left work at 4 and I am talking any liquid refreshment not the alcoholic sort.


I got chance to make these peacock dress biscuits a night or two ago and just had chance to grab some pictures before the light faded, so thought I would share a sneak preview with you. What do you think?

Too much pink?

I have just realised that nearly everything I've made recently is PINK. I am not sure how this happened but it clearly won't do, but then, you can never really have too much pink can you?

I have just received this lovely dress cutter and texture mat set by Autumn Carpenter, seems about time to remedy the pink situation.

I whizzed over to Design Seeds for some colour inspiration where I found this lovely peacock.

Source: design-seeds.com via Amanda on Pinterest

So, I'm just off to bake a batch of biscuits and then we'll see what happens next ... peacock dresses maybe?

Lace cookies

These lovely lace cookies are easy to make.

This is what you need

• A batch of Sugar Cookies. I posted the recipe I use just before this post. I customised my standard recipe by adding a teaspoon of rosewater with the butter and sugar and a little pink gel colour.  I used the pink gel colour by Wilton.

• Small flower cutter. I used one from an Eddingtons set that I got at my local Hobby Craft

• White ready made fondant coloured with pink colouring or pink ready made fondant

• Lace silicone mould

I used this floral lace mould from Squires Kitchen

• Lustre dust (I used Sugarflair snowflake from my local sugarcraft shop, Squires also do one with the same name)

• Clean paint brush

• Small rolling pin.

• A little white vegetable fat (e.g. Trex)

• Edible glue or piping gel.

Instructions

• Take a small amount of the fondant about the size of a golf ball or a little bigger
• Get a pea sized amount of the white vegetable fat and rub it between your palms, then roll the fondant into a ball between your palms so it it lightly coated in the vegetable fat. This stops the fondant sticking.
• Rub a little more vegetable fat on you work surface. 
• Roll out the fondant with the small rolling pin till about 4mm to 5mm thick. I use a Wilton rolling pin that comes with guides so that you can roll it out evenly to the required thickness. You could also use marzipan spacers.
• Carefully lift the rolled fondant and lay it on top of the silicone mould. Use your fingers to press the fondant into the mould firmly and evenly, then carefully peel the fondant off and lay it on your work surface.

• Use the same cutter that you used for the biscuits to cut the fondant to shape. Put the cutter on top of your fondant and look down the middle to make sure you have the pattern you want and cut. I have centred it around one of the lace flowers

• Stick the fondant on top of one of the sugar cookies with the edible glue or piping gel.  It you don't have these you can usually get away with using a bit of water.

• Finally use your paint brush to brush a little lustre dust over the top of the cookie.

That is it. You are done. If you try these cookies, I'd love to see how they turn out, please share at my Facebook Page

The Sugar Mice Facebook Page

This is another cookie made using another part of the lace mould for a different look.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

This is how I make sugar cookies. I use a stand mixer. If you don't have a mixer, try the BBC Good Food Magazine recipe

200g butter or block margarine
200g caster sugar
1 egg
400g plain flour

Stand Mixer Method (Use "K" beater)

1. Cream together butter or margarine and sugar. Just until they are mixed, if you over mix them, they are more likely to spread when you bake them. 
2. Add the egg and any flavouring you are using and mix again.
3. Add in the flour. (If you have time you should probably sift it first, I don't usually bother as flours are usually lump free)
4. Keep beating, the mixture will turn into breadcrumbs, keep mixing until the bread crumbs start to clump together.

You can then start to roll and cut. Rol about 5mm thick and use any cutter you want.
Bake at 180*C for 6 to 10 minutes, the larger the cookie, the longer the bake time.


A few pointers

Take a couple of good handfuls of the mix to roll out at a time as you don't want to re-roll more than two or three times.
You will need to press / knead the mixture together a little before you roll.
It is a good idea (but not essential) to use 5 mm marzipan rollers or Rolling Pin Guides to ensure that your cookies are all the same depth. I like to use the Wilton Rolling pin and guides. You can get both from ebay or amazon
Put baking paper or reusable sheets on your baking trays.
If you have time pop them in the freezer or fridge for around half an hour before baking This helps stop them from spreading when you cook them

Pink lace cookie

Pink lace cookie, a photo by The sugar mice on Flickr.

I've just made these pink lace sugar cookies, they are so easy to do. I hope you like them. Instructions will follow soon.

Pink heart cookies

Pink heart cookies, a photo by The sugar mice on Flickr.

Here are some cookies that I made, when I get chance, i will tell you how I made them.