"Stained Glass" Cookies

I received quite a few requests to please explain the technique I used to achieve a stained glass effect on a cookie, so to be nice I decided that I would do that for you all.

It is almost Christmas after all.

Remember though, it is NOT my intention to ever become a tutorial writer.  I don't mind sharing here and there, but there are already awesome cookie artists out there that cover pretty much anything you could ever want.

I learned cookie artistry by researching techniques and mastering them.   I don't mean to sound crass, but seriously, do your own research.  Play around with different techniques and never feel limited to only cookie icing be it glaze or Royal.

Be adventurous and use BOTH.

Anyway, last Easter I made these cookies and I was thrilled with the way they came out.  I had seen the technique used by Corriecakes  and I knew I had to figure out how it was done.

So I did.

I was hoping that I would get to make them this holiday season and my prayers were answered.


This technique is super easy and works up quickly.  First off, roll, cut, and bake your shapes.

Go wild and use whatever shape your heart desires.

Make some marshmallow fondant.  Flavor it with something crazy like bubble gum.  You can use commercial fondant, but just know that crap is nasty.  Just stop being lazy and learn how to make your own.

Roll and cut the fondant with the same cutters you used for your cookies. Make a few extras just in case.  Let the shapes sit for about 15 minutes to become firm.

Lightly paint the cookie surface with corn syrup and then adhere the fondant to the top of the cookie.

Use a detail consistency (Thick Shampoo) Royal Icing to outline your designs making sure that you connect all the areas so that your stain will not run into other areas.

Make your "stain" in little wells of an artists palette or a styrofoam egg carton like me, using 1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup, 1 teaspoon water (or Cake Batter Vodka), and desired coloring.

Mix it, mix it good.

It should be thick enough to stay on a paint brush, but will immediately run when touched on a surface. Using your paint brush, lightly fill sections with desired colors.

These cookies will dry with a shiny, hard, candied effect.

Bada Bing

Badda Boom.  

You know you live in the South when you see names like Miss Martha, Earlene, and Skip....

This is Home Girl.

Now go make your own cookies!!!

Meet and Greet Monday: She Bakes

The weeks leading up to the Christmas Holidays are always the busiest of times in the baking and sugar art world.

Go figure.

That is why I did not write Meet and Greet last Monday as EVERY one of my Cookier Friends is so busy and I knew that adding "one more thing" to an already full plate would be enough to send someone over the edge.

I won't be the responsible party that makes a baker lose their shit.

NOT that I know what it's like to lose my shit...

Tennessee Country Christmas

I thought it might be nice to just feature myself today as a Cookier "Interview-ee".  I think I am still narcissistic enough to pull it off and that way I did not have to bother anyone that is deep in the throws of decorative holiday cookies.

Hope you enjoy this post as I rarely every let people get to know me on a deeper level...even if it is just about cookies.

Vintage Themed Holiday Cookies

She Bakes: Let's give a rousing sugar welcome to "Home Girl" from She Bakes!!!  (This would be me.)

Home Girl: Thank you, so much for having me this morning!!  I'm glad I could pull myself away from the design bench to do this interview with you!!  I still have so much to do, so let's get down to business and answer these burning questions!!  By the way, do you have my requested Venti Starbucks' Salted Caramel Mocha Latte with a double shot??  Oh, good.  Thank you!
~
She Bakes: How did you fall in love with baking?

Home Girl: I fell in love with baking and decorating at a very young age.  My paternal grandmother, "Mutti" was from the Black Forest region of Germany and she baked these amazing cookies called Almond Spritz.  She would also take me and my little sister into a local place named Plaza Bakery (in Virginia Beach, Virginia) where they have the most wonderful Cakes, Cookies,  and Petit Fours.  My personal favorite is an Almond pound cake with Lemon or Pineapple Curd nestled in between the layers of dense, moist cake and covered in fluffy white, almond decorator icing.
~
She Bakes: Just for my own survey, did you ever have an Easy Bake Oven as a child?

Home Girl:  I did!!  I received my Easy Bake Oven for Christmas in 1977 at the age of six.  It changed my life forever.  Notice that my parents were also nice enough to get me a stand-up mixer, too!!

(See that Teddy Bear in the photo?  I wish I still had him.  He was an 18 inch Steiff and would be worth a lot of money today.)

Home Girl circa 1977

She Bakes: Name your top five Cookie Artists that you swoon over in no particular order.

Home Girl:  I can only name five?  Seriously?  Well, the first cookie blog I ever laid eyes on was Cristin's Cookies. I just adore her work and she is seriously one of the nicest people that walk the planet.  Of course, there's The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle and Lilaloa both of whom I learn so much from.  I might be slightly obsessed with Arty McGoo and her amazing work.  A new Top Five Cookie Artist for me is Mike from Semi Sweet Designs.  LOVE, LOVE, FREAKIN' LOVE his work.

I could seriously go on and on and on...there are just so many incredible sugar artists out there!!
~
She Bakes: What is your "goto" sugar cookie recipe?

Home Girl: I fell in love with this cookie recipe about 4 months ago and never looked back.  It's light and dreamy, works like a champ, and never needs to be chilled.  Why mess with what I consider to be perfection in a cookie?  I use to rely on a cookie made with granulated sugar, but since switching to one  that uses powdered sugar, I have found that I much prefer the flavor balance.
~
She Bakes: From what I can gather, you're also a restaurant trained chef...what is your favorite cuisine to both cook and eat.

Home Girl: That's a difficult question to answer!!  I am well versed in all aspects of cooking, regional and worldly cuisine, and baking, but I would have to say my most favorite is All Things Italian.  Northern Italian, more specifically.  I love, love, LOVE a good cream sauce with properly made delicate veal, slices of Prosciutto, and sweet, fresh garden peas with the proper hint of garlic and cracked peppercorn.  I serve this with Cesar Salad, made from scratch croutons baked in butter, sprinkled with fresh grated Parmesan Cheese, and a house-made dressing.  There might be a Tiramisu for dessert if you've been very good.
~
She Bakes: What is your most favorite thing about cookie art?

Home Girl: I love how creating a set of cookies relaxes me.  It's my therapy.  I turn on some music, go into my design room and get completely lost in piping icing onto a small surface.  It truly completes me and makes me blissfully happy.  I also love the look on someone's face when they see their cookies.  That's pretty awesome.
~
She Bakes: If you could send cookies to anyone famous, who would it be and why?

Home Girl:  Khloe Kardashian.  Without hesitation.  She deserves to smile considering how this past year has been so difficult for her.  Out of all my Kardashian sisters, she is the one I identify with the most and she's a shining example of how to gracefully deal with other people's bullshit and not jump on that train to Crazytown.  I give her "mad props" for that.  She's keeps it classy, yet gangsta.  (If anyone has that Koko connection, PLEASE hook a sista up so I can make cookies just for her!  It's on my bucket list!!!)

Let It Snow, Please!  

She Bakes:  Word on the street is that you're physically disabled.  Care to discuss this part of your life with us?

Home Girl: This past year I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Osteo-arthritis in all my major joints such as my hips, knees, feet, ankles, neck, back...pretty much everything BUT my hands, thank God.  I am very limited as to what I can and cannot do.  This coming New Year will be hard for me as I venture into medically necessary treatment that I do not want to do.  It's not gonna be fun, but I'm a fighter and I'll just kick this shit's ass, too.  It makes me sad that I can not work in a commercial bakery anymore, but I do what I can with my home oven.
~
She Bakes:  Outside of baking and decorating, what are your other passions in life?

Home Girl:  There are so many!!!  First and foremost is my relationship with My Divine, My God, and becoming more connected to my spiritual world. Right behind Him are my seven children ranging in age from 26 to 11.  I love photography, sewing, quilting, all things foodie, and living in Olde Towne, Portsmouth, Virginia.  That's how I became "Home Girl".  Passion for me, is in the creation of a "home".
~
She Bakes: That's all the questions I have for you today, Home Girl!  Thank you so much for taking time out of your extremely crazy busy week to talk with us!

Home Girl:  Not a problem, at all.  Thank you.  You'll be leaving now, right?

Ho Ho Ho

This is Home Girl...I mean, She Bakes....I get so confused.

Now, leave me alone so I can get all these cookies finished!!!!

I Might Be A Cookie Blog

You know that old saying, "If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it might be a duck."

I have been battling with the direction of my little blog for quite some time because there are a gazillion billion things that need to come out of my brain and writing them here has always been therapeutic for me.

My artistic mentor recently told me to just create things that make you and others happy, to not get caught up in all the "gobbledeegook" and then write about those experiences.

I decided to take her advice.

So, here I am admitting this truth: I am a Cookie Artist.

There, I said it.

Whew, that is a huge burden off my shoulders.

I do not plan on doing tutorials or videos on You Tube.  I will not be breaking designs down step by step for you to use.  I do plan to feature other "Cookie Crushes" that inspire me.  I might share recipes I love occasionally.  I will share with you my stories, my experiences, and the random crap that somehow becomes stuck in my brain.

If you know me then you know the random crap issue looms large in my world.

I need an outlet.

I need someone to listen without interrupting me.

Also, I need a place where I could pin my work to my Pinterest boards because that is where I keep my brain organized.

I want to be able to tell the story of a designed set of cookies that I have made, more so for my preservation, but to also convey the fact that my cookies go much deeper than what the eye can see in a photo.

I adore the fact that each cookie set I design becomes a story...each one engraving a spot on my heart.

That is the awesome thing about Custom Sugar Cookies.  From concept to completion, this type of sugar art can take anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days to complete depending upon design intensity.  This does not include time spent baking.

It also explains why hand designed sugar cookies do not come cheap.

The average price in the United States, from a top notch "cookier", runs anywhere in the range of $3-$5 per cookie..I have seen them as high as $15 each.

I do not sell to the public.  I do not classify myself as a top notch cookier. I am still a "wanna be", but I enjoy the learning process.  I am studying this craft intensely.  I am completely addicted to the art of cookies and through my disease I am able to put a smile on someone's face.

In case your wondering though...I'm still pretty Paleo (see previous posts).  It has become habit to me and although I am not as strict as I once was, I still make every effort to eat quality food and not GMO filled crap.  I have been steady at having lost more than 100 pounds since last May.

Has it influenced my baking?  Most definitely.  I make sure I am using organic ingredients and when needed, flour alternatives.

I have a regular cookie here and there though.  You know, in the name of quality control.

I'm still "Home Girl" and this is still "In the Heart of Happy"(look at the URL) which was born from "Living on The Spit"...it's just that it was time that I got right with my blog and call a spade a spade.

It definitely looks like a duck.

Welcome to She Bakes and I AM a Cookie Blog.

~
This is Home Girl and I want to welcome all your Sugar Faces to my words.

Disclaimer: All these photos are of my own work.  Steal them and you will have to deal with me and my Cookie Sisters.  Go do your own cookies!!

Here and Now

When I look in your eyes
There I see
Just what you mean to me
Here in my heart I believe
Your love is all I'll ever need
Holdin' you close through the night
I need you, yeah

I look in your eyes and there I see
What happiness really means
The love that we share makes life so sweet
Together we'll always be
This pledge of love feels so right
And, ooh, I need you

Here and now
I promise to love faithfully [Faithfully]
You're all I need
Here and now
I vow to be one with thee [You and me], hey
Your love is all [I need] I need
Say, yeah, yeah...
When I look in your eyes, there I'll see
All that a love should really be
And I need you more and more each day
Nothin' can take your love away
More than I dare to dream
I need you
Here and now
~

Luther Vandross (1951-2005)

You were totally singing along with me, weren't you?  

Truth be known, this is not my most favorite wedding song.   In my opinion, it's not a classy wedding without an Ol' Blue Eyes remake by Michael Buble'.  You know the one I'm referring to....

This is Home Girl and I loved working on this wedding themed cookie set.  It doesn't mean I ever want to join that institution again, but the thought of just having a reception is pretty fun sometimes.

Those thoughts are fleeting though.  Thank God.

I'm Bringing Sexy Back

I have been wanting to do this set of cookies since this time last year.  I could sit and design themed dessert sets for hours.  They consume my brain, at times.  I walk around with what is known as "Cookie Brain" and I will see cookies in every aspect of my life.  It might be in a fabric that has my visual senses whirling or it could be in a shop or restaurant...even photos I see on social media sites will inspire me.

I am completely attached to black and red as a color combination.  To me, it's crisp, it's a little edgy...it's just "plain, damn, sexy."

Come on, admit it...we all have a little bit of a bad bitch in us.  If you didn't, you wouldn't keep on coming back to read me.  You know "Home Girl" tells it like it is, that's why.

So, I'll say it for you...Be your bad ass sexy self whether it's with someone else or by yourself.  As an introvert, I can appreciate both sides of the fence.  Sometimes I enjoy people, but most times I don't.
Valentine's Day, for me, is more than a couples holiday.  It's not about having someone to be the love of your life...it's about loving yourself and respecting the sexiness that ensues from that.

Yes, I'm telling you that if you start loving yourself first and foremost...the sexiness just happens.

Be strong, confident, classy, and have your own passions in life.

Be a little edgy.  Try new things.  Get some Black and Red in your life.

Don't be scurred....

This is Home Girl wishing you a wonderful St. Valentine's Day.  Know you are loved.