I think I just might have the best customers ever! You guys are cool, happy, fun people that love cookies. And you never stop amazing me with your party ideas. It just makes my job so great.
I got a request that made me think twice. The customer wanted a JUMBO cookie the size of a cake in the shape of Elmo. Can I really do this? I decided I could and I think it was successful.
First, I sketched a big Elmo head on a clean piece of cardboard. Next I rolled a very large section of dough. Large enough so that I could do the cookie as one piece. Using my jumbo cardboard stencil, I hand-cut the head. From the remaining dough, I cut the eyes using an oval cutter and the nose from a round cutter. I used my mini round cutter to make the pupils. I think this made Elmo look cool because he was a little dimensional.
I did use a different icing on the head than I normally use on my cookies. Typically I'm a royal icing girl, but for the large head I decided that a buttercream would be the way to go. I have a great buttercream recipe that I use on the cakes I do for family projects. This icing is a little softer and has a richer flavor. It's not something that can be used on a product if it's shipping, but this was a pick-up order.
The mouth was cut freehand. But as you'll see in this next picture, the first mouth wasn't quite 'Elmo' enough. I'm holding the bad mouth. See how it is the wrong shape and too small?
So in the middle of the project I had to switch gears to quickly bake another one. I baked the 2nd mouth and was much happier with the size and shape.
The customer also wanted a message to her daughter. I made three personalized birthday cake cookies just for the birthday girl.
This is actually a new birthday cake cookie cutter I was testing out. It's cute. I like the heart at the top. It worked with Elmo's red fur too.
It was funny because a day before the order was due, I realized I didn't have a bakery box large enough to fit a cake. All my boxes are smaller 'cookie' boxes. I had to make a run to the local Michael's craft store to find this huge jumbo box. I was just so happy that everything fit perfectly inside.
Have a sweet day! Don't forget to check out the Easter and Spring cookies on the site. Only a week left until the order deadline (Monday, March 29th)
Have a sweet day,
Anne
(P.S. Sorry the quality of the pics on this post were kind of poor. I had taken the photos of the cookies while they were in the box. It made for some weird shadowy stuff on the cookies.)