How to Decorate a Pug Cookie

Several months ago, I received a sweet note from a mom looking for cookies for her son Jake. He would be celebrating his 11th birthday. He has aspirations of becoming a baker and loves watching the Flour Box cookie videos. Sooooo....very politely the mom asked if I could make a video of the order. Here it is...

In this video, I use a KopyKake projector. I don't use this for most of my projects, but since I sketched the pug design on a heart, I needed a little help piping the design...especially getting the eyes and snout consistent. I am sure there is a pug cookie cutter in this world, but the heart seemed to work perfectly!

The KopyKake projects the image onto the cookie and takes out the guess work. I do find this a little more time consuming than freehand. But, when I really want consistent results it's a huge help!

Can we chat a little about squeeze bottles? I get a lot of questions about bag vs. bottle. I like to use both. I use icing bags for outlining and details.

I like to use bottles to flood. I find they are easier to fill and I like that they sit on my table top. I use 8 ounce, 12 ounce and 16 ounce depending on the job I'm working on. These are all available in the shop here. I generally find that a medium sized cookie takes about 1 oz of icing. So, I know that a full 8 ounce bottle will flood about 8 cookies. A full 12 ounce or 16 ounce bottle will flood 12-16 cookies. This is approximate and varies based on the size of cookie.

One of the things I like best about using bottles is that I can also easily give my icing a little stir if it has started to separate. And, for me, the refill is easier too. There isn't crusty or sticky icing getting in the way.

I use bags occasionally for flooding. Like when I'm using a 20-second icing. It gives me more control. But, mostly, I'll go for a bottle that has a coupler and tip. I like that I can switch tips. A #3 for larger flood areas, or a #1 for small areas. Definitely more control than the squeeze bottle with standard top allows.

These are a little trickier to fill (the opening is smaller). Until I got a knack for the pour, I used a square container and poured from the corner. Also, using a bowl or measuring cup with a spout makes it easier. then as I'm pouring I pull up and thin out the stream of icing. It flows right in. BUT, just to be sure I don't make a mess on my counter top, I do put the bottle on the LID of my container. That way, if there is a little overflow, clean-up is easy (scrape back into bowl)

This style of bottle also coming in a 2 oz size. I use these less, mostly if I'm only flooding a small area.

Clean up on bottles isn't too bad. I scrape out any leftover icing. Soak. Rinse completely. Then run through the dishwasher.

Now, if you like dogs and cookies...here's one more video (no KopyKake). It's one of my favorites of puppy love with dachshunds!!

Happy Decorating!

Anne