Houndstooth Cookies {Guest Post}

August 12, 2011 | 31 Comments »

Houndstooth is my cookie nemeses, right up there with The Little Mermaid.  I might be the only girl on the planet who doesn’t have warm feelings toward Ariel. Trying to turn any cartoon character into a cookie, EVEN with a cookie projector, is enough to give someone a complex.  Especially that blasted mermaid. 

Same story with houndstooth. I’d toy with the idea from time to time, but always came to the conclusion that it would be more trouble than it was worth and left it at that… until I needed to make these.

I TRIED to think of alternatives, but I knew I’d need a stencil.  An expensive stencil.  So, I bought one.

I’m a big believer in having the right tools for the job, so I found 101 different ways to justify buying this stencil, which was fine, except none of those things ever happened.  I used it once.  ONCE!  Not even enough to cover the expense.  Talk about feeling dumb. I spent way too much money {about $50 at the time} on a one-hit wonder.

Definitely a learning experience, but one of those things that comes with the territory.  Lots of us have paid for useless “toys” that end up hidden so our husband doesn’t remember them when we *need* another expensive gadget…RIGHT?

So the story goes.  My overpriced houndstooth stencil was tucked away and forgotten until I stumbled upon these.

I. WAS. STUNNED.

I know, I’m lame.  While all the cool people in the world are getting excited over reality shows, I’m getting starstruck over cookies. Especially cookies like this one.

This is no ordinary cookie. It’s genius really.  It takes a LOT of thinking to come up with something like this.  At least more thinking than I was capable of. 

Do not let the simplicity of the colors fool you.  This is not as easy as it looks. It takes some practice, but it sure beats the heck out of buying a stencil you’ll only use once.

ANYWAY, I was so impressed with this cookie that I asked Katie Dunn, the genius behind the design, to show us her magic.  Here’s what she did.

 

To make these cookies you will need:

Cookies

 Black flood icing in a squeeze bottle {I used a #2 for }

White flood icing in a squeeze bottle

White piping icing in a bag with tip {I used a #3}

toothpicks

Now you’re ready to begin.  Decorate one cookie at a time and be prepared to work quickly. Outline cookie shape in white and let harden a little bit.

Next, fill with white flood icing.

While STILL WET, draw black squares  into the white base  with black flood icing.

Still using the black flood icing, draw diagonal lines from the top right corner of one square to the bottom left corner of the square next to it.

To finish, drag the corners of each square {the ones not touching the connecting lines} diagonally outward with a toothpick. 

Let them dry thoroughly.

 

Originally, I planned to post this last week while I was on vacation, but I got so excited when I got the pictures that I wanted to try it myself first.  As soon as I got home, I got to work. You wouldn’t believe how many of these I made for practice.  It was addictive.  Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

At first it was a little hard for me to relax and just decorate.  Sometimes, I am SO literal, it’s hard for me to interpret a design.  I get SOOOOOO hung up on PERFECT I forget to improvise, create, and just have fun. Guess I better work on that one.

As for tips, I would suggest making extra. Also, be careful when flooding the cookie not to fill it so full that it runs over when you add more icing. Oh yes, and don’t wait until the night before you need cookies to try this!  It takes a little bit to get the hang of it. Crunch time is not the ideal time for a trial run.

To you Katie, thank you, thank you for teaching us something new!  I cannot wait to see what you come up with next, like maybe alligator print, *hint hint* before I buy another stencil I don’t need!

As for the rest of you, be sure to drop in on Katie and say hello.  You can find her fan page, Cookie Vignettes, on Facebook.

 

 


Cookies, Guest Tutorials, Pattern and Print Cookies, Patterns and Prints, Popular Cookies, Sweet Sugar Belle, Tutorials
31 Comments »