My First Time Decorating Sugar Cookies

I’ve been enjoying looking at several baking blogs lately, and many of them display beautifully decorated sugar cookies.  I’m planning on incorporating pretty sugar cookies into my wedding design, so I thought I’d practice on my Dad and my friend, Katie.  Their birthdays are this month, and what better way to celebrate than by eating cookies made by yours truly?!

Sugar cookies are not my favorite cookie.  I’m a chocolate chip girl all the way; and I also appreciate a good peanut butter cookie now and then, but since sugar cookies are the traditional cookies for decorating, I decided to go with them.

I didn’t document the process since it was my first time making these from scratch, and I didn’t want you all to follow my instructions in case they didn’t turn out that good.  The batter was VERY crumbly, and I had to knead it together as I scooped it out of the bowl.  I had a hard time keeping it together as I was rolling it out.  Next time I think I’ll add a little more liquid.

I went to a bakery supply store and Joann’s and picked up some cookie cutters, squeeze bottles, and a few other supplies.

Here are the cookies I made my dad.  Since it was my first time making them, I wasn’t very organized with the frosting, and so I wasn’t able to do as many colors or details as I wanted, so I finished decorating with an edible marker.

He is turning 70 this year.  70!!!  I can’t believe it!  He’ll always be young to me.  When I look at him, and I look at other 70 year olds, he still looks WAY younger!  Maybe it’s because he still has brown hair, and doesn’t even color it!

These hammers are my favorite.  He has been a contractor since he was about 16, so a hammer seemed pretty fitting for him. 🙂  I know hammers don’t usually have white handles, but I didn’t have any brown….so you’ll just have to deal with it.

The butterflies I made for Katie turned out pretty good.  Although, when the icing dried, it left a couple craters.  Hopefully she won’t notice. 🙂

I know I’ll get better with practice, so if anyone would like me to practice on them, feel free to let me know!  I certainly can’t eat a bunch of cookies, especially before my wedding!

Here are the rest of the butterfly cookies.  I made several different sizes so she won’t feel too guilty if she wants to eat more than one at a time.  I hope they don’t break during shipping!  Thanks for sharing my first sugar cookie decorating adventure with me!

8 thoughts on “My First Time Decorating Sugar Cookies”

  1. very very cute Joanne…..he will love those, he is a great guy, and 70, really, can’t believe that….

  2. Wow, those look really good especially considering it was your first time! 🙂 I have yet to attempt making decorated sugar cookies because it always seems like such a daunting task. And that’s cool about your Dad being so “young” – that is awesome!

    1. Thanks! I didn’t plan very well. On some of those cookie blogs they always talk about how they sketch it out first and decide what colors they’re going to use ahead of time. I kinda just winged it as I went along. Oh well, at least I know what to expect now. 🙂

  3. Your cookies turned out beautiful…I’m impressed! I’ve never decorated sugar cookies because it always seemed like too much trouble. You may have inspired me to give it a shot 😀

    1. Thank you Julie! It was fun, but it did take a long time to decorate. Plus I had to let the frosting dry overnight in one of our guest rooms because my pesky kitties would eat them if I didn’t. I had some candy coating that I wanted to return because I found it somewhere else cheaper, and of course the cats tore into it, so I guess I’ll be keeping those now! Augh!

  4. Oh, these hammer cookies and the butterflies turned out great!! Sugar cookies are definitely one of the most time-consuming cookies to make. You did well, as I would expect. Your artistic talent surely was a plus in the frosting and writing. 😉

  5. Your cookies look great! Your dad will love them. I used to make and decorate sugar cookies with Aaron and Jordan at Christmas when they were young. Unrecognizable! We had fun, though.

Comments are closed.