Everything else...

Pretty much everything in my life has taken a back seat to these cookies the past few days...

I mean, not EVERYTHING, but lots of things.  Not my kids, of course, and not eating (obviously) but a few other things, like dusting, vacuuming, not the dishes, I did the dishes, cleaning the bathrooms...stuff like that.  Who has time for that when you're decorating cookies?  Yeah, not me.  At least not for this order.  I guess that's what I love and hate about making these cookies...they make me pay attention to them, and kind of forget the other things that need to be done around here.  Good and bad, you see?

So anyway...one of my student's parents emailed me a while back about making cookies for the Apple Blossom luncheon she's hosting because her daughter is a princess for this year's festival.  After lots of searching, I found exactly what I thought I wanted to do.  Trouble was, I had never done it before, so it could have been a total bust.  I ended up making a few sample cookies for her to try, to decide on a flavor, and practiced the decorating technique, and decided it was something I could manage.  Well...about 80 cookies later, they're ready for The Bloom.  (and so I am!)

I took some pictures to show you the process.  Each cookie takes about 3 1/2 - 4 minutes just to detail.  That time of course, does not include the original icing on the cookie, which must be done a day in advance to ensure it's totally dry.  That time also does not include adding the edible "sparkles" at the end once everything is dry.  So, yeah...you're looking at quite a bit of time for each cookie, but I think they turned out to be worth it.  What do you think?

First, I piped a flower shape around the outside of the cookie with semi-thick icing.

 Next, I took a damp paint brush and pulled a little bit of the icing toward the center of the cookie.

 Repeat on the inside of the flower shape that I just made.

 Repeat once more.

 I add a few little icing balls to act as the center of the flower.  (help me out with what those are called...my brain is struggling at this very moment.)

 Once totally dry, I added a little sparkle!  (Which is quite discrete, but still pretty in the right light.)

There you have it.  A little glimpse of what I've been up to most of the weekend.
Hope you had a great weekend too!