Happy Birthday to my Dear Friend with Some Sweet Dolly Cookies

Do you guys remember how I said on Monday that I was into a cuter, gentler Halloween? How I’m not into scary movies and stuff?

Then why am I suddenly obsessed with The Walking Dead?!

A couple of weeks ago, one of my friends statused on facebook about how she was mad at The Walking Dead for sucking her in. At the time, I thought, “Hmmm. The Walking Dead. That sounds like vampires. Meh.”

Don’t get me wrong…a good vampire book, show, or movie makes me happy (as long as it’s not terribly gory, please), but there’s been a lot of overkill for a while now.

Then, last week, The Walking Dead shows up on Netflix Watch Instantly. And you know what?

The picture totally makes it NOT look like a vampire show…so what is it?

Well, fortunately for you, my curiosity got the better of me (if I were a cat, then I would have used up my nine lives a long, long time ago).

It’s a zombie show. A half-rotted-corpses-walking-the-streets-attacking-innocent-coma-victims-who-woke-up-completely-unawares-that-the-Zombiepocalypse-had-descended zombie show.

And it’s good. Really.

It can get gory, I’m not gonna lie. I find myself covering my eyes no less than half a dozen times per 45 minute episode. But it’s usually an anticipated gore; they sort of build up to it, and you’re expecting it, so there’s plenty of time to wimp out and A.) Turn the show off, or B.) Cover your eyes.

It’s okay. There is no shame in this.

It’s also pretty intense at times. Like, holy crap that zombie actually has ahold of you and will zombify you in about 2.37 seconds unless you get awa- Oh. Whew! You got away.

Seriously. In the first episode, our hero gets mobbed by zombies (we’re talking hundreds) before he *just* manages to slip into a conveniently open tank. I mean, it was a close one.

Anyway. I like this show. A lot. I’ve already finished the entire first season. Since Halloween. Sure, there’s only six episodes, but I have pretty much done nothing for two days except sit around on the edge of my seat. Half the time with my hands over my eyes.

Which leads me to the cutesy dolly cookies that I’m sharing with you guys today. Because I’m gonna need to make some more. Stat.

I’m thinking it’s the only way to cure myself of the zombie induced insomnia that I’ve suffered the last two nights.

Come on! What if I wake up to find that the zombie apocalypse has struck?! Sure, I could probably out run them, but I’m not fully prepared otherwise. My stockpile of suitable weapons is severely lacking.

I’ve determined that the only solution is pretty sweets and cute things to distract. While I prepare.

I actually made these cookies last week for a wonderful friend of mine who was celebrating her 30th birthday. Her dear friend was throwing her a surprise party and knew that I would love to be involved somehow, but being so far away, would have to contribute in a more unique way, since I couldn’t make it to the party. Our solution was cookies (of course).

I used my favorite rolled sugar cookies. These were only my second attempt, ever, at using royal icing. The real stuff, like Callye, of The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle, uses. My dream is to someday be at least half as gifted as she is. Seriously. Have you seen these? Or THESE? She is truly gifted. She even makes the most adorable 3D cookies! She’s seriously my cookie idol.

While my cookies are not on her level, by any means, I think with a lot more practice, I’ll have some cookies that I’d be happy to show her.

Now, I followed all of the royal icing decorated cookie rules here and outlined my cookies with a thicker icing, then flooded them with a thinned down version. So far, so good…except I had lots of air bubbles. I spent a long time popping them with a toothpick. It wasn’t fun.

After letting the icing set up for a couple of hours, I went back to add my decorations. I decided to do half cupcakes/ hald adorable little dolly-type characters. My friend, Karen, is seriously the Cupcake Queen. There aren’t many reasons why she would turn away a cupcake. I’ve never known her to do it. So, of course, there had to be cupcakes.

I started out by drawing the outline on, again in a thicker icing. I just drew these free hand, because they’re just a combination of a few simple lines.

Once the outlines were complete, I added some little details to the bottom of the cupcakes – little lines to represent a cupcake wrapper, and a sweet little pink heart.

Finally, I flooded the cupcake with thinner icing, and finished them off with some cute star sprinkles. The design for these is actually based on a sweet, little felt cupcake that Karen made for me a couple of years ago that I seriously love.

Next up, my dolly version of Karen.

Again, I stuck with simple shapes to create these. Maybe as I gain experience, I’ll make more elaborate and detailed designs, but for now, these were elaborate enough. I still have a lot of practice to do.

I started by drawing a simple circle for the head (let’s not get into the fact that I can’t draw an actual circle to save my life…after all, the hair will hide most of it). Next I drew two little arms, leaving room for a dress. I gave each dolly a little white collar…although, they sort of look like pearls…and I outlined the dress in a light purple before adding cute little legs and simple purple shoes. I did all of this in the thicker icing, then, I went in and flooded everything in corresponding colors, and added details as needed. If you add details while the icing is still fresh and wet, then they will sink down into the design and begin perfectly smooth. If you want something a little more 3D or textured, then wait an hour or two before adding the details.

In the end, I’m really pleased with how these turned out, although, I had hoped for a little more detail. I think they’re cute, and they are perfect for my lovely friend, who loved them and was very surprised!

I have work to do on how I make my icing; you’ll notice that the cookies aren’t perfectly smooth. I’m not sure why that happened yet, but I’m sure that I’ll be able to research an answer from somewhere soon.

In the meantime, I’m pretty happy with my second foray into the world of royal icing, and I’m excited to try it again. Plus, these are so darn cute and happy, I’m sure I won’t be worried about zombies outside my window. Much.

Happy birthday, again, to my dear and lovely friend. I’m so happy that you were surprised, and that I was there in a small way! xoxo

If you haven’t tried decorating with royal icing yet, I recommend giving it a shot. Honestly, it can be a bit tedious, but if you love to draw or paint, then it’s also quite fun. The possibilities are endless, and the results, good and bad, are delicious. Enjoy!

P.S. I totally know how to ship sugar cookies now. It’s kind scary, not gonna lie.

Tagged as: Cookies, Cupcake Cookies, Royal Icing, Sugar Cookies, Tutorial, Zombies