My wonderful neighbors Jim and Diana hosted a Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday night so Kevin and I made some lovely Cinco de Mayo cookies. I wanted to go all out and make many different shapes, so in all I think we made 12 different types of cookies. Because I decided to do these last minute, we didn't use cookie cutters. I printed out pictures of Mexican icons and cut them out. You cut out the cookies templates and place them on the rolled out dough and then cut them out with a paring knife. This method is time consuming but it saves so much storage space since you don't need to but cookie cutters.
I wanted to create a cookie that was original so I thought of the wonderful Mexican folk dancers with big, colorful and ruffled skirts. I drew a picture and then made a photo copy to use as a template. Before I decorated the cookies, I drew guidelines with food-safe markers so that I wouldn't be completely free handing the design.
I am mostly happy with the results. This is the first time in a long time that I hav used meringue powder to make my royal icing. I usually use egg whites because the flavor is so much better, but there are obvious safety issues. I must say though, that I have never gotten sick from using raw eggs. But I decided to test the meringue powder because I am making cookie favors for a wedding later this month and I wouldn't want a salmonella disaster!
So anyway, royal icing using meringue powder.....I HATE IT!!!! The icing is gritty, it is much flatter in color, and it so different in texture. And the taste is awful!!! I found it much harder to work with, but there were a couple benefits. It set up very quickly and it had a nice fluffy texture but I don't think I really want to use it again!
I really shouldn't complain too much though because they were a hit at the party. I flavored the icing with orange and pineapple extracts which brought a tropical flavor to the cookies which was fitting to the theme!
We made a lot of cookies, so we packaged some of them for guests to take home. The ribbon I found at AC Moore and was the color inspiration.
We made peppers...
and pinatas...
and cacti....
and limes, magaritas, chihuahuas, maracas, cacti, guitars, sombreros, panchos and bowls of guacamole and chips!!! All the hard work making these cookies made me hungry for Mexican food, which Jim and Diana so graciously provided. Yum yum!!!! The food was incredible and made me want to make some savory food for the blog... maybe once I run out of sweet ideas!!!
Happy Baking,
Sweet Charity ;-)
These are superb! Love the Mexican folk dancers!
ReplyDeleteThanks! They were the most fun to make too! Next year I think I'll make a mariachi band to go with the dancers!
ReplyDeleteThe guacamole bowl with the chip is very clever! That was my favorite.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I got the idea from some clipart I found. The internet is full of inspiration!
ReplyDelete