Monday, October 12, 2009

The Bat-mobile

Two words inspired this latest project: Construction Gingerbread. I was inspired by Cookie Swap by Julia M. Usher. It has several ideas for ways to bake your holiday decorations. I'm proud to say that this idea was my own...but I used her construction gingerbread recipe which uses bread flour to create a stiffer dough that does not expand or puff very much in the oven.

These cookie cutters were given to me by a good friend. I had made Christmas ornaments using royal icing and gingerbread in the past and they have lasted for years. Click here to see. So, why not some Halloween bats to hang from the chandelier in the dining room?

Before you bake, don't forget to poke a hole in the cookie for hanging. I baked the cookies and made an outline consistency royal icing using meringue powder. I also outlined the hole so that it wouldn't fill up with icing.

You can buy black food coloring either in liquid form or gel form. Beware that you need to use a lot of it, so I recommend gel food coloring because it doesn't thin your frosting. I made flow consistency royal icing and flooded the cookies. Brown sprinkles and white oyster pearls finished off the cookies.

Justin helped me use fishing line to hang the bats. "Right off the bat", we broke a bat because I didn't tie a good knot. Here's a link to the uni knot that Justin tied for this. I was so happy with the results and I think these will keep for a few years!

Happy Fall!