I meant to do this tutorial two weeks ago, but time got away from me. Luckily, I met a new friend who got me in gear AND helped me to make it easier for others to make Lego man cookies for their own kiddos.
Some of you might remember that I made Lego man cookies for my son's Valentine's Day party a few weeks ago. Not long afterward, I "met" Andrea of Knitty Bitties who was planning on making these for her own son's birthday and had a few questions.
After I replied, I realized I REALLY overexplained. {Andrea is pretty darn crafty herself}. She already had an idea AND something even better. She'd created a template for the project and was more than willing to share =)
Now to learn something.
I hand cut a LOT of cookies. Especially if I don't need enough of them to justify making or buying a cutter.
Templates can be made out of plain paper, manila folders, velum {stencil} paper, cardboard...
You get the idea. It really doesn't matter how you do it, as long as it works for you.
However, since I tend to use them more than once, I came up with my own little method of making templates.
They are sturdy, can be washed, and don't require anything that is not readily available.
Have I mentioned that I live in a pretty rural area? It's a long haul to the craft store, so I use what I have.
To begin you will need three things. Scissors, the printout from Andrea, and a lid from any disposable plastic container.
*It always makes me feel good when I find a way to recycle items from around my house =)*
To get started, place the template on the lid and trace around it with a permanent marker.
Once you have traced your image onto the plastic, cut it out and you are ready to go!
You now have a perfect, re-usable Lego man template!
PS-DO NOT THROW THE PAPER TEMPLATE AWAY WHEN YOU'RE FINISHED, WE'LL USE IT AGAIN!
To make the cookies, follow these steps:
*When I fill cookies like this, I always fill in sections. I do the small areas first and let them dry for 30 minutes or more, and then come back and fill the middle. This keeps the sections from running together. {if you notice in the picture to the right, I didn't follow my own advice. We'll fix that later}
Now here's where the paper template comes back into play.
Normally, I freehand faces, since I have had a lot of practice, but if you're a little unsure of yourself, try this little trick.
When the cookie is COMPLETELY dry {I'm talking eight hours or so} draw the face on the template, {use pencil in case you are afraid of goofing} then place it on the cookie.
I giggled after I saw the next photo because it actually looks quite violent, but it's a little cookie trick I use from time to time.
Using an push pin, gently poke holes through the paper to mark where you would like to place your piping.
It's a little hard to see, but the pin marks your cookie, kind of like a dot-to-dot.
Always remember, BE NICE to your cookie! It is still possible to damage it, even if it's dry.
Always remember, BE NICE to your cookie! It is still possible to damage it, even if it's dry.
Just for example's sake, I decided to show you the cookie I made using the pushpin trick and the ones I did freehand.
Surprisingly, I actually prefer the freehand ones. If you were to compare them with "THE Lego Man", they are technically smiling too much, but that makes me happy.
Also, before I run, I wanted to show you another little trick to fix a common mistake.
To some people it's not a big deal, but this REALLY bugs me, so to fix it, I took my food color marker and I went back over the place where the separation was suppossed to be.
It's that simple.
I hope some of you will try this this weekend. It might be Lego men, or maybe you have an image you've been itching to translate into cookie form. No matter what you are working on, this plastic template trick is perfect for the job.
Many thanks to Andrea for sharing her Lego man with us, and for also encouraging me work on this.
Be sure to come back tomorrow for a special guest post from my friend Pam "Cookie Crazie" Sneed, that includes a fun tutorial using another type of cookie icing, the often misunderstood GLAZE.
I hope that y'all made it thorough all this awake and enlightened...if I left something out, just ask.
Good luck and happy decorating!
