Pajamas Cookie-d

For Reader R's big SURPRISE party, we had a Pajama & Pancakes theme.  I really wanted to bake some special cookie treats for party favors!

Since it was a SURPRISE party, I had to be extra stealthy about it, so I made a bunch of nail polish cookies too.  (I told her I had a last minute order for a very important customer who would pick them up for her party on Saturday... hehehe.)








Inspired by these super cute striped cookies by Oh, Sugar! Events, I endeavored to cookie my daughter's favorite pajamas.  

First of all, I had to be sneaky and get a photo of the birthday girl in her pjs... so one night, I told her I wanted to send Grandma photo of how big she was getting and got her to pose for this snap. ;^) 

Then, I didn't have the right cookie cutter for her little sleeveless gown, so I used a blouse, and then cut off the sleeves with an awareness ribbon.  I could have just used a knife, but I really wanted to keep the curve of the dress consistent, and this was the best way I could come up with to do that.




Next, I wasn't quite sure how to pull of the air-brushed look of the pjs without an airbrush, so after a quick consultation with my cookie friends, I decided I would bake enough cookies to make them two ways. 



First, I created a rainbow of glaze colors.  I tried to flood the pjs, very quickly and get them to bleed into one another, but wouldn't you know the one time you WANT your colors to bleed, they wont!  So, I ended up laying down the colors one at a time and using a tooth pick to swirl them together to create a "bleed" effect.  I sprinkled them with Rainbow Disco Dust to give them some sparkle and then once they were really dry I added the trim, the hearts and the ruffle.  The ruffle was its own challenge.  Because I decided to use glaze for these cookies due to their deep colors, the glaze was not stiff enough on its own to hold a ruffle, so I had to add just a pinch the meringue powder that I use for royal icing.  That did the trick! ;^)


I could have stopped there, but I had it in my head that I really wanted the colors to "bleed" so I decided to go ahead and make a second batch using a different method.

For the second batch of cookies, I coated them with a base coat of white glaze.  Then, I used silver luster dust, mixed with a drop of gel color, and a couple drops of vodka to create a rainbow of colors.  Then, when the white was SUPER dry, I painted the rainbow of lustery colors on in good ol' ROYGBIV order.  (Thank you to my cookie friend, Jennifer, who reminded me that is REALLY the best way to go!)






I was so pleased with how the gel color mixed in with the luster.  Now, I don't have to buy a different jar of luster for every color!  Hooray!  Next I added the hearts, the trim, and the ruffle.  Finally, as a special touch, I added a little bit of hot pink disco dust to the ruffle.

It is interesting how bright they looked when they were wet and how they kind of got pastel-y when they dried.  That was OK with me... but if you were going for bright you might want to use even more color.

I was really very pleased with both cookies.  In the end, I ended up using the first, brighter one for the party favors.  (I decided I might have a few guests who mothers would not be thrilled that on top of fruit loops, pink and purple pancakes, chocolate chips and whipped cream, cupcakes and cookies, I sent their 8 year old daughters home with a large cookie coated with vodka... ;^)  ((Just kidding, we cookiers use vodka because the alcohol evaporates so quickly that we can paint on our fragile sugar icing without the cookies getting too wet and melting.  You might have even eaten a vodka covered cookie and didn't know it! ;^))



All that is to say, I was thrilled with how they turned out, and I think the birthday girl was pleased too! ;^)

Cheers!
Sarah