Soaring Heart Cookies

When I get into something, I can be pretty gung-ho.  Like this cookie thing.  I mean, I REALLY got into it.  All-in-all, it was a good thing, except for the fact that if I didn’t watch it, I could easily blow several hundred dollars on just a few cookie cutters.

Until I discovered hand cutting, if someone asked for a cookie I didn’t have a cutter for, I’d order it.  If the shape was uncommon, and it usually was, it would  be a copper one.

This is why I’m probably the world’s ONLY official owner of a cockatoo cutter.  It blows my mind that anyone even makes a cockatoo cutter, considering the fact that until recently, you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find  Hello Kitty.  Then here’s Callye with a mohawked bird!  How does THAT happen?!

After several “cockatoo-esque” purchases,  I finally got desperate smart. 

First, I learned to hand-cut, but I quickly discovered that’s a little too much work for my taste. So, over time, I began to look at my cutters in a whole new way. 

Pretty soon, neckties became pina coladas, flowers morphed into tutus, and footballs transformed into lemons right before my eyes. I didn’t know whether to pat myself on the back for being so smart, or bang my head against the wall for taking so long to figure it out!

The good news is, I’m sharing this so you don’t have to learn the expensive way  Now, before I invest in ANY copper cutter, I ask myself a few questions…

• Is this shape a trend? 
• How many times do I actually see myself using this cutter? 
• Is this cutter multi-functional? 
• Is there something else I’d rather invest $22 dollars in?

Nine times out of ten, I  talk myself out of it.  Then, when I feel the urge to buy the overpriced duvet cover from Anthropologie, I can justify it to my husband by telling him I bought it with all of the money I saved by NOT buying a new cookie cutters.  See where I’m going with this?

My most recent have-to have cutter was a heart with wings from Ecrandal.  I’ve had my eye one it since  before Valentine’s day.  But every time I went to order it, something stopped me.  Not that it would have been a bad purchase, I LOVE Ecrandal cutters, but considering that I have never had one single person ask for a heart with wings, I could not bring myself to do it.  So, instead of ordering, I figured out a way to make it myself.

Now, you can too.  It’s one of the easiest cookies I’ve pieced together in a while.  All you need are two heart cutters, one large and one small.

First, I cut out two hearts {I’m using paper to demonstrate because it’s a little easier to see}

Then I used the smaller heart to cut out a space for the “wings” and cut the smaller cookie in half.

After that, I placed the wings in the openings flat side down, and used my fingers to turn the corners slightly upward.

 

 This is what it looked like baked.  Ugly? Maybe a little, but icing hides ugly better than make-up!

 Decorating was just as easy.  All you need is red and white  piping and flood icing, and clear sanding sugar.

First, I outlined and filled the heart.

 Then after giving that a bit to dry, I outlined and filled the wings.  At this point I let it dry overnight.

The next day, I used white piping icing to embellish the wings, and then applied clear sanding sugar.

 When they dried, I had my very own soaring heart cookies, and twenty-two extra dollars, which I’m thinking about using to buy another more practical cutter like this plaque!

 

As another option for a totally different look AND to make decorating even easier, is to use black icing for the outline and detail.

Either way, they will be beautiful!

  I hope this inspires you to be more creative with your cutters so you can spend more of your money on frivolous house stuff like me! 

 

Just kidding, sort of…

 

Happy baking!