(For a Delicious 1st Birthday)

Fondant Decorated Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

As parents we spend the first year of our children's lives celebrating all the momentous milestones: The first smile, rolling over, crawling, the first tooth, the first word and finally the first attempt at walking. Many sleepless nights are spent in those first few weeks as well as numerous trips to the drugstore for infant Tylenol for a cranky teething baby and wandering through the aisles of what seems like endless cabinet safety latches and toilet safety clips. Through all the sleepless nights, mounds of diaper changes and endless feedings we endure, sweet innocence prevails. Sweet moments of first words, softly read lullabies and clean, baby soft skin linger with us as parents as they grow and become more independent and less dependent on us.

A child's first year is worthy of celebration and that is what we are doing! Come celebrate the first year of Rob (Beanilla's Founder) and Emily's daughter with a sweet and very dainty decorated fondant cookie. A few simple tricks and tools and your cookies will be the talk of the party!

The base of the cookie is a sweet and tangy cream cheese sugar cookie (dotted with Tahitian vanilla bean paste, of course!), the top a rolled fondant cut with the same cookie cutter as the cookie base. The pink cherry blossoms are created using the same fondant and a drop of food gel coloring, the sweet turquoise bird is created the same way only using 2-3 drops of teal gel food coloring. To create the fondant shapes I used a very handy and easy to use Wilton fondant mold available at many craft stores. The addition of candy pearls and a dot of brown food coloring for the eye of the bird personalizes each fondant creation. The fondant is then attached to the cookie base with a simple glaze of powdered sugar and milk, and the branches were created using a thicker paste of the same products tinted with brown gel food coloring.  Many of the components of the cookie can easily be made a few days ahead of time and kept wrapped on the counter until you bake the cookies. These cookies may seem like a time consuming task but with preparation, the right tools and Tahitian vanilla bean paste, you can make it look effortless and taste absolutely delicious!

Happy sweet first birthday, Marin!

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Fondant Decorated Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies

adapted from Paula Deen

Yields 32 cookies (depending on the size of the cookie cutter)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups butter (softened)
  • 6 oz. cream cheese (softened)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/2 tsp. Tahitian Vanilla bean paste (triple fold)
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour

Powdered Sugar Glaze:

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat together butter, sugar and cream cheese in mixer until soft and fluffy. Add egg yolks and Tahitian vanilla bean paste beat until incorporated. Slowly add the flour 1/2 c. at a time until all flour has been incorporated and a dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap form into a disk and refrigerate 30 minutes. After thirty minutes, split dough in half and place on counter with powdered sugar underneath. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut out with your favorite cookie cutter. (I used a flower cookie cutter) Place on baking sheet with parchment or silpat. Bake at 350 for 12-13 minutes. Cool on cooling racks.

Glaze:

Mix together powdered sugar, milk with a whisk in a small shallow bowl. Hold cookie by the sides and place into glaze top side down. Invert and place on cooling rack, place the cut fondant (directions below) on top of the glazed cookie and let the glaze set up for an hour before attempted to adhere the fondant decorations and draw on the branches. Set aside the glaze to use as "glue" for the decorations.

Fondant:

1 1/2 boxes store bought fondant
powdered sugar (for dusting and rolling)
teal gel food coloring
dark brown gel food coloring
pink gel food coloring

To limit the amount of work, use a store bought fondant (1 1/2 boxes will cover all cookies and decorations) and roll out to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Dip the cookie cutter into the powdered sugar and cut out as many shapes as you have cookies. ( I also used the blunt end of a wooden skewer to make round indentations in the edges of the flower fondant tops). Adhere to the cookie using the glaze recipe above.

To tint fondant for birds and flowers cut off approximately 1/4 of the fondant and knead until soft. Cut in half and drop one drop of pink food coloring into the first ball of fondant . Knead until all the food coloring is spread throughout. Set aside. Follow the same procedure for the teal fondant, but use 2-3 drops.

To use the fondant mold, follow manufacturer's directions on the package.  I made one bird for each cookie and two cherry blossoms. The candy pearls in the center of the flower is adhered with a dot of glaze and the eyes of the bird is simply the tip of a wooden skewer dipped in the brown gel food coloring.

Branches:

Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. milk
2-3 drops brown gel food coloring

Directions:

Mix together in a small bowl until the mixture is the consistency of school glue paste. Place in a piping bag fitted with a #3 writing tip. Draw on branches. Let sit for an hour to set up and then place the bird and flowers on using the remaining glaze.  Let all the decorations set up over night and then package them accordingly.

Place in a plastic goodie bag, tie with ribbons of your choice and tie on a fun tag or silk flowers to complete the look.