Sep
7

Pink Cotton Candy Cloud Cookies

by Sofia   -   in Cooking  DIY projects  Good things for kids

Leivoimme tyttöjen kanssa perjantaina pilven muotoisia hattarakeksejä! Niistä tuli oikein hyviä ja alta löydät ohjeen kekseihin englanniksi. Jos jokin kohta ihmetyttää niin käännän mittoja tai aineksia mielelläni suomeksi joten kysy vain!

Yes you read right. That is what we baked with the girls on Friday night. I bought the Sweetapolita cookbook or actually bake book fairly recently and the girls and I loved it. Granted, it´s filled with sugary recipes but it´s also filled with sprinkles and colour and pastels and just good all American flavour combos like root bear float chocolate cakes and such. And Cotton Candy Cloud Cookies. Yup! That is the recipe my little bakers pointed at and said in unison ” Let´s make these mommy!” and I could hear my brain saying do not bake these with a three year old and my mouth said ” Sure they look so cute!”.  And there you have it. Promises made must be promises kept.

I have learned quite a few things about baking with kids. There must be rules for the girls ( patience is one of them) and then there must be rules for mommy ( patience is the most important on of them!). But mostly I´ve just learned that a little guidance is good and letting them do whatever they want and enjoy the outcome is also good. That usually ends up in best results. So obviously the cloud cookies I made myself and the girls got to choose their own shapes. I have quite a collection of cookie cutters I have acquired over the years so there really is where to choose from. First I made the cookie dough with Cotton Candy´s help while we sat Bubble Gum in front of the new short movie Frozen Fever just to make the process little faster and smoother ( and cleaner to be honest). Then the dough went to the fridge too cool down. After that we baked the cookie. I helped a little with the rolling of the dough and showed them how the cookies are easiest to lift to the cookie sheet ( with a small spatula). The girls got to do their own cookies and did a great job. These cookies are left a bit thicker, American style, so they are easy to handle for smaller hands too. After they were baked I made the frosting while the girls were observing. They got to decorate their cookies while I decorated and shot mine. So there was the moment when one cookie got a 2 cm thick frosting and yes there were sprinkles here and there but all in all I think we did a good job and were happy with our cookies. The cotton candy was tricky though as when it gets in to contact with air it starts melting on the cookie. I used disposable cloves while working with it but still it was melting very fast. So I would not make these for a party because they looked pretty for about 5 minutes. In  fact the cookies have their second coating of cotton candy on these pictures as the first melted while I was attaching the bows on the straws. Or maybe I just had the wrong kind of Cotton Candy, who knows. I bought mine in a tub from a movie theatre. But I think they were so pretty while they lasted! And the cookies tasted good too. Maybe just a tad sweet for my liking with all the frosting but the flavour was soft like eating a little cloud. Just like we were!

I think these cookies would be very lovely without the cotton candy too if piped all the way to the cookie´s edges. With the added straw and ribbon they would we perfect for a baby shower.

This is how pretty the cookies were right after adding the cotton candy…

Here you can see how the cotton candy has started to melt.

Proud Bubble Gum with her cookies. Gotta love the one with a high pile of cotton candy on top. I think it was a crown.

Cotton Candy and her cookies here…

I piped one of the high heels, other than that she made these.

Recipes are from Sweetapolita´s cookbook…

For the Cotton Candy Clouds you will need

a cloud cookie cutter

8-inch cookie sticks

pastry bag

decorating tip

small offset spatula

paper straws and ribbon

( If you don´t have the pastry bag & tip or an offset spatula do not worry, you can always just spread some frosting on the cookie with a knife. You will be covering it with the cotton candy anyways!)

Vanilla Sugar Cutout Cookies

Makes about 30 medium cookies

3 1/2 cup ( 470g) all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup ( 225 g) unsulted butter room temperature

1 1/4 cups ( 260g ) superfine sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract or Princess bakery emulsion ( I use the latter from Loranne Oils)

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 tbls ( 45 ml) milk

1. In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat butter and sugar until pale paste about 2 mins. Add vanilla/ princess emulsion and beat well. Add the egg & milk and beat about 1 min. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture until just incorporated ( do not over mix). Wrap the  ball of dough in plastic wrap and press firmly into a disc. Refrigerate for one hour..

2. At this point the recipe advices to roll the dough and freeze it for about 15 mins. and then cut in to shapes and freeze again for 15 minutes to prevent spreading.  But honestly the cookies did not spread at all even though I skipped these steps ( I had impatient little girls waiting to cut and decorate cookies I had no time for such tricks!) so I´m leaving it out. If you feel yours are spreading in the oven then follow that advice.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F ( 180°c). Line two baking sheets with parchment ( leivinpaperi). If you are making the cloud cookies on sticks then add the lollipop sticks at this point by inserting them carefully in the cookies. Bake the cookies for about 12 to 15 minutes one sheet at a time. Let the cookies cool completely.

note.

Unfrosted these cookies keep for 1 week at room temperature in an airtight container and up to 2 months in the freezer.

Cotton Candy Bakery Frosting

1 cup ( 225g) unsulted butter

1/4 cup high ration shortening ( leivontamargariini) or you can use all butter

pinch of salt

3 1/4 cup ( 410 g) confectioners sugar, sifted

1/2 cup ( 120 ml) heavy cream

1/2 tsp Cotton Candy flavour oil or 1 cup ( 30g) packaged Cotton Candy

1. Beat butter, shortening and salt in an electric mixer on medium speed until very pale and creamy ( about 8 minutes). Gradually add the sugar, cream and Candy Oil. Add colouring to your liking. We added Wilton´s pink gel colour.

2. Reduce the speed for to the lowest setting and beat for 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until very fluffy ( about 6 minutes).

notes.

The shortening is added to make it even fluffier but you can just as well use only butter.

If you use 2 teaspoons vanilla extract and 1/4 tsp almond extract instead of cotton candy you will end up with a vanilla bakery frosting.

I have ordered the Cotton Candy oil and the Princess Bakery emulsion online. I think Amazon is always handy for these kinds of things. They usually state under the product if they are shipped to your destination so it´s just to go through the suppliers and find one that does. The candy oils are also great for marshmallows and I love the princess bakery emulsion. It has a vanilla meets almonds meets lemon taste to it and as it´s not an extract but an emulsion the flavour does not fade in the baking process like in the extracts.

To assemble the Cotton Candy Clouds

1. Fill  a pastry bag with the frosting. Top each cookie with frosting leaving a bit in the edge unfrosted. Using a small spatula swirl the frosting and push it towards the edges ( as you can see in my pictures I did not do this).

2. Top each cookie with a poof of pink cotton candy and sprinkle with edible silver stars. Slide a straw over the lollipop stick and add a bow.

These cookies keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days. Apparently the home made cotton candy lasts a bit longer so if you have a cotton candy maker, use that instead to make the clouds last a little!

So there you have it. I´m crazy and take full responsibility for it. But we had a fun night baking and I only lost my temper for a few brief moments like when I was helping someone with something and tying the ribbon and the cotton candy had melted on the cookies before I got the picture. It´s always so much more fun when you can blame it on the kids! ( I´m kidding!)

Hyvää alkavaa viikkoa! Vastailen kommentteihinne pikimmiten!

Lattemamma