Nothing Says “Love” Like… Dinosaurs!

Happy Valentine's Day
Happy Valentine's Day

There was an unfortunate cookie-ing situation in December where I made and decorated 12 dozen cookies and came down with a stomach bug the night I finished them. I just couldn't bring myself to give my friends their holiday gift that could be laced with the virus that leveled me. The cookies sat on the counter for weeks. I took more pictures. Then they went in the trash.

The Boy and I decided that after New Year's we would make dinosaur cookies for our good buddies. As we inched closer and closer it because apparent that those dinosaurs would be a Valentine's gift. So naturally we made some hearts as well.

Just cause I find data fascinating, last weekend I spent three hours baking 100 cookies (two batches, half of which are in my freezer to decorate next week), and Monday night I spent three hours making icing and mixing 10 different colors/consistencies. Then Tuesday morning there were three of us decorating cookies for about three hours. In that time I decorated 14 dinosaurs and 9 hearts, in addition to miscellaneous toddler wrangling. We decorated 50 cookies total.

the setup for coloring the icing
the setup for coloring the icing
ready to roll
ready to roll

The Dinosaurs

20-second icing to flood the dinosaur cookies
20-second icing to flood the dinosaur cookies

I was pleased to be able to get a 20-second flood icing consistency to be able to pipe the outline and flood with the same bottle of icing. I love the smooth finished look. I never cease to be amazed at how flashy wet-on-wet designs can be... like the marbling on some of Sharon's heart cookies below.

So I decorated my 14 dinosaurs with flood icing. (Note the stegosaurus with no tail. Oops.)

dinosaur cookies part 1They were so cute. I loved them! I just had to add the details. I went for minimalist, an eye and a mouth (using my piping consistency icing) for each dino. The details just took a couple minutes, but made such a difference!

finished dinosaur cookiesMy red flood icing was a little thick, but overall I was very happy with the results. I can't wait to make more of them! What colors should I use next time? Oh, and that heart cookie, that's my last little bit of dough. No waste. I always roll out the last bit so I have another cookie to practice on. When I thinned out my red flood icing to fix it that was my first cookie. In honor of Valentine's Day I made it a heart.

stegosaurus cookie

The Hearts

The Boy likes to help. His preferred method is for me to flood the cookie. Then he puts in wet-on-wet dots of other colors. Then he "scrambles" with a toothpick. I saved the last seven hearts for him to decorate since I did the rest of the batch while he was at school.

wet-on-wet "scrambled" heart cookies by The Boy
wet-on-wet "scrambled" heart cookies by The Boy
cookies by Margie
cookies by Margie
cookies by Sharon
cookies by Sharon
cookies by me
cookies by me

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15 thoughts on “Nothing Says “Love” Like… Dinosaurs!

  1. Peri Baloun

    I really want to learn how to do this! Wow, the boy is talented!!!! It must be the great apron & chef hat he has, and a patient & talented mom to teach him!

    Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      I spent months drooling over the beautiful cookies and reading blogs by the masters before I dove in and decorated my first batch last October. I'm having a lot of fun with it. The Boy and I brainstormed what type of cookies we'll be making each month. He was SO excited to pass out our Valentine's cookies to a few friends today. We'd love for you to join us sometime.

      Reply
  2. Bo

    Really enjoyed your cookie section. Never heard of flood icing but looks like fun. Love the pictures of the boy and girl!!

    Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      Thanks Bo... I don't have time for too much cookie decorating, so I'm only doing it every couple months, but I really enjoy this new art. :-)

      Reply
  3. Sofia

    Love the colors here. A quick question.
    For your blue dinosaurs, which shade of Americolor gel are you using?

    I would really appreciate if you can let me know the color to buy.

    Thanks a lot.

    Reply
      1. Sofia

        Appreciate your response. Perfect timing. I was about to mix color to my white royal icing in the next few minutes. :):)

        Reply
    1. sarah

      Post author

      Thank you, Sharon. I have no idea where I got the cutters... but I think they may have been part of a big plastic set. Happy baking!

      Reply

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