Can you guys keep a secret? Yeah, me either. Here's the thing. My husband is out of town. He has been for a few days...and I don't really know when he's going to come back. I'm not supposed to tell you that because that means you know that he won't be here at 3am if you wanted to break in and steal my good stuff. But I'm just going to tell you anyway because its an integral part of the story.
See, he's in Seoul. That's this great-big-HUGE city in South Korea. It's clear on the other side of the country. Which means that it's at least 3 1//2 hours from here. (That little fact has nothing to do with the story.) Do you want to know what he's doing tonight? HE'S AT THE BAKER'S MARKET!!! Markets here are kind of a big deal. Imagine 5 Walmarts right next to each other with no parking lots. They are like mini-towns. People literally eat and sleep at their stands. He was talking to me while walking through the box part of the market. He passed stand after stand after building of people making cookie and dessert boxes of all shapes, sizes, and colors. And after 15 minutes...he was still walking through boxes. And he got lost in the streets of boxes. (That part was not his fault. I distracted him by saying something incredibly witty like, "I'm so jealous.") He said he found an alley of cookie cutters, but hadn't hit the cookie cutter section of the market yet. And then... his phone cut out. I kid you not. I kept trying to call him back, but it wouldn't go through.
So now I'm here. (And I think we've pretty well established that I'm alone.)(Except for my children. And they are pretending to be asleep. So, it's kind of like I'm alone. But don't steal my good stuff.) I am not at the Baker's Market in Seoul. My husband is at the Baker's Market in Seoul. And just between you and me... of the two of us...I am a smidgeon more of a baker than he is. Not that he's a bad baker. I mean, he can make toast. That's kind of like baking. And he did make a cake one time. Do you want to know why he's at the Baker's Market in Seoul? Because he loves me. And he's planning a romantic date...to the Baker's Market. Apparently, he really loves me. And I can assure you, the feeling is mutual.
You know what else is mutual? Cookies. We both love cookies. Especially Halloween cookies. I like to make them. He likes to eat them. We're a perfect match. Except he didn't get to eat these. The neighbor kids ate them while he was on the other side of the country. I did save him a pumpkin though. So...that's something.
Can you guess which cutter I used to make these cookies? I'll give you a hint. It starts with flip and ends in flop. Also...can you tell who discovered how to use fonts today? ME! It's me. Who knew fonts could be so fun?!
1. Bake a cookie. Use a flip-flop cutter.
2. Pipe some little feet with thick black icing.
3. Using a #233 tip and THICK purple icing, give your monster a body. The key is to squeeze the icing a quick squeeze while holding the top above the cookie. Push the tip towards the cookie until it makes contact and then pull up again real quick, breaking the strands. It sounds complicated, but it's actually just fun.
4. While the icing is still wet, drop on a pre-made eyeball.
1. Using thick white icing and a #2 tip, outline the cookie starting with the head. Follow the blue line around and then the green line. Let it dry for 20 minutes.
2. Fill in the face with a dusty-green colored icing. Let it dry for 30 minutes...or just move right to step #3 if you are impatient. Just be careful not to smudge the wet icing.
3. Fill in the shirt and hair with flood consistency icing. Let dry for 2-3 hours.
4. Add some shoes, hands, ears, knobby things and a face.
1 Bake.
2. Outline.
3. Flood.
4. Face.
1. Using a #2 tip and thick black icing, outline the general shape of a mummy.
2. Splotch some face colored icing in the middle of the head area.
3. This is nearly impossible to see since I am the WORST white-white photo taker in the history of photo taking.... but grab a #46 tip (or any of the flat ones) and some thick white icing. Give the mummy a base layer by piping lines from one side to the other from bottom to top. Don't pipe over the face.
4. Add some diagonal lines to cover any gaps. For the final line, start your line on the cookie to the side of the mummy's face. Let it pile on itself a tiny bit and then move it across the face.
1. Outlining this guy is the hardest step. And it's really not that bad if you take it one piece at a time. Use thick black icing and a #2 tip. Start with the blue line...then the green...purple...pink...yellow. Let the outline dry for 30 minutes.
2. If you are careful you can actually fill in every color at the same time. I stopped after doing the white because I wanted it to sit under the fan of a dehydrator to make sure it wouldn't crater. You could also just use thicker icing or very thin icing to avoid the craters as well. (Consistency is so tricky, isn't it??!!)
3. Fill in the rest of the spaces and let it all dry for 2-3 hours.
4. Add tiny dots for eyes and buttons. Draw a little mouth and some fangs and then give the guy a cute little bow tie. That way he's not scary.
1. Using thick black icing and a #2 tip, give your skeleton friend an oddly shaped head. You could also give him a regular shaped head if you like. I will leave that choice entirely up to you. Let it dry for 30 minutes.
2. Fill in the head with thin white icing that you intend to let dry for 2-3 hours.
3. While you are waiting for that to dry, you can give him a body. Use thick white icing for this and a #1.5 tip if you've got it. I started by making sideways "Cs" for the spinal cord. Then a heart for the pelvis. The leg and arm bones are made by piping hearts on either side of a straight line.
4. When the head is dry, use your thick black icing and give him some eyes. And a mouth. And maybe some eyebrows....although technically skeletons don't have those. You can do what you want though.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
