Gumball Machine Cookies

My little girl turned 6 this past week.
The theme for her birthday was Gumballs!

First, because they took the looongest to make...
I'll start with the cookie party favors:

Isn't this old fashioned gumball machine shape adorable? I purchased the cutter from ecrandal - a fabulous family-run cookie cutter business based out of North Carolina. You can find this exact fancy-schmancy copper cookie cutter here!









The cake - two-layer 6" strawberry with buttercream icing and fondant "gumballs"



Confetti cupcakes with buttercream swirls, topped with rainbow non-pareils and a gumball



the treat table - so.much.sugar.



the birthday girl :)

Giant Cookie Cake

A friend of mine approached me about making a giant chocolate chip cookie "cake" for her son's birthday. I was so excited, but a little nervous too...I am not very experienced in lettering, especially with a pastry bag! I literally paced the kitchen for about 20 minutes, saying "I can do this...I can do this..." Sheesh.

I scoured the internet for pictures and recipes. I've always been a huge fan of the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.* Using a 14" pizza pan, I traced a circle on parchment paper, put the parchment on the pizza pan, greased the parchment paper with shortening, then dropped the dough onto the greased parchment paper. I used a greased spatula to spread the dough to within about 1 inch from the edges of the parchment paper. I baked at 375 for 22 minutes, then let it cool in the pan on a wire rack.

I used Wilton's Buttercream Icing recipe for the lettering and border. Because Lucas is a fan of the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team, I used Americolor Gel Paste in Super Red and Super Black to tint the icing. I used a Wilton 1M tip for the border, a #22 tip for the red lettering background, and a #4 for the white lettering on top.

I really hope Lucas likes his Cookie Cake. Happy 8th Birthday buddy, and go Blackhawks!

* If you live at high altitude (above 4,000 ft), make sure you follow the "High Altitude" directions. Believe me, I've been there and it makes a huge difference!

I love Cupcakes!

These cookies were made for an "I Love Cupcakes" 3rd birthday party! The design was inspired by a party package created by Michelle at Le Poppy Design. Check her out, she's awesome!! Thank you Heather!!