Fall Themed Sugar Cookies (Daring Bakers September)

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

You can imagine my delight when I discovered that this month’s Daring Bakers challenge involved decorating sugar cookies!  I’ve been slacking a bit on the Daring Bakers challenges lately… A busy schedule and lack of inspiration got the best of me.  So, the sugar cookie challenge was exactly the little burst of inspiration that I needed.  Plus, it was a good excuse to pick up a few new cookie cutters!

I stumbled upon an adorable set of fall-themed mini cookie cutters at a local craft store a few weeks ago… I just couldn’t resist them.  I hadn’t really thought through the fact that mini cookie cutters would yield lots (and lots) of miniature cookies that would all need to be decorated, though.

Fortunately, I already had a large pumpkin cookie cutter, so I threw in a few large pumpkin cookies, as well.  Even though it got a bit tedious, the miniature cookies ended up being pretty cute and worth the time and effort. They were perfect cupcake toppers for the cupcakes I had already promised to bring to a church event!

Since I was running low on time and had to take the cookies to church, I didn’t want to risk a cookie failure, and I used my “usual” vanilla bean sugar cookie recipe. My recipe is actually very similar to the recipe that was provided, though, so I don’t think I “cheated” too much.

As I usually do, I decorated the cookies with royal icing, outlining with stiff icing and filling in the outlines with flood icing. For the accents, I used sanding sugar and gold luster dust (which didn’t really show up in the photos but added a nice sparkle to the cookies).

For the mini leaf cookies, I did a combination of yellow and orange outlines and then filled in the cookies with yellow.  I used sanding sugar to outline the yellow cookies (using a paint brush to paint water onto the cookies where I wanted the sanding sugar to stick) and added a bit of sanding sugar to the middle of the cookies outlined in orange.

I added a few green accents to the pumpkin cookies with royal icing, and then I finished the cookies off with sanding sugar. I couldn’t decide if I liked the narrow sanding sugar lines or wide stripes of sanding sugar, so I did some of each.

Stay tuned later this to see the finished cookie-topped cupcakes!

57 comments

  1. Your cookies turned out beautiful, I loved the *sparkle* the sanding sugar added to them.

  2. Renata says:

    These are adorable! So beautifully decorated! Great photos, too!

  3. Absolutely stunning Jen! (as usual!). Having eaten your sugar cookies before, I know these must have tasted awesome!

  4. Paula says:

    These are so cute! You did a super job. Decorating something so small is not easy and going the extra *mile* to do the sanding sugar! Wow, I know a LOT of time and effort went into these Jen but it certainly was worth it :)

  5. those are gorgeous! I need to get to some fall baking. You’ve inspired!

  6. Amanda says:

    Wow, these are amazingly intricate – beautiful! You must be so patient!

  7. Mindy says:

    Great job! Thanks for detailing the techniques too. Mine were a disaster, although delicious, and next time I’ll follow some of your advice.

  8. How cute! Your collages turned out very well. Good job!

  9. Jenn says:

    Oooh I love these!! Those pumpkins are adorable!!

  10. Tracy says:

    I am in love with these cookies; they are gorgeous!! I will definitely be picking up a pumpkin cookie cutter so that I can give them a try. :-)

  11. maria says:

    They turned out super cute! Nice job!

  12. Jamie says:

    Oh Jen, I love them! Not only do I love the autumn theme but your decorating is gorgeous! Perfect!

  13. Gail says:

    I’m so proud of you, I could weep with joy. You have really embraced the decorated cookie!!! Great job, Jen!

  14. Roxan says:

    Jen these are adorable! My favorite part is the little green squiggly that’s at the top of the pumpkins… their cuteness makes me giggle!

  15. Eliana says:

    You are way talented girl! These look amazing.

  16. Katie says:

    They look so cute and perfect. I love the sprinkles on the pumpkins, it really makes them look 3D.

  17. Jeanne says:

    I’ve missed your Daring Bakers challenges lately, it’s great to see you’re back! These cookies are super creative, and I just love all the sparkles!

  18. Cecilia says:

    These are beautiful! Love the look that the sanding sugar gives. Good job!

  19. Jen, these cookies are beautiful! You are so skilled at decorating cookies! I’m always impressed with your designs!

  20. WOW, great job – You are so organized too I am jealous

  21. Kim says:

    Your cookies look great! I like how you used the sanding sugar. Great job on the challenge!

  22. Jen these are so flippin’ cute! Ab-fab my dear!

  23. Awww…Perfectly themed cookies. I love sugar cookies because you can decorate them in all kinds of themes and decorations. Plus aside from the fact that they are delicious. :)

  24. hat beautiful cookies, you are so artistic. I love them

  25. christina says:

    Very cute cookies! Perfect for September!

  26. Patty says:

    Great job!! I love love love the pumpkins!

  27. Shannon says:

    I really really love these! I have got to conquer my fear of royal icing!

  28. so beautiful! :)

  29. MandyM says:

    Your cookies are absolutely fantastic, I love those little pumpkins, but gosh, that must have taken a while! The sanding sugar really is very striking and finishes them off beautifully.

    Thank you so much for taking part of the September challenge, I’m so glad that you enjoyed it :)

  30. The only thing I don’t like about this is I can’t reach in and eat one!!!
    Beautiful, I think I am inspired to actually attempt make these suckers even thought I do not have an artsy bone in my body!!! You are the cookie master!

  31. Mags says:

    You did a fantastic job decorating these. They’re adorable!

  32. Dana says:

    Jen, I am envious of your talents. My kids go absolutely nuts over this type of cookie but I am about the worst when it comes to decorating. Can you teach a class? :) I have solved the problem by just letting them take care of putting on the sprinkles.

  33. Sarah says:

    Very cute. Loving the look of the royal icing. Makes it look perfect.

  34. deeba says:

    Absolutely beautiful and so very fall… love them!!

  35. Jenni says:

    Beautiful job!

  36. REally beautiful and so festive — love your cookies!

  37. These are gorgeous! I love the sanding sugar effect you have on those pumpkins.

  38. Maybelles mom says:

    Perfect job. I must say cookies are not my best medium my children enjoyed eating the challenge.

  39. Joy says:

    They are adorable.

  40. Romy says:

    Jen, your pumpkins and leaves are beautiful! I’m partial to the thin-striped ones myself. Awesome job!

  41. Absolutely beautiful! And kudos to you for having the patience and skills to make them.

    I made some sugar cookies this weekend (football shaped) and it was a horrible experience!!!

  42. Tessa says:

    Perfect pumpkin designs! I could never get mine to look so flawless.

  43. Waow, your cookies are fantastic! I love these pumpkins!

  44. Sigh…I really wanted to do this challenge and like always I failed. However, your cookies are beyond amazing looking :)

  45. Ivonne says:

    Jen … wowza! You’re an artist!

  46. Rossella says:

    Wonderful and inspiring for coming months.
    I have to learn a lot on decorating.

Comments are closed.

[ Back To Top ]