Cookie decorating is a kitchen art that I am not very versed in. For some reason it has always intimidated me. I would rather make a soufflé than decorate cookies! So this novice decided to get over her fear of cookie decorating by using Sugar Sheets!™ edible decorating paper, Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ punch set and cookie icing.

For my first go around, I purchased refrigerated sugar cookie dough and added 1/4 cup flour to help maintain the shape of the cut out cookie. After lining my cookie sheet with Parchment Paper, I used my From the Heart Nesting Metal Cutter Set to cut out perfect heart-shaped cookies.

While the cookies cooled, I proceeded to cut smaller sized hearts out of the Zebra print Sugar Sheets!™ using the Punch Set and Heart Cutting Insert. What a great tool for making perfect shapes out of Sugar Sheets!™

To finish my decorating, I used Pink Cookie Icing to add a fun girly border to the cookies. I am a huge fan of animal prints and love how I was able to create cookies that show my fun side!

The last step in my Valentine gifting is the presentation. I chose the Valentine Metallic Treat boxes to showcase my cookies, and the included stickers are a great way to personalize each box. I think these will be a hit!

Do you give Valentine treats to your friends? Check our website for more treat ideas!

The icing decorations were so easy to use! I mixed my favorite brownie mix and baked that in a foil-lined sheet pan. Once done baking, I lifted the brownies and foil from the pan and put them on my non-stick cooling grid. While those cooled, I gathered my supplies.

I decided I would use Brownie Fudge Icing. I removed the lid and all of the foil covering and put the tub in the microwave for short intervals of time on the defrost setting. Then using my spatula, I iced the brownies.

I sprayed the Brownie Combo Cutter-Hearts with Bake Easy™ Non-Stick Spray to help remove the brownies. The Brownie Combo Cutter is designed to cut efficiently and not leave a lot of left over brownie pieces in your pan. After icing the brownies, I started to cut them out. The icing did not appear as clean as I would like, so I stopped cutting them out with the heart cutter. I refrigerated the remaining iced brownies until the icing was set and then started cutting them out again. The refrigerated icing made for a cleaner cut.

Decorating couldn’t have been easier! I removed the text letters from the paper and put them on the brownies and added some Valentine Nonpareils. If the decorations stick to the paper, just press a damp paper towel to the back to help release them from the paper. The icing decorations have all the popular texting phrases, such as LOL, BFF, TTYL, QT, etc.

With Tissue Squares and You Bake Me Smile Sliding Treat Boxes, my treats were ready for gift giving. I didn’t use the enclosed stickers and ribbons as the treats didn’t last that long at my home, but I could have used them to personalize the boxes.

With a little time, a few ingredients and supplies, I turned out treats that tasted great! My teens got a kick out of them and can’t wait to make some for their friends! How would you use the Text Message Icing Decorations?

Don’t forget to check out our website for more Valentine ideas and sweet products to share your treats!

Baking a batch of standard sized cupcakes and mini cupcakes is the first step. I used the standard cupcake liners from the You Bake Me Smile Wilton Cupcake Combo Pack. The combo pack also comes with 48 picks which were fun to use as decoration.

For my mini cupcakes, I used Mini Red Rose Petal Baking Cups. To give your cupcakes further decoration, use petal cups to create a theme with ease. Once the cupcakes cooled off, the finishing touches came from mixing Rose Icing Color with White Ready-To-Use Decorator Icing.

I think the best part about the entire process is creating fun and bright colors when mixing icing. This is where you allow your creative genius to soar. There is no need to worry about what shade you choose because they will be too delicious to pass up.

I was able to achieve a bright pink rose coloring and ice my standard size cupcakes with the 1M Tip.  I also iced my mini cupcakes with the No. 12 Round Decorating Tip. Using the Micro Hearts Sprinkles, Fill Your Heart Sprinkles, White Sparkling Sugar and White Sugar Pearls, I decorated all of the cupcakes and added picks to them.

If you’d rather not use picks on all of your cupcakes, you can create edible picks. For example, using the Double Heart Large Lollipop Mold, 4″ Lollipop Sticks and Candy Melts® of your choice, you can make festive toppers. Even though I do not have much experience with candy molds, the Wilton products help make everything really simple. Once the Candy Melts® set, I took them out of the mold and carefully placed them into the cupcakes. There was no trouble getting these to stay put.

I wanted to share the mini cupcakes with a friend so I put 4 mini cupcakes into the box from the combo pack. It was so much easier to have a box that I can travel with in the car and gift to someone without anything ruining in transit.

Lastly, I wanted to keep some of my standard cupcakes on display at my house so I placed the cupcakes in Pleated Heart Eyelet Baking Cups. These dress up cupcakes while on display without much effort. These boxes and cups added that final touch to the presentation making the cupcakes look like a wrapped present.

Need more ideas? Our Valentine’s Day section provides plenty of sweet inspiration!

Throughout the day I drop little love notes to my husband, make special treats for the kids and finish off the day with a spectacular dessert. One idea I was recently thinking about was making heart shaped cherry pies. Then, Wilton came out with these fantastic little heart-shaped pie presses that made my idea a reality in just a few simple steps.

What You Need to Make Cherry Pie Hearts

• Wilton Heart Shaped Mini Pie Press
• 2 – Refrigerated Pie Crust Dough Rolls
• 1 – can cherry pie filling
• 1 – egg, beaten
• 1 – cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons milk
• red food coloring, decorations (optional)

I like to use pre-made pie dough because it just cuts out so many steps in the dessert making process. The Wilton Pie Press is built as a cutter and press in one where you can use the outer edge to cut hearts into the dough. Each sheet will fit about 4-5 hearts depending on how close you squeeze them. Two sheets will produce 5 pies total, making this the perfect baking project for our family of five.

After the dough hearts are cut you simply lay one in the press, brush some of the egg wash along the edges and fill the center with your favorite pie filling. In this case, cherry is a beautiful filling to use for Valentine’s Day. Gently lay a second dough heart over the filling and press! That’s it! You get a beautiful little heart-shaped pie that’s ready to bake.

Once the pies have cooled, you can add a sweet glaze on top and decorate them with holiday themed candy decorations. My favorite is the Fill Your Heart Sprinkles sold in the Wilton online store.

Inside these pies you get a big bite of sweet cherry filling that’s just dripping with semi-homemade love from your oven to their little tummies.

This guest post courtesy of Cat Davis, a Wilton Mom Ambassador. Cat is the author of Food Family Finds, a blog dedicated to recipes, baking, product reviews and stories about motherhood with three children.

So in February of 2012 we will begin teaching our newest course, Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers. It’s a wonderful four-week, one-day-a-week, class that will help you learn to create life-like gum paste flowers and decorations.

Our Ready-To-Use Gum Paste is a wonderful icing medium that is pliable and has an amazing structure that allows you, the decorator, to create beautiful blooms that can be shaped into bouquets and flower sprays that can grace the top of many celebration cakes. Plus, you can count on the precise high quality of our gum paste flower cutters, ejectors and impression mats to help you achieve exquisite petals and leaves that rival nature.

Each week you will create petals and leaves and then build them into beautiful flowers like the Gerbera Daisy, Star Gazer Lily, Sweet Peas and so many more. This four-week course will give you the confidence to create cakes like the experts. Your friends and family will be amazed at the cakes you will learn to create.

We invite you to come discover our new course and have a great time sharing the excitement of decorating with other students and newfound friends. Our Wilton Method Instructors will help guide you through the learning process with step-by-step instruction and hands-on guidance.

We’re celebrating the launch of Advanced Gum Paste Flowers with a sweepstakes! Enter to win a $50 gift card to register for ANY Wilton Method Class, plus your choice of $100 in Wilton products. Please see our contest page and rules for details.

To learn more about all the Wilton Method courses, please visit our website. Use our handy class locator to find a class in your area within the U.S or Canada.

However, with today’s technology, how often do you use your best handwriting? It’s easier to send a “Congratulations” email or to call someone to wish him or her a “Happy Birthday.” Now, there are certain times when you cannot rely on technology, and perfect penmanship really counts.

The message on a cake is one of the most important parts! It’s the way to truly say how much you care about the person you are celebrating. The pressure is on when you’re standing over a cake, bag and tip in hand, dreading the squiggles you’ll create instead of “World’s Best Dad!” And, like many of you, I’d rather not write anything on my cake then risk ruining it.

That fear became the Wilton Design Group’s inspiration for designing our new Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ messaging tools. But, where did we start? It always begins with research. We asked ourselves, “How do other crafters solve this problem?” We then observed craft stampers decorate faux “cakes” with scrapbooking paper and rubberstamps.

Every single crafter had a message at the heart of his or her design—just like any cake decorator—but even experienced craft stampers were dissatisfied with the results. The letters were not evenly spaced, or they didn’t line up. Or, because they couldn’t see where they were stamping, they didn’t get the look that they were going for! Check out a few faux “cakes” from our research experiment:

The Design Group took what we learned from our observations and experiments, and we went to work on creating the perfect messaging tools for cake decorators. Of course, what’s the unique difference between craft stamping and cake decorating? It’s FOOD!

Wilton’s Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ messaging tools are specifically designed for food use. Everything is 100% food safe and even better yet, they’re easy to clean! And, that’s not all:

• Each letter stamp is designed to have exact and even spacing between the letters, no matter what word you’re spelling!

• The letters fit into several available cake stamping blocks for perfectly lined up words, and they slide from side to side for easy moving and adjusting!

• The unique Spell-N-Stamp™ cake stamping block allows you to message in a circle, perfect for those round cakes!

• Clear cake stamping blocks allow you to place your finished stamp in the exact area you’re shooting for — you can actually see what you’re doing!

• Oversized cake stamping blocks give you plenty of room for applying firm, even pressure for a uniform stamping effect!

• The custom Wilton Dab-N-Color™ edible color looks beautiful on Sugar Sheets!™ edible decorating paper, fondant or gum paste.

You are going to have so much fun using our new tools! So, go ahead … message your cakes with reckless abandon. No perfect handwriting required. Your cakes will always be gold stars!

We’re excited about the latest additions to the Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ line and invite you to a live Web Chat on Thursday, January 12 from 10:30-11:30 a.m. CST. Wilton decorating and product experts will answer your questions about our Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ tools and Sugar Sheets!™ edible decorating paper, including our new stamp sets and new Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ publication. Please submit your questions now, or join us live on January 12.

Please visit the Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ section of our website to find links to videos, project ideas and decorating techniques.

Win a Punch. Cut. Decorate™ Package!

Enter to win one of three Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ Decorating Kit prize packages containing many of our newly-released tools, Sugar Sheets!™ edible decorating paper, cutters and Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ publication. Contest ends January 15. Good luck!

Stamps

So you may be looking at your vast collection of traditional paper stamps and thinking that you could use them for treat decorating. Proceed with caution – your stamps may not be made of a food-safe material and likely have inedible paper ink embedded into the design.

Wilton stamps have been created with food-safe foam, so you can share a fully edible treat with your family and friends without worry. Simply wash and dry the stamps before first use and after each use, making sure the stamps are completely dry before storing.

Color

As a Wilton consumer, it is likely that you use our colors on a regular basis. Wilton’s new line of colors, Dab-N-Color™ Edible Color, has been formulated with ingredients similar to those found in our current colors, but have the perfect consistency to work with our stamps to create crisp designs on fondant and Sugar Sheets!™ edible decorating paper, without dripping. They are quick drying, give opaque coverage and are offered in 9 shades plus white for endless decorating colors (white is perfect for creating different shades)! For great results, brush Dab-N-Color™ Edible Color on a Wilton stamp, and press using firm, even pressure.

Adhesive

Dab-N-Hold™ Edible Adhesive is very different than traditional paper glue – ours is made with food! We use food ingredients that, in combination, have adhesive qualities perfect for use with Sugar Sheets!™ edible decorating paper. To use, dab a small amount of Dab-N-Hold™ on the back of your decorated Sugar Sheet!™, brush to spread if necessary, and place. The viscosity of the product is perfect to attach Sugar Sheets!™ to crusted buttercream or fondant or to create beautiful layered decorations.

Scissors

Traditional paper crafting scissors are manufactured using a variety of different metals – some of which are food-safe or coated with a food-safe material. For those that are coated, often the coating will chip with wear, exposing unsafe metal which may come into contact with food.

Our scissor blades are made with food-safe 100% solid stainless steel. We also wanted to ensure easy cleaning of our scissors, especially to remove sugar and icings that stick and collect in hard to reach areas. Our scissors can be completely disassembled for easy, thorough cleaning.

Punches & Mini Punches

The metal used in paper punches is often coated with metal that can wear away, just like the coatings used in scissors mentioned above.

For our Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ punches, we utilized the same cutting function of paper punches (thanks to the design team at EK Success) and made it food-safe. And of course, we designed them so they also can be completely disassembled for cleaning.

I hope you’re inspired by the amazing creations our decorators have designed using these new products and that you enjoy a new way to express your creativity through decorating. Have fun – and be sure to use food-safe products.

Please visit the Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ section of our website to find links to videos, project ideas and decorating techniques.

We’re excited about the latest additions to the Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ line and invite you to a live Web Chat on Thursday, January 12 from 10:30-11:30 a.m. CST. Wilton decorating and product experts will answer your questions about our Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ tools and Sugar Sheets!™, including our new stamp sets and new Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ publication. Please submit your questions now, or join us live on January 12. I hope to see you there!

Win a Punch. Cut. Decorate™ Package!

Enter to win one of three Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ Decorating Kit prize packages containing many of our newly-released tools, Sugar Sheets!™ edible decorating paper, cutters and Punch. Cut. Decorate!™ publication. Contest ends January 15. Good luck!

Cinnamon Roll Mini Trees

Prepare the pan by spraying Bake Easy™ into the cavities. I unrolled the package of cinnamon rolls and pressed those into the pan. Even though they did not fill the cavity completely, I only needed to put one roll in each cavity.

Place the tree pan on top of a cookie pan and bake the rolls according to the package directions. I checked them mid-way and pressed them back down in the pan.

Once baked, I flipped them out onto a cooling grid with parchment paper lined underneath. The trees came out very easily!

Spray the trees with Green Color Mist™. Then heat the icing included with the cinnamon rolls in the microwave for a few seconds to make it runny. I then drizzled that down the tree using a spoon at the top of the tree; all drips were caught on my parchment paper.

Add Christmas nonpareils and a yellow star and the Christmas Trees are complete! In no time at all, I achieved the wow factor I was hoping for and my family really enjoyed these!

I love when I can use one shaped pan to make different treats! Here are a few other ideas.

New Year’s Eve Hats

I made the hats by spraying the pan with Bake Easy™ and then filled the cavities 2/3 full with cake batter. Once baked, I cooled them on a cooling grid.

While the cakes were cooling, I made the “2012” for the hats by rolling out some White Fondant and cutting the numbers using the Alphabet & Number Cut-Outs™ . I also rolled out and cut out a circle using the middle Round Cut-Outs™.

Using my Cutter/Embosser, I cut off the four corners of the circle to make a plus (+). I then cut three strips in each section and pinched the center area; this would be my pompom. The numbers and pompoms were sprayed using Gold Color Mist™ and Silver Color Mist™.

I then kneaded White Fondant and Black Fondant and rolled those out. I covered my cakes with Decorator Icing and then put the White Fondant and Black Fondant on the cakes using my Fondant Smoother and Cutter/Embosser.

For the black hat, I then added the silver 2012 and pompom by adding Piping Gel to the backs using my Decorator Brush. I then added a few blue stars the same way. For my white hat, I added the gold 2012 and pompom the same way and then added rainbow nonpareils. These will be a great way to ring in 2012!

Cheese Dip

With all these holiday gatherings, I wanted to come up with other ways to use the pan. I also plan to line one of the cavities with plastic wrap, then push store-bought Port Wine & Cheddar Cheese Dip into the cavity, and refrigerate it until firm. Once I remove them from the mold, I can add dried parsley to the outside to give it a tree-like appearance. By adding chopped vegetables or nuts, my tree will be decorated!

Shaped Butter

I also like to make shaped butter. What better way to do that than with this mold? I will again line the cavities with plastic wrap and then mix softened butter, honey, cinnamon and a little green icing color. I will then put that in the refrigerator until firm and then unmold my butter tree. I can make those ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator until needed. Those will make a great addition to any bread, bagels or such that we will serve!

O’ Christmas Tree you will certainly create a lot of tasty treats this holiday season!

Wishing you lots of holiday memories and tasty treats!

Shiny Christmas tree ornaments were my inspiration for these candy treats. My first step was to melt White Candy Melts® at short intervals of time on the defrost setting in the microwave until melted. I then used the Pastry Brush to brush the melted candy in the Mini Ball Pan cavities to create candy cups. I then put the pan in the refrigerator to set and then added another layer over the first one for strength and stability. Once the pieces were hardened, they popped right out of the pan.

I used a non-serrated paring knife to even the edges of two pieces. I then sandwiched them together and using my Decorator Brush, I brushed melted white candy in between the two to attach them. Once set, I again used the non-serrated knife to smooth out the edge. It looked as if it was one complete piece. I then sprayed the ball with Gold Color Mist™. Once dried, I sprayed the other side.

I decided my other one would be a diorama ornament, so I only used one half. Using my Decorator Brush, I brushed on the White Candy Melts® in small sections and dipped that into White Sparkling Sugars. I repeated that process until the entire edge was coated with the coarse sugar. I then sprayed the inside and outside of my diorama with the Silver Color Mist™ by doing one side at a time and allowing it to set before flipping over my ornament.

To make the hangers for my ornaments, I pressed Ready-to-Use Gum Paste into the Peanut Butter Cups Candy Mold which was sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar. I then used the Veining Tool to lift them out of the mold.

To make the loops, I used the gum paste with the Decorative Press Set. I used the disk with the three circles. Once I had my ropes, I took the Veining Tool and made a hole in the top of my gum paste cups and looped the gum paste into the hole and then pressed it together. I sprayed one with Blue Color Mist™ and one with Red Color Mist™.

Once those were dry, I attached the blue one to my silver ornament and the red one to my gold ornament with the melted White Candy Melts®.

For my gold ornament, I used my Decorator Brush to dot on melted candy and then put the Christmas Confetti Sprinkle Mix on it.

For my silver ornament, I brushed Silver Pearl Dust™ on the inside of my ornament. I then attached the Snowman and Penguin Icing Decorations with more melted candy. They were so easy to use and added the inside decoration that I wanted. Near their feet, I used more melted candy and sprinkled the White Sparkling Sugars on it. To attach the Jumbo Snowflakes, I used my Decorator Brush and dotted on melted candy and attached the snowflakes.

I finished my ornaments off by attaching the Gift Tags with melted candy. They were so easy to use and came with the edible marker to personalize them. Add a Gift Giving Container and you can easily transform your beautiful ornament into a spectacular, tasty gift!

The Silver and Gold Color Mists™ easily helped me create my shimmery ornaments and add the wow factor I was hoping for! They were easy to use, so I anticipate many uses for them in the future!

If your list of co-workers is long, the kits are an affordable option. Each kit contains everything you need to create 5 candy greeting cards. I also picked up a set of Wilton Candy Decorating Pens to add detail to some of the candy snowflakes.

The pens were so easy to use. I could not believe how creative you can be with them. After warming the candy pens in a cup of hot water for about 10 minutes, knead them, cut the tip, then fill in the candy molds. The snowflakes will be set after about 10 minutes in the refrigerator.

I followed the instructions in the kit for melting the Candy Melts® in the microwave on defrost setting for 30 second intervals in the decorating bag. It took about 4 or 5 intervals for them to just come to the melting point.

I then cut the tip off of the decorating bag and poured the melted Candy Melts® over the detailed candy molds. I put the molds back in the refrigerator to set for about 10-12 minutes. The candy snowflakes popped out of the molds easily and looked so pretty and festive.

Once the snowflakes were set, I put them in the clear bags that are included with the kit and taped them closed. I folded the gift boxes, signed the cards and put the finished candies in the boxes.

I gave two of my special co-workers an extra special Christmas gift of one of our great Copco travel mugs filled with candies and a little Christmas ornament.

My co-workers were so thrilled. They thought it took me days to prepare the gifts. The total time I worked on the kit was about 2 hours!

Does your workplace exchange gifts?

Please check our website for more Christmas candy ideas or products for the special people in your life.