VGB: Mario Christmas Cookies

**Valigarmander** · 12-20-2011, 01:21 PM

Christmas is getting close. Have you started making the Christmas candy?

What's that? You don't know how to make candy because you're a worse chef than a Sim with 0 points in his Cooking skill? Well, don't fret. Val is here with a recipe for delicious Super Mario Bros.-themed cookies so simple even an armless monkey could pull it off.

There's three parts to making the cookies: the cookie cutters, the cookies, and the frosting.

The Cookie Cutters

What you'll need:
3 cheap aluminum lasagna pans*
a ruler
scissors
a stapler

* The number of pans you'll need depends on how many cookie cutters you want to make, and how big the cookie cutters are. Three 8"x8" pans were enough for me to make six average-sized cookie cutters.

As far as I'm aware, there aren't a lot of Mario-themed cookie cutters out there. Even if there were, you might not want to spend a lot of money or wait for them to arrive in the mail. Or maybe, you're a creative person and would prefer to use cutters you designed yourself. Here is a cheap way to make your own custom cookie cutters. They're not particularly durable and can be a bit time-consuming to make, but they get the job done fine.

The first thing you'll need to do is cut the aluminum lasagna pans into strips about an inch wide, or about the width of most rulers. Be careful when cutting the pans, because the edges can be sharp and may cut back. Flatten out any wrinkles in the strips and set them aside for now.

Try to use as much of the pans as you can. The walls of the pan will probably have ridges, but those parts have uses too. Just cut them into strips, flatten them as much as you can, and set them apart from the strips you cut from the bottom of the pans.

Once you've got enough strips, take each one and fold them in half lengthwise (it's a good idea to use a ruler when folding them so they don't curve). Since the aluminum is pretty weak, and cutting cookies will be a bit strenuous for the cutters, you'll want to reinforce them a bit. Do this by inserting one strip into another (like a hot dog), and pressing them firmly together. You'll want the outside to be as smooth as possible, so use the smooth strips from the bottom of the pan on the outside and the rough strips from the sides of the pan on the inside.

Once you've got enough reinforced strips, it's time to get started on the cookie cutters. Go online and look up some images of Mario characters or items (or Metroid, or Pikmin; you can make your cookies in whatever shape you'd like) and print them out to use as templates. Make sure that when they're printed out, they'll be about the size you want your cookies to be.

What you need to do now is trace the image. Leaving a bit of the strip free on both ends to be stapled, carefully work your way around the image, bending and curving the aluminum strip to match the contours of the image. A ruler is helpful in making sharp bends in the strip. A pen or something else round can help making curves. You don't need to worry about following every single bump in the image, since smaller details will have disappeared by the time your cookies leave the oven. If the strip you're using is too short to make it around the entire image (it probably will be), mark the edges on the paper, and continue using a second strip. Once you've finished the entire image, pull the strips together, pinching the extra parts of the strips you saved, and staple them together.

The shape may deform a little, so you might want to play around with the cookie cutter a bit until you feel it matches the image you were copying.

Voila! This is what I did to make my cookie cutters, and it worked fine for me. However, if you'd like cookie cutters that are stronger and will last longer, I'd recommend this how-to.

The Cookies

What you'll need:
1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon extract
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Makes ~40 cookies. You can double the amounts if you want to make more.

First off, get yourself a big ol' bowl and cream the butter and sugar in it. Once they've been blended, add the egg and the extracts. After mixing those, gradually add the flour and baking powder to the concoction and mix well until you have a nice, stiff dough. Congratulations, you've just created cookie dough!

On a lightly-floured surface, roll the dough into about 1/8-inch thickness. Then, cut out cookies using your fancy new cookie cutters. Go easy when pressing them down, because if you push too hard you might end up bending them.

Take the cookies and place them about an inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake them at 400 °F for 6-7 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Once the cookies have cooled off, you can remove them from the sheet and store them in the fridge until you're ready to begin the next phase.

They're looking pretty delicious, right? Well, you can't have them yet, because you still have one more step to do.

The Frosting

What you'll need:
~½ pound cake frosting of your choice*
food coloring
2 tubes M&M's Minis (optional)

* My generous estimate for 40 cookies would be about half a pound of frosting. I made 80 cookies and had four pounds (four 1 lb. containers) of cake frosting, and had a ton left over.

Now comes the part where you make your cookies look nice and pretty. You'll need to decide how you want to frost your cookies. If you're lazy, you can just glaze cookies in a single color of frosting and save yourself a lot of time. If you're an artist like me and would rather spend hours painting each individual part of the cookie a different color, you'll probably need more colors.

Most of the time you can get food coloring in four colors: red, blue, green and yellow. If you want more colors, as I did, you'll need to be a little creative. I ended up using eight different colors. It's pretty simple to figure out how to get each color, but for reference here's how I did it:
White: vanilla frosting
Red: vanilla frosting + red food coloring
Pink: vanilla frosting + a small amount of red food coloring
Blue: vanilla frosting + blue food coloring
Green: vanilla frosting + green food coloring
Yellow: vanilla frosting + yellow food coloring
Brown: chocolate frosting
Black: chocolate frosting + blue food coloring

Using the images you originally traced over to make the cookie cutters as a reference, paint each section of the cookie the appropriate color. (Skin-colored parts of the cookies I would simply leave unfrosted.) The tip of a spoon will work fine to apply frosting to the cookies if you don't have anything else.

For an added treat, you can take M&M's Minis and stick them onto the cookies to represent eyes, mouths, buttons, jewelry, and so on.

Once you've finished frosting, put the cookies in the fridge and let the frosting cool overnight. Come morning, the cookies will be all ready to go.

Mama mia! These may be the most scrumptious treats I've ever tasted! And just in time for Christmas. So, what're you waiting for? Go make yourself some of these delicious cookies.

***Marilink*** · 12-20-2011, 01:23 PM

Hmm...I'm making Christmas cookies for my friends when I go back to school. I might have to try that aluminum cut-out tactic. Thanks for the idea, Val!

**Loot** · 12-20-2011, 01:32 PM

EVERYONE GET IN THE LOOT-MOBILE

WE'RE GOING TO VAL'S HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS

***Heroine of the Dragon*** · 12-21-2011, 07:28 AM

I love the idea of making your own cookie cutters, and those look awesome, Val!!!!

Panfan · 12-21-2011, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ Blue J

Hmm...I'm making Christmas cookies for my friends when I go back to school. I might have to try that aluminum cut-out tactic. Thanks for the idea, Val!

bro if you be doin that you best be savin some for me

and holy **** val these look too awesome to eat

12-20-2011, 01:21 PM	#1
Valigarmander The Bee's Knees Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: The land of rain and trees (Oregon) Gender: Posts: 29,755 Thanks: 1,649 Thanked 5,701 Times in 2,581 Posts Blog Entries: 20	VGB: Mario Christmas Cookies Christmas is getting close. Have you started making the Christmas candy? What's that? You don't know how to make candy because you're a worse chef than a Sim with 0 points in his Cooking skill? Well, don't fret. Val is here with a recipe for delicious Super Mario Bros.-themed cookies so simple even an armless monkey could pull it off. There's three parts to making the cookies: the cookie cutters, the cookies, and the frosting. The Cookie Cutters What you'll need: 3 cheap aluminum lasagna pans* a ruler scissors a stapler * The number of pans you'll need depends on how many cookie cutters you want to make, and how big the cookie cutters are. Three 8"x8" pans were enough for me to make six average-sized cookie cutters. As far as I'm aware, there aren't a lot of Mario-themed cookie cutters out there. Even if there were, you might not want to spend a lot of money or wait for them to arrive in the mail. Or maybe, you're a creative person and would prefer to use cutters you designed yourself. Here is a cheap way to make your own custom cookie cutters. They're not particularly durable and can be a bit time-consuming to make, but they get the job done fine. The first thing you'll need to do is cut the aluminum lasagna pans into strips about an inch wide, or about the width of most rulers. Be careful when cutting the pans, because the edges can be sharp and may cut back. Flatten out any wrinkles in the strips and set them aside for now. Try to use as much of the pans as you can. The walls of the pan will probably have ridges, but those parts have uses too. Just cut them into strips, flatten them as much as you can, and set them apart from the strips you cut from the bottom of the pans. Once you've got enough strips, take each one and fold them in half lengthwise (it's a good idea to use a ruler when folding them so they don't curve). Since the aluminum is pretty weak, and cutting cookies will be a bit strenuous for the cutters, you'll want to reinforce them a bit. Do this by inserting one strip into another (like a hot dog), and pressing them firmly together. You'll want the outside to be as smooth as possible, so use the smooth strips from the bottom of the pan on the outside and the rough strips from the sides of the pan on the inside. Once you've got enough reinforced strips, it's time to get started on the cookie cutters. Go online and look up some images of Mario characters or items (or Metroid, or Pikmin; you can make your cookies in whatever shape you'd like) and print them out to use as templates. Make sure that when they're printed out, they'll be about the size you want your cookies to be. What you need to do now is trace the image. Leaving a bit of the strip free on both ends to be stapled, carefully work your way around the image, bending and curving the aluminum strip to match the contours of the image. A ruler is helpful in making sharp bends in the strip. A pen or something else round can help making curves. You don't need to worry about following every single bump in the image, since smaller details will have disappeared by the time your cookies leave the oven. If the strip you're using is too short to make it around the entire image (it probably will be), mark the edges on the paper, and continue using a second strip. Once you've finished the entire image, pull the strips together, pinching the extra parts of the strips you saved, and staple them together. The shape may deform a little, so you might want to play around with the cookie cutter a bit until you feel it matches the image you were copying. Voila! This is what I did to make my cookie cutters, and it worked fine for me. However, if you'd like cookie cutters that are stronger and will last longer, I'd recommend this how-to. The Cookies What you'll need: 1 cup butter (softened) 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ teaspoon lemon extract 3 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder Makes ~40 cookies. You can double the amounts if you want to make more. First off, get yourself a big ol' bowl and cream the butter and sugar in it. Once they've been blended, add the egg and the extracts. After mixing those, gradually add the flour and baking powder to the concoction and mix well until you have a nice, stiff dough. Congratulations, you've just created cookie dough! On a lightly-floured surface, roll the dough into about 1/8-inch thickness. Then, cut out cookies using your fancy new cookie cutters. Go easy when pressing them down, because if you push too hard you might end up bending them. Take the cookies and place them about an inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake them at 400 °F for 6-7 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Once the cookies have cooled off, you can remove them from the sheet and store them in the fridge until you're ready to begin the next phase. They're looking pretty delicious, right? Well, you can't have them yet, because you still have one more step to do. The Frosting What you'll need: ~½ pound cake frosting of your choice* food coloring 2 tubes M&M's Minis (optional) * My generous estimate for 40 cookies would be about half a pound of frosting. I made 80 cookies and had four pounds (four 1 lb. containers) of cake frosting, and had a ton left over. Now comes the part where you make your cookies look nice and pretty. You'll need to decide how you want to frost your cookies. If you're lazy, you can just glaze cookies in a single color of frosting and save yourself a lot of time. If you're an artist like me and would rather spend hours painting each individual part of the cookie a different color, you'll probably need more colors. Most of the time you can get food coloring in four colors: red, blue, green and yellow. If you want more colors, as I did, you'll need to be a little creative. I ended up using eight different colors. It's pretty simple to figure out how to get each color, but for reference here's how I did it: White: vanilla frosting Red: vanilla frosting + red food coloring Pink: vanilla frosting + a small amount of red food coloring Blue: vanilla frosting + blue food coloring Green: vanilla frosting + green food coloring Yellow: vanilla frosting + yellow food coloring Brown: chocolate frosting Black: chocolate frosting + blue food coloring Using the images you originally traced over to make the cookie cutters as a reference, paint each section of the cookie the appropriate color. (Skin-colored parts of the cookies I would simply leave unfrosted.) The tip of a spoon will work fine to apply frosting to the cookies if you don't have anything else. For an added treat, you can take M&M's Minis and stick them onto the cookies to represent eyes, mouths, buttons, jewelry, and so on. Once you've finished frosting, put the cookies in the fridge and let the frosting cool overnight. Come morning, the cookies will be all ready to go. Mama mia! These may be the most scrumptious treats I've ever tasted! And just in time for Christmas. So, what're you waiting for? Go make yourself some of these delicious cookies.

12-20-2011, 01:23 PM	#2
*Marilink* Gotta catch 'em all! Supermod! Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Location, Location. Gender: Posts: 29,118 Thanks: 2,536 Thanked 1,823 Times in 1,008 Posts	Hmm...I'm making Christmas cookies for my friends when I go back to school. I might have to try that aluminum cut-out tactic. Thanks for the idea, Val!

12-20-2011, 01:32 PM	#3
Loot Apparently I'm a mod? Join Date: May 2001 Location: LEGITIMATE BUSINESS Gender: Posts: 13,208 Thanks: 236 Thanked 1,237 Times in 659 Posts	EVERYONE GET IN THE LOOT-MOBILE WE'RE GOING TO VAL'S HOUSE FOR CHRISTMAS

12-21-2011, 07:28 AM	#4
*Heroine of the Dragon* The Grinnie Fool! ♥♥♥ VGFCodes Staff Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Twinklebutton Wintersprout Gender: Posts: 31,454 Thanks: 864 Thanked 851 Times in 632 Posts Blog Entries: 1	I love the idea of making your own cookie cutters, and those look awesome, Val!!!!