I’m not as skilled as I would like to be in decorating cookies and cakes. In my next life I’d like to come back with the talents of cookie artist Patti Page. I’m constantly working on building my skill level and always on the lookout for tools to make me look more professional.
When I saw this cookie press on Etsy, I ordered it immediately. Wooden tools like this fall under the “embossing” category. They leave an imprint in the dough that makes you look like a decorating pro. I have had some experience with similar tools when I made these Embossed Brown Sugar Cookies.
Often the carving in the tool is not deep enough, so that when you bake the dough, the imprint disappears, like when I tried my heart rolling pin on these mini apple pies. I have also had issues with the dough sticking to the cutter or rolling pin.
I did a lot of experimenting when baking these cookies and developed what I found was a foolproof way of getting perfect cookies. And surprisingly, flour was not the best way to prevent sticking! Check out the video to see my method.
The brilliant rosy hue of the glaze is totally natural, thanks to the addition of freeze-dried strawberries. They pack a wallop of strawberry flavour. I add a bit of lemon juice to the glaze to balance out all that icing sugar.
The best word to describe the texture of these cookies is plush. Thick and slightly chewy, they are so satisfying to eat.
This month my blog turns 10 years old!I fell into blogging purely by accident. Check out my very first post, if you’re curious about how it all got started.
Blogging consistently, once a week, for 10 years, takes a certain level of committment and discipline. I have always been a fairly disciplined person, so consistency came fairly easily to me. But I think that the reason I have stayed with this for so long, is that this creative process continued to excite and challenge me. I found myself curious to learn and become more skilled in all the disciplines that food blogging involves. Plus, I love having an excuse to buy lots of beautiful dishes and other props.
One of the nicest, but unexpected, things that happened was the loyal following that I developed. I am so grateful for you guys! I love hearing from you, telling me what worked and what didn’t. You keep me honest and let me know when I screw up or make typos in the recipe. It’s like having an editor for free! I get so excited when you tell me that you had guests for dinner and everything you made was from saltandserenity! It’s like virtually attending your dinner parties. (And if you know me, I always prefer to be a virtual guest!)
If you think about it, food bloggers are essentially doing the job of 4 different professionals – cook/baker, food stylist, photographer, and recipe writer. I have always been a very slow and methodical learner and have made many blunders along the way. But, as my sister Jody is fond of saying, “mistakes are how we learn.” It was almost a year before I figured out that taking photos in my kitchen, with the overhead lights on, was causing a horrible yellow cast on all my images. Some of us learn more quickly than others!
To celebrate 10 years of blogging, I wanted to bake a beautiful statuesque cake. I started with the classic white layer cake from “The Perfect Cake” cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen. This book is a wonderful resource, whether you’re a novice or have been baking for years. This cake is the perfect backdrop for so many different flavours. It has a soft fine crumb and bakes up tall and light. I was envisioning an ombre cake, with shades of pink and purple. My first attempt looked like a bad bridesmaid’s dress. I used gel food colouring and the shades looked so artificial.
I decided to go the natural route and use blackberries to tint my buttercream. I mashed up some blackberries and cooked them with a bit of sugar and lemon juice. Then I strained the seeds and used the purée to colour my buttercream. But you need to be careful adding liquid to buttercream. Too much and the buttercream becomes too soft. I wasn’t able to get that vibrant blackberry colour or flavour I had in mind.
