What you need to make a snowman face cookie
We have put together a list of what you need and a quick video on how to make this snowman face cookie (biscuit) so you can make it at home in the holidays. Â Click on the items highlighted on the list and follow the link to the products that we stock to help you recreate him.
I absolutely love this baby blue colour from Rolkem, we do not stock any Rolkem colours as yet but they are available at most baking shops. Â Rolkem are powdered colours, so I would recommend mixing the powder in a little water before stirring it into your royal icing, otherwise your icing may speckle.
If you have any trouble with your cookie dough, follow this link we have put together just for you ‘Getting the perfect biscuit base’Â
What you’ll need to create this cute snowman face for Christmas this year
Biscuit Recipe
Royal Icing Recipe
Actiwhite Powder
Rolling pin guides
Snowman face cutter
Large snowman face stencil
Circle block out stencils
Stencil Buddy
Scribe needle
Tipless Bags
Fondant holly
Crush (dried royal icing)
Rolkem blush
Paint brush
Scraper (for stencilling)
Icing consistencies & colours
Black flooding icing    Cake Flora Super Black gel
Blue flooding icing     Rolkem baby blue
White flooding icing   Cake Flora Bright white gel
Orange piping icing    Cake Flora electric orange gel
Black Stencil icing     (peanut butter consistency)
How to make a tool box for Dad
Not long now until Father’s Day. So why not make this stunning biscuit tool box for Dad this year. We have all the tool cutters available in our online shop and I have put together a template for the actual tool box. Simply print the template, cut out the individual panels, lay them on top of the biscuit dough and cut around them. I used a craft knife to cut out my tool box pieces. A tip when using a template rather than a cookie cutter, roll out your dough and pop it in the fridge (or freezer) to get firm, then cut out the tool box, you’ll get smoother crisp outlines. (it’ll look like you used a cutter)
What you’ll need
Biscuit Dough (our recipe is available online)
Spanner cookie cutter
Hammer cookie cutter
Screwdriver cookie cutter
Pilers cookie cutter
Gift tag cookie cutter
Tool box template
Woodgrain stencil(for tool box sides)
Father’s Day stencils
Stencil buddy
Scraper (made from an ice cream lid)
Airbrush colours – Chocolate brown & silver sheen
Airbrush Machine
Black stencil consistency icing ( peanut butter consistency)
Piping bags
PME #2 Nozzles
Scribe needle
Dowel rod about 15-17cm long
Follow these simple steps
1) Prepare your dough and bake the tool box panels. Cut a dowel rod 15 -17cm, make a hole at the top of the ‘end’ panels x 2, so that the dowel rod can slide into the holes once the biscuit panels are baked and assembled. Once baked let them cool.
2)Use flooding consistency icing, flood all the side panels, not the bottom one. Work on a baking tray, as the panels can break when you lift them up (from the weight of the icing) I dried mine in my oven with the fan on for about 12 hours. The panels are too large to go into a dehydrator (the one I use) and the icing needs at least 12 – 24 hours to completely dry.
3)Â I have a tutorial on how to make the tools for the tool box, click HERE
4) Once your icing is dry, airbrush the woodgrain markings onto each of the panels using our woodgrain stencil.
5) Use a think piping consistency icing with a PME nozzle #2 or #3 and carefully ‘glue’ the tool box together using the thick icing. Push the dowel rod through the holes, for the handle of the tool box. Secure it with heavy objects, I used airbrush colour bottles to help it stand upright while drying.
6) Leave the tool box to dry for an hour, out in the open.
7) It’s now complete and ready to fill with your tools. I airbrushed a gift tag and then stenciled a saying onto it as you can see in the picture above.
Click the image above to print the template
Happy baking & biscuit making
Ashleigh Temple
Turning cacti into gentlemen…..
I had a few cactus biscuits left over from a class, so I thought because Father’s Day is coming up I would turn them into gentlemen cacti with moustaches. I absolutely love how they turned out. Here is a quick tutorial on what I used and how I added the detail to these little guys.     Photo credit : Allegra from www.lifeinmotion.co.za
What you need
Tall cactus cookie cutter
Round cactus cookie cutter
Plain cactus cookie cutter
Little man cookie stencil (I pinched the moustache off this stencil)
Stick on eyes. HERE is a tutorial on ‘how to make stick on eyes’
Airbrush machine, optional
Chocolate Brown airbrush colour, optional
Stencil buddy
Shape block out
Block out strips
Scraper
Stencil royal icing, any colour (consistency of peanut butter)
For the piping detail
PME size 1 nozzle for the thorns
PME size 2 nozzle for the flower
Green piping consistency icing for the cactus thorns
White piping consistency icing for the flower
Piping bag and coupler
Black edible marker for the eyebrows
I hope you have been inspired to try make these cute little guys. Please visit our online shop as we stock most of the goodies needed for this tutorial.
Happy baking and biscuit making…
Ashleigh Temple
Tips on using an airbrush machine for cookies
I absolutely love my airbrush machine. In this post I’ll try help you understand your airbrush machine a little more, with the do’s and don’ts that I have experienced.
After you have spent hours icing your biscuits the last thing you need is to spray them with your airbrush gun and the pattern or design is blurry and/or smudged. So frustrating.
When you purchase the airbrush machine, always read the instructions carefully. We do stock a PME airbrush machine in our online shop.
- Securing your stencil
You’ll need a metal board and 12 magnets, the magnets need to be a certain height. They need to equal the height of your iced biscuit, so that when you lay the stencil on top it lies flat against your icing. If there are any gaps between the biscuit and stencil, the air will spray under the stencil. This is how you get blurry designs. * I use my scribe needle to push down on the stencil where I can see a slight gap while I airbrush.
New Stencil Buddy
I also like to use a ‘Stencil Buddy.’ A stencil buddy is a plastic frame, that holds our stencils in place. The frame comes apart, part A & B. There are 4 magnets in each corner, the two frames stick to one another holding the stencil in place. Part A & B are slightly different heights to accommodate the height of your iced biscuit. The frame when holding the stencil rests on the biscuit, this helps prevent any under spray (no bleeding / smudging)
What I love is when I am doing multiple biscuits I can simply lift the frame off and place it onto the next biscuit. The ‘Stencil Buddy’ is great for airbrushing, I still prefer my magnets and board for royal icing stencil work.
We now stock the Stencil Buddy in our shop. Take a look at the video below. - What pressure to use
The amount of pressure you use is very important. If you pull the trigger back too hard, the colour is going to come out too fast causing, splotches and uneven colour. Test pulling back the trigger on some roller towel, gently pull back so that it lightly sprays the colour. If you want a darker colour, rather go over the same area a few times to deepen the colour.
If you find that the airbrush gun is spluttering colour then adjust your air pressure on the actual gun, if the air pressure is too low it’ll splutter, instead of being a fine spray. - Spraying distance
I find that being close to the design about 2-3cm above the stencil helps prevent blurry designs or colour bleeds. The saying goes ‘low & slow’ low meaning close to the stencil and slow meaning pulling gently on the trigger. I keep saying this in my head while I airbrush. - Airbrush colours
I use the cake flora airbrush colours.  If you get, the primary colours red, blue and yellow you can then mix up your own colours blue + yellow = green. I would also get black and bright white. I use bright white to tone down a colour, (dilute it) so that the colours are not too bright.
The sheen colours are gold, silver and pearl, they are a bit more expensive, but a bottle lasts for ages. I always pour the colour back in the bottle when I am finished unless I have mixed it with other colours. - Cleaning your airbrush gun
You don’t need expensive airbrush cleaners, I simply run water through my gun until it runs clear. I add some vodka, to help dislodge any stubborn colour. Darker colours are harder to clean out, so I would try airbrush with lighter colours first then move onto your darker colours. Always clean your gun straight after using it, don’t let the colour sit in your gun for a long period of time. - Icing your biscuit for airbrushing
When you airbrush a biscuit, the icing on the biscuit has to be as level and even as possible, if there are dips then there is a chance that the design will bleed (blurred design)
Also if the icing is not 100% dry, you’ll find your design blurring at a later stage, as the water in the icing will make the colours run.
How to make tool cookies for Dad!
There are all sorts of Father’s Day themed biscuits that will suit the man or dad in your life, I have decided to start with the tool type of guy. In our family, my husband is not really the DIY type. We’ll be making sports themed biscuits but I’ll get to those in another post.
I have created hammer, spanner & tape measure biscuits, you could add a saw, a drill and even a nail or screw biscuit.
What you’ll need
Hammer cookie cutter
Spanner cookie cutter
Ruler cookie cutter
Hexagon cookie cutter
Baked biscuits (for my recipe click HERE & help with baking biscuits click HERE)
Royal icing, flooding, piping and stencil consistency
Piping bag
Nozzles size PME 1.5 & 2
Couplers
Gel colours – yellow, orange, black, bright white,
Scribe tool
Non Toxic pencil
Airbrush machine
Airbrush colours – Silver sheen & super black (now available in our online shop)
Tool background stencil
Tape measure stencil
Happy Father’s Day stencil
Magnets & Board
Stencil Buddy
Scraper
Mix up your different icing colours.
I used electric yellow gel mixed with a tiny drop of electric orange gel, to lessen the brightness of the yellow. For the grey, I simply add a tiny drop of black gel to get a grey colour. I do add bright white gel to whiten my icing.
Airbrushing / stencil work
When spraying these cookies I used the super black & silver sheen airbrush colours. We now stock the PME airbrush machine in our online shop.  If you enjoy icing biscuits I would recommend getting one.
Make sure your stencil is flat against your dried iced biscuit.
Drying your royal icing
Always make sure you dry your icing correctly, either in a dehydrator or a fan oven. This helps the biscuit base to stay crisp. There is a drying time difference between the dehydrator and fan oven. The dehydrator dries the icing quicker, the fan oven can take from 6 – 12 hours to dry out the icing. I have a tutorial on the South African brand I use and how to use it, click HERE. The icing must be totally dry on the biscuit before stenciling with royal icing or airbrushing. There is no need to dry them any further after you have stenciled your design. Just package them in an airtight container or sealed bag ready to give to that special dad!
I have created a video tutorial on how to make these super cute tool cookies, take a look below.
We love hearing from you, please leave any comments or questions in the comment section below
As always, happy baking and biscuit making
Ashleigh
How to make cute biscuit bunnies for Easter
We have an exciting range of Easter cutters and stencils in stock in our online shop this year. What I love most about the Easter bunnies that I am going to show you how to make is that they are not time consuming at all. There are only two flooding icing colours and two stencil icing colours. That’s it, easy peasy! (optional: Piping pink)
What you’ll need
Baked big ear bunny & round bunny biscuits
Big ear bunny cutter
Round bunny cutter
# 201 Stencil, bunny face detail
# 202 Stencil, glasses
Block out stencils
Stencil buddy
Scraper (made from an ice cream lid)
Pink & white flooding consistency icing
Black & pink stencil consistency icing ( peanut butter consistency)
Piping bags
PME #2 Nozzles
Small coupler
Scribe needle
Follow these simple steps
1) Prepare your dough and bake the bunny biscuits. Let them cool.
2)Prepare your icing, fill your icing bags. We now stock ACTIWHITE online.
3) Flood your bunny biscuits, use a scribe needle to evenly distribute the icing. Pipe pink into the ears (wet on wet) wiggle your scribe needle gently through the icing to create a ‘fluffy’ look in the ear.
4) Place your iced biscuits in a dehydrator for about 2 – 2.5 hours depending on the weather. Your icing must be 100% dry on your biscuit.
5) Mix up your stencil consistency royal icing, as you only need a small amount, mix in your gel colour before adding water as this will loosen the icing. If it still looks too dry add a drop of water at a time to get a peanut butter consistency. It’s very important to get the consistency correct when you stencil a biscuit. If it’s too runny it will smudge and if it’s too thick it wont spread nicely across the stencil causing a thick undesirable design.
6) Place your shape blocker stencil in the stencil buddy, then place the bunny face (big or small) so that the design is sitting in the square or circle blocker stencil, place the same shape blocker on top and then secure with the stencil buddy. See the video below. The blocker stencil is there to make sure the design is sitting in the centre of the stencil buddy. This is so the frame doesn’t interfere with the biscuit.
7) Place the design onto your dried iced biscuit, scrape the black icing across the face design, be careful not to go back and forth too many times, this will cause movement and you’ll end up with a smudged design. Lift the stencil buddy off carefully. The biscuit DOES NOT need to go back into the dehydrator again. It’ll dry fairly quickly on it’s own.
8) Once the black face is dry, now stencil the pink nose, sprinkle with glitter. In the video below I have used a piping consistency pink with a size PME 2 nozzle. Just to show you a different version.
9) Add some glasses if you would like using stencil #202. Using the same method as when you added the face.
Here are the two stencils I used #201 & #201.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this tutorial.
Happy baking & biscuit making
Ashleigh
PYO – How to make the icing disc’s!
PYO (Paint your own) cookies are a great way to do loads of biscuits for a party or function, they’re interactive and fun. They are the perfect party favour or party activity.
I have been experimenting with the ‘paint palettes’ or’colour disc’s’Â and have come to a couple of conclusions.
- If I pipe the icing transfers (colour disc’s) as a solid colour, ie Blue. I made sure that I added extra blue gel colour so that the colour would be more intense. When I tried to paint on the biscuit, the colours were quite faint but they did work.  If you are new to icing and are wondering what an icing transfer is. I have made a video below to show you how to make icing transfers.
- I then tried to paint the dried icing disc’s with ‘raw’ gel colour. The painting colour (for the biscuit) improved dramatically, but I personally didn’t like the look of the disc, it was streaky and uneven.
-  I decided to make plain white icing transfers (icing disc’s) and then spray them with my airbrush machine once they had semi dried. The reason I like them to be semi dried is so that the air from the airbrush gun doesn’t make them fly all over the place. The coloured disc’s look smooth and even, and the ‘paint’ on the biscuit is a beautiful vibrant colour. I got the best results with this method.Here is a video showing you how to airbrush the white disc’s.
4. Once your icing disc’s are dry, they’re ready to stick onto your PYO biscuit. Click HERE to see how the PYO biscuit works…. they’re super cute!
Happy baking and biscuit making…
Ashleigh
How a PYO (Paint your own) cookie works!
PYO = Paint Your Own…. it means exactly that, you can paint your own cookies (biscuit) and then eat them afterwards.
The Biscuit Studio has created a few Christmas PYO cookie stencils but the range is growing, so fear not. Here is a video showing you how the complete PYO biscuit works. Take a look at our range so far. HEREÂ
I have a tutorial that I am currently working on that shows you ‘How to make the little colour disc’s’ so that you too can make these at home for Christmas gifts, party favours and so much more….
How to stencil wool texture onto mitten cookies!
I made these stunning mittens using the wool piping technique and while I was patiently icing the mittens, I thought to myself, there must be a quicker way to do this. And so the wool texture stencil was designed.
Here is a picture of the hand piped mittens and hat, as beautiful as they are, I don’t think I would be able to pipe a dozen of these for family and friends.
How to create a wool texture on your cookies. It could be for a jumper, jersey, mittens, hat and so much more.
What you’ll need – all stencils and cutters are available in our online shop.
Mitten cuttersÂ
Wool texture stencil
Stencil buddy
Pre iced biscuits
Stencil consistency icing – icing that is thick but not dry
Scraper – made from a yoghurt or ice cream lid
Flooding royal icing
Nozzle, piping bag and coupler
Scribe needle
Crush or sugar to sprinkle
soft paint brush
Here is a video showing how easy it is to do….
Chocolate Hedgehogs
I often get asked for the recipe for the little treat I put out for my ladies at the classes. It’s super simple to make, hence the reason I always make it.
CHOCOLATE HEDGEHOGS
2 x 200g packets Tennis biscuits, coarsely chopped
250g butter, chopped
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 egg, lightly beaten
150g dark chocolate, melted
1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
1. Grease a 20cm x 30cm lamington pan; line base and two long sides with baking paper, extending paper 2cm above edges of pan.
2. Crush tennis biscuits.
3. Place butter, sugar and sifted cocoa in a medium pan; stir over heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; whisk in egg.
4. Pour chocolate mixture over biscuit mixture; mix well. Press into prepared pan. Cover; refrigerate for 3 hours
5. Melt chocolate and oil and pour over the chilled chocolate/biscuit mix. Let it set for 20min. Turn onto chopping board and cut up. DELICIOUS!!
