My 3 year old and I have been learning about “Heroes” lately. I think it all started with a book we read, and it has become a really neat project. When he wanted to know what a hero was, I felt like pointing right at my own chest and saying “This here– MOM! This is a hero!!!” But I didn’t.
I’m trying to take a more practical approach.
No need to tell him, yet, that Moms do everything Superman’s got, and then some.
He’ll discover parental superpowers in time.
For now, I thought we would start with some people that we know and make them some cookies and a thank you note. We get to make cookies, and Christopher gets to practice his letters. It’s a win win.
We are going to start with police men and women. Since we have a friend who is a VA state trooper, we will start with the VA state police uniform. I hope they remember these cookies if I ever get pulled over. Just kidding.
What are we waiting for? Let’s do this!
To begin, you need the following 4 colors of 17 second icing. For more on icing creation and consistencies, check out my tutorial here.
Remember this neat trick of putting the icing into plastic wrap sleeves? This is just great, because you can mix up the icing and allow it to “bubble out” (bubbles all rising to the surface where they will not affect your work) while you’re making the cookies. Then, just slip these little beauties into your piping bag, no mess or cleanup required. I explain more about icing sleeves in that tutorial, above. You will never, ever have to fill a tilting piping bag, again. You’re welcome.
I made some medium oval cookies, as well as some shirts, from my onesie cutter (just trim off the bottom with a pizza cutter). I know technically uniforms aren’t short sleeved . . . but oh well. We are bakers, not museum curators 😉 Outline your shield basic shapes in light gray.
Once the outlines have dried a bit, go ahead and flood the shields.
Outline your uniforms in the medium dark gray.
When your outlines have dried a bit (usually by the time you have outlined the rest of the cookies), go ahead and flood the uniform with medium gray. Allow this to dry for half an hour or so, to avoid icing bleed. (Hey– if you have to bleed, might as well make it with icing 😉
When the shields have dried for about 1/2 hour (it helps to go back and forth from the shields to the uniforms, so that each set has a chance to dry a little bit while you work on the other set), add some details. Yes, the real VA state trooper shield is much more detailed. But that’s OK. I hit the high points 😉 If you are a budding Leonardo DaVinci and want to intricately sketch on these cookies (that will go CRUNCH just like these ones), then by all means . . . have a gold star and go right ahead.
When you add the shield detail, the uniform basic shirt should be ready for some details. Add a pocket and collar with the same medium gray icing.
After the uniform details, go back to the shields and add a regular color border by outlining it and then flooding, just like you normally would. I went ahead and used white, but you can use any color that you want (and, technically, I didn’t tell you that you needed white icing . . . but cut me a break. I didn’t know I wanted it to be white until I came to this point 😉
Now, add some dark gray details– the shoulder straps and thin necktie. It’s starting to come together!
I wasn’t sure whether to add the pocket detail, but I did, and I liked it. Feel free to leave it in or leave it out. Either way, it will taste great 😉 I recycled the light gray from the shields to make the little shield badges and name tag line above the pocket.
Now, take the gold icing and add some little shoulder pad detailing to the sleeves. Oooh . . . it looks great! Don’t you think?
If you want to, you can add some silver luster dust to the shields and the silver details of the uniforms. But they look just fine plain, too, if you don’t have any.
Write a thank you note to your local police station, and take them some cookies. They really do risk their lives every day to keep us safe. They work through the night and take on the scary people out there so that you and your family can walk to the park in peace. Sure . . . they give out the occasional ticket . . . but overall, I am thankful for what they do.
Thanks, police men and women. I’m just so proud of you.
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