Ever since I can remember, doodling, drawing, painting, arts and crafts have been where I go to find peace, relax, retreat or escape. If I couldn’t answer a question on my exam paper as a primary school student, I’d draw elaborate doodles that often the teacher would award me with additional marks for, that’s a win right?! To this day my note books and work diaries are filled with flowers, love hearts, rainbows and unicorns.
I love to sketch and I have always been fascinated with the art of hand painting, so I thought I’d try my hand at painting a cookie, and the best bit is, if it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to, you can at least eat it! My hand painted butterfly cookies ended up like psychedelic water colour butterflies, which was not my initial aim but sometimes you just need to go with what eventuates.
So tell me my lovelies, do you doodle? If yes, what do you find yourself doodling? Hands up if you laugh when you say doodle over and over…
Hand Painted Butterfly Cookie – Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Preparation time: 10 minutes plus an hour or so painting time
Cooking time: 20 minutes
- 85g butter, softened
- 140g white caster superfine sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 180g all-purpose flour plus extra for rolling
- 500g white fondant (you won’t use all of this)
- 1/2 cup cornflour
- Edible colour gels in red, blue, green, purple, orange and yellow
- Painters palette, or little bowls which is what I used
- 6 clean small paintbrushes and a non stick rolling pin
- You will also need a butterfly cutter, or free hand it using a stencil
Step 1 – Line two trays with parchment. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Step 2 – Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut out butterfly shapes and gently place on parchment lined trays. Bake for 15 minutes or until light golden. Cool completely on tray.
Step 3 – Dust a clean surface lightly with the cornflour. Roll out the fondant. Cut out the butterfly shape with the cutter and using a little water, attach the fondant to the cookie.
Step 4 – Add some water to the cavities of the palette (bowls) and start off lightly with very diluted mixes before adding more colour to make a solid colour using the small paintbrushes. NQN says the key to painting is layering. I had a picture propped up in front of me and used tattoo illustrations as a guide.
