WHEEEWWWW... There was a close call at Susabelle's last night! Yesterday afternoon I was asked to make 20 clown cookies for a preschool party THIS MORNING!! No Problem! Actually, there were a few problems.
1. I only had one batch of cookie dough in the fridge and no room-temperature butter.
2. Not enough frosting made.
3. No Meringue Powder in the house. (problem because of #2)
4. I work with one cookie sheet and one cooling rack.
5. I work until 5:15
6. No Clown Cookie cutter (Thank God- see below)
7. I am SCARED of clowns. (They are scary and you all know it)
At 5:15 began the mad dash, I was home and into my cookie-making clothes by 5:30. I started with a drawing of a clown (yuck) so that I could get an idea of size and shape. I considered doing just a clown hat but that seemed too boring so I went with the full face.
I hand cut the dough that was in the fridge. No sense buying a clown cookie cutter that could potentially sneak off my shelf and kill me in the middle of the night.
While these were cooling and the second batch of dough was chilling, I decided to tackle the frosting.
Warning: No frosting should be attempted without wine and Dave Matthews.
i.m.h.o. The frosting is the trickiest part of the entire process. I need the right consistency, the right color, the right tip on the right bag and as long as the humidity is ok and the frosting gods are smiling, I am all set. Also, spending part of my evening scrubbing wiping powdered sugar off every surface in my kitchen is enough to make me want to take up knitting.
Having said all that, NOTHING beats the thrill of sitting down to create these little works of art.
By Midnight I had 20 of these smiling faces safely locked drying in my cookie room!
At 8:00am they were packaged and ready to be delivered to the clown that ordered them for the preschool class.
I heard one little girl cried the whole time the clown was there- I hear ya, Sister! Hope the cookies helped soothe the pain. They always work for me.
