Sweet Art Creature Cookies

Photos courtesy of the publisher; used with permission

I like to bake cookies. Most of the time, they're drop cookies, like chocolate chips. Sometimes, though, I like making roll-out cookies and decorating them. I'm particularly fond of cookie cutters that emboss designs into the cookies, because that means I can color in the lines rather than freehanding the drawing.

I decided to review Creature Cookies because I know I can use some help with my cookie decorating technique.

The cookies on the cover are adorable, but that's just the beginning. Browsing through the book showed me just how far I need to go.

Yikes. the designs of some of these cookies are freaking amazing. Some look like fairly simple designs, but they have personality. Others are a little more complicated. Most of them are above my current abilities. Which is great. I wouldn't want a book that showed me exactly what I already know what to do.

Most of the cookies are flat, but some are layered, like the dinosaurs and polar bears where the heads are a separate piece, or the bumble bees and ladybugs, where the wings are separate pieces.

Swim, little fishes! SWIM!!!

And then there are the 3D jumping dolphins, where the dolphins are leaping out of a round cookie that's got frosting "water."

Besides decorating instructions, there are recipes for cookies and icing, as well as information about tools, tips, and techniques.

I haven't decorated any cookies based on this book yet, but I have a few favorites picked, including the fish and sharks.

These look fairly simple to do but they're still cute. And they'd look so great on a plate, with the sharks chasing the fish. Or the fish chasing the sharks.