Little trivia about yours truly, I originally wanted to write for children. Back when I started submitting manuscripts, I submitted children’s (um, eight years ago, maybe even longer, so for anyone who thinks “how did SHE get handed a book deal?” The answer is, “Eight years of submitting.”). I wrote a children’s novel for my MFA in Literature (The answer is, “Nah, it’s not very good.”) and focused on children’s for my other Masters. If I could lead a parallel life I’d be earning a phD in Children’s Literature somewhere in England. When I studied at Oxford for a summer back in ’01,  I tried to stalk my favorite author, Philip Pullman (you know, His Dark Materials trilogy?) but I was not a good stalker and never even came close.

When I actually step away from the computer long enough to read a book, it’s almost always a novel for children. I read incessantly growing up, from picture books to Early Readers, to Laura Ingalls Wilder, to Nancy Drew (my grandmother’s originals from the ’30s), to any book with a little apple on the spine, to every single Judy Blume book (I AM a child of the ’70s and ’80s after all). Hence, my pride to learn my husband won his elementary school most-books-read-in-a-year award. I think he got to over 200, including Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret?.

So I just had to get on the Dr. Seuss/birthday/Lorax bandwagon. If you’ve not heard, The Lorax is about to hit theaters. So I pulled out my marshmallows and edible writers. I’ll quote from my post here, when I say that “I love that my daughter takes Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax to heart with sincere concern for the loss of the Truffula trees. It demonstrates Dr. Seuss’s genius, too, to convey such a weighty environmental concern so efficiently and neatly.” {SPOILER ALERT} At the end, after the last seed is flung from the window, I have to go back to the earlier pages with the plentiful Truffula trees to show her what the future holds or she’d be too upset at their loss.

I love books and kids.What a perfect combination.

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As a children’s lit academia nut, of course I adore Harry Potter. I gobbled up every one of the books as they hit the stands, starting way back when in—sheesh, ’98 was it? And I’ve done many a Harry Potter cookie over the years, for the cookie possibilities are many. Gryffindor shields, Hedwig, the Sorting Hat, broomsticks, Potions books, cauldrons, castles, Dementors, wands, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, The Daily Prophet, Bertie Bott’s… And so, narrowing down my choices to just a few for this post was near impossible. I may add more later, but for now, here are some tips to making Harry’s glasses, a lightning bolt and a broomstick.

For the glasses, I used a bikini top cookie cutter. I cut out the others by hand, so I included a pdf HERE for you. If preferred, print the document and cut out the shapes to use as templates. Simply lay the template on rolled out dough and cut out with a knife. Smooth edges with your fingers, bake according to the recipe and let cool completely.

LIGHTNING BOLTS

you will need:*
dough
icing
lightening cutter or template
1 frosting bag
1 coupler
1 size 4 tip
1 rubber band
yellow frosting color
yellow sanding sugar or sprinkles

*You can find most supplies at any major craft store. For the frosting color, I used Americolor soft gel paste, Egg Yellow.

to decorate lightning bolts:
Prepare a frosting bag fitted with the coupler and size 4 tip and fill with gold colored frosting. Tie closed with a rubber band. Outline lightening shape and let set 15 minutes. Piping yellow frosting back and forth, fill shape completely. Immediately sprinkle yellow sanding sugar generously over lightening bolt and shake off excess. Let dry overnight.

BROOMSTICKS

you will need:*
dough
icing
broomstick cutter or template
4 frosting bags
4 couplers
5 tips (1 size “2″, 2 of size “3,” 2 of size “4″)
4 rubber bands
yellow, brown and black frosting colors

*You can find most supplies at any major craft store. For the frosting color, I used Americolor soft gel paste, Egg Yellow, Chocolate Brown and Super Black.

to decorate broomsticks:
Prepare 4 colors of frosting: black, brown, light yellow, and gold. Prepare 4 frosting bags and fill with your colors. Black and light yellow should have a “3″ tip, brown and gold each a “4″ tip. Tie each closed with a rubber band. Outline your broomstick with the black 3 tip as shown. Let set about 15 minutes. Piping back and forth, fill broomstick completely as shown, brown for the handle, gold for the shaft. With the light yellow “3″ tip, pipe the straw. Switch tip on the black to size “2.” Pipe wood details on top of the handle. Let dry overnight.

HARRY’S GLASSES

you will need:*
dough
icing
eyeglasses cutter or template
4 frosting bags
4 couplers
4 tips (2 of size “3″, 1 of size “4,” 1 of size “2″)
4 rubber bands
brown, black, light blue and white frosting color

*You can find most supplies at any major craft store. For the frosting color, I used Americolor soft gel pastes, Chocolate Brown, Super Black, Sky Blue and Bright White.

to decorate glasses:
Prepare 4 colors of frosting: black, chocolate brown, light blue and white. Prepare 4 frosting bags and fill with your colors. Black should have a “3″ tip, brown and light blue each a “4″ tip, white a “2″ tip. Outline cookie as shown with black 3 tip. Let set about 15 minutes. Fill frames with brown “4″ tip. Fill centers of glasses with light blue. Let centers set well, about 20 minutes. Pipe highlights with white 2 tip on top of blue. Let dry overnight.Tweet

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A brief history lesson.

• Though the name appeared in a French poem 50 years prior, Charles Perrault first mentions Mother Goose in a frontispiece for a folk tale collection intended for adults in 1697, “Contes de ma Mere l’Oye,” translated in England as “Tales of Mother Goose.” John Newbery used the notion to make verses and jingles, and Mother Goose became associated with a compilation of nursery rhymes in London, 1780.

• Pirated editions of Newbery’s rhymes made it to America and Isaiah Thomas created an American version, “Mother Goose’s Melodies,” in 1786. By the next century, “Mother Goose” became a symbol of childhood in America thanks to subsequent, Americanized editions that tried to claim her as our own. One edition published by Munroe and Francis included a preface that likened President Andrew Jackson to a gander.

• One legend that attempted to Americanize Mother Goose suggested she was based on a Boston lady, Elizabeth Goose, the mother-in-law of printer Thomas Fleet. The legend was launched by Thomas Fleet’s great grandson, John Fleet Eliot, who claimed in an 1860 article that his great grandfather printed the rhymes his mother-in-law told to children.

• Before a more romantic view of childhood emerged in the latter 19th century (thanks to the likes of Lewis Carroll and others who placed value on the imagination of children), the 18th and early 19th century viewed children as little adults. Original nursery rhymes often contained harsh words and warnings of danger to children. Think of the Hush a bye baby in the tree top, and down will come baby, cradle and all. Or poor Jack who had to patch his head with vinegar and paper after he broke his crown.

Some cookie versions of Mother Goose (forgive the picture quality… these were taken with my old camera. And you can’t see in the picture, but the butcher, baker and candlestick maker are holding a butcher’s knife, a baguette and a candle, respectively):

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• decorate a cake with a letter cookie message
• let dry overnight and package in a large cellophane favor bag with ribbon and let the recipient unscramble the message
• top cupcakes with letters and let kids at a party choose the cupcake with their initial
• when dry, stack cookies in their message order, wrap tightly in cellophane, and tie with a ribbon

to make the bite size message cookies, you will need:

dough
icing
1 1/2 inch cookie cutter
frosting color (I used Americolor Electric Green, Electric Pink, Sky Blue, Orange and Bright White)
disposable decorating bags (1 for each color plus 1 for the white)
couplers (1 for each color plus 1 for the white)
size “5″ tips (1 for each color)
size “3″ tip
rubber bands

step one: bake your cookies
Roll out your chilled dough and cut out one circle for each letter. Bake and let cool.

step two: frost your background
Prepare a frosting bag with size “5″ tip for each color you want to use. Mix colors and fill bags, tying closed with a rubber band. For each background, I simply piped a tight spiral. Let set about 20 minutes.

step three: pipe your letters
Prepare a frosting bag with size “3″ tip. Mix white frosting and fill bag, tying closed with a rubber band. Pipe letters. Let dry overnight before packaging. I ended up stacking the letter cookies in order, so my mom wouldn’t have to work too hard.

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Feel free to share (nicely)! While my blog's photographs and text are protected by copyright, I do allow (and encourage) you to share ONE photograph with credit to "the decorated cookie" and link to this blog post. PLEASE don't reprint any part of the blog post and PLEASE don't post a photo without credit. Thank you!