Last week was the reveal of the DIY blogger house at the Parade of Homes in Daybreak, UT. They asked if I would make 10 dozen bumble bee sugar cookies for the evening!
It took THREE days, but I’m pretty happy with how they turned out! And they were a HUGE hit, but honestly I really didn’t like making them, I would much rather make a cake! So no more orders for cookies or cupcakes- CAKE ONLY!
I use my traditional sugar cookies recipe (the one I got from my Grandma).
roll out to 1/4 inch- the thickness is KEY- you want a nice thick cookie.
cut into shapes! Try to use as much of the FIRST roll out as you can. Once you start kneading the dough it get’s thicker and doesn’t end up tasting as good. I only knead and roll out and cut 3 times, after that I toss the rest of the dough.
Cook at 350 for 8-12 mins, you want the cookies to be JUST cooked, don’t over cook them. I usually cook the first pan 9 mins and the rest (once the pan is warm) 8, but every oven is different so play it by ear.
For the frosting I use this frosting recipe, if you want to be able to stack them I’d suggest using royal icing, but for TASTE I like this one better, you can stack them a BIT but I wouldn’t SHIP them or anything.
To detailed cookies you do the edging first, in a thicker frosting. In some cases you edge the whole cookie, for the bee’s I did just the white wings. I decided to add some details in the wings, you want the ENTIRE outline to DRY.
To Thin Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon milk at a time. Keep adding milk until it’s thin enough that when you stir it the lines will smooth out by the time you count to 10.
I have a clear tutorial on my airplane cookie post about how to do the color flow technique to get the bubbled up, thick icing! So fill it in with white and LET DRY
Black is hard to get in frosting. I started by adding dark cocoa powder (to the thick icing), until it tastes good (you don’t want it TOO chocolatey), then add black powder food coloring until your happy with the color! Added the darker outline, and LET DRY
Fill in with the thinned yellow, and LET IT DRY
Fill in the remaining spaces with thinned black icing! And again LET IT DRY! It’s the key to the whole effect, letting each step dry completely before moving on. But it’s also one of the reasons it’s so time consuming!
Bumble Bee Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 6 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 tsp. nutmeg
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 C Butter
- 2 C granulated sugar
- 2 egg
- 2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 C full fat sour cream
Icing
- 4 C powdered sugar
- 1/4 C whole milk
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp extract peppermint or almond
- Food coloring optional
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350
- Sift flour, soda, salt, nutmeg and powder in a bowl.
- In separate bowl cream the butter and sugar (use cookie paddles or dough hook this will get thick)
- Add the egg and beat again
- then add the vanilla and sour cream and beat it smooth
- Mix in dry ingredients and beat smooth - it will be thick.
- wrap up in wax paper or parchment paper and chill in fridge for 3-4 hours
- preheat oven to 350
- roll out to 1/4 inch and cut Bees
- bake for 8-10 mins, until the edges get a slight golden color to them (don't over bake) let cool
Icing
- Mix butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and peppermint in your mixer.
- it will be thick at first, thin with milk to get a "toothpaste" thickness good for piping
- separate your icing into three colors, white, black and a little portion for yellow
- pipe the white wing outlines with the thick white - then fill with the thinner icing for a smooth finish
- Take the thick black and pipe the outlines for the head, body and stripes
- thin the black and fill in
- thin the small portion of yellow icing and fill in the last two stripes!
Nutrition
Also the piping muscles in my arm hurt for 2 days after all this piping! By the time I got to the end of all the piping I couldn’t open my hand by myself, I had to slide the bag out of my clenched fist and massage it open. But they looked great, tasted better, and were a huge hit! And it’s OVER!
Cheryl@ Sew Can Do
Gorgeous! They look to pretty to eat:)
Ashlee
nothing is too pretty to eat 😉 thank you so much!
DANIELLE REED
Hello my name is Danielle and my God baby is having a birthday party on the 11th of February and im looking for someone who can make bumble bee cookies with some pink added in las vegas area please give me a call @7026752678
Ashlee
I’m so sorry, I’m not in the las vegas area and I don’t ship food. you are more than welcome to take this tutorial to someone local to show them what you are looking for
Cheyenne Renard
Ashlee, you are such a wonderful baker. I love the bee cookies. I would love to know where u got ur bee cookie cutter. I live in Henderson Nv. I attend the Summit ward for church. I would love to learn how to decorate these kind of cookies. My Sons name is Ashley he is grown now in England Ashley is a boys name and here a girls. Thank you so much for all the interesting posts . i love your new business cards . Good luck and good fortune to you and your family. If you ever want to come to the Las Vegas area let me know i would be happy to be the tour guide. I know alot of places to go to and where to shop. I am from Newport Beach Ca and so i know my way downtown Clothing mart and fabric area in Downtown Los Angeles. Keep in touch and i would love to know some good places to shop i try and purchase Wholesale i have to get another resale number. Have a great weekend Love to you and your family. God Bless you . Love Cheyenne I hope to come to SLC i wont get to come for the conference but probley before Christmas time. come to visit any time we are in the process of moving to another home so dont have an address and local ph #
Ashlee
I got mine from Gygi’s and I love it!
I was actually named after a boy, my mom changed the spelling to what she thought could be a girl version, then all of a sudden the name took off in America (but not my spelling)
If your ever in the area let me know! Where are you moving to?
Charlotte dunn
I made these cookies everyone loved them
Ashlee
I’m so glad! they are super cute and fun!
Carla
any idea where I can purchase the bee cookie cutter. I know they are others out there, and I have some, but I’d like this one. If you know where to buy it, please let me know. Thank you.
Ashlee Marie
I got it at a local place years ago, I’m not sure if anyone is selling this one anymore.