August 5, 2011
When my dear friend told me her daughter was celebrating her 8th birthday with a summertime pool party, I jumped at the chance to make her some fun cookies. Bikinis for the girls, and trunks for the boys–a fresh and fun favor for both kids and adults to enjoy.
It all started with these cookie cutters.
Then I whipped up a simple sugar cookie recipe in my KitchenAid.
I used the same technique for storing, rolling and refrigerating the dough as I did for the pie crust.
Then, I cut the refrigerated dough into shapes and chilled the pan for a few minutes in the freezer before baking.
Fresh baked bikinis from the oven. Cooling on racks, not lawn chairs.
While the cookies cooled off, I whipped up the royal icing — the one on the Wilton Meringue Powder box is great.
Here’s the recipe: Wilton Meringue Royal Icing
Before you start icing, make sure you put a rubber band around the end of your icing bag. I know it seems like a total common sense thing, but this little tip saved me from SO much unnecessary mess.
My friend Elizabeth, pastry chef extraordinaire, taught me to first do an outline…
Then to do a second line inside the first.
After you’ve done both outlines, fill in the rest of your icing, or “flood” as the pros say (don’t worry, the dimples will smooth out). 
Then, make sure the first layer dries completely before you add the second.
She wore an itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini…cookie!
