Farida of Farida’s Azerbaijani’s Cookbook had a step by step tutorial for Shekurbura that you all will love. In Azerbaijan, shekerbura is a sweet nut-filled treat wrapped in pastry dough often prepared for Novruz, a holiday that celebrates spring’s arrival.

Farida does a wonderful job of explaining what goes into making this pastry extra special. This is a treat that’s as appealing to the eye as it is to our taste buds, it’s beautiful and delicious!

Shekerbura consists of 3 major elements: the dough, the filling and the pattern, and I’ll discuss each element in details.

THE DOUGH

The dough for shekebura can be prepared in several ways: with yeast that makes the dough rise, without yeast, with whole eggs or with egg yolks only, with milk or with water added and so on. In Azerbaijan, every family has its own special recipe. The recipe below is my favorite, courtesy of my cousin in Baku whose shekerbura is simply the best in the family. It yields the softest shekerbura that almost melts in your mouth. Plus, the recipe doesn’t require waiting for the dough to rise (a small amount of yeast is added for softness), or refrigerating it overnight.

THE FILLING

Shekerbura filling is made by mixing ground nuts (hazelnuts, or almonds, or walnuts) with granulated sugar and powdered cardamom. Hazelnuts and almonds are preferred over walnuts for their light color and subtle taste. I personally prefer walnuts for their rich taste. Nuts must be skinned before they are mixed with sugar and cardamom. In the US, you can buy skinned nuts sold in packages. In Azerbaijan, women skin raw nuts themselves using the techniques described in the recipe below.

THE PATTERN

What makes shekerbura really special is the patter that is made on them with a special type of decoration tweezers, called maggash (see picture below). Mine came all the way from Baku. The most traditional decoration called chanaghi (I learned this from Gullu who runs a great web site on Azerbaijani food) is what you will see in the pictures below. However, simple patterns, such as trees, flowers, and even names and initials can be made with these tweezers too. If you don’t have a maggash, leave the top of your pastries plain - once they are baked, coat them with powdered sugar.

This is how a maggash looks.

SHEKERBURA
Makes 36 shekerbura pastries

For the Dough:

1 kg / 2.2 pounds first grade wheat flour (white only) + 1 tablespoon (for step 3)
400 g / 14 oz unsalted butter, cut into large chunks
5 egg yolks
250 g / 9 oz sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup / 125 ml lukewarm milk

For the Filling:
700 g / 1.5 pounds skinned hazelnuts, or almonds or walnuts (See recipe for how to skin if readily skinned nuts are not available)
700 g / 1.5 pounds granulated sugar
2 teaspoon, or to taste, ground cardamom

You’ll also need: mixing bowls, baking sheets, and a maggash (tweezers)

1. Prepare the dough. Put the flour and the butter in a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, rub them together until you obtain fine crumbs. Make sure there are no large crumbs left.

2. In a small bowl, using a spoon, mix the eggs yolks, sour cream, salt and vanilla powder.

3. In another small bowl, put the yeast, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 tablespoon sugar. Fill it with 1/4 cup of lukewarm milk. Let stand for about 2 minutes.

4. Add the egg-sour cream mixture (#2), the yeast mixture (#3), to the flour-butter mixture (#1).

5. Using your hands, mix the ingredients until fully incorporated and a rough and inconsistent dough is obtained. Transfer the dough to your work surface. Put the remaining 1/4 cup of lukewarm milk in a separate bowl. Constantly wetting your hands with milk, knead the dough for a few minutes to make it smooth.

6. Shape the dough into a ball. Put it back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave aside to rest for about 30 minutes.

7. In the meantime, prepare the filling. If you are using already skinned nuts, grind them finely in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, combing the ground nuts with sugar. Add the ground cardamom and vanilla powder. Mix until fully incorporated.

To skin hazelnuts and walnuts at home: Place raw hazelnuts in a large frying pan, and roast over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the skins crack and begin to flake off, about 10 minutes. Take care not to burn the nuts. Working with small batches of nuts at a time, place them them on a kitchen cloth and rub with it to remove the skins. Most of the skins will come off although some will still cling to the nut (especially on walnuts). Do not worry, a little skin will not be that visible in the filling.

To skin almonds at home: Put the almonds in a pot and pour boiling water over them to barely cover their tops. Let the almonds sit in the water for about 2 minutes (do not keep them there for too long, or they will lose their crispiness and will be too soft). Drain off the water, pat dry the nuts and slip the skins off by squeezing the almonds between your thumb and fingers.

8. Divide the dough into 36 balls, each weighing 50 g.

9. Work with one ball at a time, and cover the rest. Roll each ball into a 4 inch (10 cm) circle.

10. Place the circle in the palm of your hand, slightly folded, and put 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center.

11. Starting at one end, begin sealing the left and right edges towards the center to obtain a half-moon shape. Sealed shekerbura must be somewhat chubby from the filling and never flat.

12. Using your thumb and index finger, start pinching and twisting the dough along the seal to decorate the edges.

13. Arrange the pastry on a baking sheet, lined with parchment (baking) paper. Continue working with the rest of the dough balls, arranging them on the baking sheet as you are finished decorating their edges.

14. Now decorate the tops. Holding a pastry in one hand, and a maggash (tweezers) in the other, pinch the dough with the maggash at an angle and slightly lift it upward (see the picture below). Continue until you obtain a row of pattern. Create similar rows, each at an angle to the next one, until the entire surface is decorated.

Your finished pattern should look like in the photo below.

If maggash is not available, leave the top of shekerbura plain, without any patterns.

This is how shekerbura pastries look before they go in the oven.

15. Bake on the middle rack of the oven preheated to 150C (300F) for about 20 minutes, or until the edges just begin to change their color and the bottom is light brown. Take care not to overbake the pastries - their tops should be light color when baked. If you did not decorate your pastries with the tweezers, coat them with powdered sugar once they cool off.

This is how baked shekerbura looks. NUSH OLSUN! ENJOY!

PS: If you speak English, or Azeri, or Danish, visit my friend Gullu Janangir’s web site for more Novruz recipes.

Sometimes the simple desserts we’ve loved since childhood aren’t that simple to make! Oh, of course, a dessert like Jessie’s Creamy Chocolate Fudge is easy to eat…but I’ve made fudge before and I know that making the perfect batch of creamy fudge can be a challenge.

Cookbooks might offer us a pretty good recipe, but when you’re making candy or fudge, you need a photo tutorial to guide you along the way. You’ll want to know at what point to add the cream, what exactly a ’simmer’ or ‘low boil’ really means, and even what the fudge looks like when it’s ready.

Jessie from The Hungry Mouse has a photo tutorial for her Creamy Chocolate Fudge that will literally make your mouth water. Not only are the photos easy to understand, but I had to convince myself they were just pictures and not the real thing ;).

Creamy Chocolate Fudge

3 cups sugar
8 Tbls. butter
1 cup light cream
pinch of salt
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped roughly
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
a little more butter to coat the pan

Makes about 1.5 lbs. of fudge

Creamy Chocolate Fudge: Prep the pan & chocolate
Generously butter an 8 inch x 8 inch glass pan. Set it aside.

Roughly chop the chocolate up. I usually use my serrated bread knife to do this. It works really well.

Creamy Chocolate Fudge: Melt the ingredients
Combine the sugar, butter, salt, and chocolate in a medium-sized pan.

Pour in the cream.

Give it a good stir to break the sugar up and mix the ingredients together.

Set it on the stove over medium heat. Stir constantly as your ingredients begin to melt. Keep stirring until the mixture boils.

The ingredients should melt together completely before the mixture starts to boil. Keep stirring.

Creamy Chocolate Fudge: Boil the mixture to soft-ball stage

When the mixture begins to boil around the edges, stop stirring. Leave the heat on medium.

Clip your candy thermometer to the inside of the pot. (Be sure that it’s not touching the bottom of the pot.)

Cook the fudge like this for about 10 minutes, without stirring.

It will come to a rolling boil and should stay there.

Boil like this until the mixture reaches soft-ball stage on your candy thermometer. This will take about 10 minutes or so.

Creamy Chocolate Fudge: Cool and beat the fudge
When it reaches soft-ball stage, it should look about like this. Remove the pan from heat.

Let it sit until it cools to about 120 degrees.

It will have a slight skin on it as it cools. That’s just fine.

When the fudge has cooled to 120 degrees, tranfer it to the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large mixing bowl if you’re using a hand-held mixer).

Beat it for a few minutes. It will start to thicken and begin to lose its gloss.

When the mixture starts to thicken, toss in the vanilla extract.

Keep beating the fudge until it loses its gloss completely.

Wait…loses its gloss? What do you mean?

Don’t stop beating the fudge until it looks about like this:

Creamy Chocolate Fudge: Cool the fudge completely in the pan

Turn the beaten fudge out into your prepared, buttered pan.

With your hands (or the back of a wooden spoon), pat the fudge down to spread it out. You want to make it as compact as you can, and smoosh any air pockets out of it.

You want the surface to be fairly flat and even, like this. Don’t make yourself nuts. The main reason to make it even is to make it easier to cut pieces that are the same size.

Cool completely in the pan, uncovered. When the fudge is cool, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and store it in a cool place.

Enjoy!

Eggs were the spotlight food in this month’s Key Ingredient newsletter! They’re an amazing protein-packed breakfast (or lunch or dinner) food that are also a real bargain, especially when you compare the health benefits to the low cost. One of my favorite ways to eat eggs is in an omelet!

With Easter just a few days away, I know you’ll be glad we’re sharing Sophia’s tutorial on how to make a Super Decker Omelet, as originally seen on her blog Burp and Slurp! Now you don’t need to worry about what you’re going to do with the leftover egg yolks and egg whites from your Easter egg coloring project.

Think of a burger with two patties, but with this delicious meal, you’re getting 5 omelets stacked on top of each other and filled with Sophia’s savory Cilantro Coconut Spread. What a delectable combination of fresh Spring flavors!

Sophia’s Sea Food Salad Filling!

* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 small red onion, diced
* 1/4 cup green bell peppers, diced
* 1/4 cup shitake mushroom, diced
* 1 small tomato, diced
* 5 sticks imitation crabmeat, chopped
* 1-2 stalks green onion, chopped
* 1 tablespoon cilantro-coconut spread
* 2-3 tablespoon cream cheese
* salt & pepper

I first stir-fried the garlic, red onions, peppers, and mushrooms with salt and pepper in a skillet until they became soft:

Then I just dumped them into a bowl with the crabmeat, tomato, and green onion, and topped off with a dollop of the cilantro-coconut spread and cream cheese…

My lovely jar of leftover cilantro-coconut spread…


Cilantro-coconut spread
* 1/2 cup cilantro
* 1/3 cup fresh grated coconut
* 1/4 small green bell pepper
* a few pieces of pineapple
* a small wedge of mango
* lime juice from 1 small lime
* 1 tsp each sweetener, salt
* pinch of garam marsala

I just dumped all the ingredients into my Magic Bullet and blended away until smooth. This made a pretty big quantity, and I stored some away into an empty jam jar

And here they are all mixed up together. Colorful, eh?

As I set the seafood salad aside to absorb each other’s flavors, I got to work making the egg mixture for the omelet:

This is a mix of 6 eggs and about 1/4 cup plain yogurt.

Now comes the fun part…Making the layers of omelet! Ladies and gentlemen, brace yourself for a personal step-by-step tutorial of making…

Sophia’s Super-Decker Omelet

I first heat up a skillet over LOW heat and ladled about 1/2 cup of the egg mixture in…

I had to keep swirling the pan around so that the egg spread and cooked evenly. Once the egg was slightly set, I spread 1/3 of the filling onto one side of the omelet:

And then flipped half the side over like this:

Next I ladled in another 1/4 cup of the egg mixture…

And spooned in more filling on the cooked side of the omelet…

And so on and so forth. I repeated this process about 2 more times to make 3 layers of filling and 5 layers of egg. The result:

Amy from Mothering Corner has an eye for creating kiddie masterpieces out of food. Okay, so maybe I’ve been tempted to try out one of her bento tutorials for myself, but that’s because I see her compositions as foodie works of art! I couldn’t help but think this is a great way to get kids to eat fruits and veggies, or just their lunch in general!

If you have a kiddo who likes to swap lunches with their friends at recess, even though you insist that the lunch you make them is more nutritious, I guarantee your kiddo’s lunch will definitely be the envy of all of their friends after you’ve followed Amy’s tutorial. The great part about it? She uses simple ingredients, like bread and cold cuts! You don’t have to buy anything fancy; Amy doesn’t even use a pricey knife set, take a look at the tools she uses to craft this bento lunch!

This is the bunny cutter I used. You can easily do this with bread in different colors.

I used this cutter to form the ears by cutting an oval shape from a piece of ham.

I removed one of the ears of a bunny, that bunny is obviously for my gal. At the same time, I cut the noses from cheese.

Here are the ears for my bunnies.

But then, I suddenly remembered Mommy Moon asking me who to decorate Hello Kitty? :) Actually, it’s all about the same for any character.

If you have this multi cutters of ribbon, flower, star and etc, you can easily cut out the decorative details. I used kamaboko for the flower, but you can use anything such as wiener, carrot or ham too.

I placed the sandwiches in the lunch boxes, then added in the eyes and noses punched from nori.

So, here’s the end result:

With Spring less than a week away, and winter storms occurring less frequently, the flowers outside our windows are finally beginning to bloom! In spite of the up and coming April showers, we can have a bouquet of flowers year-around.

Palachinka’s Marija, the blogger who’s truly mastered the art of creating beautiful desserts, has a treat in store for us today. Her fondant flower tutorial is perfect for beginners who are looking forward to making fun seasonal baked goods that will certainly impress.

With these instructive photos, even cooks who swear they don’t ‘do desserts’ will find themselves baking up a batch of cupcakes so they can decorate them with Marija’s lovely fondant flowers.

Cut a piece of white fondant like on the left and fold it around the pistil.

Make desired number of flowers and then start making stems, one at a time. You will need 2 pieces of green fondant like on the right for that.

Wrap smaller part around the bottom of the flower and place the longer part over it. Press it with your finger and start rolling it back and forth, gently, until it comes together.

Make a bow, and that’s it. After it dries, the bouquet will become very fragile. Move it VERY carefuly!

If you’re in the mood for a savory pancake, something to accompany a side of veggies or a tasty curry, then you’ve come to the right place. This week’s Tutorial Tuesday guest is Malini from Khana Khazana with Malini. She’s shared her Chillah tutorial with us; she made it in honor of pancake day in late February! Malini adds that you can make this with any vegetable, though she uses bell peppers and onions in her recipe. Let’s see what else she has to say!

Today I am writing about Chillah, an adaptive version of soru-chakli (Bengali pancake, supposed to be made by wheat batter) made by mother and enhanced to be a wholesome recipe which can be eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

The most important and unique thing in this recipe is that you can mix and match the ingredients and add vegetables of your choice (like grated carrots, cauliflower etc.).

So every time you come up with a new dish to impress the family members / guests.

Ingredients:

(I am not mentioning the exact weight as this is as per requirement but the flour, wheat and gram flour (besan) should be of equal quantity each).

2 cups flour

2 cups wheat

2 cups gram flour (besan)

1/ 2 tsp baking powder (optional)

2 medium sized onions, finely chopped

1 large capsicum, finely chopped

2 bunch cilantro / coriander leaves, finely chopped

1 tsp turmeric

1- ½ tsp salt (to taste)

1 tsp sugar (optional)

A pinch of red chili powder (optional, if you like it hot)

White Oil, for frying

Water (as per requirement)

Preparation:

Sift together flour, wheat, besan and baking powder. Add turmeric, salt, red chili powder, and salt and mix well.

Slowly add water and blend to form a smooth batter or until you get the right consistency.

Add the chopped onions, capsicum and coriander leaves in the batter and mix well.

Take a non-stick frying pan and heat 2-3 drops of white oil. Spread & coat all over the base with a wooden spatula including the side of the pan.

When the oil is hot, reduce heat and pour a ladle full of batter in the middle.

Spread the batter in a circular motion by tilting the pan or by spreading with the back of a wooden spatula to form the chillah (You have to do this quick before the mix sets, a few attempts and will have a perfect chillah).

Let it set (you will know when the bottom is set by seeing the colour change).

Flip the chillah to the other side. Add a little oil and toast till done.

Serve:


Serve hot with sukha bhaji (a dish of mashed boiled potatoes fried in a little oil with mustard seeds, chopped chillies & sliced onions and garnished with coriander leaves)

Enjoy!!!

Tips:

1.
Ensure that there are no lumps while making the batter, you can strain through a strainer to get a smooth batter.
2.
Check the consistency with a spoon full of batter. If it’s pouring very easily, you have to add little flour and if it’s taking time to pour, add a little water.
3.
A perfect batter with the right consistency should easily spread in the frying by tilting the pan around.
4.
Always add the chopped ingredients after the batter is ready otherwise it will be difficult to mix, lumps may remain and you may not get that right consistency.

I’ve had the privilege of featuring Louise’s delicious royal icing recipe on The Back Burner in the past. She is the talented baker behind CakeJournal, a site that anyone interested in cakes or cookies will fall in love with! Her tutorials are not only easy to follow, thanks to her handy instructions, but they also yield beautiful decorative pieces for your favorite treats! Take her Turtle Cake Toppers, they are adorable, and today she’s letting us share her fun tutorial with you all! Enjoy!

This is what I use:
*Note that if you are making a larger one I would let the feet dry for 1-2 days so they wont collapse under the shell.

Modelling paste in the colors you like
Tylo glue
Brush
Black paste food color or a tiny amount of black modelling paste.
Cocktail stick
Small knife
Plastic bag to keep your modelling paste from drying

Step 1:

Start by rolling the modelling paste into a sausage. Cut 4 pieces in the same size (feets) and make the head out of the rest.
Note: it is possible that you need to adjust the amount of paste for the feets and the head.

Step 2:

Take the 4 pieces and roll them into a ball and shape them like a teardrop.

Step 3:

Glue all four feets together with Tylo glue.

Step 4:

Take some modelling paste to make the shell and start by rolling it into a ball.

Step 5:

Shape it so it looks like the “hat” of a toadstole.

Step 6:

Make it slightly hollow like on the photo, brush with glue and place it over the feets.

Step 7:

Use the handle of the brush and make a indentation where the head will be glued on.

Step 8:

Take the piece of modlling paste and make the head. Again start with a ball, tear drop and shape the head.

Step 9:

Glue the head on. I used my corn starch duster to support the head while the glue dried (this is only needed if you make a large turtle). Make the eyes with some black food coloring paste and a cocktail stick or you can make the eyes out of black modelling paste.

Step 10:

Roll out small balls of modelling paste and flatten them and then glue them on the shell. Now you have a cute large or small turtle to adorn your cake or cupcakes.

Happy Caking

Louise

Lubna from Yummy Food has a great tutorial on how to make roti. On her blog, she explains, “Roti/Chapati/Indian flat bread is a traditional bread which can be called as carrier for curries or cooked vegetables or dals.” She also mentions that it can be made with a variety of flours (wheat, maida, barley, soy bean, black chickpea)! And the key thing to remember when making roti? Lubna puts it like this, “the softer the dough, the softer the roti.” I have to agree with Lubna when she says that rolling it out perfectly comes with practice. I think I’m going to need plenty, but these step-by-step photos will definitely help!

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups Wheat flour
* 1/4 cup Wheat flour, for dusting
* Water, enough to make a soft dough
* 2-3 drops of oil for kneading
* pich of salt
* Oil/Ghee

PREPERATION:

*
Combine wheat flour, salt and oil and gently knead the dough by adding water slowly. (see pic. 1)
*
Knead till you get soft and elastic dough. Leave the dough by covering with a kitchen towel for 15-20 minutes.
*
Divide the dough into equal small portions (nearly 5-6). Dust them with the remaining flour and set aside. (see pic. 2)
*
Now take one small dough ball and roll into a small circle/triangle/square (whatever is comfortable for you). Brush a drop of oil and fold the corners into inside. (see pic. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)
*
Repeat the same process to all the dough balls and set aside. Now dust the rolling pin and the surface where you are making the roti and start rolling out roti’s one by one.
*
Concentrate on the edges to get even rolled and flat roti. Keep applying plain flour in between to prevent it from sticking on to roller pin. (see pic. 9)
*
Heat pan or tava and wipe it clean with kitchen towel. Place the rolled chapati/roti on it and cook for a minute until the top looks dry then turn it over and cook on the other side till small bubbles appear and chapati starts to puff.
*
Use flat ladle/kitchen towel to press roti gently while cooking the other side, to get roti’s puffed.
*
Brush the chapati/roti with oil/ghee on either side and take out on a clean kitchen towel and store in a hot casserole or serve hot with curry(s).
*
Last but not least add your ‘love’ to make the dish ‘YUMMY’.

This week’s Tutorial Tuesday guest is Stephanie, also known as Chef Tess Bakeresse. She’s got a batch of bear buns that are adorable and tasty; check out her in-depth tutorial. Before we begin the guest post, I want to tell you how Stephanie responded when I asked her what she wanted to share with you all this week…this is what she had to say:

I think the main thing I have to add regarding the buns is that after all these years of making bear buns, they never fail to make a few people who are normally very much “sticks in the mud” smile! That has been one of my main aims in life, making people smile. Hopefully some of your readers will find them a wonderful project and a great tradition. That is what baking has become in my home. It is a tradition started by my grandmother, carried on by my mother, and continued with my children.

These cute buns certainly brought a smile to my face when I first eyed them on her blog! Let’s just say they really are the perfect treat for kiddos and the young at heart! Let’s read her post…

My Bear Buns Are Cute. Really Cute.

I’m not obscene. This is about as close to anything off color as I will get. Blame my mom. She started this. When I was growing up, every year she would make these for Valentines day and give them away to friends and family. Only she would ask, “Do you want butter or jam on your bear buns?” I guess the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree. Thank goodness! I wouldn’t have it any other way! I made these today to take to my kids at school and surprise them at lunch. Hopefully I won’t get sent to the Principal’s office.

Does anyone else want cute bear buns too? Start with the basic bread recipe. I happened to use the Overnight Started Bread for this one. Once the dough has gone through all the mixing and raising, and is ready to shape into loaves or rolls, get your buns together by first working out the dough.

I used half for a regular loaf of bread, and the other half for rolls. I only made six. So, with the dough, I divided it into 3 balls. 2 I divided into 3 each so I got six rolls. Does that make sense. I wasn’t very good at math.

Roll the six balls into buns and place on a stoneware pan, lightly covered with cornmeal.

The remaining ball, I divided in half. One half I used for 12 ears. Look how random this picture is of little dough blobs on my counter. Very sheik. I know.

Those 12 little blobs became bear ears. Like rabbit feet. Lucky.

The other six, became the snout. Snooty dough balls.

Then I added raisins for eyes and a nose.

I lightly mist them with water and allow them to raise. It took a little over an hour before I could really poke their eyes out…or IN… I should say.

It’s a wonder they can even see with those little raisin eyes anyway. What am I saying? I think I have been spending way too much random mommy time!

I then mist them again with a little more water.
Hose them down so they don’t misbehave. Crazy Kung Fu bears.
Sprinkle them with a little more cornmeal and some poppy seeds…

Ohhh my gosh! Sooo cute!
Cute. Cute. Cute. I admit it. I am now part of the subculture of cute stay at home mom’s who does a food blog…with cute stuff. Oh cute. If I didn’t think I would puke from my own cuteness, I’d say cute again. AArrrrgh! I’ve done it now!

How can I help it?!
Oh yeah, bake 350 degrees 30-35 minutes. When cool pose them with a fluffy white stuffed animal…like a toy panda (because that is what the cute subculture of insane mom food bloggers would do).

I think they taste cute too.

Here it is… How to Make Pig Cookies on a Stick, a tutorial by Meaghan of The Decorated Cookie. And if you’re wondering what cookie recipe she likes to use to make these fun piggies on a stick, you can check out her blog, click here for the recipe!

notes: lollipop sticks, the bags, couplers and tips, the cutters and maybe even the gourmet writer should be available at any major craft store. You can of course use any coloring, but I prefer Americolor. I experimented with different size circle cutters, but you only really need 2 (one for the head cookie and a smaller one for the fondant snout).

step one: bake your cookies
Roll your cookie dough somewhat thick (about 3/8 to 1/4 inch) to accommodate the sticks. Cut out circles (using the larger cutter, if using two. I cut out 2 1/2 inch circles for big pig heads and 1 1/2 inch circles for mini pig heads.) Place on parchment paper-lined baking trays. Insert lollipop sticks about halfway into the circle. Pat back into shape if necessary. Bake and let cool. (If you recognize the picture here from my clock cookies, it’s because I used the same picture from my clock cookies.)

step two: frost your pig head
Prepare a frosting bag with a size 4 tip. Tint frosting light pink (use only a drop or two of Electric Pink) and fill bag, reserving about half your frosting. Tie closed with rubber band. Outline the circles with pink. Let set a good 15 minutes. Thin the remaining light pink frosting with water, 1/4 teaspoon at a time, until it is of a syrupy consistency. Pour a small amount in the center of each circle and spread to fill the circle with a small knife or spatula. Let set very well, a couple hours at least.

step three: make your fondant snouts and ears
Add a few drops of Electric Pink to a palmful of rolled fondant and knead very well. I colored the frosting to be a bit darker than the head. Roll fondant between two pieces of wax paper thinly.

For snouts, cut out circles, pull away fondant, and let set until hard, at least a couple of hours. (For 2 1/2 inch cookies, I used 1 1/2 inch fondant circles, for 1 1/2 inch cookies, I used 1/2 inch fondant circles). For ears, take a pea size bit of fondant and roll into a sphere. Hold between thumb and forefinger and press onto wax paper to flatten one side. (Leave on wax paper to dry). Pinch top of sphere to form a little triangle.

step four: assemble your pig heads
When everything is dry enough to work with, dip your finger in light corn syrup and dab on the back of a snout circle. Press gently but firmly onto the pig head. Repeat with the rest of your circles. Dab corn syrup on the flat side of the ears and attach to head. With marker, draw eyes and nostrils.