Edible Artworks

This Instructable will show you how to make your very own edible masterpieces. Fun for kids of all ages + adults, not to mention a delicious treat! This project is basically just large sugar cookies made up to look like various framed blank canvases. Grab one of these cookies, a box of food coloring markers, your imagination and play with your food!

Recipe will make roughly 10-12 frames. Varies on your preference of frame sizes. I stuck closer to the 5x7 size with my count.

You will need:

5 Cups of Flour
2 Cups of Sugar
4 Eggs
3 Sticks of Butter (At room temperature.)
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Tartar

Tools:
2 Medium Bowls
1 Whisk
1 Beater
1 Large Spoon or Spatula
Measuring Cups and Spoons
1-2 Large Cookie Sheets
Rolling Pin
Paring or Butter Knife, Edger, Wax paper, or your own cookie cutters

This list of ingredients is for one small bowl of frosting. So depending on how many colors you intend to make, you will need to multiply the ingredients by that. For example, I used 2 colors for the frames as well as the white for the canvas, so I used 3 times the ingredients listed below.

You will need:

1 Cup Confectioner's Sugar
1 Tablespoon Corn Starch Syrup
1-3 Tablespoons of Milk
Food coloring of your choice

Tools:
1 Small Bowl
1 Spoon
1 Frosting bag and tip
1 or more Boxes of Food Coloring Markers to set aside and use for later

Note: I included the gold sugar dust in my collection because I love accenting and decorating with it. Feel free to get creative and add your own little embellishments to the frames.

Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees.
Then, in a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and tartar until combined. Set aside.

In a second medium bowl, use a beater to cream the butter and sugar. After they are combined, begin adding the eggs one at a time. Lastly, beat in the vanilla extract. Batter should be smooth.

Next, begin combining the flour mixture to the butter mixture. It is easiest to start by adding 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time, using the large spoon to fold the ingredients together. Continue folding the mixture and combining until all the ingredients are used. I find it easier to just start kneading the dough with my hands the thicker it gets.

Because of the size of the cookies, you'll find it much easier to roll the dough onto your cookie sheet instead of on your counter. Having to transfer it would risk tearing it.
Grab a nice handful of dough and a floured up rolling pin and begin rolling the dough out on the sheet.

Now this next part is really up to you on which tools would be easier. If you have an edger you like, or maybe some cookie cutters that are big enough you can use those. I personally find using a paring or butter knife to be much easier to work with. I free hand cutting out shapes of frames to use, but you may also try your hand at drawing or tracing shapes out on wax paper. Then you can cut the shapes out and use the knife to trace around the wax paper you place on top of the cookie dough. Like I said, it's really about what method you find easiest.

After I have cut out the shapes that I choose, I peel away all the excess dough and set it aside for the next sheet. Now your cookies are ready to go in the oven!
Bake time is 8-10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown just a bit around the edges.

While you have your cookies set aside to cool, it's time to begin preparing the frosting.
In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, corn starch syrup, and milk until combined evenly.
Now you may add in the food coloring of your choice. I didn't have brown food dye so I improvised and mixed my own using red, yellow, and green drops.
Repeat this step for each color you intend to use for the frames.

An important note: For the white frosting, add 1-3 Tablespoons extra milk. You want this frosting to be a bit more thin than the others because you will not be using the frosting bags and tips to put this on the cookies.

Alright! Now your frosting is made and your cookies have cooled, it is time to start frosting. Pour the color for the frame that you chose into a frosting bag with the tip you want to use. I just stuck with a simple tip this time around, but feel free to get creative and experiment! Frost just the frame part for now and set the cookie aside.
After you have completed frosting the frame of each cookie, take the bowl of white frosting and start from the first cookie you frosted and begin to pour a spoonful of frosting in the middle. Let the frosting fill the entire canvas area. This may require you to push the frosting around a bit with the spoon to be sure it fills in everywhere.
After your framed canvas cookies have been frosted, set them aside to dry. This may take 1-2 hours.

After your frosted cookies have dried, you may now add any embellishments you would like to the frames.
For my example cookies, I used the gold sugar dust. I mixed it with a bit of vanilla, or anything that will evaporate. I then used a brush to paint on little designs. Stencils work great for that as well. Or if you would like, you can leave the frames completely blank and use the food coloring markers to add extra flare to the frames instead. As I'm sure you can tell by now, there are tons of possibilities with these frames. Make them your own!

When you are done making your framed canvas cookies, store them in an air tight container until ready to enjoy!
Then all you need is a cookie and a few boxes of food coloring markers or paint for a fun snack!

Here you see some of the finished cookies. You can let your kids create their own masterpieces then devour them. You can also make these educational treats. Have them practice writing letters or math problems. Their reward is getting to eat the cookie after solving the problems! Or my favorite of all, making games out of them like Tic-Tac-Toe! Go wild and have fun!

Hope you enjoy! :D