Super Hero Cookies for a Super Birthday Boy

I know it's been pretty quiet around here for a while, but I'm breaking my silence. And for a very good reason: Ben's 3rd Birthday!!!

Who's Ben? The spectacularly awesome kid.  I work with Ben's dad, Mike, and through that, I've gotten to know Mike's whole family: Mackensey, Mike's wife, along with Ben and Ben's adorable little brother, Nathan.  This family couldn't be any cuter: Parents and kids alike love all things Disney, Superheroes, Legos and Starwars! A nerd family after my own heart.

So when Mike asked if I would make cookies for Ben's upcoming birthday, I couldn't say no. And while these little Spider-Men were labors of love, the end result was totally worth it.

I used Dorie Greenspan's sugar cookie recipe, with a little bit of a twist when it came to rolling it out.  Roll out the dough room temperature between two pieces of wax paper to about 1/4" thick and then chill it.  Once chilled, cut out shapes and then re-chill until ready to bake. (Mine sat in the freezer, wrapped in plastic wrap, for about 2 days before I baked them up). So much easier than attempting to roll out chilled dough.

I then used Brown-Eyed Baker's royal icing recipe and tutorial to decorate.  For the eyes, I made a stencil, laid wax paper over the stencil, then piped the black for the eyes outline on to the wax paper. Flood with black and white appropriately. Allow them to dry for 24 hours.

When it came time to assemble, I piped a red outline around all the cookies, flooded with red and then while still wet, placed the eyes. **Hint: Use a thin, offset spatula to get the eyes off the wax paper**  Once the flooded red icing was set, I piped on the black webbing.

Like I said, not the easiest assembly in the world, but the results were awesome.

As an aside: If anyone is interested in planning a family vacation soon, Ben's mom Mackensey works as a Wishes Family Travel agent.  From their website: "Wishes Family Travel is a home-based agency. Opened in 2006 specifically as a Disney Destination agency, has since expanded to other luxury family travel products. Wishes only sells travel to families and romance seeking couples, the products that meet their high standards. Value, safety, fun, relaxation are the key factors that Wishes looks at when selecting vacation products. Wishes sells products that they have experienced themselves! There is never any guesswork because Wishes KNOWS!"  So please give Mackensey a call!


**This is not a sponsored post. I do not receive anything if you contact or book with Mackensey. I am just helping out a friend with a shameless plug ;)**