With Mother’s Day coming up, I wanted to make some pretty flower cookies decorated with fondant using my favorite butter cookie recipe from one of my favorite chefs, Mark Bittman. The best and easiest way to decorate these incredible cookies is with different colored fondants with either of these two fondant recipes.
Two Easy Fondant Recipes
You can always buy fondant from different locations. Its pretty expensive and doesn’t taste as good as it could. Or you can make your own and have it around when you need it. I’ve tried a few recipes. Some were better than others. Some were quite complicated. I experimented and made quite a few modifications and wound up with these two. The first recipe is a bit easier than the other. They both taste terrific and work exceptionally well. So I’ll let you choose.
Recipe #1 – Easy No Cook Fondant
- ⅓ Cup Crisco
- ⅓ Cup light corn syrup
- 1 Tsp clear vanilla extract
- ¾ Tsp salt
- 1 lb. Sifted powdered sugar
Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, blend the Crisco, corn syrup, vanilla and salt on medium speed with a paddle attachment until smooth and well combined. Add the powdered sugar (minus a ⅓ of a cup) all at once. Mix on slow speed, gradually increasing the speed to medium until well combined. The mixture will form a smooth dough in the bottom of the bowl. Place the fondant on a cutting board or smooth surface and knead in a bit more sugar until the fondant is the consistency of putty. The fondant can now be rolled thinly to decorate cookies, cakes or whatever confection you wish to decorate. It can be made ahead of time or stored in a cool, dry place wrapped tightly and placed in an airtight container for later use.
Notes: To flavor, add extracts or oils in the beginning with the shortening and corn syrup. To color the fondant, knead a small amount of food coloring into a ball of fondant until fully incorporated into the fondant.
Recipe #2 – Marshmallows Fondant
- 1 16 ounce package marshmallows (miniature or regular)
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 Teaspoon clear vanilla extract
- 1 Teaspoon corn syrup
- 2 lbs. plus 1 cup of Sifted confectioners
- Crisco
Directions:
Coat a large mixing bowl with Crisco and set aside. Sprinkle water over the marshmallows. Slowly melt the marshmallows and water to avoid scorching the marshmallows over medium-low heat until smooth. Then carefully stir the corn syrup, and vanilla extract into the hot melted marshmallows until all the ingredients are combined and the mixture is smooth. Add the marshmallow mixture to the Crisco coated mixing bowl. Slowly fold in 5 cups of confectioners sugar, one cup at a time, until you have a ragged sticky like dough.
Rub your hands thoroughly with the Crisco, and begin kneading the sticky dough in the bowl. The dough will become more pliable as you continue to knead the fondant. Turn the fondant out on counter coated with Crisco. Continue to knead until the fondant adding the remains confectioners sugar a little at a time until it’s smooth and no longer sticky. Be patient, it may take up 10 minutes or so.
Once this is done shape the fondant into a ball, coat with Crisco and wrap it twice tightly in plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temperature overnight.
When it’s ready, roll it out onto a flat surface dusted with confectioners’ sugar. If it’s a bit to stiff, microwave it for a few seconds at a time to make if more pliable.
Notes: If you’re using an electric mixer, use a dough hook, which will prevent the dough from traveling up the beaters. To color some of the fondant, add food coloring and knead it into the fondant to the desired color.
I genuinely had a lot of fun using my two homemade fondants on my favorite butter cookies. Homemade fondant is much less expensive and is so much better than the store bought variety.
To decorate my cookies with either of these fondant recipes, I used the same cookie cutter shape to cut out the fondant flower. I placed the fondant flower cutout on the cookies and then cut out the center, removed it and replaced it with a different color fondant circle. It was much easier that way. To melt the fondant a bit, I place the decorated cookies in a warm oven just for just a minute or so, then let them cool thoroughly.
You can package them in cellophane bags with ribbon, in a decorative box or a fun cookie jar or container. However, you do it; these fondant decorated cookies make lovely gifts for Mother’s Day or anyone significant in your life.
Time to eat…