Have you ever seen these? Â Anatomical Heart cookies? Â I hadn't until I was asked to make some!
A little baby boy, Aiden, in our community was born with a heart defect last year and he's had to have several surgeries to try and correct the problem.  His family actually lives about 3 miles from me which practically makes them next door neighbors when you live as far out in the country as I live.
Anywho... back in January, for one of his surgeries, his mom asked me to make these cookies for his nurses on the pediatric/cardiac floor of the hospital!
She sent me a picture of some she'd seen and I was just amazed that they had been done before.  Even more to my surprise, I was able to get a cookie cutter for the shape!  I assumed at first that I'd have to hand cut the shapes, but nope... over at CheapCookieCutters.com they sell a "real" heart cookie cutter!
So, to do these cookies, I used my favorite roll-out sugar cookie recipe and baked the cookies.  Then I mixed up some royal icing and colored it with Americolor Tulip Red, Royal Blue, and Super Black.
I did the black outlines first and let them dry, then filled in with the red and blue icing.  After about an hour, I added some more red to make the raised areas stand out .  Then I let them dry overnight.  When they were done, I piped on the black details, then I used a tiny paintbrush to paint on the tiny veins/vessels onto the red raised areas with  Bright White gel coloring.
These cookies were not nearly as difficult as I imagined they'd be and Leslie told me they were a big hit with the nurses!
Have you ever made a cake or cookies that were body parts or organs? Â I'd love to hear about it! Â You can also leave me a comment if you have any questions!
Lisa
I love the heart cookies... how much do you charge for these?
Rose
I'll send you an email.
Kylie Raven
Hi I live in Adelaide , South Australia, I'm thinking of starting my own little cookie business decorating sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies with fondant. Do you have any tips on starting a cookie business and how much I should charge for them ?
Thanks heaps
Ps I'm loving yr site I'm still new here so haven't checked it all out yet but looks great xx cheers 🙂
Rose
Oh, I'm not the right person to ask about this. I only do cookies once or twice per month. I would recommend searching online and trying to find some established cookie decorators that will share with you. I know there's a great cookie pricing chart here: http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2012/11/cookie-pricing-chart/. Personally I don't charge that much because I live in a rural area and my cookies aren't nearly as great as hers, but maybe it'll give you some ideas!
Nikkj Lanenga
I love these cookies!! I work for a pediatric cardiovascular unit in minneapolis and would love to get these for our staff. How can i order them and how much are they? Thanks, Nikki
Rose
Can you email me at rose@rosebakes.com?