Two of my grandsons absolutely LOVE to eat bananas! If they were allowed to, they would eat them all day long! They are both definitely bananas about bananas!
In October I watched the boys while their mom and dad were at the hospital waiting for their baby girl to be born. First thing in the morning when the boys woke up, the three year-old ran to me and asked if he could have a banana, “Of course”, I said. He ran into the kitchen and I followed behind, but when we got to the big, two-tiered banana bowl, it was EMPTY. I was in a bit of a subdued panic, as I looked at Josh’s forlorn face, and quickly texted my son. He assured me that the boys could eat an apple and did not HAVE to have a banana. Sure enough, they were fine. Silly grandma:)
When I saw this banana cookie cutter, I knew it would make the perfect valentine treat to go along with the banana saying.
I cannot tell you how much fun it was for me to decorate the banana cookies. I tried to achieve the correct shade of yellow for the bananas and think I came pretty close. For the markings, I painted (gel food coloring) on some brown, and a little bit of green at the top and bottom of each, but it’s difficult to see the green in the photos.
I enjoyed it so much, that I think it’s safe to say that I am bananas over these bananas!
I hope the grandkids are too!
Banana and Monkey Cookies
Ingredients:
Gel food coloring: chocolate brown, golden yellow, gold, electric green, warm chocolate, super black
Black food marker
#3 Wilton decorating tip
Monkey
1. Bake monkey shaped sugar cookies; let cool.
2. With tinted chocolate brown royal icing, outline and fill the top half of the monkey’s head. Let dry for about 20 minutes.
3. Using the warm chocolate royal icing, outline and fill the bottom part (muzzle?) of the monkey’s head. Let dry.
4. Add the ear detail with the chocolate brown.
5. Using the white (untinted) royal icing add the eyes, followed by the black pupils while the white is still wet (place the black dots in a wonky fashion to look crazy/wild, “bananas”. 🙂
6. Let cookies dry completely before adding the facial details with the food marker.
7. For the girl, use a bit of royal icing to the back of the jumbo heart sprinkles and place on monkey’s head to form a bow.
Banana
1. Bake banana shaped sugar cookies; let cool.
2. Tint plain (white) royal icing with golden yellow and gold until you achieve the desired banana shade, and outline and fill the entire banana.
3. Let cookies dry completely.
4. Using a small paint brush (reserved for food), paint the brown markings on the bananas with the chocolate brown food gel (have a small bowl of water handy to dilute/and rinse off the brush if needed, and also a paper towel to dab the brush of excess gel/water).
5. With the paint brush and the electric green gel paste, add some green shading to the base of the top stem and just above the bottom, other dark end).
Let dry.
Have fun &
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Linked to:
I’m Lovin’ it {linky party} Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday 
