Thank You for Making My Heart Smile

Do you need a cute thank you cookie? This one will work great with our healthcare workers or anyone you’d like to say thank you too because they made your heart smile. They’re simple and when you add a few royal icing roses it makes them that much more special.

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You can also add a few Simple Nurse Cookies with them because two designs are better than one. Two simple designs make a cute sweet gift and you can personalize it in many different ways. I don’t know about you, but cookies are a great way to say thank you and we all need to let everyone know how much we care and appreciate their hard work. If you follow my blog I wish I could send all of you a box full of these cause you all are amazing and make my heart happy!

Thank You for Making My Heart Smile Supply List:
(may contain affiliate links)

Recipes:

Cookie Cutter:

Royal Icing:
(I used tipless decorating bags with PME decorating tips #2 and leaf tip #352 for the leaves. The outline icing is a little thicker than the flood icing which is 15-Second Consistency.)

  • Red
  • White

Heartbeat Template:

Airbrush Colors:

Tools:

Thank you for Making My Heart Smile Video:

Seeing things in action always helps me understand how the process works. I hope this video will show you how simple it is to make these cookies. Let me know if you have any questions after you watch it.

Thank You for Making My Heart Smile:

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  • Begin by baking your heart cookies and letting them cool before you begin decorating so the icing doesn’t melt off once you start.
  • The flood consistency for the hearts is 15-Second Consistency and the outline with the lines is a little thicker than that.
  • Outline the hearts carefully with the red royal icing.

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  • After you outline the hearts make several lines inside the area. You might be wondering why there are lines on these heart cookies. Well, it’s because the humidity has been crazy here. Making the lines help me know that when I flood the cookies the royal icing will dry flat and smooth without sinking in the middle. It works so I’m going to continue to do it until the humidity settles down a little. I first saw this tip at Corianne’s Custom Cookies. She has a great post on Royal Icing Troubleshooting. Making these lines has helped my cookies have a nice flat base of royal icing instead of seeing it sink in the middle. So thanks Corianne for the tips!
  • Let the lines dry for a few minutes so those lines will be ready to support the flood icing you’re about to add.
  • Now it’s time to flood those gorgeous shaped heart cookies with that beautiful red royal icing.
  • Once the heart cookies are completely flooded let them dry for a while before you move on to the next step so you don’t blow your wet royal icing all over the place. I will admit, I do like adding the airbrush color when the icing is wet so I can watch it dance a little! If you decide to do this, airbrush immediately after you flood so the icing doesn’t crust over and make wonky marks on your cookies.

Thank You for Making My Heart Smile Airbrushing:

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  • Airbrushing cookies is fun and there are several different ways to make them look good. For this cookie, I airbrushed all the way around the heart and then airbrushed more on the right side to cause a bigger shadow. Please airbrush anyway you’d like. I suggest making a few extra cookies so you can play around with them and see which style you like best. I’m sure you can find a good use for the extra cookies like sharing them with the kids or your neighbors.
  • After you airbrush pipe a white zig-zag line across the entire cookie.
  • Here is the Heartbeat Template for Thank You for Making My Heart Smile Cookies. You can trace it on the cookie with a food-safe marker and then pipe over it with the white royal icing or freehand it if you prefer. I ended up freehanding it because my white royal icing was really thick. I should have stopped and added a little water, but just kept piping. The line turned out well, but it was a reminder to me that royal icing consistency is key to pretty cookies and a good decorating experience.

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  • Now it’s time to add the roses. If you have any pre-made royal icing flowers this is a great place to use them. Here is the tutorial for the Toothpick Roses or you can use one larger Beautiful Royal Icing Rose. Ribbon Roses or royal icing Apple Blossoms will also look great so it’s up to you to add the royal icing flower of your choice.
  • Glue them down with royal icing and add a few leaves with green royal icing and a #352 tip.
  • If you watch the video you’ll see some shiny round silver sprinkles added to a few of the leaves. I thought it would make them look a little fancier. If you don’t like them, don’t add them. You could choose different colored sprinkles and try adding a pop of color just for fun. And don’t forget to add a few Simple Nurse Cookies because the red and blue royal icing look really good together.
  • Let the cookies dry completely and then share them with whoever you want to say thank you too.

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I was thinking about all of you as I made these cookies because you all make my heart smile. Cookie decorators are some of the most amazing people on earth. I’m planning on making several platters of medical cookies to share with a lot of healthcare workers that took care of me during my brain surgery and I wish there was a way to make them for all of you.

Maybe one day we can have a huge cookie exchange and swap cookies, hang out, and talk cookies. If I had a bigger house I’d start planning today. I don’t have a big enough house so maybe one day I’ll figure out away. Until then, thank you all for your love and kindness all these years. You’ve truly touched my life!

Bear hugs,

Lisa