Happy February!  Welcome to class.  It is really fun to think about where you subscribers are from, and I’m realizing not all of you are experiencing winter right now.  Well, whether you are staying cozy by bundling up or you are wearing flip flops on the beach, I hope you enjoy our class this month.  Our cozy class consisted of:  Delorse Sword (of swordssugars Instagram) and Louise Kressly.  Both are absolute sweethearts and talented ladies who don’t have a Facebook page… yet.  We had a great time decorating together in the warm kitchen on a rather blustery day.  

I am really excited about the techniques we cover in this month.  I came up with the rustic wooden plank background technique in November and loved how it turned out and the feedback was overwhelming so I knew I had to add it to the McGoo U curriculum.  We painted a beautiful winter scene and roses, made some royal icing transfers, and piped intricate mittens.  I put these ladies to work and we cover a lot of techniques that can be used in so many ways.  They did an amazing job!

Our special guests made history at McGoo U.  Mike and Karen Summers of karenscookies.net and creators of CookieCon (cookiecon.net) were our first duo guests and also Mike was our first male to attend McGoo U Online!  Karen showed us how to make adorable fortune cookies that are perfect for any holiday or get together.  They are so fun to customize with decorations and with hilarious fortunes inside.  (Expert Lab)  We were so excited to sit down and talk about the upcoming CookieCon planned for September 2015.  They told us when we could get tickets, where it will be, some of the changes we can expect, and most exciting: WHO will be teaching!  I’m already counting down the days! (Mixing It Up)  Mike and Mr. John go shopping for Karen and I in After School and got on a hunt to find the perfect Valentine gift.  

So, whether you are trying to stay warm or keep cool, I hope you enjoy cookieying along with the February episodes.  Thank you so much to my fabulous fellow decorators Delorse and Louise for joining me this month and creating beautiful cookies!  And thank you to Mike and Karen Summers for not only giving us the scoop on Cookie Con, but for creating Cookie Con, where we can congregate as a crazy bunch of cookiers, fellow cookiers we admire, and meet virtual friends IN REAL LIFE!  It really is like a great big family reunion and you should be so proud of the incredible event you have created that keeps getting better every year.  When you cookie… you’re family!

All of the segments can be viewed as a show, but the McGoo U in particular is meant to be a class experience that you can cookie right along with.  So, if you’d like to cookie with me, here is what you will need for this month’s McGoo U:

McGoo U February Supply List

1. 3 Cookies (mitten, 3 x 4.5″ rectangle, plaque shape)  I used the Miss McGoo 2 medium cutter by Whisked Away Cutters
2. Royal Icing
3. 3 Piping bags (optional closure of your choice)
4. couplers & rings (optional)
5. 1: #2 tips,
6. 2: #1 or #1.5 tips
7. stag silhouette to trace (sketch one out or find one online and print out to fit your plaque cutter)  Optional: you can skip the royal icing transfer step and pipe and flood silhouette directly onto your cookie
8. Paint palette with blue, brown, pink, red, and green (I used Wilton Juniper) food coloring
9. boo boo stick
10. Parchment or wax paper
11. Filbert paintbrush
12. Liner detail paintbrush
13. toothpicks
14. cup of water
15. paper towel

 Prepare:

• Fill one piping bag with white royal icing of piping consistency, coupler, and a #1 or 1.5 tip 
• Fill one piping bag with flood-consistency white royal icing, coupler, and #2 tip (I use about a 12 count thickness)
• Fill one piping bag with flood-consistency blue royal icing, coupler, and #1 or 1.5 tip (I made the blue a little thicker to keep the silhouette of the stag head crisp.  About 15 second consistency).  

A lot of these supplies can be modified to your preferences.  If you use tipless bags, you can forgo the tips entirely or you can choose to use different food colorings.  (Click here for a detailed guide to setting up your palette)  I always appreciate when people make things their own and let their own creativity be their guide.  I’d love to see your creations!  This is all about having fun and not stressing.  Happy cookie-ying!