Happy Birthday Medical Cookies for My Hubby

Today is the birthday of this little guy:

Darn Cute, isn't he?


I didn't know him then. I met him years later when he looked like this:

But I love to look at pictures of him when he looked like this.

I am so sure no baby in Germany could rock that outfit like Dr. B. He totally brought sexy back.


Who would of thought, from that backyard party in a small village in (then) West Germany that little guy would grow up to travel the world as a flying doctor

Marry a crazy American

and end up today as a United Nations doctor working in Iraq. 

Dr. B observing UN Sec. General Ban Ki Moon

You never know where life takes you.


I am so proud of him. But today I am a little sad because he will not be home for his birthday. So I decided to send the party to him. Virtually.

These cookies are dedicated to Dr. B.

Chief Medical Officer and the best friend and husband a girl could ever ask for.

UN Medical Cookies

For the Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies:

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup butter room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg (medium size)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 1+1/3 cups AP flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Add egg and mix thoroughly.
• Add vanilla extract and bean paste
• Add flour in three portions.
• when dough comes together, stop the mixer.
• Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
• Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper
• Flour a work surface and the rolling pin
• Roll out the dough and cut out shapes with cookie cutters. I used an airplane, a house, a small heart cookie, a 3+1/2 inch in diameter water glass, small U and N letters and a truck that I adapted into an ambulance.

This is the truck cutter cookie (took these photos at night. Sorry!):

I cut the end off and a section out of the middle:

and pushed the two large pieces together:

Then I took one of the sections I cut out and used it to fill in the open driver's space.

I cut a small square out of the spare piece and affixed it to the top for a siren:

• When you are finished cutting your cookies, bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are slightly browned.
• Transfer to wire rack and cool completely before icing.

For the Royal Icing: I used Sweet SugarBelle's top secret royal icing recipe. I added a few squirts of Wilton's White White and used the outline and flood method (badly!) to ice the cookies and let them dry overnight.

For the Fondant: You can use store bought to save time but I make my own and keep it on hand.

Ingredients:

• 1/2  bag (1/2 pound) marshmallows (minis melt easier but you can use regular sized ones as well.)
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 1 pound of powdered sugar
• Crisco or shortening
• plastic wrap or cling film
• Gel or paste food coloring

Directions:

• Cover the inside of a heat safe bowl and a wooden spoon with Crisco or shortening.
• Place marshmallows and water in the bowl.
• Microwave the marshmallows for 30 seconds at a time stirring the mixture in between with the wooden spoon.
• When the mixture is the consistency of Marshmallow Fluff, stir in 3/4 of the powdered sugar one cup at a time.
• Cover your work surface with powdered sugar and cover your hands with Crisco or shortening.
• Dump the fondant on the sugared surface and knead the rest of the sugar in.
• Separate the fondant into different parts and color as desired by adding a few drops of gel colors at a time and kneading it in until the color is evenly distributed and you get the color you want. 
• Wrap each piece in plastic wrap until you use it.
• Wrap leftover fondant tightly in plastic cling film and store in a zip lock bag.

For Decorating  the Cookies:

I used:

Red fondant

Black fondant

Blue fondant

White fondant

Tan Fondant

Red disco dust

Silver dust

Paintbrush

Toothpicks

1 teaspoon drinking alcohol (like vodka)

Black edible marker.

I used a small paintbrush to slightly wet the pieces with water to apply them to the cookies. The fondant parts of these cookies are the following:

The blue helmet and UN lettering.

The red crosses on the ambulances, planes and hospital.

I also covered the ambulance's siren with red fondant and then painted it with red disco dust.

To outline the window on the ambulance and the hospital doors I used the black fondant rolled thin.

And to create the wheels for the ambulance. Using a tookpick, I created treads on the tires and painted a small ball I smooshed into the center of the tires silver to represent hubcaps.

For the pills, I used a small heart shaped cutter to cut out hearts out of the white, blue, red and black fondant. I trimmed one side of the heart into a pill shape. 

Then I joined a white piece with one of the other colors.

For the band-aids, I cut out strips with a knife, added a square in the middle and then used a toothpick to poke air holes on each side.

For the stethoscopes, I molded them out of black fondant and painted the tops and the bottom piece with silver dust.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. B!!!