When my good friend Kathleen ordered classic Winnie the Pooh cookie favors for her sister Anne's baby shower, I knew I wanted them to look a certain way. I wanted to try to recreate E.H. Shephard's whimsical and childlike illustrations, and while I wouldn't say these cookies are quite on his level of artistry, I was pretty happy with the results!
To achieve the nostalgic illustrated effect I opted to hand paint each individual cookie using gel food color as my "watercolor" and food-only paint brushes to paint with. While the process was time consuming, I think it was well worth the effort. I always feel happiest when I am creating something artistic with my hands. All my stress and worries seem to disappear, and it's so rewarding to see what you come up with at the end of it all.
Kathleen loves anything with peanut butter, (one of her dogs is named Peanut Butter!) and she requested that half of the order be peanut butter flavored. As usual when in need I turned to Haniela. I used
this recipe. I was really impressed with how well the dough acted, with hardly any spread at all. Of course the end result was delicious too. I'll definitely be making these again, they would be amazing with some chocolate ganache spread on top or with some mini chocolate chips folded in before baking.
I think my favorite cookie design of the set has to be the one with Pooh digging for honey from the honey pot. It's the quintessential Pooh!
