Wednesday, December 19, 2012

New online shop

Now available in my NEW online shop for the first time ever...
My Orange Vanilla Spice Cookie recipe!

Visit my new website at www.sweetambs.com for project ideas, product recommendations, recipes and video tutorials.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Holiday Cookie Decorating Workshop


Each student will receive a decorating kit to take home. The kit includes a SweetAmbs apron, lots of decorating tools, and my cookie and icing recipes!

Kingston, New York is located about 90 miles north of New York City.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Royal Icing Gold Rope Border Tutorial (video)




A tutorial on how I pipe and paint my gold rope border using royal icing. The cookie shown here is a square measuring about 3x3".

Visit my new website at www.sweetambs.com for more tutorials.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Wedgwood Inspired Cookies

Wedgwood Jasperware was the inspiration for one of my very first (and still favorite) cookie designs when I started decorating.  
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The roses and cameos on these cookies are made from fondant while the rest of the details were piped in royal icing.
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Here's a little tutorial on using silicone molds with fondant. I make my own molds using Amazing Mold Putty. For a great tutorial on how to make your own molds, visit Pam's blog at Cake Ball Love.
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The mold I'm using here is a rose. I put a little bit of shortening in the mold before pressing the fondant into it. 
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These molds are flexible, so once you've pressed the fondant in, you can just pop it right out.
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I made the tiny rose by filling just the center of the mold with fondant. I attached the roses using a small dab of icing on the back.
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The brush embroidered leaves were piped with a tip 1. For a tutorial on brush embroidery, visit my video tutorial shop


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Visit my new website at www.sweetambs.com for more cookie decorating tutorials.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Quilted Cookie Tutorial on Celebrations.com

Visit Celebrations.com to see my tutorial on these quilted cookies. Visit my new website at www.sweetambs.com for more cookie decorating video tutorials.



Sunday, May 27, 2012

NYC Cookies

Click here to view the tutorial.



I made these NYC designs by first flooding the cookies in white royal icing and letting them dry completely. Then, I traced the designs onto the cookies using an edible ink marker and piped over the lines with a tip 1 and thinned royal icing in black, white and gray. The black outline was added at the end.

For video tutorials on cookie decorating, visit my tutorial shop.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Brush Embroidery and Lace in Royal Icing (video)



A tutorial on one of my favorite cookie designs. Click here for more video tutorials!

Music: Chopin Nocturne Opus 9 No 1

Monday, May 14, 2012

SweetAmbs at Jewel Spiegel Gallery

Over the weekend I attended the opening of The Art of Expression - Painting on Canvas and Cookies at Jewel Spiegel Gallery (my grandmother's gallery) in Englewood, New Jersey. The show, which runs through June 15th, features the artwork of my mother, Janet Spiegel, along with my brother, Garrett Spiegel, and me.

Prints of my cookies framed by Jewel Spiegel Gallery



Ready for my brush embroidery demo

Demonstrating brush embroidery


 My brother Garrett's number art. See more at www.garrettspiegel.blogspot.com

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Painting With Luster Dust On Brush Embroidered Flowers (video)



A tutorial on painting brush embroidered flowers using luster dust.

When painting brush embroidery with gold luster dust, make sure to first pipe your flowers in the same color icing as the base coat. Let it dry for an hour or two before applying the gold.

For a video on brush embroidery, visit my tutorial shop.

Music: Bach Brandenburg Concerto 6 (1st movement)

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Piping Filigree in Royal Icing (video)



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This is a tutorial on piping filigree in royal icing using the wet on wet technique.
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10 count icing refers to the consistency of the icing. To check the consistency, take a spoonful and drop it back into the bowl. It should take about 10 seconds for the icing to smooth itself out.
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The cookie I am decorating is an orange vanilla spice sugar cookie. It contains orange zest, vanilla bean and cardamom. Download my cookie and icing recipes here!
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www.sweetambs.com

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

5,000 Facebook Fan Giveaway

I'm having a giveaway on my facebook page! Visit www.facebook.com/sweetambscookies to enter for a chance to win:
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-A 21 month (June 2012-Feb 2014) 11x17" calendar featuring photos of some of ...my favorite SweetAmbs cookie designs
-10 notecards with envelopes (2 each of 5 different SweetAmbs cookie designs - each measuring about 4x5-1/2")
-One dozen Brush Embroidered cookies!
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Good luck!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Easter Brunch

I love bread pudding. It's something that I get an opportunity to make maybe twice a year and yesterday's Easter brunch was one of those rare occasions. This is not my first post about how much I love bread pudding, but this one is better because it has a recipe:

2 15 oz. loaves of Italian bread
3-3/4 c half and half
1 c sugar
4 whole eggs
5 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted

Cinnamon sugar: 1/4 c sugar plus 1 tbs cinnamon

Those egg whites you'll have leftover after separating out the yolks can be used to make meringue cookies. Visit my website for a peppermint meringue cookie recipe and a recipe for cocoa meringues with chocolate ganache!



Now, on to the bread pudding.
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Remove the crust from the bread.
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Place the sliced bread on a baking sheet and brush the tops with melted butter.
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Put the bread under the broiler (I used the low setting) for about 4 minutes. Keep an eye on it!!
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Use the leftover melted butter to grease a 9x13 baking dish. Arrange the bread in the dish however it best fits. Press it down with your hands after each layer.
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I like to overlap the bread on the top layer just to make things interesting.
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Make the custard: Place eggs and yolks in a mixing bowl and slowly add 1/2 cup sugar while whisking. Set aside. Place the half and half with the other 1/2 cup sugar in a saucepan and heat just until it starts to steam. Remove it from the heat and add the vanilla extract. Slowly pour the half and half mixture into the eggs while whisking vigorously. If you notice that the eggs have coagulated in your custard mixture, you can pour it through a fine mesh strainer.
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I like to add my custard to the bread in two parts.

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The first half of the mixture will absorb quickly. The second half of the mixture should be added a little at a time. Wait until it is fully absorbed before adding more. This took me over an hour of pouring and waiting to prevent it from overflowing. You can press the bread down with your hands or the bottom of another baking dish in order to release some of the air bubbles in between pours.
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At this point, you can either bake the bread pudding or wrap it up in plastic and refrigerate it to bake in the morning.
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When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Cover the bread pudding with the cinnamon and sugar mixture and bake for 45 minutes.
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I squeezed my own orange juice!
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This apple topping is made by tossing diced apples with sugar and sauteing them in butter until they turn golden brown. You can read my post on making your own whipped cream here.
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 I also made quiche! This one is spinach, onion and Swiss.
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This one is made with apples, caramelized onion and cheddar. I use a basic ratio of 1 qt of half and half to 8 eggs plus a little salt and pepper for 2 pies. You can pretty much add whatever other ingredients you want!
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As if that wasn't enough, I also made these. Pound cake, whipped cream and strawberries.