Konnichiwa!
Continuing with the Around the World cookie theme, we’re travelling to Japan with these Kokeshi cookies.
But first, a little bit about a new section on Sweetopia, the FAQs.
I often get questions about decorating cookies; whether it be as to spots on icing to recipes, the same questions arise.
So, I’ve created a place, besides the tutorial section here, where you can hopefully find the answers to your cookie decorating questions. They’re in this post below and you can always find them at bottom of Sweetopia here:
Frequently Asked Questions – Cookie Decorating
Click on the pink questions below to find the answers:
to find out when submissions are open. You can find more information on the Sweet of the Month Contest here.
Kokeshi Decorated Cookies
So what are kokeshi?
According to Wikipedia:
“Kokeshi (こけし kokeshi), are Japanese dolls, originally from northern Japan. They are handmade from wood, have a simple trunk and an enlarged head with a few thin, painted lines to define the face. The body has a floral design painted in red, black, and sometimes yellow, and covered with a layer of wax. One characteristic of kokeshi dolls is their lack of arms or legs. The bottom is marked with the signature of the artist.”
I’ve been seeing them around everywhere, and am drawn to their cuteness, or as I’ve recently learned, how ‘kawaii’ they are. (Kawaii means cute in Japanese).
There are so many more Japanese-themed cookies I’d like to make, like cherry blossoms and traditional temples, but I’ll have to leave those for another time. If you’d like to make these and would like a little more variation, these fan cookies here, would go nicely together, I think.
Thank you so much to author of the Kokeshi Kimono Book, Annelore Parot, for the cookie design! Her work is simply adorable, and besides publishing several kokeshi-themed books and journals, she even has a site dedicated to her Kokeshi dolls.
I changed the color palette and patterns a bit, because the tiny print patterns were a bit difficult for me to achieve on a small cookie. If you’re interested in trying these, one thing which could work, would be to print the patterns out on edible ink paper link – that way you’d have an exact match!
Some of my colour and pattern inspiration came from this My Little Shoebox scrapbooking paper…
which I played around with on a simple circle cookie first. I’ve learned with experience (the hard way – lol), that a design I might like to do doesn’t always work out. So I’d rather experiment on simple cookie, or on parchment paper, first, before I use up the cookie shapes I need.
By the way, the reason why the smaller kokeshi cookies are a darker base colour than the larger ones, is because I forgot to put the timer on when they were in the oven, and almost ended up burning them! I generally like the look of a just-baked shortbread cookie, but actually didn’t mind how the small kokeshis turned out… and I ended up enjoying the slightly caramelized taste too.
The kokeshi below was inspired by the colours of this small bowl from Anthropologie.
The fan pattern on the cookie below, was inspired by a Japanese kleenex pouch, given to me a few weeks ago by my dear friend Kim, who was recently in Japan to watch her son compete in the Karuizawa International Curling Championship in Karuizawa Japan. Congrats to Cory and his team on winning Men’s Silver!
If you’d like to make these cookies, besides a recipe of your choice, royal icing, and the cookie decorating basics (list of materials I use and tutorial there), a few extra items I ended up using were:
- to the fan, was a little bit of gold luster dust.
- the blush on the cheeks; pink luster dust. For more ‘blush on cheeks’ examples, click here and here.
- the eyes and mouth; food coloring markers.
- I used a Kopykake projector to help me pipe the kokeshi dolls.
And if you like video, you can find some video tutorials here.
I’d love to see some of your Japanese-themed cookies, if you’d like to share them on my facebook page here, or if you’ve got some ideas for a Japanese theme, please feel free to leave a comment below! In case you missed it, I began my Around the World travelling series of decorated cookies in Paris, France, and asked you:
Where in the world do you live? Are there buildings, things or symbols from your city or country which you think would make great cookies?
Share your thoughts with me here in the comment section below, or you can share them on Facebook or twitter. I can’t wait to see where you’re from and which cookies you’d love to see!
Have fun creating!
or
楽しい装飾があります!
xo,
Marian
p.s. I hope Google translate worked. 😉
p.s.s.
Elizabeth H says
I just love your cookie designs, as well as reading your posts! Thanks for sharing!
Amy says
Amazing work Marian! Looks like a lot of thought and effort went into these gorgeous cookies!
Nicole/Life's a Batch says
Oh Marian, these new cookies are just darling! Spectacular & darling, and the floral designs on the dresses/fans just blew me away!
niner // sweet treats says
Konnichiwaaaa lovely Marian!!
What a treat this Monday morning, WHAT A TREAT!!
🙂
ABSOLUTELY STUNNING..THESE DOLLS are so so lovely…perfect. All these various designs you used, patterns etc. – It’s hard to tell but all I can say is I am so overwhelmed by your talent, sweetie.
Your FAQ section is a very good idea, people will find stuff easier, it is so helpful!!
Much much love to you my dear,
niner
Tesei says
Marian, your work is always lovely, detailed, careful, fun, delicate, orginal but these are simply gorgeous! I cannot imagine how mucho time was spent on each cookie? Even with your Kopykake, those tiny flowers in kimonos and fans, must have seemed like an eternity. Anyway, the result was worth it. I hope you will post a tutorial on these, they are the most beautiful and pecial cookies I’ve seen! My most sincere congratulations, when it seems we’ve seen the best, you just improve yourself, that is a great talent, wish I had some of that ;-)!!!
Tesei says
PS – Thanks for so much help, time and dedication, your blog is fantastic, thank you soooo much for sharing!
wendy says
Marian,
I absolutely adore these cookies! They are so beautifully decorated and your work is amazing. Thank you many, many times over for all the helpful information, tutorials and ideas you provide. I am still a novice at cookie decorating but your site always leaves me excited to start a new project and improve my skills.
Wendy
Allison says
I am a military dependent living in Japan, and these are super kawaiiiiii! I am going to have to try these and show them to my Japanese friends. You did an amazing job-what a creative idea! Arrigato Gozaimasu!
Maria Helena says
Uau…great post…
DominikaZR says
Wonderful cookies!!!!
Katia says
wow, just beautiful, marian!!!
Sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more says
I love seeing all the cute things you make and the info is just amazing, you have taught me so much:)
Fabrícia Schmidt says
Beautiful Marian… really beautiful!
Miss Overballe says
as usual, amazing cookies!!
Guadalupe says
Marian,
WOW your work is AMAZING! Thank you very much for sharing!
Mia says
Incredible detail! Question—what size are these cookies? Thank you for sharing your stunning work with all of us.
Maria says
wow….how amazing are these kokeshi cookies. You surprise me every time,soooo much time, talent, and effort you put into your blog,thank you for sharing!
The FAQ’s iS a super idea and will be very helpful for all of us.
ML
Paula says
These are adorable cookies and the detail you obtained in the floral designs, both on the cookies and the fans are amazing.
Neesha says
I don’t know if I could ever eat those, they are too beautiful! I enjoyed looking at the photos even if there is no way I could ever make cookies that detailed.
Anne says
Absolutely INCREDIBLE!!! These little cookies are amazing!
Anne says
Hi there,
you should make BERLIN cookies! They would be awesome!!!! Since Berlin is the best city in the world the will loke gorgeous 🙂
these cookies look absolutely adorable… and I’m very sad I live so far away… 🙁
Jen says
Your cookies are beautiful, as always! And a suggestion for the city cookies, what about the candy-colored Saint Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow? It’s not my city, but one that I would love to see in person someday. The colors and unique shapes might translate beautifully to your cookies.
Kimmie says
OMGoodness they turned out absolutely gorgeous! I LOVE them! Japan by far is the most amazing country that I have ever been to…..if any of your readers ever get an opportunity to visit, I would highly recommend going. Beautiful country, beautiful people, beautiful culture! Just like your cookies and You – BEAUTIFUL!
Cristin (Pinkie) of Cristin's Cookies says
These are all so adorable Marian and getting all that detail on the smaller areas is so incredible! I’m always hugely impressed when I see your cookies! Thanks so much for sharing your talent!
Lisa @ Sweet 2 Eat Baking says
Holy moly! I’m speechless. These have to be the best decorated cookies I’ve ever seen! I attempted to outline a simple Easter egg shape today for the very first time, I failed! 🙁
Not only did I fail, but straight after I came in my faithful iPad to check my bakery goodness RSS and saw this. I can certainly say I failed hard now, lol. If I could make anything half as good as these, I’d be super pleased.
Keep on posting because I’m certainly loving your work.
Georganne (LilaLoa) says
You know…Korea isn’t so far from Japan. The buddhist temples would be AMAZING in cookie form! Or…the hanbok. Kimchi might be a little weird though.
Cookiecuttyer says
I love that you made these! I had just said to my sister a few weeks ago that I thought Kokeshi dolls would make great cookies. It looks like I was right, but I am glad you made them because they are far superior to what I could create. They are beautiful!
Debi says
Sooo adorable! I love them.
marian says
Gosh, everyone, thank you so much! I appreciate your kind comments and have to encourage you to try too – it’s not as difficult as it may seem – really! xo
@ Mia: Thanks! The larger dolls are (at the longest) 16cm by 10cm (at widest part of head). The smaller dolls are approximately 10cm by 7cm.
@ Anne: What a great idea! My Dad’s from Nordrhein-Westfalen so I’m sure I could do a bunch of cookies.
@ Jen: Oh yes, I’ve always wanted to go there myself, and making cookies of St. Basil’s Cathedral would be fun. I’m thinking it would be a neat cookie!
@ Kimmie: Huuge congrats to Cory!
@ Lisa @ Sweet 2 Eat Baking: Don’t lose heart! You will get better, really!! xo
@ Georganne (LilaLoa): You never fail at making me chuckle! You’re right, I’ll probably avoid the kimchi cookie. 😉
@ Cookiecuttyer: You can do it! xo
Rachel says
Precious Marian!
Beer Vee says
Amazing and thank you for sharing your work. I’m inspired.
Izzy says
These are amazing!! Maybe you could do an Aussie Lifesaving theme? Red and Yellow flags… the quartered caps would be cute 🙂
Much love from beautiful Australia mate!
disneypal says
Those are the cutest cookies I have ever seen in my life !!
anna richards says
You are so amazing! I think every time I look at your blog I get a renewed sense of assurance and creativity! You are a very talented woman! Not to mention excessively patient I would imagine!!!
marian says
Oh fun, @ Izzy! I’m collecting the Aussie ideas because it’s definitely on my list!
Thanks for you kind comments, guys!
Karen @ Sugartown Sweets says
These sweet cookies are absolutely adorable!
Janis says
WOW! These are THE MOST BEAUTIFUL cookies yet. You are truly gifted. Thank you for sharing with us.
nikki says
Oh! Marian these are outrageously gorgeous! i’ve got a thing for all things Kokeshi and have a mouse pad with one of these images which I’ve wanted to attempt! Your colours are superb, not to mention attention to detail:)
Tammy says
Adorable!
Sara says
These cookies are simply amazing!I’d hate to eat something so beautiful!!
Tatyana says
Beautiful cookies, Marian. They remind me our Russian Matryoshka. Maybe you can do them next 😉
Doris says
Hi Marian,
These cookies are absolutely amazing!! I don’t think I would ever eat them.
I was wondering how you flooded the light blue base of the fan with flowers on it. Did you flood each section and let it dry a little bit before flooding the next section? Did you use a slightly thicker consistency than you’d normally use for flooding?
Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful work!
Doris
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi @ Tatyana: I would *love* to do those! If you have any favorite images you’d like to share, please send them my way!
Thanks guys, for your sweet comments!
@ Doris: I piped the bottom layer and the flowers right away… (wet on wet ‘technique’). For my icing consistency etc., you can see my videos on my youtube channel (top right of blog… the yellow youtube button). Have fun decorating!
Jany@SuperCuteCookies says
Beautiful cookies and the details are amazing!
Ninang says
These Kokeshi cookies are simply adorable!!! OMG!! You are amazing! My nieces would love these. They are so into Japanese anime and prints such as these. Gorgeous, gorgeous!! I’m new to your website and I learned so much just reading and going thru your tutorial videos. Thank you so much for sharing your talent. It makes me now want to start cookie decorating.You are a generous soul!
rasparise says
These are sooooo cute! Where did you get these cookie cutters from? Or did you cut them out by hand? Thanks for sharing your techniques with us. This is a great learning tool. ^_^
K&B N. says
These are simply adorable ! Too cute to eat !
ratedkb.blogspot.com
Jennifer Tan says
Hi Marian,
You inspired me so much that I started doing sugar cookies as well. I am just having a hard time with the colors to use. I cannot get the right baby blue color or even chocolate brown color. I just wanted to know how you get the color for the face?How about the brown you use for the paris cookies? I know you use americolor brand .Do you have a guide for color mixing and the brand of food coloring to use? I purchased different brands of certain color and its getting very expensive for me. Hope you can help. I am starting to get frustrated with the colors. Keep up the good work. Waiting for your reply. Thanks
Tatyana says
@ Marian (Sweetopia):
Hi Marian,
There is Kim Lawrence of Cupcake Cutie shop on Etsy who has adorable matryoshkas. Those are patterns for cross stiching, but I think they would be great if you make them as cookies.