So I made some Halloween cookie ghosts and used a base of MMF with a combo of Alice's icing and a foodwriter for the details......is this cheating?
I used lustre dust for the sparkle but mostly it was Alice's icing and I had a friend who took one look and said I cheated, LOL! 
So I was wondering if that what all the cookie bakers here think....is it 'cheating' to use the foodmarker for the detail work? I was getting sick of swapping the #1 & #2 tips for the lines and figured, why not?
Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that anyone can make cookies look good with a bunch of tools (and 3 hours of uninterrupted silence 
) but I was just wondering if it somehow looked less professional because of the use of the food markers? thanks for any input ~ 
If using a marker is cheating then so is using a paint brush to paint cookies, which is one of my favorite techniques. There is no such thing as cheating when decorating cookies unless you take credit for someone else's work.
By the way I like the way you decorated your cookies.
Mona
For some reason I can't see your cookies at the moment- I think my computer is wacky. Anyway- I don't think it's cheating. I think that technically, icing is much more impressive- just because of the complexity of it- but food marker is just fine, too- afterall it is still artistic- if you can't draw, even food marker can look bad. This all takes artistic ability!! I'm sure your cookies are super!
(couldn't figure out how to get the pictures in the thread and now they're as big as house! 
sorry.......)
I am the most un-creative person and the planet - the pumpkin design came from a CCer here - I think it was Karen's cookie, and the lettering on the ghosts I got out of a Creative Lettering scrapbook magazine - so I basically have to copy everything. I also think a tool is a tool so what constitutes cheating??
Blech, I don't get it....oh well. Thanks for the compliments - my kids went nuts for these so that's all I care about! ( and THEY thought it was cool to draw on cookies - the only bummer is now they will want to use my markers 
and they will be ruined forever, lol)
it's certainly not cheating. it's a time saver and it IS being smart! how long do those markers keep? have you used them before? i'd like to try them too
You know, I don't know how long they are supposed to last......they were about $5 after I used my 40% off coupon at Michael's and they came fine tip with 5 colors: black, magenta, lime green, orange and purple. I am going to use this weeks coupon to get the primary colors and then I will be all set for Christmas.
The problem is, I am not kidding!! MY kids will totally whine and moan about me not letting them use them but if I do, I know they will get all messed up. I was really careful not to touch the tip of the colors in the black, etc.....basically an anal-retentive nutjob (same as always )
I don't understand why you think it is cheating. I have been covering my cookie with fondant for the three years and use royal icing for details. Their a few companies out their that do this and make good money at it. Look at the this link, they even have a book. This company was talked about year ago here.
http://www.flourpotcookies.com/
by the way your cookies are very cute.
It is never considered cheating in making your cookies or cakes look nicer. It would be cheating if you didn't do them , but you tell people you made them.. You did all the work.. that's all that matters and you achieved the look that you wanted.
Base of MMF? If you don't mind my asking, how does that work? I've only ever done Antonia's icing on cookies.
I don't think it's cheating at all. As long as it's edible - tastes good - and looks good - that's what counts.
I've never used fondant on cookies though -- do people actually like the way it tastes? I always peel it off my cake because I don't like it. Do you guys flavor your MMF?
Those are precious cookies! Does the person who said you cheated even make cookies from scratch and know how labor intensive any amount of detail work is?
I use the MMF, basically you cut the same pattern you are using out of fondant and lay it on the cookie while it is still warm. That in itself is labor intensive - but I find less so than royal icing flood work. I make my fondant from scratch and when using it for cookies add lemon or orange extract which enhances the sugar cookie base. People seem to love it...
Seriously.
Does your friend know what is involved in making MMF? I don't think covering cookies in MMF is any more or less labor intensive than royal icing! MMF on cookies means rolling, cutting, removing excess and freezing so it doesn't distort. All of that takes equal time to flooding in a cookie for me.
Six on one, half dozen on the other - do what you love and let her worry about the rest of it! Your cookies look fabulous and if you send me a couple I'll make sure that they taste good, too!
Eh....I sort of think she was irritated because her kids made a big fuss over them but that's why I made them - for the kids to enjoy! She used to be a cake decorator and did cookies back in the day but has since stopped. I don't know if it's because they never had the markers back then or what....and she said the MMF was weird, which is funny since she is literally the first person who has tasted the NFSC recipe with homemade MMF who didn't like it.
Even my Grandmother, who is 93 and hates anything and everything "new fangled" liked the MMF. My Mom hates it alone or on cakes but really loved it on the cookies......it's my new best friend! 
because I really am not good with RI. So I used Alice's icing for the accents and they flavors blend nicely, I thought.
I use half vanilla and half almond in the NFSC and then clear vanilla and creme bouquet in the MMF but I was going to add a couple tablespoons of instant vanilla pudding and a bit of French Vanilla flavored syrup to the NFSC today...the pudding to add just a touch of preservative, which I know is bad but sometimes these puppies have to sit out for a while and I don't want them to go bad. And I was going to play with the syrup because my DH ( and it does NOT stand for 'dear husban' 
, lol) said they weren't sweet enough.
The only time it's cheating is when you don't share the skill with us..LOL!
The cookies look great, and thanks for sharing,
Theresa
Cheating? I don't think so! Amazing? I think so! Good job these look great!
Cakediva, are these in the cake decorating section of Michael's? I haven't seen them there.
Yes, they were at the end of the aisle where they have all the new fondant stuff......my Michaels even had lustre dust! I about died! And it works very well - I used it on the ghost and pumpkins dry - just brushed it all over the top.
And I just wanted to add that the friend hasn't done cookies or cakes in years. It was not as if I was trying to 'one up' her or anything.... and I really didn't feel like it was cheating but after she said something, I got to thinking and that's why I asked. I didn't know if this was one of those things like using the pre-printed sheets to embellish cakes. I guess I really like everything to be edible and it was......
Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that anyone can make cookies look good with a bunch of tools (and 3 hours of uninterrupted silence
)
sooooooooooooooooo not true!
what you have made- "cheating" or not, are REALLY cool cookies. trust me, not anyone can do it, one time i taught a cake decorating class on request. i brought all my tools. we started with making bc, torting and icing the cakes. can i just tell you that they all looked like poo??? 
that is very nice and thank you. I guess I get down on myself because I need something to copy or an example..... If you give me a blank canvas and say 'draw a horse', I guarantee it will look like a drunk dog. But if I saw a picture of the horse, I could copy it.
And once, in a fight, my husband was being a complete tool and told me 'at least I'm original', which is one of those things that always stayed with me......*sigh*
Not really sure why he was SO proud to be the original butthead from hell 
but oh well, I let him have his moment of glory!
Well- I for one love the cookies- now that I can see them- too cute!!! I love the look of the "stitching"! I would use the markers more often if I used MMF- I cover my cookies in RBC and the markers just won't stick. I hear so many great things about MMF- maybe I should give it a try. I use it on cakes, but never on cookies!
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