highfantasycookies2

Once upon a 2013, I made sugar cookies to celebrate the 50th anniversary of an SF fandom. It took me forever to do and I was a wee bit annoyed with how the royal icing set, since, you know, it should be SMOOTH and stuff. Anyway, I still think the cookies themselves came out adorable, and my family had quite the field day eating away at the cookies, one Doctor at a time.

A year and a half later, I’m making sugar cookies again, though this time I’m on a high fantasy kick.

The cookies: As usual, I kind of tweaked the sugar cookie recipe I found (just lessened the sugar content by a quarter cup) so that it wasn’t overly sweet. I did do a little happy dance because for ONCE, my cookies came out flat and perfectly round. Well, I can credit the roundness to the circle cookie cutter I used (though, as I said, I’m not used to getting cookies in the shape I want them after I put them in my oven). Or maybe it was the new pack of baking soda. In any case, so far so good!

The icing: The first time I attempted to make royal icing, I didn’t have an electric mixer. I used the electric mixer this time, and the results were much, MUCH better. As in, they actually came out smoothly! That said, I might have been tentative with dousing the cookies with the icing, which is why they’re not as filled up as my previous sugar cookie fandom attempt. Also, WAIT OVERNIGHT for the icing to fully harden. I, uh, might have put wax paper on top of the cookies after an hour or two, and I dented a few cookies that way. That was slightly annoying.

The fandoms: So HBO’s Game of Thrones returns to television tonight, and yes, I did mean to do something GoT-related for it, but I’m still deciding that, so maybe next week. I am on a high fantasy kick, though, so instead I went to three series that I’ve read or am currently reading. One of my favorite things about these series is their super-developed magic systems, which involve specific symbols to showcase a particular type of magic. Why not put the symbols in a cookie?

Abhorsen/Old Kingdom series

One of the most fascinating things in Garth Nix’s Abhorsen series (or Old Kindom series) is definitely the Charter magic that runs rampant from northern Ancelstierre and into the Old Kingdom. It’s not the only type of magic in the books (there’s Free Magic, necromancy, and the magic inherent in the Clayr), but it is certainly an important one. If I’d been born in the Old Kingdom (preferably Belisaere BEFORE it got effed over), I’d totally want to be a Charter mage, if only so I could draw upon my power through the use of symbols. The Charter Mark cookies were technically my prototypes, since I wasn’t sure which of my brushes I wanted to use. Turns out I ended up using two different brushes.

Mistborn trilogy

Allomancy is one of three magic systems in Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series, and it is by far the runaway system for me. I loved reading about how each type of Misting used her/his metal-burning ability, and I certainly loved reading about the Mistborns–those who can burn ALL of the allomantic metals (which, I think, numbered 16 by the end of the trilogy, though I’m pretty sure there’s more found by the time The Alloy of Law takes place). I didn’t include all of the metals, mostly because I kind of ran out of cookies to paint, but I did the basic metals, as well as Atium and Malatium, two of the metals that kind of make Mistborns HELLA-OP.

I ended up using three brushes for these cookies. Now that I think of it, these were probably the cookies I spent the most time on, only because I kept going over and over the symbols.

Demon Cycle series

Damn, but those wards from Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle series are CRAZY COMPLEX. I don’t know how Arlen can get these wards drawn to perfection every single time (though I suppose having permanent tattoos renders drawing them over and over moot for him). I had a hard enough time getting the proper brush inflections onto the icing. That said, I ended up having to pick and choose between the numerous wards that were designed by Lauren K. Cannon. They’re not super-perfect, but I’m kind of happy with them, especially since I used only one brush for these. In any case, I doubt any demons would be able to eat all of my cookies, since I’ve kind of warded a number of them. Now…if only wards could work on my sister and cousin…