Let’s Make Something! (Chocolate Chip Cookies)

Making Dollhouse Miniature Food From Polymer Clay
With Crown Jewel Miniatures

Let’s Make Something!

Making miniature cookies with polymer clay

Some of the easiest things to begin making are things that don’t require the use of advanced techniques. Start off simple… make batches of cookies!

Chocolate Chip Cookies Anyone?

Using your baking tile as your work surface, roll out a very thin sheet (1/16”) of chocolate or brown polymer clay (or use your pasta machine, set to number 5 thickness). Lay the sheet flat on your tile and bake according to the manufacturer’s directions on your package of clay.

(Note; because this is so thin, you should be able to cure it within 10 minutes.)

Working while it is still warm (fresh out of the oven), keep the sheet of chocolate on your work tile and use a sharp, clean tissue blade to chop it into extremely tiny pieces that resemble chocolate chips, or chunks. When you are done, set them aside and wipe the tile, and your blade, clean.

(Note; Always cut your clay as soon as you remove it from the oven- while it is still hot. If you wait until it cools, the chances that it will break, crack, crumble or chip are a lot higher. Always cut slices from canes at this stage. Slice your canes right on the baking tile using a small kitchen towel or a big silicone pot holder and use the same care you would when handling any hot pan. The exception to this rule are breads, cakes, meats, etc. You will want to slice these before baking in order to texture the slices. Once polymer clay is baked it is too late to add texture!)

Using the clean tile as your work surface, mix together equal parts of beige and translucent polymer clay, one small part white and add a tiny speck of yellow. This will give you a wonderful raw cookie dough color. (Ratio: 10 parts beige, 10 parts translucent, 4 parts white and 1 part yellow). After you have mixed it thoroughly, add the chocolate chips and work the dough together making sure you have a good distribution of chocolate chips.

Roll a very thin snake (1/8” diameter) and slice thin (1/16“ slices). Roll each slice into a tiny ball between your fingers and press it lightly onto your tile. Be sure to keep your cookies separate. Form your cookies with slightly rounded tops and smooth away any obvious fingerprint marks.

Note; these are drop cookies. If you want to make shaped cookies, use mini Kemper Kutters (they come in various shapes), miniature cookie cutters, the end of a drinking straw or the cap of a pen. Dip your cutter into a bit of cornstarch and tap the excess off before cutting your clay. This will keep the clay from sticking. Peel away the extra clay around your shapes and leaving your cookies on the tile proceed to this next step…

Now you can add some texture. Scrunch up a piece of aluminum foil, (or use sandpaper, a rock, or a clean toothbrush from the Dollar store) and dab the surface of the cookie lightly, creating tiny crags and crannies. Press in a few extra chocolate chips on top to make them a little more realistic. You want some to be visible.

At this stage I like to shade them. Using a very small paintbrush, brush on some dark golden yellow artist chalk (soft pastels) around the edges and center. If you want your cookies a little darker, add a little light brown here and there. Brush all the way around the edges, avoiding the center of the top and use a light touch. You don’t want to overdo it or your cookies will look burned and you don’t want to obscure the chocolate chips.

Decide how you want to display your cookies. Arrange them on a platter, put a few on a plate and cut one to make it look like someone took a bite and set it back on the plate for a minute. Space them evenly apart a miniature baking sheet, or just bake them separately on the tile. The choice is yours but the possibilities are endless! (It is safe to bake your cookies on miniature metal, china and glass servingware but I advise against baking your mini creations in plastic servingware as it does have a tendency to melt!)

No matter how you choose to arrange your cookies, bake them according to the manufacturer’s directions on your package of clay. After they are cool, gather together matte, or satin, sealer, a small piece of waxed paper and a clean paint brush. Make a small puddle of the sealer on the waxed paper and cover each cookie with a light coat of sealer and set them aside to dry on your tile. (I use the tile as my work surface for everything because it’s so easy to clean up!)

Think you’re done? Not quite. You deserve some recognition for all that hard work! Using an ultra fine point black Sharpie marker, sign and date the bottom of your mini plate, pan or platter! Everything you make is a work of art and it‘s fun to see your initials and the date on the bottom of your mini creations as time goes by! 🙂

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