Sweet Tooth
After Christmas I found out I had to get a root canal and tears then filled my eyes when I was told I would need to schedule a 1.5 hour appointment ASAP.
When the dreaded appointment finally came, I couldn't believe my ears when after 20 minutes in the chair my dentist said we got lucky and the worst was over. 10 minutes later he was able to place a temporary filling in the tooth and I was out of there in half of my scheduled time. (While this was the 4th root canal I've experienced, it was the first one I've had that wasn't severely abscessed and in hindsight, this was no worse than getting a cavity filled.)
Because the staff was so kind to me during my emotional breakdown and subsequent panic attack, I wanted to do something nice for them - - especially since most people dread seeing them for anything but a cleaning.
I had fun making these sweet-tooth cookies and look forward to making the dental staff smile when I deliver them tomorrow!
When the dreaded appointment finally came, I couldn't believe my ears when after 20 minutes in the chair my dentist said we got lucky and the worst was over. 10 minutes later he was able to place a temporary filling in the tooth and I was out of there in half of my scheduled time. (While this was the 4th root canal I've experienced, it was the first one I've had that wasn't severely abscessed and in hindsight, this was no worse than getting a cavity filled.)
Because the staff was so kind to me during my emotional breakdown and subsequent panic attack, I wanted to do something nice for them - - especially since most people dread seeing them for anything but a cleaning.
I had fun making these sweet-tooth cookies and look forward to making the dental staff smile when I deliver them tomorrow!
Making the Tooth-shaped Cookie Cutter
It's not easy to find a tooth-shaped cookie cutter, and since I didn't want to purchase one online I created one from an existing cookie cutter.
After sketching a tooth and finding cookie cutter that was similar in shape, it easily bent to the desired shape with just a pair of pliers. The metal is quite flexible/forgiving and any existing (continuous) shaped cookie cutter would've probably resulted in similar results.
After sketching a tooth and finding cookie cutter that was similar in shape, it easily bent to the desired shape with just a pair of pliers. The metal is quite flexible/forgiving and any existing (continuous) shaped cookie cutter would've probably resulted in similar results.
Bake & Decorate
While I am not much of a baker, I did have a package of sugar cookie dough on hand along with some ready made frosting. Without having a rolling pin I found a round jar works equally well in getting the dough to the correct thickness.
Once I rolled out the dough on parchment paper and cut away the scraps, I baked a few cookies according to the package directions. Realizing the dough spreads greatly when baked, I stretched out the "root" portion of the tooth before baking the rest of the batch.
After cooling, I placed the ready-made frosting into a ziploc bag and piped the outline of the tooth. The upper portion of the tooth was also filled in to resemble enamel. A knife dipped in warm water helped smooth out imperfections and the best fun came when I was able to squirt cavities (in black) on the part of the frosting that needed attention.
Making cookies for the dental staff is probably not the smartest idea, but by making them look like infected teeth I'm sure I will bring a smile to their day.
Once I rolled out the dough on parchment paper and cut away the scraps, I baked a few cookies according to the package directions. Realizing the dough spreads greatly when baked, I stretched out the "root" portion of the tooth before baking the rest of the batch.
After cooling, I placed the ready-made frosting into a ziploc bag and piped the outline of the tooth. The upper portion of the tooth was also filled in to resemble enamel. A knife dipped in warm water helped smooth out imperfections and the best fun came when I was able to squirt cavities (in black) on the part of the frosting that needed attention.
Making cookies for the dental staff is probably not the smartest idea, but by making them look like infected teeth I'm sure I will bring a smile to their day.