Monday, November 23, 2009

Biology Cookies: Laboratory Mice



(That mouse cookie isn't really dead, he is just pretending)

So I found this little mouse cookie cutter on Saturday I couldn't resist impulse buying it and adding to my science and biology themed cookies. Mouse cookies! So neat! There isn't anything weird about that... right?



This was my first attempt with the cookie cutter and I'll probably do a better job next time. I had to make a quick little batch to see how they would look finished. The cutter was pretty small and my icing was probably a little too thick for them. Still, the finished cookies amuse me, especially the little cartoonish pretend-dead mice.



By far the best mouse I've ever eaten! Although, this one probably isn't pretending anymore...

22 comments:

  1. Hello Ms. Not so Humble Pie
    Wasn't sure how to communicate with you, so I thought I would just send you a quick note here to thank you for following my page.
    Keep baking on!
    Best,
    F. Migoya

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yay, I love it when people combine baking with science themes. Those mice are really cute. They really do remind me of the lab mice I see/learn about in my biology lab classes. Now I feel inspired to bake some science-y cookies :).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi, I just found your blog through foodgawker and I *LOVE* it!

    Your science themed cookies (mice, petri dishes and gingerbread scientists) are so cute and funny! I will have to make some for my husband very soon.

    Thanks for the inspiration :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there,

    I just saw this on foodgawker too, it is so, so funny! Love it!

    Cheers from an ex-biology major :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the idea, both of the mice and the petri dish!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haha love these! They are fun and adorable.

    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  7. I LOVE them.

    You're so inventive to think about a theme like this. Amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh! These made me laugh! What cute mice! Though my 2 year-old is sure they're "bunnies" :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. The bunny is just sleeping, kiddo!

    Just sleeping.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I may have to try these. I work in an in-vivo pharm group. I was thinking about mice, with pink frosting (nude mice)with nice little tumors on their shoulders. How hard is the icing to do? I've never iced cookies before.

    ReplyDelete
  11. What you're looking to do would be pretty simple. It just takes a little care and patience.

    I'd take a batch of mouse cookies and then pipe a line of pink royal around the perimeter, this is to hold the thinner icing that you'll fill the bodies with later. Let the outlines dry for about 10-20 minutes and then you're ready to flood the cookies.

    Reserving some of the icing to make tumors later, Thin the icing you used to pipe the outlines with a tiny bit of water. You want to add just a few drops at a time, mixing until it no longer holds a peak and settles into a flat surface in your mixing bowl. That is when it is ready to flood the cookies.

    Using a spoon or a piping bag, fill the outlines with enough icing to give them a good coat, but not so much that it overflows the boarder you piped.

    Let these cookies dry overnight.

    The next day you want to pull out your icing, beating it well to refresh it, and then pipe the tumors onto the shoulders with a medium sized round tip. Smooth down any peaks on the tumors with a damp finger. I'd then take a little more icing and tint it for little eyes, nose and if desired, ears.

    Let those dry overnight and there you go, you've got a cookie only a scientist would love. :)

    If you need a royal icing recipe go ahead and email me, you can find the link in my blogger profile.

    Best of luck!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh and I am hammering these comments out moments before running out the door, so if any step is unclear, please just let me know.

    ReplyDelete
  13. These are so great. I am a Lab Research Tech and work with the mice almost every day. I think I'll have to try it and make them different colors (brown, black) and fat or not (we do obesity research) and maybe even make some ear punches (the way we ID them). So many possibilities!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm making a mouse-shaped cake, and it does not compare to the cuteness of these cookies!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Hahaha! Where did you get the mouse cookie cutter? I've been suddenly seized by a desire to include a dead mouse cookie in each of the boxes of Christmas cookies I give...

    ReplyDelete
  16. I found this mouse buried in a box of Christmas theme cookie cutters at a local baking supply store. I've not seen this particular one online, but there are others to be found here and here

    ReplyDelete
  17. I made these but instead of just using the royal icing I added some cream cheese frosting to make the mice look "furry"

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hello Ms. Not-So-Humble_Pie,

    I found this page thanks to cakewreck's mentioning it in their twitter feed... I also have this same mouse cookie cutter. How do you get the tail out of the cutter?? I'm wondering if I don't have a good cookie recipe but my mouse tails always break off after lifting the cutter off. Or rather, the tails stick in the cutter. I hope to one day have lab mice cookies as awesome as your's!

    Regards,

    Heather

    ReplyDelete
  19. Heather,

    I use a small bamboo skewer to help push out the tail as I pull up the cutter. That usually keeps the tail intact.

    Sometimes one still breaks off, then I just call them hamster cookies.

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a fun blog! I made the gingerbread scientists for our department Christmas party last December and they were a huge hit. (I am a graduate student working in a molecular biology and genetics department.)
    I have a few friends getting married soon and am working on putting together a science-themed bake set as a gift...of course they are both scientists!
    FYI: I found a mouse cutter that looks closer to the one you used then the one at the link you posted previously for anyone who might be interested.
    http://www.ecookiecutters.com/products/Mouse-Cookie-Cutter-%252d-3%22.html

    ReplyDelete
  21. When the tails break off we just pipe a little pink tail around it's body (from the butt along its back foot and slightly curled up the mid section of the body) :)

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts with Thumbnails