Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Science Cookies: Drosophila melanogaster


Science Cookies: Drosophila melanogaster!

A new cutter and a new science cookie. I made roughly 100 Drosophila cookies yesterday, expecting trouble decorating them. I was right. These things are as annoying in cookie form as they are in real life.




While planning my cookies design, I found it hard to balance a realistic look with something you're supposed to want to eat. I iced numerous test cookies trying to get one that actually looked semi-respectable, semi-edible and easy enough to repeat over and over for dozens of little cookies. I think I settled on a happy medium with these flies. Although, I'm certain someone will find something 'wrong' with them, perhaps deciding to school me in the ins and outs of fly sexual dimorphism. While I appreciate free lessons, let me remind the accuracy sticklers:

They are cookies.

Everyone got that? Awesome. Let's move along...



I decided to go with wild type Drosophila. Mostly because I thought they were the most visually interesting of all the cookies I decorated. The others ended up being a little too monochromatic for my tastes. I did try to demonstrate some sexual dimorphism in the banding though, but it was a little tough with my current set of piping tips. I think I need a 0 or 00 sized tip to do a more accurate design on a cookie of this size. I'll pick them up next week...although that means I'll be straining my icing though nylon. Ugh, dealing with small tips is always messy. Anyway, hopefully the difference in sex is vaguely apparent, that was all I was aiming for.

So, to make these cookies, I took my generic sugar cookie recipe and decorated them with royal icing and some edible platinum luster dust.

Since the cookie was small I didn't do any flood work with these. I just piped blobs of semi-thick icing for the head and body background-color. The wings I outlined in white icing and allowed them to dry. I then painted the wings with the platinum luster dust to give them and the cookie beneath a slight shimmer. I denoted the body segments with darker brown icing and added the banding. Lastly, I piped on little blobs of red-orange icing for the eyes.

The previous generations of test cookies all aimed for a little more realism and were far more complicated. In the end, they didn't look as good as these and while I'm not totally happy with them (I need smaller piping tips!) I still think they are cute. I do like the effect the luster dust gives the wings.

Enjoy the bugs. They do taste better than the real thing.




(Oh, and I just finished my zebrafish cookies too. I should have those up within the week.)

39 comments:

  1. Your photos are really first rate and I like the layout. Looking for some foodies to follow.

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  2. I love your blog and your photos... you are a talented gal with lots to share and I personally thank you for taking the time to share what you have learned!

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  3. Ooooh, they are so cuuute! Your wing design is perfect, simple yet gets the idea across wonderfully! I love them! If I had some I'd probably ruin the icing petting them before I got to eat it... ehehe, I bet the texture is so fun!

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  4. those are so cute! your so good at decorating cookies!

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  5. Ooooh, I do love them! They're adorable!

    It would be great to see them with some mutant eye colors, too, but definitely the red is more visually appealing. :)

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  6. aww there so cool wish i could decorate cookies like you

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  7. You are a master and an artist. Best of luck. Elise

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  8. These are too beautiful to eat! Next time you should do some mutant phenotype Drosophila or maybe a Punnett square depicting wild type and mutant phenotype Drosophilia. Lol.

    Please check out my blog at http://theshoppingaddiction.blogspot.com/

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  9. Man, I was going to say the food you make is too beautiful to eat, but Rachel (above) beat me to it. Needless to say, I love food blogs (I'm pregnant, so it's a new obsession for me) and I am now a follower as of today!

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  10. These are great & I can't wait to see zebrafish!

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  11. Great post and beautiful design.
    Totally deserved to be ´Blogs of Note`. Keep it up.

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  12. Gosh those are beautiful! Lets hope my cookies come out remotely as beautiful as yours...

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  13. Awesome & very creative! I'll bet they taste great, too. Love your blog!

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  14. O-mazing!!! Now I want to bake some.

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  15. Love the flies! In the process of making the atom and petri dish cookies. They have been baked and now the icing begins. Bought the "fly" cutter at the cake shop today so itwill be flies for me next. Keep up this excellent blog!

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  16. These are so cute.

    What is platinum luster dust?

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  17. It is an edible dust you can brush onto your baked goods to make them shimmer: Luster Dust

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  18. Again,another fantastic post...really I would love to learn how to be so creative with icing...perhaps first should be mastering the making of the icing then piping...lol.
    thank you for the sushi cupcakes...I shared your blog with some friends at work and your site has now gone through a gazillion people. Question though,what would you recommend as being a staple for technique for piping?

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  19. So, who eats all these cookies you make on a daily basis? I love to bake, but there are only so many cookies I can eat...

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  20. flutefish,

    Every now and then, a wave of locus-like teenage boys passes through the Humble house.

    They keep the baked goods in check.

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  21. I just came across your cute cookies on tastespotting! Cool!!! love the science description!

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  22. These are really, really beautiful cookies and I don't mind receiving some as presents. :P

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  23. buzzing with excitement [pun intended] at having found such delights

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  24. I know I've said this already, but I love your science cookies...I wish there was time for me to make some for my daughter's science teacher for Christmas...I'll have to do it for the end of the year :)

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  25. I love them, and I can totally see the sexing, great job! They totally bring me back to genetics lab and the days of my life revolving around the life/mating cycle of fruit flies, hehehe. Now what I want to know is how you know they taste better than the real thing... I imagine they would but have never tried it and don't plan to ;)

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  26. Certainly everyone has had an suicidal fruit fly make a run at their mouth at some point? Right?

    Maybe I am just special, or really unlucky...

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  27. I'm waiting in anticipation of some savory Arabidopsis cookies. Maybe? Could be good!

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  28. wow that is some amazing photography! I need some like that for my CetraAG.com site

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  29. The gel electrophoresis cookies look so..expensive! But the streaked plates are my favorite as most inventive. They look so real. I am trying to persuade my high school biology students to make them. They'd be educational, too! Looking forward to more.
    ej

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  30. You possibly have no idea how much I'm loving this blog. It appeals to the foodie AND the nerd in me.

    I'm too excited, I have to log off. I'll be back in the morning when I've calmed down!

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  31. This made me laugh out loud! What a great idea.

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  32. I'd love to play with these and see if I can turn those wild-types into mutant types with my teeth- vestigial wings anyone?

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  33. funny cookies. your blog was recommended by the christmas baker and I am glad I visited. Do you make arabidopsis cookies as well?

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  34. I just discovered your blog and I'm jumping up & down. I absolutely love these! So creative and the photos are exquisitely inviting. Thanks for a great read, going to check out the rest of your blog now!

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  35. I love these, since I work with Drosophila! Where did you get the cookie cutter? I think I need one!

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  36. Therese,

    You can find it here:

    http://www.surlatable.com/product/id/186399.do?mr:trackingCode=E8B9C41A-6BA4-DE11-93DB-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA

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