From tattoos to collectibles, true tank appreciation can take many forms. Here at Tank War Room, we’ve found a way to express our love of tanks through food. After having bought this nifty army tank cookie cutter online, I had to try my hand at making tank cookies. I’ve documented my cookie-making process with a series of pictures below for those who would like to see how the tank cookies turned out.
Now we’d like to turn it back to you, our readers. Perhaps you have an awesome tank-related tattoo, or maybe you are an avid collector of model tanks. Show us how much you love tanks by linking us a picture in the comments below. If we get enough responses, we may even feature your photo in another article on our website.
Making Tank Cookies (with Photos)
Tank Sugar Cookies
Although I was excited to try my hand at making tank cookies this past weekend, I wanted to keep things simple. I’m not much of a baker at all, but my mom always said, “if you can read, you can cook,” which has actually gotten me a long way in my adult life. I may have bought a pre-made cookie dough mix, but there was still plenty of that “homemade” feel during the whole cookie-making process.
This is what I needed to make the sugar cookies:
Cookie dough:
- 1 package of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
- Extra flour (for the dough, and the countertop)
- 1 Stick of butter
- 1 Egg
Kitchen tools:
- Mixing bowl
- Measuring spoons
- Rolling pin
- Cookie cutter
- Cookie sheet pan (mine was non-stick)
- Cooling rack
- Spoon or something to stir with
Rather than trying to make sugar cookies from scratch, I went with the easier route by buying a dry pre-packaged sugar cookie mix. All I needed to add was some extra tablespoons of flour, a melted stick of butter, and an egg. I made sure to get out all the other cookware I needed ahead of time to streamline the process. Also, don’t forget to preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Next, combine all the ingredients in a bowl until a dough ball starts to form. The dough is the fun part, because it’s where you get your hands dirty. I kneaded the dough in the mixing bowl for a bit until all of the ingredients had incorporated together into a cohesive ball.
Evenly sprinkle flour over the surface of a clean countertop so that you can begin rolling out your dough ball without it sticking to the counter. Use a rolling pin to gently roll out the dough ball, making sure to roll in different directions so that it spreads across an even length and width. Roll the dough flat until it’s about ¼-inch thick.
Now it’s time to put the nifty tank cookie cutter to work. Cut out as many tank cookies as you can from the dough and place them onto your cookie pan, leaving some space between each one. If you have the same tank cookie cutter as I do, be very careful when lifting up the gun barrel, as it is very thin and can break off easily. If it does break, then you can just pretend all your tank cookies have short derp guns instead.
Once you fit the cookies on the cookie sheet, pop the pan into the preheated oven. Bake the cookies for about 5-7 minutes, or when the edges start to turn brown. Keep an eye on them though, as the thin gun will brown much quicker than the rest of the tank cookie. Once they’re done baking, take them out and carefully place each cookie on a cooling rack until they are fully cooled.
Tank Cookie Icing
The other fun part about making cookies is the decoration process. I went with some simple icing for the tank cookies made from just a few ingredients:
- Powdered sugar - 1 cup
- Milk - 2 Tbsp.
- Corn syrup - 2 Tbsp.
- Vanilla extract - ¼ tsp.
Put the powdered sugar into a bowl, and mix in the milk. Once it’s mixed, add in the vanilla and corn syrup. If it’s too thick, add a bit more corn syrup.
I wanted to use camouflage colors for my tank cookies, so I made a bowl of dark green icing and another bowl of a lighter green icing. The latter was actually supposed to be brown, but it ended up being a more split-pea soup color. I just went with it anyway.
I also bought a package of pre-made black icing that came in a pouch with its own piping tip. I used this to outline some of the tank cookies, and even managed to give them some wheels. For the camouflage pattern, I spread one of the icing colors onto a cookie using a plastic knife, then I simply dropped small blobs of another color on top. The icing will sort of spread out and do the rest. I have no clue of how to properly ice cookies, but this method worked for me.
That’s it! Overall, I think my first attempt at tank cookies was a success. If you try to make tank-themed baked goods of your own, be sure to send us photos either on Facebook or Twitter. We’d love to see your creations!
