How to create beautiful cookie art with royal icing
Crafting can come in many shapes, forms and, even flavors! Bring your cookies to the next level by learning how to create these amazing royal icing cookies. The talented Chrisi from Cowtown Sweets, shares her best baking and icing tips with us!
If you’re looking for something to keep the cookies in, check out this custom cookie jar with Cricut Stickers!
Sugar Cookies Featuring Icing Graphics
Supplies needed:
- Pocket sized projector
- Camera stand suited to fit your projector
- Digital image (For the design in the tutorial, I used the Unicorn Svg Bundle Hand Lettered Quotes)
- Cut out cookie, see recipe below
- Royal Icing, see recipe below
- Pastry piping bags *see comment below
- Icing Scribe tool
- Food colors
*Note on Piping Bags
-
- I use tipless pastry piping bags, such as these. They are made from a thin, yet durable plastic and do not require any additional metal piping tips, Simply fill the bag with your icing, clip or tie the open end, and use scissors to snip a tiny opening at the tip.
In my Amazon list you can view my recommended items for sugar cookie art.
Getting started with cookie art
In the vast crafting universe, fun graphics are not just for cute shirts and paper crafts. In my little home bakery, Cowtown Sweets, I use some of my favorite Creative Fabrica graphics and fonts to decorate my custom designed sugar cookies.
Using my pocket projector, camera stand and laptop, I can project images onto the surface of my cookies. With thick royal icing in piping consistency, I trace the image shape and then fill it in with thinner, flood consistency icing. After giving the icing some time to crust over and dry a bit, I can go back and add details or leave it as is for a simple, yet dramatic effect.
The cookie in this example features a design from the Unicorn SVG Bundle of Hand Lettered Quotes found on the Creative Fabrica site.
Setup for cookie rat with royal icing
Outline of the cookie
Filling the cookie
Finished sets
Images from Chrisi’s Instagram.
Happy baking and stay sweet ♥︎
Recipes
Perfect every time cut-out cookies
Sugar Cookie Recipe courtesy of Bridget at Bake @ 350
Ingredients
- 3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 cup sugar (I use sugar that I’ve stored vanilla beans in)
- 1 cup (salted) butter, cold & cut into chunks
- 1 egg
- 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp pure almond extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Combine the flour and baking powder, set aside. Cream the sugar and butter. Add the egg and extracts and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom.
- The dough will be crumbly, so knead it together with your hands as you scoop it out of the bowl for rolling.
- Roll on a floured surface to about 1/4″ to 3/8″ thick, and cut into shapes. Place on parchment-lined baking sheets (I recommend freezing the cut out shapes on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before baking) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack.
Royal Icing 101
Royal Icing Recipe courtesy of Callye, Sweet Sugarbelle
Yield: Icing for 9-10 dozen cookies
Ingredients
- 4lbs {two bags} confectioner’s sugar
- 3/4 c. meringue powder
- 1 1/3-1 1/2 c. warm water
- 2-4 tbsp. oil-free extract or flavoring
Instructions
- Add the dry ingredients first. Use your mixer’s whisk attachment to incorporate the sugar and meringue powder.
- Add the extract to the water and slowly add it to the dry ingredients while mixing. At first the icing will be very liquid-like.
- Continue to mix it at medium-high speed until it is fluffy and stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes. Mixing times are approximate, keep your eye it icing and stop mixing as soon as it becomes stiff. Over mixing and oil-containing extracts can keep the icing from setting up, so keep this in mind as you work.
Tips for royal icing!
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- For a glossier and softer bite icing, add 2 tbsp. of corn syrup
- Royal icing will keep at least a month. I prefer refrigerating it, but it can also be left at room temperature.
- To easily thin icing, use water in a clean spray bottle to slowly thin consistency
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