Halloween Zombie Cookies ... (Royal Icing)

Next on the spooky cookie list was for my middle school-er is not cool with my normal fun cute cookies. So I had to find something kind of ghooly but still cool. I saw a picture of these zombies ... WELL I thought I saved it now I can't find it so I'm going by memory and can't give a link for credit.

What you Need:

Sugar Cookies cut into zombies
Zombie Cookie Cutter (I bought Undead Fred on Amazon $6.50)

Royal Icing in Red and Grey (recipe below)

AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring Red and Grey (to dye Icing - This is my fav brand)

Pipping Bag

I use the dipping method with my royal icing for the grey color. The only grey coloring I found was a airbrush food so it was watery and wasn't as vibrant as my other colors. I started to do the dipping method about 6 months ago to speed up my decorating time. You can pipe each cookie which is a little cleaner but I find the dipping method to be the best. You get your royal icing to the outline consistency and put into a pie dish (I find this is not too deep). Once you dip the top of the cookie you tap off the extra icing and then you let dry! Once dry you can add your details. 

I like to do my cookies the night before to give plenty of time for the icing to harden. After the grey had setup over night I was able to add the blood splatters. I took a plastic piping bag and added the details with red royal icing. I have found in the past making this a little thicker than your outlining consistency is best if not they run together.  I first tried a fork to splatter but it didn't look right so just used the bag to fling the icing (when in your adult life is this ok ... take it when you can).

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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.