Christmas Ornament Cookies (Royal Icing)

One more Christmas cookie idea using royal icing would be Christmas Ornaments! Now to find these cookie cutters was a bit of an ordeal. I thought I would find them at Hobby Lobby or Michael's but NO LUCK! So to Amazon I went to find the cookie cutters I wanted. I saw a fun swirl design on Sweetopia I took this idea and made a simple version that I could make a ton of cookies for. I made these cookies for the boys classmates and for my dance fitness instructors.

 

 

 

What you need:

Baked Cookies (My favorite Sugar Cookie Recipe)

Green, Red and White Royal Icing (see my favorite recipe below)

Green and Red AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring to tint Royal Icing
Christmas Ornament Cookie Cutters (Box set I used from Amazon)

I used the dipping method with my royal icing. I started to do the dipping method about several 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, so you don't looses your cookie). Once you dip the top of the cookie you tap off the extra icing and then you let dry!
 

MOST times I would let the top layer sit and harden before I add the details but this design you need the top coat wet. I then took a piping bags one with red and one with green royal icing. NOW my first one (picture below) I put the lines to close together. I found when I left white between each color it turned out better. I made 2 lines of red and one of green. This shape was smaller so I didn't do 2 of each color for the larger cookie you can. The second ornament I did the ball ornament and put the spacing needed in the picture below. I took a toothpick and did a swirl motion. Let the cookies dry and you have a special looking ornament.

Click HERE to see who I link with.

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.

Halloween Cookies .. Spiderweb Cookies (Royal Icing)

For a fun Halloween treat I tried my hand at spiderweb cookies using royal icing. I'm really loving the look of royal icing cookies. NOW if I was eating a cookie I'm a huge fan of a large amount of frosting on it (use frosting on cookies .. heck frosting alone is my downfall). These sure look fun, now I'm no master cookie maker but I love that I'm getting better. 

What you Need:

Sugar Cookies cut into circles (see my fav sugar cookie recipe below)

Royal Icing in White (no coloring) and Black (recipe below)

AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring Black (to dye Icing - This is my fav brand I had to use Wilton)

Pipping Bag

I use the dipping method with my royal icing. I started to do this 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, but this needed to be wet to add details. I took a plastic piping bag and added the details with Black 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 tried a few different ways to make the webs. The best way I have to make the web is to make a spiral on top of a WET cookie. I then started from the middle and pulled out to make four sections. I then went and pulled IN in between these sections. Play around find what works best. I pipped the lines on also but didn't like the look. Since earlier this week I ran out of black AmeriColor and picked up black Wilton color to Michael's I used this. Wilton in a NON squeezable bottle. I so hate these bottles the squeeze bottles are the easiest and LESS messy!!
 

Click HERE to see who I link with.

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.

 

Summer Cookies Made (Royal Icing) .. Flip Flops, Sunglasses and Sunshine Cookies

For our family reunion I always try to bring a fun desert or cookie. Since I've been getting more comfortable with royal icing I thought I would make some fun summer cookies. I googled summer cookies and found several ideas so I went to Hobby Lobby and found this three pack of cookie cutters and thought I can do this!

 

What you Need:

Cookie Cutter (Sun, Flip Flop and Sunglasses)
Sugar Cookies cut into suns, flip flops and sunglasses (see my fav sugar cookie recipe below)

Royal Icing in Green, Yellow, Orange, and Black (recipe below)

AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring Green, Yellow, Orange, and Black (to dye Icing)

Pipping Bag

Candy Hearts (for Flip Flop)
Small Candy Pearls (for Sunglasses)
Black Edible Marker 

Tint your Royal Icing to the perfect shade of yellow. I use the dipping method with my royal icing. I started to do this 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. 

I took a plastic piping bag and added the details with Black royal icing for the flip flops and sunglasses. I have found in the past making this a little thicker than your outlining consistency is best if not they run together and make a big glob. For flip flop I added a small heart decoration for the toe part. On the sunglasses I made the glass shade part and then on the corners I added some small pearls for fun details.

For the sunglasses I used the black edible marker to draw on the face. I tried piping it on but I liked the look of the marker better.

 

Click HERE to see who I link with.

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.

Football Helmet Men Cookies ... Royal Icing (SeaHawks Men)

I did some football helmet men cookies a few years back using just dyed icing. They were fun and worked for Cole's football theme mates. Every year our church ask for us to make (or buy) cookies and take to another church. I figured this time I would show off my new royal icing skills and try to make these cookies in the past but in a cleaner version.

Here are the football helmet men cookies made. Since SeaHawk season is upon us I did their colors (you can make these in the color of whatever theme you like):

Before & After's

 

 

What you Need:

Sugar Cookies cut into Lobsters (see my fav sugar cookie recipe below)

Royal Icing in Green, Blue and white (recipe below)

AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring Green and Blue (to dye Icing - Color for your favorite team)
Black Food Marker
Licorice Strips 

I rolled out the cookies dough out and cut out circles. In half of the circles I cut out a rectangle at the bottom to make the face part of the mask.

Tint your Royal Icing to the perfect shade of green and blue, I then left 1/3 of it white. I use the dipping method with my royal icing. I started to do this 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! I first did the football helmets in the two colors, before they dried I added the licorice strips as the face mask guard spot. While those dried I dipped the circles in white (this will be the face) before the white dried I added the face mask cookie on top. These are double-decker cookies making them 3d which is so cool (look below a pic to see how we do this).

Once dry you can add the eyes. I like to do my cookies the night before to give plenty of time for the icing to harden. Once dry I took a black food marker and added the eyes.

Cookies being delivered to a neighbor church

 Cookies made for teachers and my dance instructors

Click HERE to see who I link with

 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.