Baby Shower Cookies - Elephant Shape (Royal Icing Cookies)

My amazing  co-worker who was throwing a baby shower AND Lives in TN (I live in WA) asked me to make the cookies for the special day. I was so excited but also nervous of sending cookies across all the states. I'm was so happy and relieved when she called to say ONLY one cookie broke (which her husband was happy with since he got to eat it .. LOL). She picked 3 cookies a Elephant, a Circle with dots and a Monogram of baby initials. Today I show you the elephant, which I became a bit obsessed with! LOVE how cute they turned out.

If you're in need or cookies for a party or just to eat, shoot me a msg at SweetPea Cookie Therapy. Thank you!

What you Need:
Elephant Cookie Cutter
Royal Icing - Pink and Grey  (see recipe below) 
Pipping Bag (w/ pink & grey royal icing) 
Black Edible Marker

Pipe each cookie first with an out line and then flood with the pink. AFTER the cookies dry you add the details. I used a pipping bag of pink to add a little details for the tail. For the ear I made a sideways heart. For the eye I used an edible black pen to make a small eye.

 Here are all the cookie shapes made:

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.