These cookies were a lot of fun to make! It might have to do with the sparkles…
Here’s a photo of some of them in artificial light. The first pic was actually in sunlight – and although it looks darker, the sparkles show up more. It was hard to capture the shimmer in a photo!
Resisting the urge to cover them in disco dust was futile; originally I was only going to cover parts of them in the edible glitter… You can see how that turned out.
Coffee or tea?
The cookie designs were made using scrapbooking paper and my kopykake projector.
I love the added glimmer disco dust gives to the royal icing. If you’d like to try it out you can find it here.
Gingerbread of course! Another batch of tea time.
This is by no means a tutorial… but I’ll share with you a few tools and a recipe I used to make these cookies. Here are the tools:
Tools Used:
1. Cloth – a damp one nearby to keep the tips clean
2. Wilton Disposable Decorating Bags
4. Wilton Decorating Tip Cover , Set of 4 – These are not a must… You can keep your tips covered in a damp cloth.
5. Decorating Tip #2 – A bunch of these on hand for different colors is always helpful!
6. Couplers
7. Paste Colour – Brown – And other colors too of course!
8. Americolor Soft Gel Paste – I like Americolor best because I find the darker colors don’t bleed as much when I use it to color royal icing. I still do like to mix in Wilton colors if I need to achieve a certain hue.
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I used Peggy Porschen’s sugar cookie and gingerbread recipe, and this time I used Antonia74’s royal icing recipe.
Antonia74’s Royal Icing Recipe
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Ingredients:
6 oz (3/4 cup) of warm water
5 Tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 kilogram (2.25 lbs.) powdered icing sugar
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Directions:
In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds.
Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.
Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.
Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.
Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.
Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of warm water to reach the desired consistency.
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Have fun creating!
xo,
Marian
Corynn says
Your cookies are BEAUTIFUL!!! Very original.
Alicia McCarthy says
They look lovely – so neat, tidy and glittery 😀
Melanie says
OMG Marian…these are to die for!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the tips and links for product!
Elizabeth F. says
Gracious!!! These are the cutest cookies I have ever laid my eyes on!!!
Andy says
You turn out the most beautiful, eye-catching cookies I have ever seen. WOW, just WOW
Elissa says
Those sparkly cookies just made my day! So cute!
Shandi says
I think these are by far my favorite cookies you’ve made. They are like nothing else I’ve seen out there. Very, very adorable!
Pearl says
omgosh how cute – i think i’m in love with that sparkly disco dust!
Diane says
Gorgeous! Love the sparkles and the tea cup with the steam coming out of it is adorable !!
Kerri says
They’re so beautiful – so sad I missed their making! THe more glitter the better I think ^_^
Maria says
Wow how beautiful your work is…. you are soooo talented. love all your decorted cookies, thies are very special.
ML
Maria says
Beautiful work! Loveyour cookies! 🙂 So pretty! 😀 Great blog! :love:
anna says
Those are incredibly cute! I love the way disco dust looks.
Rossana says
These cookies are simply gorgeous SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! Excellent work!
Rossana
Susan says
Wow!!! Marian, just loooove these cookies! The disco dust is amazing and really makes them dazzle! Of course it’s your talent that is dazzling in the first place!
åsa - hello sugar says
wow, these cookies are GORGEOUS!! you have so much talent!!
lovecake says
Oh my goodness Marian! I am simply dazzled by these cookies – I absolutely LOVE them. I wish you’d post the rest of this series to Flickr and ST – I couldn’t quite make them out from the one image you had on your photostream.
Chritsy in NC says
Those are simply beautiful! You are so talented!
RossanaPantaleo says
Quick question, is there a template to create these designs? I’m just wondering how I can do the designs you have in the center of each cookie. There are so perfect!
Thanks and keep up the good work =)
Marian says
Thanks Rossana! There isn’t a template, but eventually I will do a tutorial (have to draw them on paper and get a scanner!).
Stacey says
Woooow…. these are beyond beautiful!
Lauren says
Hi! Those cookies are gorgeous! How is this frosting stored if you don’t use it all? In the fridge?
Marian says
Lauren, I keep royal icing at room temperature for up to a week if it’s made with meringue powder.
If it’s made with egg whites (for gingerbread houses), I keep it in the fridge.
Lauren says
Thanks! Yes, I used Meringue powder. I read online for 2 weeks. I guess I can test the icing before I use it to make sure it’s still ok.
Tina says
Simply AMAZING! They are just so beautiful and unique each cookie is just better than the next!
faigy says
I love the look of the disco dust so much that I went and ordered it. I was just curious if you know if it is actually ok to eat cuz it says non-toxic, for use for crafts on it. Thanks for all your great ideas and tips!
Marian says
Thank you for the lovely comments!!
faigy, I just learned some new info. about disco dust… please read the p.s. note here.
Mary says
Your cookies look so beautiful and inspiring!I will have to try my hand at these very soon!!! (after a lot of practice, they may look a bit like yours! haha).
Marian says
Thanks so much and good luck Mary!
Ram says
Can those decorated cookies be eaten or just for display? Thanks.
Marian says
Ram; they are edible. The disco dust is non-toxic and not necessarily classified as edible by the FDA though. I don’t sell these and let my recipients know about that factor. Still trying to find out more info. about it as well.
Mari says
These are so adorable!! Question…how are you able to do all those small details on the cookies with a #2 tip? For example the details on the outside of pockets on the apron? How is that done?
This is just amazing!
Marian says
Thanks Mari!
I used a #1 decorating tip and sometimes a #00 tip, which you can find on Amazon or probably at your favorite cake decorating store/site.
Mari says
I use royal icing…what consistency would you recommend? Because everytime I use anything smaller than a #2 tip, the icing is just very hard to come out and constantly have to keep unclogging it.
Marian says
Mari; for consistency I always use the 10 second rule, which I wrote about here:
https://www.sweetopia.net/2009/06/cookie-decorating-tutorial-general-tips-butterfly-cookies/
For tiny tips, I keep a toothpick or safety pin beside me to poke the hole in the piping tip to unclog it. (As you’ve probably been doing). Running the tip under warm or hot water works as well.
If that still doesn’t work very well, before you put the icing in your piping bag, squeeze it through a clean nylon. The tiny holes act as a sieve.
Hope that helps!
danielle says
Were these cutsie graphics from stickers too???
Marian says
These were from scrapbooking paper!
danielle says
Do u always sift your powd. sugar? Is it a necessary step? It’s such a pain I figured I only want to be doing it if necessary!!! Thanks
Marian says
It’s safer to do so… If I’m in a hurry I won’t buuut, even if I’m in a hurry and know that I’ll be using a small piping tip such as #1, I’ll sift anyways.
Annoying I know! 🙂
Tami says
So pretty! I always use white icing to outline, I think you’ve convinced me to try black. That looks so pretty! Thank you for the inspiration!
marian says
Thanks for commenting Tami!
Angie says
Do these cookies taste good? I’ve noticed that the black and red gel food colors make the icings/frostings taste funny. Have you had that trouble with yours or do I need to buy a different brand?
I simply LOVE the designs on these cookies and cannot imagine that I would EVER be able to make them myself. Simply amazing!! I tried using Wilton’s Cookie Flow icing additive to make smoothly iced cookies and it was a dismal failure. It never actually “flowed” more like glopped on. I guess I need more practice with the liquid ratio. I’ll read about your 10 second rule for the next time…if I can get myself to even commit to a next time. 😉
Thank you for your helpful site!
marian says
Angie, The food coloring can make the icing taste funny if you use lots of red or black but, Americolor is better, but if you do buy Wilton, you can buy the “no taste red” at least.
Hope you try decorating again, it can be very fun and satisfying!
Christine says
Hi Marian,
Any ideas as to why my royal icing is coming out grainy/sandy/brittle? The first few times I’ve made it the icing has hardened to a nice solid finish. But now, after two days of drying, the surface of the icing (on the cookies) just kinda crumbles off. I can actually just rub it off with my finger. I follow the directions to a T! Thanks again for your help.
-Christine