Instagram Facebook Twitter YouTube Pinterest Subscribe

Sweetopia

Sweet Tutorials

Learn to decorate

Check out some of my easy-to-follow cookie, icing and gingerbread tutorials.

Tutorials

By 91 Comments

How to Make Decorated Owl Cookies

It’s deja vu.

owl-decorated-cookies

You may have already seen these owls in my Top 10 Tips on Decorating Cookies here, but I jumped at the chance to make them again!

The lovely and talented Jenn of HWTM, needed owl cookies for a baby shower her mother threw, and I was thrilled to make these for her!

If you follow me on pinterest, you might have noticed I’ve got a bit of an owl crush, so much so, that I even decorated my step-daughter’s room with an owl theme. I’m so glad she loves them too!

The colours for these owls are different, and this time, I’m sharing the step by step in case you’d like to try them out.

*

How to Make Decorated Owl Cookies

*

For the Cookies, you’ll need:

Decorating Instructions:

Because I’m not skilled at freehand drawing, I used a Kopykake projector to trace in each of the following steps, however, the owl shapes are fairly simple, and most likely easy enough for you to do without having to use the projector.

Once you’ve made your cookies and they’re ready to decorate:

Step One:  The Base

Pipe the owl’s body using a #2 tip. Let dry for a minimum of 6-24 hours. The icing basically acts as sealant for freshness, so it’s okay to let the cookie dry uncovered.

The length of drying time depends on the humidity of your environment. I recommend working in a room with air-conditioning and a de-humidifier, especially if you live in a tropical area, or during the summer months in the Northern Hemisphere.

Step Two:  The Eyes

Pipe the whites of the eyes and let them dry for a minimum of 6-12 hours.

Step Three:  The Belly & Details

Using a #2 tip, pipe the belly and add the ‘feathering details’ right away. (Wet-on-wet icing). Pipe the pupils and wings. You could finish the rest of the owl details at this point, but I waited for the owl’s belly to be dry before I added the beak.

Step Four:  Finishing Touches

Add the feet and beak using a #2 piping tip, and pipe the leaves using a #67 piping tip. Let dry for 6-12 hours (less icing), and you’re ready to package or serve!

Follow the same steps for the Momma Owl. Her body shape is just a little bit different:

Don’t be discouraged if you make mistakes; with some creative ‘touch-ups’ you can salvage almost any cookie!

Take a look at one of the owls with the yellow tummy below… I was a little too generous with the icing, and it ended up pooling to the left, so I added a few more leaves to his branch to hide the flaw.

You can find more detailed info. on decorating cookies in my Cookie Decorating Tutorial here.

If you have any questions or comments, please drop me a line below and come join me on facebook, twitter, or youtube.

Have fun decorating!

xo,

Marian

Don’t miss out!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  6. I’ve seen your owl pin board so I knew you had a thing for them 🙂 These cookies are really cute, but no surprise. You are so talented Marian! BTW, your step daughter is a real sweetie too!

    Reply

  8. Super duper cute! I have always wanted to do owl cookies, but was too intimidated to do so. A great tutorial like yours always takes the load off. Thanks!

    Reply

  9. As always, your tutorials and cookies are awesome. Your step-daughter is adorable and I’m sure she just loves her sweet bedroom.

    Reply

  14. Marian,

    Thanks for sharing! These owls are just so cute-I love them. They would be perfect for a baby shower. Thanks for sharing the tip about using a de-humidifer. I have problems with bleeding sometimes and I will have to try this.

    As always-loving your site.
    Thanks, erin

    Reply

  22. I do not know if you feel the same way, but I have always considered these cookies as your signatures cookies.
    They are the cutest cookies ever.
    Thanks a lot for this great tutorial.

    Reply

  26. You are a real pro. I know it isn’t easy to decorate cookies using sugar glaze, but you make it look easy. I just looked at all of your photo submissions on Foodgawker. I’m so impressed. They are all so adorable. I took several cake decorating classes back when I had a lot more time and I really regret not learning this art.

    Reply

  30. Hello, these are soooooooooooooo cute!
    I knew a few months ago that I would be creating an owl-themed 1st birthday party for my daughter. So, I’m now on the hunt.
    I will definitely be using these cookies as one of the favors we will distribute to our guests.
    Quick question for you…I’ve never decorated sugar cookies before, but I was wondering if I could make all of the “parts” of the owl separately and beforehand on parchment paper, then assembling the cookie after they dry? Does that make sense?
    Thanks!

    Reply

  37. AH-DORABLE. I am LOVING the owls these days. Funny how popular they’ve gotten, even with jewelry and whatnot. They ARE such cute little things. 🙂

    Reply

  39. Wow, this looks amazing! I would love to make them, but it’s not easy at all. You are really an expert 🙂 There’s an interesting story about the owls – My bf’s name is Vasilije, and we call him Vaso, as a nickname, and his buddies call him for fun ”SOVA”, and probably you don’t understand how this has do with owls. But when you read the word ”VASO” with the letters mixed from behind, you get this word ”SOVA”, which means ”owl” in serbian language. Maybe, it’s stupid story, but everytime i see something made in a shape of owl, i remember him and his nickname and always buy that to him 🙂 So, beacuse of that i would like to learn how to make this little creatures 🙂 cause as i already said, they look perfect.

    Reply

  44. These are adorable! A question though – how do you manage your icing with such long periods of drying? Do you make it and color it once and keep it for the 2-3 days it takes to decorate? Or do you make it new with each level of detail and match the colors as best you can? thanks!

    Reply

  45. These are adorable! A question though – how do you manage your icing with such long periods of drying? Do you make it and color it once and keep it for the 2-3 days it takes to decorate? Or do you make it new with each level of detail and match the colors as best you can? thanks!

    Reply

  47. Thank you for the link! I have no idea how I missed that post – since I generally hang on your every word! @ marian:

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay up to date

Subscribe to get all the latest.

Footer

Post of the Month

Join me for an online class, including how-to videos, PDF guides & recipes.Shop Digital Downloads
+

Sweetopia's Free Subscription Options

RSS Post Updates

Whenever a new post is published on Sweetopia, you can get notified by email updates. This email is just a short excerpt of the latest post with a link if you'd like to read further.

You can sign up for both the Newsletter and Post Updates if you like. Once you sign up you will recieve an email asking for confirmation of your subscription. You can unsubscribe from this service at any time.

Sweetopia Newsletter

Subscribe to Sweetopia's free Newsletter for more tips, tricks, Sweet of the Week & other updates. You can sign up for both the Newsletter and blog updates if you like.

Once you sign up you will recieve an email asking for confirmation of your subscription. You can unsubscribe from this service at any time.