"Bee" Mine Valentine Cookie

Believe me, no artistic ability is needed to create this cute "Bee" Mine Valentine cookie.

The bee was created by pressing a cookie cutter into the cookie before baking. Then, all you need to do is trace the outline and amaze your loved ones with a beautiful sweet treat.

Here's how:

Cut out your cookie (I used a plaque-shaped cutter) and gently press your bee cutter into the dough to make an indentation.

It will look like this.

And it will look like this after baking.

Outline your cookie with piping consistency royal icing.

Also outline the bee.

Flood the cookie with flood consistency royal icing. You will need to use a skewer or scribe tool (pictured above) to move the icing to the edge and into the narrow areas.

When the flood icing is dry, add a yellow bee body.

Immediately add eyes and stripes. This technique is called wet on wet.

Keep working until all the bee bodies are complete.

Add pink icing to the wing area.

With an icing that is just a bit thinner than piping consistency, add your lettering. Practice piping on a plate first to be sure your icing is the correct consistency.

For more detail, add a bit of brushed embroidery to the bee wings. Outline the wings with piping consistency royal icing and then use a damp square tip brush to pull it inwards. Clean your brush off after every three or four strokes.

For even more pizazz you can add sanding sugar to the edge of the cookie. If you are planning on wrapping the cookies, I recommend skipping this step since sanding sugar can easily get knocked off and create a mess in the bags. I would only add this sparkly detail if the cookies are going to be served on a platter.

Once the cookie is completely dry, outline the cookie with piping consistency royal icing.

Have a plate of sanding sugar ready and gently dip your cookie in upside down.

Lift your cookie up out of the sugar and let it dry. Once the icing is dry you can use a soft brush to remove any stray sugar granules.

Here's a side by side comparison of the two designs. I think either would make your Valentine very happy.