Using A Cookie Press To Decorate Cookies

I have a small cookie press with a bird design that I purchased last year to make cookies that I used to decorate a wedding cake.

The press has since been just sitting a drawer and I've been thinking for a while that I'd like to incorporate it somehow in a cookie design.

And that's how these double-decker bird cookies came about. The design is simple which I like and why I decided to leave the area around the bird plain. To me,  the cookies give off a summery beach vibe with seagull like bird and the sand-colored icing on the main cookie. I used the smallest touch of three colorings to make it — yellow, brown and blue.

Here's how:

Roll the cookie dough into 1.5 inch balls and pat into even-sized rounds large enough for the bird cookie press.

Center the press on the round and press just enough to leave the design marked in the dough. Don't press all the way through the dough.

It will look like this. Don't worry about mistakes because you can re-roll the dough and start over as much as you need to.

Also cut out the same number of larger base cookies. I used a large plaque-shaped cutter.

Bake the cookies and let them cool.

Outline and flood the base cookies with royal icing using a #2 pastry tip.

Use a blue edible ink marker to highlight the lines on the bird's wings and tail.

Also use the pen to outline the bird.

Add a thin coat of white color to the bird using thinned royal icing and a square tip paint brush.

Adhere the bird cookie to the base cookie using a few drops of stiff royal icing.

Lastly, outline the base cookie using a #2 tip and a complimentary color of piping consistency royal icing. Click here for more detailed information about royal icing consistencies.