Unicorn Cookies

I have a love hate relationship with this unicorn cookie. I love how it turned out, but I really hated cutting out the cookies, thanks to a cutter with four narrow parts that trapped my cookie dough. 

A unicorn has to have its tail, horn and legs so I stuck with it (pardon the pun) and finally figured out a way to get the dough to release from the cutter. It did take some gentle prodding but now I know exactly what to do next time. 

Because these cookies are going to be shipped across the country, I kept the embellishments fairly simple and flat. For instance, a long flowing mane made from piped strands of icing would be pretty but I knew it also could be easily broken off, so I instead opted to use the brushed embroidery technique to add texture. I also chose to add a touch of gold to the hooves and tip of the horn with luster dust instead of sprinkles because it's finer and stays in place better.

Here's how I made them:

I rolled out the cookie dough and then chilled it in the refrigerator until is was cold and very firm.

Using lots of flour on the cutter didn't help the dough release. What did help, was coating the inside of the cutter with baking spray.

After cutting the dough, I placed the cutter over my lined baking sheet and gently eased the dough out with a soft brush. The brush didn't leave poke marks in the dough and worked like a charm.

Clean cut cookies ready for baking.

The cookie after baking. I did notice that the baking spray caused a bit more browning than usual but that's okay, I'll take it!

Outline and fill the cookies with white royal icing.

Use a skewer or scribe tool to help fill in all the gaps and give the cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle.

One more to go and then these cookies need to dry overnight before adding more decorations.

Once the cookies have dried, add some piping consistency pink icing to the tail.

Use a square tip brush to pull the icing down and give movement to the tail.

Do the same to the mane. Clean your brush off periodically between swipes.

The mane and tail are done!

For the horn, I added spaced stripes of piping consistency lavender icing using a #1 tip.

Then I added more stripes to fill in the gaps.

For the eye, I added a drop of blue piping consistency icing and used a scribe tool to pull it out on the sides to create an almond shape. Then I immediately added the tiniest drop of black icing by dipping my scribe tool into the icing and lightly touching it to the blue base.

For the hooves, I brushed on some of the blue icing that I used for the eye.

Immediately, while the icing is still wet, sprinkle on a touch of gold luster dust.

I also added luster dust to the tip of the horns, the same way I added it to the hooves. I painted on a bit of icing and immediately sprinkled on the luster dust.

Let your cookies dry completely before serving, packaging or in my case, mailing.