Quick Cookie Decorating With Edible Markers

If you don't want to spend a lot of time mixing colors and piping, you can still make some pretty cute cookies using edible markers.

The markers are especially nice for tiny details that are difficult to add with a piping bag.  To make these cute Christmas cookies, I flooded the cookies with blue royal icing and immediately added some dots for snow. After that dried, I used the same white icing that I used for the snow to add snowman and tree shapes. Then you just need to wait for the icing to dry completely before you can go to town decorating with edible markers.

The edible marker method is really the easiest way to decorate cookies and the perfect project for young children.

My favorite markers to use are from AmeriColor. The colors are vibrant and not translucent. They are available online and in specialty baking shops. Once you have the markers, you'll find lots of other uses for them besides cookie decorating. Who wouldn't love to find a funny faced apple in their sack lunch?

Autumn Tree Cookies

These Autumn Tree Cookies just kind of evolved as I recently baked and decorated a batch of cookies just for fun so that I could experiment and practice.

When it comes to cookie decorating, I will never rest on my laurels. There's always something to learn and new cookies to attempt.

The falling leaves on the cookies were added with a #67 Wilton leaf tip.  These cookies came together quickly and what I found most difficult was trying to decide where to add the leaves. I wanted their placement to look natural and for me that was hard to do.

I used dark blue royal icing for the trees and added them while the white base coat was still wet.

I'm now thinking that for Halloween I should make black trees on an orange base coat.  I think that would look really cool and I could also add some black crows and a full moon. I know I'm getting ahead of myself but I can't help it, I really enjoy the creative process of cookie decorating.

Here's how to decorate Autumn Tree Cookies:

Outline the cookies with medium consistency royal icing using a #2 tip. Let this dry for about 30 minutes before moving on to the next step.

Put flood consistency blue and white royal icing into pastry bags that are each fitted with a #2 tip. Flood the cookie with the white icing.

Then immediately use the blue icing to make a tree trunk. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Add some branches.

Here's another example. Let the cookie dry completely before adding the leaves.

It usually takes anywhere from 8 to 12 hours for the cookies to dry completely.

After the cookie has dried, pipe dark orange leaves onto the tree using stiff royal icing and a #67 Wilton leaf tip. Once the leaves are added, use a skewer or scribe tool to gently flatten them. If you leave them sticking up and out like in this photo, they will be too fragile for packaging.

This is how the leaves look after gently flattening them. Wait for the leaves to dry completely before packaging.

Here's an Autumn Tree Cookie with some Double-Decker Mini Pumpkin Cookies that were also part of my recent practice batch. Happy Autumn!

Tree Cookie

Thanks to my wonderful #67 leaf tip, this tree cookie actually isn't too hard to make.

If you haven't used a leaf tip before, practice piping on a plate until you get the hang of it. The secret is to pull up as you release pressure on the pastry bag. That movement is what forms the end point of the leaf. It just takes some practice.

These trees are for the wedding cake I'm making this weekend so I "carved" the initials of the couple into the trunk of one of the trees.

Here's the steps to making them:

Make and bake tree cookies.

After you've flooded the trunk with brown and the top with green royal icing, let the cookie dry completely. Then, begin adding branches with piping consistency royal icing and a #2 tip.

Try to make the layout of the branches look natural.

With stiff icing and a #67 leaf tip, add green leaves.

Add more leaves in another color for contrast and interest.