Tracing Method For Decorated Cookies

I recently made this pretty batch of bee and butterfly cookies using the method of tracing a design onto an already filled and dried base cookie.

I used bee and butterfly cookie cutters as my guides for tracing but you are not limited to just cookie cutters for your design. You could make your own template by drawing or printing a design onto paper and then cutting it out. To trace the designs onto the base cookie,  I used a black food safe pen.

I love the double-decker effect his technique gives without using a second cookie. I also love that the tracing method means no special artistic ability is needed to pull this off.

Here's how I made them:

Bake a batch of base cookies that are large enough for your design. Outline a cookie using a #2 pastry tip and flood consistency royal icing.

Using the same icing immediately fill in the cookie and use a scribe tool or skewer to move the icing to fill in the gaps.

Let the cookies dry completely before moving onto the next step. This takes about 8 hours.

Place your cookie cutter or paper template onto the cookie. Outline the design with a food safe pen.

I added butterfly and bee designs.

For the butterfly, outline the design with medium consistency black royal icing and a #1 tip.

Using the same icing, outline the body of the butterfly.

Fill the inside of the body with icing and also add lines to divide the wings.

Set this aside to dry for at least 30 minutes.

Keep working until all the cookies are completed up to this point.

Fill the bottom wings with flood consistency royal icing using a #1 tip. I use the small tip because I am filling compact areas and want to have good control of the icing.

Using the same outlining black icing, add two lines on each bottom wing.

Use a skewer or scribe tool to draw through the lines toward the center of the butterfly.

Draw through the lines three times on each wing, being sure to wipe of your skewer or scribe tool after each swipe.

Add another color of icing to the top two wings.

Add three lines of royal icing onto each wing.

Draw through the lines four times on each side again being certain to clean off your tool after each swipe.

Add two dots.

Add a tiny drop of black to the center of the dots.

It's fun to experiment with different color combinations. Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging. This takes about 8 hours.

For the bee, outline the body with black royal icing and add two dots for eyes. Let the outline dry for at least 30 minutes.

Fill in the body with bright yellow royal icing. I used medium consistency icing and a #1 tip.

Immediately add black stripes and lines between the body and wings.

Fill in the wings.

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

Add two black dots of icing on top of the eye areas.

Add a tiny drop of the wing icing on top of the black dots. Let the cookies dry completely before packaging or serving.