Wet On Wet Flowers

I've shown how to make these before but I so love cookie decorating that's easier than it looks and these wet on wet flowers are just that.

They are called wet on wet flowers because they are created by adding wet icing onto wet icing and then using a scribe tool to swirl and blend to create the flowers.

It truly is easy and a little bit of practice makes perfect. The only rules are that you must have all of your icing colors mixed and ready to go at once before you start decorating and you can only work on one cookie at a time.

Here's how:

Get all your icing colors mixed and ready. You want them all to be flood consistency.

I outlined and flooded a cookie with green icing and then immediately added a blob of light pink, the size I wanted the flower to be. On top of the light pink, I then added some dark pink and white.

I used my scribe tool (a skewer or toothpick would also work) to swirl the colors together to create a flower shape.

Then I dropped on a bit of dark yellow for the center.

I highlighted the center by adding some dark pink under it.

And, added some more drops of light pink to create another layer of petals.

Maneuver the icing with your scribe tool until you are satisfied.

I'm pleased with this!

Add some green icing for leaves.

Use your scribe tool to pull the green icing out to a point. Before I did this, I dipped my scribe tool in a bit of the lighter green to create little lines.

I also decided to add a few white dots all around the cookie.

Here's another one. I outlined and flooded the cookie, added the same icings for the flower and added a dark pink border.

I didn't add a center to this flower, I just swirled the colors together. For interest, I added a little line of yellow to the center of the leaves by dipping my scribe tool in the icing and lightly drawing it on.

Here's a variation with lots of small flowers and a bead border. I didn't add any white to the flowers, I just used light and dark pink.

And here's yet another design. There really is no end to what you can create.

Ornament Cookies

I used just three colors of royal icing to make these ornament cookies and was still able to create a wide assortment of designs. I decorated all of these using the wet on wet technique of dropping wet icing onto wet icing for a flat design.

There are two main reasons I like using the wet on wet technique. One is that it's quick decorating because there's no added drying time between layers. And two, is that a single flat layer of icing is the sturdiest and a smart choice for holiday cookies that will packaged or shipped. A single layer of icing holds up best because there are no raised bits that can be squashed or knocked off.

Here's how I decorated them:

I mixed up all of my icing colors, thinned them to flood consistency and placed them in piping bags fitted with #2 tips. I used just three colors, blue, green and white.

When you decorate using the wet on wet technique you can work on just one cookie at a time.

Outline and fill a section of the cookie with white.

Use a skewer or scribe tool to help evenly distribute the icing and give the cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle.

Immediately add two blue stripes.

Add a green stripe.

Now outline and fill the other sections of the cookie.

If you don't decorate the entire cookie while the icing is still wet, you'll have obvious seams between the segments.

One down, more to go.

You can also divide up the segments on the cookie differently.

Remember to always give the cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle and help eliminate air bubbles.

Add some dots while the icing is still wet.

Finish off the cookie with some blue on the top and bottom.

You can also draw through piped lines for a chevron effect.

This is so simple yet people are always amazed by it.

Three cookies down.

Here are two more design ideas. Experiment, be creative and most importantly, have fun. Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging.

Monkey Cookies And Some "Face" Tips

I like how these Monkey Cookies turned out but I admit it, I'm not a skilled artist and by far, my biggest cookie decorating insecurity is making faces.

Eye placement, proportion, realism, these are all things that trip me up and stress me out. But I won't deny a cookie request because of this, and have learned a few tricks that help me face making faces.

The first trick is study your subject —  Look at pictures, drawings and sketches and find one that is simplified and showcases what you want your final product to look like.

The second trick is to sketch a design — Trace your cookie cutter onto a piece of paper and using just a pencil, decorate it. Take your time, erase if necessary, and get the design exactly how you want it.

The third trick is to cut a guide that you can trace onto your cookie with an edible marker — There's no shame in doing this and it helps keep all your cookies uniform.

The final trick is when it comes to adding the eyes, nose, mouth and other face features, add them onto a plate first — You don't want to ruin a perfectly good cookie with a failed test run,  so drop those eyes and other features onto a plate first and get them right before you add them onto your cookies.

Here's how I made these Monkey Cookies:

I baked my cookies and sketched my design.

I cut a guide for the face that I traced onto the cookies with an edible marker.

This guide will make the decorating so much easier and keep all my cookies uniform.

I outlined the guidelines with light brown icing using a #2 tip.

Using the same icing and tip, I immediately filled in the lines.

I also outlined and filled in a moon shape on all of the ears.

While the face icing was still wet, I dropped on the eyes, nose and mouth using thinned black icing and a #1 tip. Then, using my scribe tool, I added a tiny drop of blue icing to each eye. I also used my scribe tool to draw through the mouth and elongate it on both sides.

The final step was to outline the rest of the cookie with dark brown flood consistency icing using a #1 tip. I used the small tip because the areas around the ears and under the chin are narrow and I wanted to be sure to have good control.

Let the cookies dry completely before serving or packaging.

Monarch Butterfly Cookies

You can make pretty monarch butterfly cookies any size you want. Just bake some cookies, round, square, whatever shape you want (I used a plaque cookie cutter), and then make a butterfly template that fits the cookie out of a piece of paper.

To decorate them, you need to have all of your icings ready to go at once. I used delphinium blue for the background and medium orange and black for the butterfly. I thinned these to flood consistency and put them each into piping bags fitted with a  #1 tip. Whenever I'm outlining and filling small areas, I use a #1 tip so that the icing is easier to control.

I also mixed some small amounts of white, yellow and dark orange flood icings and covered them with plastic wrap so they wouldn't dry out. I applied them to the cookie by using a scribe tool, a toothpick or skewer would also work.

You also need an edible ink marker to make these, here's how:

Bake a batch of cookies and cut a butterfly shape that fits.

Lay the butterfly template on the cookie.

Use an edible ink marker to trace the template.

Outline the body of the butterfly.

Outline the cookie with icing, I used delphinium blue.

Then start to outline the butterfly and fill in the background sections. Use a scribe tool, toothpick or skewer to help evenly distribute the icing.

Keep working around the whole butterfly.

It will look like this.

Use your edible ink marker to draw a border around the butterfly and draw the wing sections.

Outline and fill the border of the butterfly with black icing.

Use a scribe tool, toothpick, or skewer to add dots and short lines of the dark orange, yellow and white icing around the border. Just touch the icing to pick up a little and then drop it onto the border. This technique allows you to add very small details.

It will look like this.

Now, outline the wing sections with black icing.

Fill the sections with medium orange icing. Be careful not too add too much or it will spill over your outline and again use your scribe tools to move and manipulate the icing.

All done. Let the cookie dry completely before serving or packaging.