Food Network: Decorated Sugar Cookies

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Decorated Sugar Cookies
Tips courtesy Warren Brown, 2005

Ingredients
Baked sugar cookies in your favorite shapes
Fondant
Tinted royal icing
Edible glitter
Colored sugar
Nonpareils
Dragees
Plastic candy molds
Pastry bags and tips
Food coloring
Paint brushes

Instructions
Painted Royal Icing Cookies: Bake a couple of extra
practice cookies from the scraps of dough to test paint colors and techniques
on.

Use a pastry bag with a small round tip or a zip top bag with a corner snipped off
to outline and then cover the cookie with royal icing. Allow royal icing covered
cookies to dry 24 hours before painting.

For painting the background of the cookies, dilute food colors with water until
desired color is achieved. (Test color on one of your practice cookies.)

To add outlines and details, use concentrated food color or edible food color

pens.

While the "paint" is still wet, sprinkle with edible glitter to add an extra
sparkle to your cookies.

Candy Melts Molded Cookies: You can use either heat resistant or non-heat
resistant molds for these cookies. Heat resistant molds can filled with the cookie
dough and baked in the oven. Non-heat resistant molds can be used to mold the
cookie dough only. If you are using non-heat resistant molds, make sure you are
using cookie dough that won't spread too much in the oven.

Paint melted candy melts into the details of the mold. Allow the detailed areas to
harden. Fill in the mold with a background color, making sure that you can't see
through the mold when you hold it up to a light. Be careful not to overfill the

mold with the candy melts. If you fill the mold completely, the candy top will not
fit snugly against the cookie base. Place the filled molds in the freezer until
the candy is cold. Remove the molds from the freezer and carefully release the
candy. Secure the top to the cookie with a dab of melted candy melts.

Luster dust brushed on the candy tops adds a beautiful sheen to your
cookies.

Tinted Royal Icing Cookies: Outline the area of the
cookie to be covered using a pastry bag with a small round tip or a zip top bag
with the corner snipped off and quickly fill-in the center of the cookie with
royal icing.

When icing sets, outline and fill-in adjoining areas with additional colors of
royal icing.

Details can be piped on in complementary or contrasting colors of royal icing
after the base color has hardened.

Fondant Molded Cookies: You can use either heat resistant or non-heat resistant
molds for these cookies. Heat resistant molds can filled with the cookie dough and
baked in the oven. Non-heat resistant molds can be used to mold the cookie dough
only. If you are using non-heat resistant molds, make sure you are using cookie
dough that won't spread too much in the oven.

Using the same molds you used to bake the cookies to decorate these cookies.
Lightly dust the mold with powdered sugar and press fondant into the molds. Using

a small offset spatula carefully remove the fondant. Secure the fondant to the
cookie using a small bit of buttercream icing.

You can create detail in the fondant covered cookies by using different colors.
Press small bits of fondant into the details of the mold you want to highlight and
then fill in with a background color.

Luster dust applied to the fondant adds an extra special sparkle to your
cookies.

The fondant can be painted with food coloring or with edible food color pens to
add extra details to the cookies.