How to Decorate a Sunflower Cookie

Directions

• 1

  Bake and cool cookies fully before decorating. Prepare royal icing in the following colors and consistencies:  

  Outline/Piping Consistency:  
  Golden Yellow (Pro Tip: You can achieve a golden yellow color by mixing yellow gel color with a small amount of brown gel color.) 
  Brown 

  Flood Consistency: 
  Golden Yellow 

  
• 2

  Using a 1.5” circle cookie cutter, gently push the cutter into the center of the cookie, turning the cutter in either direction to make a circular impression on the cookie. You can also use a small drinking glass or the circular side of a piping tip to create a circle. The purpose of this is just to score the cookie, so that you have a guide while you’re piping. 

  
• 3

  Using the yellow outline consistency icing, trace the circle impression to delineate the center of the sunflower.  

  
• 4

  Continuing with the yellow outline consistency icing, pipe each flower petal as shown in the photo.  

  
• 5

  Add a squiggle of yellow outline consistency icing to alternating petals. 
  Pro Tip: Flooding small sections of a cookie with royal icing leaves the icing vulnerable to craters, which are holes or sinking that can often occur in the icing as it dries. In this design, the petal sections are at risk for craters, so adding this squiggle of outline consistency icing helps minimize the risk of craters by providing a cushion for the flood icing so that when it tries to sink as it dries, it has the thicker outline icing underneath to help hold it up. 

  
• 6

  Using the yellow flood consistency icing, fill in the petals you just added the squiggle of outline consistency icing to. Use your scribe tool or toothpick to smooth out the icing of each petal and pop any air bubbles. Allow these sections to crust over for 20-30 minutes before moving onto the next step. If you do not wait between sections, you risk the two wet sections next to each other bleeding into each other, losing definition. 

  
• 7

  Once the icing has crusted over, repeat step 5, piping a squiggle of yellow outline consistency icing, on the remaining petals. 

  
• 8

  Using the yellow flood consistency icing, fill in the petals you just added the squiggle of icing to. Use your scribe tool or toothpick to smooth out the icing of each petal and pop any air bubbles. Allow these sections to crust over for 20-30 minutes before moving onto the next step. You can speed the drying process by placing the cookies under a fan. 

  
• 9

  Using the brown outline consistency icing, pipe small dots on the outside layer of the middle circle. Continue piping dots, filling in the middle section with dots in a circular pattern, until the section is full and minimal to no bare cookie is showing. 
  

  
• 10

  Pro Tip: If the piped dots are not holding their shape, your icing consistency may be too thin. Remove the icing from the piping bag and place it into a mixing bowl. Add powdered sugar, a small amount at a time, until a thicker consistency is achieved. The consistency should be like toothpaste.  

  Enjoy!