Last month, when I made some fun lollipop cookies as cupcake toppers for my daughter’s candy party I started thinking of all the other cute mini cookies I could make for cupcake toppers all year round. Since we’re right in the middle of spring here in California, I thought some little flowers would be the perfect way to celebrate the season.
I’ve had lots of questions as to how I made the little lollipop toppers, so I’ll start with a little how-to.
First, prepare the cookie dough then chill and roll out the dough (recipe and instructions HERE).
It is important that the dough is nice and cool and firm.
For the lollipop cookies I used a 1 1/2 inch circle (from this set
). For the flower shapes, I used cutters from the Wilton Easter 12pc Mini Metal Cookie Cutter Set
.
When I’m making mini cookies to use as cupcake toppers, I use Wilton(R) 4 Inch Lollipop Sticks
(also available at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby).
Once you have your dough chilled, rolled out and have cut your shapes…
Transfer to a cooling rack, and as soon as they are cool they are ready to decorate.
These cookies also keep very well, so you can bake them one day, then keep them covered (on a plate covered with plastic wrap, or in a large Ziplock type bag) for a couple days before you decorate them.
Anatomy of a cookie decorating table
Once you’re ready to decorate, prepare Royal Icing (recipe below).
Royal Icing Recipe
4 Tablespoons Meringue Powder (I use Wilton Brand)
4 cups (about 1 pound) powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons warm water (to start, see additional notes below)
Beat all ingredients until stiff peaks form.
*Make sure all bowls and utensils are totally grease-free or your icing will never reach proper consistency.
Spoon some of the thick white icing into individual bowls and add coloring (I use Americolor.
)
Add additional water, about 1 teaspoon at a time until you’ve reached the consistency you need.
For these cookies you can used one consistency of icing for the whole design. Thin the icing with warm water until the icing is about the consistency of corn sryup, or slighly thicker. It should be thick enough that it does not run off the edge of the cookie, but thin enough that it will flow and fill in as you pipe.
Gather supplies and prepare a work area (as pictured above).
For these cookies, I wanted to create a two toned effect, like some varieties of real-life tulips. You could skip this step and have single color cookies.
For other cookie designs, this would be the time to use of another color of flood consistency icing and add little drops onto the cookie, creating perfect polka-dots.
This technique is call “wet on wet”.
Set the cookie on a tray to dry. Depending on the temperature and humidity level in your home, the icing will take 2-12 hours to dry. Do not attempt to wrap up the cookies until the icing is completely dry. To speed up drying time a bit, set up a fan to gently blow on the cookies.
Once the icing is dry, add a ribbon around the stick (if you like), and insert into frosted cupcakes.
It’s a cookie and a cupcake… what more could you want in life? Well, what more could you want in a treat at least?
For the centers of the daisy shapes I added a mini M&M; when the icing was still wet (and before I sprinkled on the the sanding sugar).
Happy Spring
and
Happy Baking!
This is a fabulous posting! Thanks for providing all the details and great pics of the whole process. I might have to try making some of these!
We´re so inspired by them! Gorgeous work!!! Greetings from Brazil, BH. noohcupcakes.com
hello again glory!
i've made sugar cookies and royal icing many times for kids to decorate and take home at parties. however i've noticed that my royal icing dry's a bit rough and the color goes rather dull. i have always used the wilton recipe and merigue powder. wonder what i'm doing wrong that i don't get that shiny smooth finish. none the less, your cookis are beautiful!
This is exactly what I was looking for!! I am going to bring treats to my granddaughters' Halloween Party, and will definitely use your Halloween Cookie Ideas! Thank you 🙂
Thank you for your fantastic ideas and step-by-step tutorial! Everything looks beautiful – hard to believe they are edible!
These are so adorable. I am so glad you posted this tutorial, I can use all the help I can get with decorating with royal icing!
HJ Stanton-
Thanks for the comment. I'm so glad you're enjoying the blog.
For the cookies that I made to look like lollipop I waited until the base layer or royal icing was totally dry (that usually takes 6-12 hours), and then I piped a swirl of thick royal icing (in a contrasting color) and then sprinkled on sanding sugar. Now, if you don't plan to use the sanding sugar you don't need to wait as long. If you're not doing the sanding sugar you can probably pipe the swirl after just a couple hours (depending on the temperature of your home). It should be mostly dry, but if your careful, it doesn't have to be totally dry. They just need to be totally dry if your doing the sanding sugar, otherwise the sugar will stick to all of the icing, not just the swirl.
-Glory
I really love the candy cookies you made! How did you go about piping the "swirls" to make it appear to look like a lollipop? I tried making these tonight, and am lost about how long to wait to pipe the swirls on. Your tutorials are wonderful! Thank you so much. Love your blog! HJStanton@aol.com
Rebecca- Thanks for the sweet comment, it's great to "see" you here!
The pink and white polka dot table runners I used for Graces candy party (both on the candy table and the dessert table) were just fabric (I got from JoAnn's on Sunrise & Madison). I just cut the fabric lengthwise (so I could make the two runners from my one piece of fabric), and then I just simply folded under the edges and ironed them nice and hot so they stayed in place (you could hem them too, but I ran out of white thread!).
Glory, I just love your site…I am so excited to try this. I love all the finishing touches you do. Ok crazy question…where did you get the pink polka dot table runner…did you make it?
Rebecca Dunlap