Two things:
- Cookies with faces always = cute.
- Anything on a stick tastes 10x better. (Seriously, you can't tell me a corn dog tastes as good OFF the stick.)
See what I mean? Don't you just want to grab one?
So, when I started thinking about these funny-face candy corn cookies, I knew they needed to be in "pop" form. You'll find cookie sticks right in the craft store; just make sure you grab the ones labeled for cookies, not lollipops. The lollipop sticks may not be thick enough to hold the cookies.
Also, if you have a mini candy corn cutter, you can make these on TOOTHPICKS! Y'all. They're darling. Here are some mini egg cookies I make to go on Easter cupcakes.
Fill in the outline with the thinned flood icing, using a toothpick to guide to the edges and to pop large air bubbles.
To make the candy corn cookie pops, you'll need:
- candy corn-shaped cut-out cookies rolled about 3/8" thick
- cookie pop sticks
- royal icing, divided and tinted with AmeriColor Orange, Bright White, Egg Yellow, and Super Black
- icing coupler and tips: #2, #3 & #1
- squeeze bottles
- toothpicks
When baking the cookies (this is my favorite cut-out cookie recipe), leave enough room for a stick to be inserted, about 3 cookies per cookie sheet.
Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, insert a cookie pop stick up through the center of the cookies, about 1/3 of the way up. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for several minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, use a #2 tip to outline and section the cookies with orange icing. (Reserve some white piping-consistency icing for adding details later.)
Thin the orange, white, and yellow icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula until it they're the consistency of a thick syrup. You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin. A count of 2-3 is good. Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.
Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop any large air bubbles that have formed. Pour into squeeze bottles.
Let the cookies dry for at least one hour.
Use a #3 tip to add the eyeballs with white icing. Use a #1 tip to add the pupils, mouths, eyebrows, and eyelashes in black. Switch the tip on the white icing to a #1 and add white eye detail.
[Note: you can also make a mini version of these using a mini cookie cutter and toothpicks for the sticks.]
Which face is your favorite? I'm partial to the angry candy corn.
*this post was originally created for a feature in Parade Magazine in 2013. You can find it here.
