Are you ready? Are you ready for the EASIEST cookie tutorial ever? The easiest cookie tutorial that yields the COOLEST looking cookies ever?
These marbled, gold-flecked star cookies were made for a prom cookie set. I'll show you the full set in a few days. Otherwise, you'd be scrolling through approximately 372 photos in this one post. (And you're thinking, "That's really not unusual for you, Bridget.")
To start, you'll need cookies and icing. I used my go-to cut-out cookie recipe (but you can use any of my cut-out cookie recipes...find the full list here) and my royal icing recipe.
For the decorating, you'll need:
- royal icing tinted in 2-3 colors (I used Americolor bright white, Chefmaster navy blue, and Chefmaster navy blue mixed with Americolor super black and regal purple)
- a few medium-sized bowls
- squeeze bottles
- toothpicks
- gold luster dust (this is my new favorite...it's FDA-approved)
- everclear or vodka
- small ramekin
- food-only paint brush
Thin the icings with water, adding a bit at a time, stirring gently, until the icings are thin enough to cover the cookie, but not too thin to run off of the sides. This is approximately "5-second icing." Run a knife through the bowl of icing. The line should disappear in a count of about 5 seconds.
Cover the bowls with a damp dish towel and let them rest for a few minutes. Gently stir to pop large air bubbles that have risen to the surface. (Keep extra icings covered with the dish towel as you work.)
Pour some (not all) of the base color into one of the medium-sized bowls. Use squeeze bottles to squeeze the contrasting colors onto the base color.
Leave as is, or use a toothpick to gently swirl the colors. Don't go crazy with the swirling to avoid the icing looking muddled.
You can use the lightest color as the base or one of the others. They really look great either way...I used white for my base on some and the medium blue as a base for others.
Dip cookies into the icing, tilting to one side as you pull up. Shake the cookie to smooth the icing and use a toothpick to clean up the edge if needed.
You'll want a few bowls because after a while, the colors will look a bit muddled and you'll need to start fresh. Start with a new bowl of base icing. If you haven't swirled the icing too much, you can use a spoon to scoop out the top layers of icing to get back down to the base color to start fresh.
Let the cookies dry uncovered for 6-8 hours or overnight.
The next day, mix a bit of everclear or vodka with the luster dust.
Dip a food-only paintbrush into the mixture and use your finger to "flick" the gold paint onto the cookies. Yes, you and your table will look quite festive.
The gold luster dries fairly quickly, and you're ready for packaging.
I am absolutely in love with this marbling technique. How about you?
