CIRCLE CUTTER
If for some reason your cookies don’t turn out perfectly round, you can use a similar size circle cutter and trace a perfect circle onto the cookie using an edible marker. At first I found the circle shape a little uninspiring because it was so easy to come up with ideas for it. But actually the pizza and vintage copper penny are two of my favorites! Challenge yourself to see how many ideas you can come up with.
COPPER PENNY
beginner 
intermediate advanced
MAKES 22
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch circle cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
1¾ cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasteurized egg white or water
Gel food colors: chocolate brown, bright red, sunset orange, whitener, super black
2 plastic or parchment paper piping bags (here)
1 #1 tip
1 #1.5 tip
Large paintbrush
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 22 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make the lining and flooding icing for the penny; outline and paint in. Mix 1¼ cups royal icing in a small bowl with sunset orange, bright red, chocolate brown, and whitener gels to make copper brown for the penny. Thin to lining consistency and spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip. Thin the remaining icing to flooding consistency and cover with plastic wrap. Using the lining icing, outline the penny. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a large paintbrush and the flooding icing, paint in the penny. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
- 3. Make lining icing and re-outline the penny, make the wheat, and write the words. Refresh the royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix ½ cup icing in a small bowl with chocolate brown and super black gels to make dark brown for the outline, words, and wheat. Thin to lining consistency and spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1.5 tip. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and reserve in case you want to practice “writing” letters before you make them on the cookie. Using the lining icing, re-outline the penny. Write “CENT” in the middle of the cookie, then write “ONE” above it and a smaller “USA” below it, making sure to leave room on either side for the wheat stalks. Make two stalks of wheat curved around the words, drawing the long stalks first, then adding the kernels from the top down. Let set for 1 hour.
GLOBE
beginner intermediate advanced
MAKES 22
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch circle cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
1¾ cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasteurized egg white or water
Gel food colors: bright blue, neon green, whitener, leaf green
2 plastic or parchment paper piping bags (here)
2 #1 tips
Assorted paintbrushes
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 22 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make the lining and flooding icing for the oceans; outline and paint in. Mix 1¼ cups royal icing in a bowl with the bright blue and neon green gels to make blue for the ocean. Thin to lining consistency and spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip. Thin the remaining icing to flooding consistency, add whitener, and cover with plastic wrap. Using the lining icing, outline the globe along the edge of the cookie. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a large paintbrush and the flooding icing, paint in the globe. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
- 3. Make the green lining and flooding icing for the continents; outline and paint in. Refresh the royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix ½ cup icing with neon green and leaf green gels to make green for the continents. Thin to lining consistency and spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip. Thin the remaining icing to flooding consistency, add a little whitener, and cover with plastic wrap. Using the green lining icing, loosely outline the shapes of the continents (do not try to make them perfectly). Let set for 5 minutes. Reserve the lining icing if you want to re-outline the continents. Using a small paintbrush and the flooding icing, paint in the continents. Let set until hard, 4 to 6 hours. When the icing has set, re-outline the continents, if desired, with the reserved lining icing. Let set for 10 minutes.
GRAPEFRUIT
beginner intermediate advanced
MAKES 22
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch circle cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
1½ cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasteurized egg white or water
Gel food colors: egg yellow, whitener, electric pink
2 plastic or parchment paper piping bags (here)
2 #1.5 tips
Assorted paintbrushes
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 22 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make yellow lining icing for the grapefruit peel and outline it. Mix ¼ cup royal icing in a bowl with egg yellow and whitener gels to make yellow for the grapefruit peel. Thin to lining consistency and spoon all of it into a piping bag fitted with a #1.5 tip. Outline the skin of the grapefruit along the edge of the cookie. Let set for 5 minutes.
- 3. Make white lining and flooding icing for the pith; outline and paint in. Mix ¾ cup royal icing in a small bowl with whitener gel to make white for the pith. Spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1.5 tip. Thin the remaining icing to flooding consistency and cover with plastic wrap. Using the white lining icing, outline the segments of the grapefruit by first making a scallop pattern around the circle about ¼ inch from the yellow outline. You should be able to make nine scallops. Outline the sides of each segment by making a line from the low point of each scallop to the center of the cookie, allowing the lines to run together in the center. Let set for 10 minutes. Using a small paintbrush and the white flooding icing, paint in the border between the peel and the pink segments, carefully butting the icing up (see here) to the edge of the peel. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
- 4. Make pink flooding icing for the segments and paint in. Refresh the remaining royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix ½ cup icing in a small bowl with electric pink, egg yellow, and whitener gels to make pink for the segments. Thin to flooding consistency. Using a small paintbrush, paint in the segments, butting the icing up to the white lines without covering them. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
PEPPERONI PIZZA
beginner intermediate advanced
MAKES 22
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch circle cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
2½ cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasteurized egg white or water
Gel food colors: egg yellow, chocolate brown, whitener, bright red, sunset orange, red red, super black
4 plastic or parchment paper piping bags (here)
3 #1 tips
1 #1.5 tip
Assorted paintbrushes
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 22 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make yellow lining and flooding icing for the crust; outline and paint in. Mix 1¼ cups royal icing in a small bowl with egg yellow, chocolate brown, and whitener gels to make golden yellow for the crust. Thin to lining consistency and spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip. Thin the remaining icing to flooding consistency, add a little whitener, and cover with plastic wrap. Using the lining icing, outline the pizza crust just inside the edge of the cookie (this will give you room to make the slice look as if it is pulled away), making a V into the center of the cookie for the slice. Outline the pizza slice, lining the very edge of the cookie for the crust and leaving a space between the slice and the rest of the pizza. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a large paintbrush and the golden yellow flooding icing, paint in the pizza and the pizza slice. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
- 3. Make red lining and flooding icing for the tomato sauce; outline and paint in. Refresh the royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix ½ cup icing in a small bowl with bright red and sunset orange gels to make orangey red for the sauce. Thin to lining consistency and spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip. Thin the remaining icing to flooding consistency and cover with plastic wrap. Using the lining icing, outline the edge of the pizza sauce, making a wiggly circle inside the edge of the crust to leave enough of it exposed so that it reads as crust. Outline the slice in the same way. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a large paintbrush and the orangey red flooding icing, thinly paint in the tomato sauce on the pizza and the slice. Let set until hard, 4 to 6 hours or overnight.
- 4. Make white icing for the mozzarella; pipe on pizza. Refresh the royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix ½ cup icing in a small bowl with a toothpick of egg yellow gel paste to make off-white. Thin to between lining and flooding consistency. Spoon all of it into a piping bag fitted with a #1.5 tip. Cover the pizza by dragging the tip all over the tomato sauce, making imperfect edges within the edges of the tomato sauce. Allow small, irregular spots of the sauce to show through the cheese. Drag the tip in two or three places between the edges of the pizza and the pizza slice to make it look like the cheese is stretching between the slice and the pie. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
- 5. Make burnt red lining and flooding icing for the pepperoni; outline and paint in. Refresh the royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix ¼ cup icing in a small bowl with bright red, red red, and a teeny tiny toothpick of super black gel paste to make burnt red for the pepperoni. (Vegetarians, you can make bell-pepper green with leaf green and a toothpick of chocolate brown; thin to lining consistency and spoon 2 tablespoons into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip.) Thin the remaining icing to flooding consistency and cover with plastic wrap. Using the lining icing, draw pepperoni (or pepper) slices randomly over the cheese. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a small paintbrush and the burnt red flooding icing, very thinly paint in the pepperoni slices (you don’t want them to be puffy). Let set until hard, 4 to 6 hours or overnight.