SQUARE CUTTER
I could go on forever with a square. But I must have been hungry when I chose these, because they all relate to food. The success of the Egg on Toast is the result of a happy accident: I painted the bread with white flooding icing, which didn’t ring true for toast, so I scraped it off with an offset spatula—and the result was exactly the texture I had been looking for!
I had fun with the other cookies, making the peanut butter icing the consistency of real peanut butter and using confectioners’ sugar to make a pile of chalk dust on the Chalkboard. The key to the slice of Swiss Cheese? Getting the color just right.
CHALKBOARD
beginner 
intermediate advanced
MAKES 18
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch square cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
2¼ cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasturized egg white or water
Gel food colors: super black, whitener, gold, chocolate brown, egg yellow
2 plastic or parchment paper piping bags (here)
2 #1 tips
Assorted paintbrushes
Confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 18 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make black flooding icing for the chalkboard and paint in. Mix 1¼ cups royal icing in a bowl with super black to make black for the chalkboard. Thin to loose flooding consistency and, using a paintbrush, thinly paint the surface of the cookie with the icing, thinning it out to within a ¼ inch of the edge. Let set for 2 hours or until dry.
- 3. Make brown lining and flooding icing for the frame; outline and paint in. Mix ¾ cup royal icing with gold, chocolate brown, egg yellow, and whitener gels to make light brown for the frame. 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 brown lining icing, outline the outer and inner edges of the chalkboard frame, leaving a ⅛-inch edge around the cookie. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a paintbrush and the flooding icing, carefully paint in the frame. Let set for 2 hours.
- 4. Make white lining icing for the chalk; write on the board and make the chalk. Mix ¼ cup royal icing with whitener gel to make chalk white. Thin to tight lining consistency and spoon it all into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip. To “write” words on the chalkboard, use the piping bag like a pencil, dragging its tip on the surface of the chalkboard. Let set for 5 minutes. Pipe two short, fat lines on the base of the frame to mimic chalk. Using your fingers, gently dab a little confectioners’ sugar along the bottom edge of the chalkboard, then brush a small pile to one side to mimic chalk dust. Using your finger, dab a little more around the words. Let set for 30 minutes or until dry.
OPEN-FACED PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICH
beginner intermediate advanced
MAKES 18
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch square cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
3½ cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasteurized egg white or water
Gel food colors: sunset orange, chocolate brown, egg yellow, whitener, lemon yellow, gold
1 plastic or parchment paper piping bag (here)
1 #1.5 tip
Offset spatula or butter knife
Paintbrush
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 18 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make brown lining icing for the crust; make off-white flooding icing for the bread. Mix ¼ cup royal icing in a bowl with sunset orange, chocolate brown, egg yellow, and whitener gels to make brown for the crust. Thin to slightly looser than lining consistency and spoon it all into a piping bag fitted with a #1.5 tip. Mix 1¾ cups royal icing in a bowl with lemon yellow and whitener gels to make off-white for the bread. Thin to flooding consistency and cover with plastic wrap.
- 3. Outline the crust and paint in the bread. Using the brown lining icing, outline the slice of bread using the full surface of the cookie, making indentations, and rounding the corners to mimic a slice of bread. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a paintbrush and the off-white flooding icing, paint in the bread, butting up (see here) the icing to the crust. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
- 4. Make the “peanut butter” and spread it on the bread. Refresh the royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix 1½ cups icing in a bowl with chocolate brown, gold, and whitener gels to make brown for the peanut butter. Thin the icing just to spreadable peanut butter consistency. Using an offset spatula or butter knife, spread the peanut butter onto the bread, leaving a rim of the white bread showing. Don’t worry about being neat; the icing looks more realistic if it’s a little messy! Let set for 4 to 6 hours or until dry.
EGG ON TOAST
beginner intermediate advanced
MAKES 18
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch square cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
3½ cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasteurized egg white or water
Gel food colors: sunset orange, chocolate brown, egg yellow, whitener, lemon yellow
3 plastic or parchment paper piping bags (here)
2 #1 tips
1 #1.5 tip
Offset spatula or butter knife
Assorted paintbrushes
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 18 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make brown lining icing for the crust and outline it. Mix ¼ cup royal icing with sunset orange, chocolate brown, egg yellow, and whitener gels to make brown for the bread crust. Thin to lining consistency and spoon it all into a piping bag fitted with a #1.5 tip. Outline the bread slice, using the full surface of the cookie, making indentations on the left and right sides, and rounding the corners to resemble a slice of bread. Let set for 30 minutes.
- 3. Make off-white flooding icing for the bread and paint on. Mix ¾ cups royal icing with a toothpick of lemon yellow to make off-white for the bread. Using a paintbrush, paint a very thin layer of the flooding icing inside the crust; you want the texture of the cookie to show through to mimic the air holes of a slice of toast. Use the side of a butter knife or offset spatula to wipe away excess icing, scraping right down to the cookie to exaggerate the texture. Let set for 30 seconds.
- 4. Make white lining and flooding icing for the egg white; outline and paint in. Mix 1½ cups royal icing with whitener gel to make egg white. 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 the bowl with plastic wrap. Using the white lining icing, outline the egg white on the bread slice. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a paintbrush and the white flooding icing, paint in the egg white. Let set until hard, 4 to 6 hours or overnight.
- 5. Make yellow lining and flooding icing for the yolk; outline and paint in. Refresh the royal icing on medium low for 30 seconds. Mix ¾ cup icing in a bowl with egg yellow gel to make egg yolk yellow. Thin to lining consistency and spoon ¼ cup into a piping bag fitted with a #1 tip. Thin the remaining icing to thick flooding consistency and cover with plastic wrap. Using the lining icing, outline a circle on the egg white. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a paintbrush and the flooding icing, paint in the yolk, making it slightly puffy to mimic a real egg yolk. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.
SWISS CHEESE
beginner intermediate advanced
MAKES 18
what you need
TO MAKE THE COOKIES
3-inch square cookie cutter
Cookie dough of choice (here), prepared, chilled, and rolled out
Cooling racks
TO DECORATE
2 cups Royal Icing (here)
Pasteurized egg white or water
Gel food colors: lemon yellow, egg yellow, whitener
1 plastic or parchment paper piping bag (here)
1 #1 tip
Paintbrush
- 1. Make the cookies. Cut out 18 cookies from the dough. Bake and cool as directed.
- 2. Make lining and flooding icing for the cheese. Mix 2 cups royal icing in a bowl with tiny toothpicks of lemon yellow, egg yellow, and whitener gels to make light yellow for the cheese. Thin the icing 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.
- 3. Outline the cheese and paint in. Using the lining icing, pipe the edges of the cheese slice, making irregularly shaped holes in the edges. Outline holes of various sizes in random places on the interior of the cookie. Let set for 5 minutes. Using a paintbrush and the flooding icing, paint in the interior of the slice, around the holes. Let set until hard, 6 to 8 hours or overnight.