Decorated Cardinal Cookies
I’ve always wanted to make cardinal cookies, but I’ve never been able to find quite the right cutter. This year, I decided to make it happen.
It took a little thought, but when it finally hit me I was super excited…and a little sad I hadn’t thought of it earlier. I made this cookie using a simple egg trimmed with a heart. If you want a curvier bird, a flip-flop works well too.
Like many of my cookies {on a good week} my cardinals started out as a sketch. If you’re not a sketcher, try it sometime. It often saves time and frustration during the decorating process.
Once the cookies are baked, use a food color marker a smaller egg cutter to draw wings on each cookie. This is a great way to create uniform cookie designs without a projector.
To decorate these cookies you will need:
- Black 20-second icing
- Light red outline and flood icing
- Dark red piping 20-second icing {just a small amount}
- Yellow piping icing
- White piping icing
Begin by using black icing to create a face.
Once the face has had time to dry, outline and flood the body {excluding the wing} with light red.
When the lighter red icing has set, use the darker red shade to fill the wing.
Finish up with a few small details:
- Pipe a beak using a #3-4 tip
- Add a small white dot to form an eye
- Add a fun little swirl of icing to the wing {optional}
Mix with other fun designs to create a pretty platter. I was inspired by Lizy B Bakes and Flour de Lis to add snow cookies and sweet dotty trees.
If you’re interested in the front facing birdies, I used this Wilton Christmas cutter that I picked up at Walmart. For more inspirational cookies, check out these posts: