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Enameled Cookie How To

How To Make Enameled Cookies

These cookies were inspired by the bejeweled Jay Strongwater frames that my grandmother has on display in her art gallery. In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to achieve this enameled look. You can see the entire set of cookies here.
To purchase products used in this and other tutorials, visit the recommended products page.

This plaque cookie cutters are available on Karen’s Cookies website.

There are two sizes of this cutter available. I’m using the smaller one in this tutorial. Once your cookies are baked and cooled, use a scribe tool to trace a round cookie cutter in the center of the cookie to create a guide.

Flood the area around the circle in pink icing and immediately pipe stripes of white flood consistency icing using a tip 3. You can learn all about flood consistency icing and how to use it in the video, Flooding With Royal Icing, which is available in my tutorial shop

Use the scribe tool to swirl the two colors together.

You don’t have to wait for the icing to dry before moving on to the next step. Fill in the center circle with white flood icing and a tip 3.

Immediately pipe pale yellow icing (I used a touch of golden yellow to make this color) over the white circle and swirl it around with the scribe tool.

Allow the icing to dry completely, which takes about 8-12 hours. I usually ice my cookies and let them sit overnight before finishing the decorations.
Mix some corn syrup with a few drops of alcohol to thin it out. I’m using Bacardi 151, but you can use any alcohol or flavored extract. Cover the entire surface with the corn syrup glaze. This is similar to the cracked glaze technique.

Then, mix white pearl dust with a few drops of alcohol and use a small brush to place drops of it into the wet glaze.

 Swirl the pearl dust and glaze around with the brush.

I added a royal icing transfer in the center. You could try using a fondant cameo, a monogram, or an edible image. Make sure to gently press the decoration into the glaze. I used the scribe tool to help position the bee in the center. 
There is a video in my tutorial shop on how to make this royal icing transfer bee.

Let this dry for about one to two hours. You don’t want the glaze to dry completely because part of the beauty of this design is that the filigree sinks slightly into the surface. However, if the glaze is too wet, the royal icing will absorb the moisture and spread.

Pipe a filigree design (step by step filigree tutorial coming soon to my shop!) using stiff consistency icing and a tip 1.
The color of this icing is brown mixed with a touch of green added to neutralize it. When painting with gold pearl dust on royal icing, I like to start off with brown because it makes the gold really stand out. Read this post on how to make gold icing for more information about this process.
Add a border around the circle and let the icing dry for about an hour.

Paint the filigree and the border with a mixture of gold pearl dust and alcohol.
Add white pearls using a tip 2 and stiff consistency icing.
Then, pipe a bead border using the same icing and tip. There is a video in my shop with full instructions on how to pipe a bead border.
Let the pearls and bead border dry for an hour, then paint them with a mixture of pearl dust and alcohol. I combined white pearl dust with a little bit of gold to make this champagne color.

Allow everything to dry for another 8-12 hours before handling the cookie.

 View all of the enameled cookies here!

Amber Spiegel, founder of SweetAmbs, is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and the author of Cookie Art: Sweet Designs for Special Occasions. Amber has over 12 years of cookie decorating experience and has traveled the world teaching others how to decorate beautiful cookies on their own.

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