Monarch Butterfly Cookies! {Collab with Haniela's}

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I was inspired to make these monarch butterfly cookies when I came across Haniela's mesmerizing monarch butterfly cake tutorial on Facebook.

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I decided to pipe my monarch butterfly cookies by hand, but Hani's use of a stencil to decorate her butterfly cake is a wonderful technique, especially if you don't feel comfortable doing the design freehand.

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Hani also created her own set of butterfly cookies using a stencil. Look how beautiful they are! I love the contrast of the chocolate cookie under the vibrant colors. You can see how she made these in her video tutorial here on YouTube.

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My monarch butterfly cookies have an orange and yellow edible watercolor wash underneath the black outlines. Get the full supply list and written instructions below:

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Supply list:

• Roll-out cookie dough (use your favorite recipe or get mine in the tutorial shop)

• Butterfly cookie cutter from Ann Clark Cookie Cutters

• Flood consistency royal icing for flooding

• Medium Consistency royal icing (See my post on Royal Icing for more on icing consistencies.)

• 12" decorating bags
• Couplers

• Decorating tip 3

• Decorating tip 1 or 1.5  (I recently started using a PME 1.5 for details, but a Wilton tip 1 will work fine if you don't have a PME.)

• Scribe tool

• Food coloring: Orange and Yellow from the Wilton Color Right set

• Paint palettes or small dishes

• Grain alcohol, vodka, or extract for painting (Alcohol or flavored extracts are used for painting on royal icing because they evaporate very quickly, which means that the liquid won’t dissolve the icing as you are applying the paint. The stronger the alcohol, the better!)

• Round decorator brush from the Wilton 5 piece set

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Instructions:

1) Begin by icing a butterfly cookie with white flood consistency royal icing and a decorating tip 3.

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2) Use a scribe tool to evenly distribute the icing.

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3) Allow the icing to dry completely (it takes about 6-12 hours for the icing to dry. I always let my cookies sit overnight to be on the safe side!).

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4) Combine orange and yellow food coloring with a few drops of grain alcohol, vodka, or any flavor extract, such as vanilla, lemon, or almond.

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5) Apply the color to the icing with a soft round brush.

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6) Pipe the details with black medium consistency royal icing and a decorating tip 1 or 1.5

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7) Use a scribe tool to help smooth the icing on the thicker areas.

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8) Add white dots with white flood consistency royal icing and a decorating tip 1 or 1.5.

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Pin this tutorial for later! 

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Click on the images below for more cookie projects!