Making a Paper Cookie Stencil

Today I have another little tip to simplify your Father's Day cookie decorating. 

You don't need blessed hands to perfectly pipe designs onto a cookie. It just takes a little thought, planning, and practice.

Of course, I own a necktie cookie cutter, but I had some leftover cookies that needed to be decorated, so rather than make a whole new batch, I made them work for what I had in mind.

These are a little simpler than a lot of the cookies I decorate, but that's the point.  This is a technique that is good for anyone and any design, beginner to advanced, simple to complex.

If you want fully iced cookies, take a minute to outline and fill your cookies the day before decorating and  let them dry overnight.

In the meantime, sketch an image, or find one online that you like and size it smaller than the cookie you will be working on.

Use an Exacto knife to cut out the image, and you will be left with a perfect little stencil.

I use card stock for this, because it's sturdier, and also, because in this case I prefer paper over plastic because it has more traction on the smooth icing. 

However, if you are planning on using this as a stencil for spreading royal icing, it will have to be made from stencil paper, which you can find at craft stores and in lots of Walmarts.

To make these cookies you will need:

• flooded cookies, dry and ready to decorate
• food color marker {I used the same color I planned on piping the outline with}
• a small stencil, handmade or store bought
• black piping icing
• flood icing in your choice of colors

Now here we GO!

Before I get into this I need to brag a little.  Notice that I am able to hold the stencil, pipe, and take a photo?

 

I WISH I was that good, but I'm not. It's an illusion.  The truth is that the photos where I am using both

hands were taken by my seven year old. 

What a strange life the children of bloggers must have.  Can you imagine how THAT conversation goes at school? 

"My mommy works at the bank. They have candy there."

"How strange.  My mom makes cookies all day and goes all over the house taking hundreds and hundreds of pictures of them."

Unconventional, maybe a little, but one of these days when I am the mom of a world-famous food photographer, I'll know where he got his start.

Anyway, I drift...

Back to COOKIES.  This technique is as simple as placing the stencil on the top of the cookie, ensuring it's centered, and tracing around it with the food color pen.

Carefully lift the stencil straight up off of the cookie, keeping in mind that if you slide it around, it will smudge.

Then pipe around it with black icing and a #1.5 or #2 tip. 

The photo below is another SuperKid masterpiece.  I am pretty proud of this one!

Let the outline dry {Little Bit took this pic too},

then decorate however you like!  Simple, yes, fun, yes, and you can use this idea to make any design you'd like!

Perfection, and you don't even need a KopyKake projector.

For a similar project, click HERE.

Father's Day is almost here.  What will you be doing for the dads in your life?