These Unicorn Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing are decorated with a colorful mane and a gold nose and horn. They are perfect for a unicorn birthday party!

My daughter wanted a Unicorn Birthday Party for the 4th birthday. I made a Rainbow Unicorn Cake and these adorable unicorn cookies.
These are some of my favorite cookies I've made because I think they are so pretty.

I used pink, blue, and purple royal icing piping to make the mane, as well as sugar pearls and gold edible stars. I painted the horn and nose with a gold luster dust suspension and drew on a closed eye with an edible marker.
I'll take you through all the steps to make these. You can easily customize the colors of the mane.

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Supplies
- Unicorn head cookie cutter
- 1 batch Cut Out Sugar Cookies or Vanilla Shortbread Cookies
- 1 batch Easy Royal Icing
- Pink, blue and purple food coloring gel
- Gold food coloring gel
- Disposable piping bags
- Small flower and star tips
- Sugar pearls
- Wilton Edible Accents Gold Stars
- Black food coloring marker
- Gold luster dust
- Everclear or vodka
- Food-dedicated paint palette
- Food grade paintbrushes
- Plastic transfer pipette
Bake the Cookies
I made a batch of Cut Out Sugar Cookies but added some rainbow nonpareils to the batter. This actually made rolling the cookies harder than it should be, so I don't recommend doing this unless you really like the look of it.
This sugar cookie recipe results in wrinkled tops, which doesn't matter as much for royal icing cookies. If you prefer a smoother surface, consider making a batch of Vanilla Shortbread Cookies.
I used this unicorn head cookie cutter.

Once the cookies were completely cooled, I got started on the royal icing.
Decorate with Royal Icing
You will need one batch of Easy Royal Icing. This will be your "stock" icing that you will dilute with water to make it more pipeable.
If this is your first time working with royal icing, I highly recommend reading Marian's tips on royal icing. She goes into detail on how to make the different consistency icings.
If you dilute this icing to a little thicker flood icing, you can do the outline and flood all with the same consistency icing rather than in 2 steps.
First, outline the area you want to be white, which is the entire unicorn head except for the horn. Immediately after outlining, add the flood inside. Because the outline has not had time to dry, you don't want to put too much flood icing. Dragging the icing with a toothpick or scribe tool can help guide it to the edges so you don't overfill it. You can also use the scribe tool to swirl the wet icing a bit to pop bubbles and make the surface smooth.
Allow that to dry for at least an hour before adding the horn.
Tint a small amount of outline consistency icing with gold food coloring gel. Tinting the icing gold will help intensify the gold luster dust when it is added later.
Pipe on every other section of the horn, which you will let dry before adding the other two sections so you get definitive lines in between them. This will help give the spiraling look of a unicorn horn.
Allow the cookies to dry overnight, then add the colorful mane. I used small flower and star tips to create different designs with a stiffer royal icing consistency. This icing is not as thick as the stock but it's only thinned slightly so it's easier to pipe but maintains it's shape after piping.
When the icing was still wet, I added some sugar pearls and Wilton Edible Accents gold stars. Allow that to dry overnight.
Once the cookies have completely set, draw on the eye using a black food coloring marker.


The cookie are now ready for the gold.

Paint the Gold Nose and Horn
After the "gold" tinted royal icing of the horn has fully hardened (it will be more of a muted yellow color), it's time to paint it with a luster dust suspension.
I add Everclear (a high proof, odorless, flavorless, colorless alcohol), drop by drop, to gold luster dust in a paint palette and mix well with a food grade paintbrush. I buy my luster dust locally, but I have heard great things about Truly Mad Plastics gold luster dust.

For the unicorn's nose, I did not color the royal icing with gold gel in order to keep the icing continuous, so the luster dust was very subtle after one layer. I let it dry and did multiple coats. The alcohol evaporates quickly, so you can do the coats close together.

Do the same thing with the horn. The horn will not require as many coats if you tinted the royal icing with the gold food gel.

I have full details for how to paint with gold luster dust in my Painted Watercolor Cookies post.
Package the Cookies
Once the cookies have completely dried, usually 24 hours, they can be packaged in clear treat bags and tied with a ribbon or twist tie. They make adorable party favors!

Gluten Free Option
Use a gluten free sugar cookie recipe for the cookies. The royal icing should be gluten free, but check your ingredients for possible contaminants.
📖 Recipe

Unicorn Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Equipment
- Unicorn head cookie cutter
- disposable piping bags
- Plastic tip coupler
- Small round piping tips
- Small flower and star piping tips
- food dedicated paint palette
- food grade paintbrushes
- plastic transfer pipette
Ingredients
- 1 batch Cut Out Sugar Cookies or Vanilla Shortbread Cookies (see note)
- 1 batch Easy Royal Icing (see note)
- Pink, purple, blue, and gold food coloring gel
- Sugar pearls
- Wilton Edible Accents Gold Stars
- 1 Black food coloring marker
- Gold luster dust
- Everclear or vodka
Instructions
Bake the Cookies
- Roll the dough to ¼-inch thick and cut with a unicorn head cookie cutter.
- Bake the cookies according to recipe and allow to cool completely before decorating.
Decorate with Royal Icing
- Prepare a batch of Easy Royal Icing. This will be your "stock" icing that you will dilute to different consistencies before piping.
- Place some of the stock icing in a bowl and add small amounts of warm water until you reach a consistency that is slightly thicker than flood consistency icing. See note below.
- Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, such as a #5. Outline the area you want to be white, which is the entire unicorn head except for the horn. Immediately after outlining, add the flood inside. Because the outline has not had time to dry, you don't want to put too much flood icing. Dragging the icing with a toothpick or scribe tool can help guide it to the edges so you don't overfill it. You can also use the scribe tool to swirl the wet icing a bit to pop bubbles and make the surface smooth.
- Allow the flooded cookies to dry for at least an hour before adding the horn.
- To make the horn, take the leftover flood consistency icing and add small amounts of the "stock" icing so that the consistency is easily piped but still holds its shape. Tint this with gold food coloring gel. Tinting the icing gold will help intensify the gold luster dust when it is added later.
- Transfer the gold tinted icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, like a #5.
- Pipe on every other section of the horn, which you will let dry before adding the other two sections so you get definitive lines in between them. This will help give the spiraling look of a unicorn horn.
- Allow the cookies to dry overnight.
- To add the unicorn's mane, use small flower and/or star tips to create different designs with a stiffer consistency royal icing. This icing is not as thick as the stock, but it's only thinned slightly with warm water so it's easier to pipe but maintains it's shape after piping. Once you have made the slightly thinned icing, divide into each of 3 bowls and tint with pink, purple, and blue food coloring. Transfer each to a piping bag fitted with the desired tip and pipe on the mane.
- Immediately after piping, while the icing is still wet, add some sugar pearls and edible gold stars. Allow to dry overnight.
- Once the cookies have completely set, draw on the eye using a black food coloring marker.
Paint the Gold Nose and Horn
- Place a small amount of gold luster dust in the well of a paint palette. Add the alcohol drop by drop with a transfer pipette and mix well with a food grade paintbrush until the gold is evenly suspended in the alcohol.
- Carefully brush the gold onto the royal icing in the nose area of the cookie. You may need multiple coats because it's being painted onto white royal icing. If your gold suspension doesn't have enough gold powder in it, it may require even more coats. The alcohol evaporates quickly, so you can do the coats close together.
- Repeat the painting step with the horn. It will not require as many coats if you tinted the royal icing with the gold food gel.
Package the Cookies
- Once the cookies have completely dried, usually 24 hours, they can be packaged in clear treat bags and tied with a ribbon or twist tie. They make adorable party favors!
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