black food coloring markers or penssuch as FooDoodlers
Instructions
Cut and Bake the Cookies
Roll the cookie dough out to ¼-inch thickness.
Cut the rolled dough with a chili pepper cookie cutter.
Bake the cookies on parchment lined cookie sheets according to your recipe's instructions.
Allow the cookies to cool to room temperature before proceeding with the icing.
Outline the Cookies
Add about ½ cup royal icing stock to a bowl. Add small amounts of warm water to achieve outline consistency icing. Tint with green food coloring to achieve a bright green color that will be the stem.
Transfer the icing a piping bag fitted with a small round tip, such as #2. You can use a tall drinking glass or a piping bag holder to keep the bag open while transferring the icing.
Pipe an outline around the area at the top of the pepper to serve as the stem area. Add the leftover icing back to the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap to use later for the flood icing.
Add about 1 cup of royal icing stock to a separate bowl. Add small amounts of warm water to thin to outline consistency icing. Tint with red food coloring gel to achieve a vibrant red color.
Transfer the outline consistency icing to a disposable piping bag fitted with a small round tip, such as a #2.
Pipe an outline around the border of each chili pepper. Add the leftover outline consistency icing back to the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap to use later.
Allow the outline icing to dry for at least 1 hour before flooding.
Flood the Cookies
Thin the green outline icing with small amounts of water to achieve flood consistency icing. Transfer the icing to a disposable piping bag fitted with a large round tip, like a #7, or the tip cut off. You can also use a squeeze bottle.
Flood the icing inside the green outline to fill in the stem area. Use a toothpick or a scribe tool to swirl the wet icing to remove any bubbles.
Repeat this process with the red icing. Flood the inside of the red outline.
Allow the icing to dry until set, up to 24 hours. How quickly it dries will depend on the temperature and humidity of your workspace.
Add the Details
To add the emoji faces, use a black food coloring marker, such as FooDoodlers, to draw on cute faces. You can do wink faces, add eyebrows, eyelashes, mustaches, or other features to indicate expression.
Use a toothpick dipped in white (untinted) royal icing to add a small dot in the upper left of each eye that is open.
Allow the icing to dry completely before storing in an airtight container or packaging in treat bags.
Notes
Cut Out Sugar Cookies recipe HEREVanilla Shortbread Cookies recipe HEREEasy Royal Icing recipe HEREStorage: Once the icing has dried completely, store them in an airtight container at room temperature in a single layer. I do not recommend stacking the cookies unless you place aluminum foil between the layers to prevent grease transfer from the top cookie to the bottom cookie.You're Gonna Bake It After Allbakeitafterall.com