Monkey Face Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing
Step by Step instructions for decorated the cutest Monkey Face Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing. These sugar cookies are perfect for a baby shower or a jungle themed kids' birthday party!
Equipment
- two 1/4-inch wooden dowel rods or rolling pin guides
- 1 large and 1 small round biscuit cutters
- disposable pastry bags fitted with a #3 tip
- 2 squeeze bottles
- toothpicks
Ingredients
- 2 batches sugar cookie dough of choice (see note)
- 2 batches royal icing (see note)
- black, brown and ivory gel icing colors (see note)
Instructions
Cut and Bake the Cookies:
- Roll dough out on well-floured surface to a thickness of 1/4-inch. You may use wooden dowel rods set up as guides for the rolling pin or rolling pin guides that slip onto the ends of the rolling pin to achieve even rolling thickness.
- Use the large and small round biscuit cutters to cut out circles and transfer to a cold cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Use a knife to slice the smaller circles in half.
- Then overlap the half circles onto the large circle to create the appearance of ears on the monkey face. Press the dough down to attach the shapes together.
- When all of the ears have been secured, give them an extra press to make sure they are attached, and bake the cookies according to recipe directions.
- When you remove the cookie sheets from the oven, let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes, then carefully transfer to cooling racks. Cool completely. Meanwhile, begin coloring your royal icing.
Prepare the Outline Royal Icing:
- Transfer about 1/2 cup royal icing into a fresh bowl and color first with brown icing gel, then add black icing gel to achieve a deep, black color.
- Assemble a pastry bag with a plastic coupler and a #3 piping tip. Place a wet paper towel in the bottom of a tall water glass. Place the bag in the cup, with the tip touching the paper towel. Fold the pastry bag over the top rim of the glass. Fill a the pastry bag with the black icing.
- After the cookies have cooled completely, carefully pipe the black icing. Set cookies aside to dry for 1 hour. Meanwhile, prepare your flooding icing.
Prepare the Flooding Icing:
- Take about 3/4 cup of royal icing into each of 2 bowls. Add water by the teaspoon to achieve a thin consistency. You want the icing to run off the back of the spoon and the drips to disappear back into the icing below within 5 to 10 seconds.
- Once you have achieved the right consistency, add brown coloring gel to one of the bowls. This may take quite a bit of gel to get a nice, dark color. Then add the ivory food gel to the next bowl - this will take much less so add it slowly.
- Once you are satisfied with your colors, add each of them to one of two plastic squeeze bottles. Use a small piece of plastic wrap to cover the opening if your bottles aren't equipped with a cap. The bottles are now ready to flood. Alternatively, use disposable pastry bags fitted with #5 tips for flooding.
- After the outlining has dried for at least 1 hour, flood the sections as shown in the photo.
- Use a toothpick to help guide the icing to the edges if necessary.
- Let cookies dry for several hours or overnight. You can just let them sit out at room temperature, uncovered. You may also leave the black piping icing in the bag, just place a cap on the tip or cover it well with plastic wrap to prevent the icing from crusting over in the tip.
Finish the Cookies:
- After the cookies have sufficiently dried, use the black frosting to pipe a face onto the monkey.
- Allow icing to dry for at least an hour, if not more. I did my face piping in the morning and let them sit out all day before packaging them up for mailing.
Notes
Roll Out Sugar Cookie Recipe
Royal Icing Recipe
Wilton food gel or AmeriColor food gel
You're Gonna Bake It After All
bakeitafterall.com
