Ice Cream Cone & Pennant Banner Cookies

The past two weeks have been crazy busy in my kitchen! Unfortunately, all the craziness has left me no time to actually work on the blog recipes I’ve been intending to do....  So, instead, I’m going to do a little peek into one of my recent projects.

Two weeks ago, my kitchen was all about making banana pudding for roughly 200 people.  And, because I’m always paranoid that I’m not making enough food, I also made 6 dozen red velvet cupcakes *just in case.* Then, this past week has been all about a very important sugar cookie order....

I received an order for ice cream cone decorated sugar cookies for an almost-4-year-old’s birthday party.  While I was brainstorming the design, her mom sent me a picture of the birthday party invitation, because I always like to match colors where I can :)

But, in looking at the invitation, I came up with the idea of adding a second cookie design, based on the invitation design: some square cookies with a piped pennant banner/bunting.

Both the designs coordinated together, but they also had their differences.  The banner cookies had a touch more whimsy, in my opinion, while the ice cream cones were a little more stylized.

True to my art school background, I did a ton of sketches for these cookies, especially the ice cream cones!  I wanted there to be enough variation in the “flavors” with as few repeats as possible, which required me to sketch & color each and *every single* cone on paper before the piping process even began.

I added the piped cakes/cupcakes/ice cream cones to the banner cookies somewhat as an after thought (they were all elements of the invitation design).  But those little details have become one of my favorite parts! I would have piped even more detail, but I figured it was time to reign in my creative juices.   

I’ve also been chronicling this cookie adventure on Instagram & have had several people request royal icing recipe, so I’ll be including those at the bottom of the post.  And in case anyone wanted to know how I decorated each cookie design, I’m including that too. I seriously love decorating cookies! More than once this past week I’ve told my husband  how much I wish I could play with royal icing on a daily basis & get paid a decent wage for it.  But that dream probably won’t happen while we’re living in the middle of nowhere in Texas....  Oh well, a girl can dream :)

ICE CREAM CONE COOKIES 

Needed ingredients & equipment

• sugar cookies that have been baked two days previously & stored in airtight containers. 
• Royal Icing in pastry bags (I LOVE to use this method of putting the icing into plastic wrap first). 
• cone colored: outlining consistency & flooding consistency
• various ice cream colors (light pink, dark pink, orange, ivory/vanilla, chocolate, mint are the colors I used) in a 20-second-type consistency (sort of between outlining & flooding) 
• Multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles
• chocolate jimmies/sprinkles 
• Tweezers for placing jimmies/sprinkles 
• Toothpicks to spread icing & pop any bubbles
• Confectioners sugar, as needed, to thicken the icing. 

PLAIN ICE CREAM CONE COOKIES 

1.  Outline the bottom V of the cone with the cone colored icing. Reserve any leftover icing. Allow to dry. 
2. Flood the inner portion of the cone with the thinner icing. Use a toothpick to help spread the icing if necessary & to pop any bubbles that may appear.  On some cones, I left a “drip line”  free from icing (on the cone portion) that I would later fill with ice cream colored icing. Allow to dry. 
3. Use more of the outlining consistency to pipe the lines on the cone.  Allow to dry completely. I left mine at least 8 hrs to ensure it was totally dry. 
4. Once the cone icing is dry, use a 20-second-type icing consistency to make a general outline of the bottom ice cream scoop & fill in that outline. Be careful that the icing doesn’t spill over the edge.  Use a toothpick to help spread the icing & to pop any air bubbles as soon as they’re visible. Allow to dry roughly half an hour. 
5. Once the bottom ice cream flavor has begun to set, pipe the top ice cream scoop by making a general outline & then filling that outline. Allow to dry completely. I left mine overnight.  
6. Slightly thicken a portion of each ice cream colored icing by sifting a little confectioners sugar over the icing & gently stirring it to combine.  Place the thickened icing into a piping bag--because I didn’t need as much for this detail, I placed it into small parchment piping bags I made from triangles of parchment.  Pipe squiggly lines over the bottom of each ice cream cone to simulate the “ruffle” of the bottom of a scoop of ice cream.  

SPRINKLE & JIMMIE TOPPED ICE CREAM VARIATION

1.  After top ice cream scoop has been piped (and all other icing is dry) in step 5 above, carefully & evenly place the sprinkles or jimmies. I even use a pair of tweezers, if necessary. Try not to move the sprinkles around once placed.  Allow to harden completely, then continue with step 6. 

CHOCOLATE SAUCE & SPRINKLES TOPPED ICE CREAM VARIATION

1.  When piping the top ice cream scoop, in step 5 above, leave the top third of the scoop free from icing & leave spaces for the chocolate sauce to “drip”. Allow to dry completely. I left mine overnight.
2. Once the top ice cream scoop is dry, pipe the chocolate sauce pattern, making sure the “drips” are well visible.  
3. Then, carefully place sprinkles, using tweezers if necessary.  Allow to harden completely, then continue with step 6. 

PENNANT BANNER/BUNTING COOKIES

Needed ingredients & equipment

• square sugar cookies that have been baked two days previously & stored in airtight containers. 
• Royal Icing in pastry bags (I LOVE to use this method of putting the icing into plastic wrap first ) or in cornets, also known as pastry bags made from parchment triangles
• white colored: outlining consistency & flooding consistency
• pink, blue, green, and orange icing: slightly thinned outlining consistency. {I put these colors in cornets & just barely cut the tips right before use}
• add chocolate & cone colored icing, if planning to add the piped baked items. {I put these colors in parchment bags} 
• Multi-colored nonpareil sprinkles
• Toothpicks to spread icing & pop any bubbles
• Confectioners sugar, as needed, to thicken the icing.

1.  Begin by outlining the cookies with outlining consistency white icing.  Allow to dry.
2. Fill the inside of the cookies with the flooding consistency white icing.  Use a toothpick to pop any bubbles that appear. Allow to dry completely. I let mine dry overnight. 
3. Before beginning piping the banner, figure out the color order for the pennants. Place the piping bags in color order on a plate to make the process run more smoothly. 
4. Piping the pennant banner: Pipe a semi-diagonal line for the base of the banner.   Vary the line slightly, so that it goes different directions, if desired.  Let it dry slightly while piping lines on the rest of the cookies. Next, make the flags by piping connecting triangle outlines in different colors. Fill in the triangles, using a tooth pick to help with the bottom point, if necessary. 
5. Optional, piping the baked items. Pipe the bottom “table” color.  Allow to dry for 10 minutes. Use the chocolate colored icing to pipe the layer cake shape. Add sprinkles with a tooth pick, if desired. Pipe the cake stand shape. Add either a cupcake or an ice cream cone.  For the cupcake, pipe the liner color first, then a little bit of visible cake and finish by piping the icing swirl. For the ice cream cone, pipe the cone shape & the ice cream top. Let dry slightly then go back & add the ruffle to the bottom of the ice cream scoop. 
6. Optional, add a dot border around the edges of the cookies that didn’t get the piped baked goods. 

SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE
can be found in this post 

ROYAL ICING RECIPE
I don’t remember where I initially found this recipe... I just have it written on a random post-it note in my recipe journal. If you know the source, please let me know and I will immediately credit this recipe! 

2lbs Confectioners sugar
2.25 oz / 6 Tbl Meringue Powder
3/4 c Warm Water
1 Tbl Vanilla Extract 

1.  In the very clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the confectioners sugar & meringue powder. Mix on low speed to combine. 
2. Add the warm water, increase the mixer speed to medium high & beat until thick, glossy & very white, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. 
3. Stir in the vanilla extract.  Scrape the sides of the bowl & mix on low speed until any unincorporated ingredients have been combined.  
4. Place the icing in a clean airtight container.  Wet a couple of paper towels & place the towels directly on the surface of the icing.  Top with a good cover & refrigerate until ready to use.  
5. When ready to use, remove from the fridge & add small portions of the icing into a bowl.  Color & thin the icing as necessary. Scrape the icing onto plastic wrap & form into packets (see instructions here). Store any unused packets or leftover icing in the refrigerator. I like to tint my icing at least a day before I plan to use it because some of the colors develop further overnight.  Save some icing as white in case you need to tone down any icing colors right before use.  
6. If you need to thin the icing for any reason, a clean spray bottle is the easiest way to add a little water as needed.  Colored icing that has been thinned should not be stored longterm (it begins to separate).