Happy October, all you lovely bakers and decorating enthusiasts! This month has absolutely flown by for me, because I’ve been baking up a storm of cookie orders. Lots of Halloween and harvest themed cookies are coming, but today I have something a little more adorable for you- bride and groom cookies! You’ve probably seen these cookies re-pinned a million times on Pinterest and wondered how to make them yourself- and today I’m going to walk you through the steps to creating a cookie that’s a tiny wedding gift all on its own!
Although spring is the traditional ‘wedding’ season- and I’m not knocking it, I got married in May too!- I think I like fall weddings the best because they have the best color palette to choose from. Lots of rich reds, oranges, yellows make for visually stunning and memorable events. The wedding these cookies were for had a lovely burgundy theme, and I also did a bunch of cookies centered on that color. For now, I’ll be holding that particular post back for a few months because I think they’ll also do well as a Valentine’s theme. And honestly, these little bride and groom cookies are so fun that I couldn’t wait until “Normal Wedding Season” to share them!
Materials Needed for Bride and Groom Sugar Cookies
- Sugar cookies, cut into a heart shape, baked and cooled (find my foolproof recipe at the bottom of this post, or read the dedicated post here)
- Royal icing colored black- both piping (#2 tip) and flooding consistency (#3 tip)- and white- both piping (#2 tip) and flooding (#3 tip) consistency.
- For the bride, you will also need to create royal icing the skin tone of your choice at flooding consistency. You can find my icing recipe at the bottom of this post.
- A simple cookie tools kit (optional but recommended, like this one available at Amazon)
- A countertop fan (optional but recommended to speed drying times)
TIP: If you’re a newbie, check out my entire royal icing tutorial here! It’ll give you all the info you need to get started decorating cookies like a pro in no time!
As you can see, these cookies require very little in terms of materials, really just the three colors of icing and a few hours! You can definitely do this one! Rather than do one design (bride) and then going back to explain the other (groom), I’m going to do them side-by-side because working on one while the other hardens is the best way to minimize the time it takes to make these. Let’s get decorating!
Begin by baking up those cookies and allowing them to cool completely. Split the batch in half so you’ll have evenly matched pairs when you’re done. Start your bride cookies by picking up your white flooding icing and creating the dress shape. Start at just below the widest part of the heart and create the two wide arches that will be the sweetheart neckline, then follow the cookie shape down to the point and back up to where you started. Fill this shape completely and allow it to harden under a fan for about an hour.
While you wait for the bride cookies to harden, start on your grooms! Grab your black flooding icing and create the basic tuxedo shape by starting a line at the very highest point of the left side of the heart and heading downward towards the center to create a ‘V’ shape. Head back up to the highest part of the right side of the heart and then follow the heart shape all the way down to the bottom and around. Fill the shape and allow it to harden alongside the bride cookies for about an hour.
TIP: I like to make a small dot with my etching tool where I want the V to end, so that my tuxedo stays centered on the cookie. If you struggle a bit with symmetry like me, use this little hack and you’ll be glad you did!
When you’re ready to move on, grab the icing filled with the bride’s skin tone. Fill in the rest of the bride heart shapes with this icing and place the cookies back under the fan. For the groom cookies, pick up your white flooding icing and fill in that empty V shape to create the white tuxedo shirt. Back under the fan!
When your icing is firm to the touch, you can proceed with the next steps. To complete the bride cookies, pick up your white piping icing and pipe a bodice embellishment using a series of loops, with the smallest loops on the outside of the cookies and the largest loop centered in the middle. Continuing with that icing, pipe a string of pearls around the imagined ‘neck’ of the bride. The bride is done!
To complete the groom cookies, you’re going to stick with the white piping icing. Pipe two zig-sag shapes from the highest points of the heart cookies to just under the bottom of the white ‘V’ in the shirt. On your second zig-zag, continue the line straight down to the bottom point of the cookie. Next, pipe three white buttons to the right of that line. Finish your cookies by piping two dots of your black flooding icing onto the top of the cookie and use your etching needle to pull the corners into points for a bow tie (you can also use your piping icing but I find that it doesn’t create the smooth shape needed). And that’s it! You did it!
Well, how did these guys turn out for you? Are bells ringing? Are you in love with them, too? Make sure to leave your thoughts or questions in the comments below and I’ll do my best to respond. Until next time, happy baking!
Foolproof Sugar Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In bowl, mix together 3 cups of the flour and baking power. Set aside.
- In separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the extracts and the egg and beat until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Dough will be crumbly.
- Press dough together with hands, and roll out on a well-floured surface. Cut shapes and place on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
- Refrigerate baking sheet for at least 10 minutes.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, remove when cookie edges are just barely golden. Allow several minutes to cool on sheet before moving cookies to a rack.
Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 Tbsp meringue powder
- 4 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar sifted
- 1/2 tsp Karo syrup (optional)
- 1/8 tsp clear flavored extract (optional)
Instructions
- Combine water and meringue powder in a bowl and beat with mixer until frothy.
- Sift powdered sugar into the same bowl and mix to combine
- Add syrup and extract if desired
- Beat the icing for 4-5 minutes until it is glossy and holds a peak if the beater is turned upside down
Medium Consistency
- Continue to add water ½ Tbsp at a time until at desired consistency (icing should disappear into itself in about 5 seconds after being dripped back into the mixing bowl).
Flooding Consistency
- Continue to add water ½ Tbsp at a time until at desired consistency (icing should disappear into itself in about 3 seconds after being dripped back into the mixing bowl).
