Cherry Blossom Sugar Cookies

I know that the spring season officially begins in late March, but for some reason, I always feel like it begins in April. The air just feels different, don’t you think? It’s the nicest feeling to get outside and talk a walk without freezing your you-know-what off. And one of my favorite things to see while on a walk in early spring are all the lovely trees in bloom. When we used to live close to the District of Columbia, the cherry blossoms were a huge attraction and almost everyone that I knew would make at least one pilgrimage to the capitol area and spend a day taking in the sights. It’s been nice to see more cherry trees than I expected out here in the Pacific Northwest, as well- like a postcard from the other side of the country. I can’t get enough of them… and so, these cookies were born!

When I was thinking about how I wanted them to look, I pictured just what a blossom branch would look like in D.C., complete with the high, wispy clouds stretching across the bright blue sky. I could practically feel the spring sunshine while I thought about what I wanted to do. These are not technically difficult cookies to make. Not at all. This particular design is more about endurance than anything else. Forget Leg Day, it’s Cookie Day. If you can make a couple wavy lines and a lot of dots, you can make these cookies. Even better, if you start them in the morning, you can probably make the entire design in one day.

To achieve that cloud-swept sky that I mentioned above, I used my airbrush. Do you have an airbrush yet? Click here to learn all about how to airbrush and to find my recommendation for a great airbrush available on Amazon. It really is such a great and versatile tool for anyone interested in cookie decorating. With it, you can do anything from the dimensional shading we’ll be using it for in this post to intricate stenciling that can look like it took all day but really only needed a few minutes. They are much more user (and beginner!) friendly than you might think! That being said, if you don’t have an airbrush you can certainly still make these cookies. You could flood your cookies with very light blue royal icing and it would still give you a feeling of a springtime sky.

Materials Needed For Cherry Blossom Sugar Cookies:

• Sugar Cookies (recipe attached at the end of this post, or tutorial here)
• Royal Icing: White (both piping and flooding consistency), and Gray, Light Pink and Medium Pink (all at piping consistency)
• Decorating Bags and two #2 tips for branches and outlining your cookie, plus two #1 tips for flower petals and centers.
• Airbrush, and airbrush color Hawaiian Blue (which comes with airbrush I recommend)

Are you ready to get started? Let’s get our blossoms blooming!

You can use any shapes that you choose for these cookies, provided that they have enough space for you to draw a branch design and leave room for your blossoms. To illustrate that, I chose three different cookie cutters for this post: a flower shape, a cookie stick, and a strange sort of wrapped peppermint candy shape that I haven’t been able to use in any other projects yet! While my kids prefer the flower shape, I think I’m a little partial to the candy shape because it’s out of the ordinary. Whatever shape or shapes you choose, your first step to success will be to flood your cookies as close to the edge as possible. Because you’re going to be using your airbrush freehand, you can avoid overspray (getting ink on the unfrosted edges of your cookie) by flooding all of the surface area possible. While sometimes you can outline and flood with a middle consistency icing, in this particular instance I strongly suggest that you mix some white to pipe around the edges and a thinner batch for flooding.

Once you’ve successfully flooded your cookies, give them about two hours to dry under a counter top fan. If you’re not using a fan, double that time. When the icing is solid, hook up your airbrush. Fill the ink well about halfway with the color labelled “Hawaiian Blue” from your ink kit. Using firm pressure, spray back and forth across your cookie in a slightly zig-zag pattern. You can practice your technique on a piece of computer paper before you start on your cookies if you need to- and I always do this, just to get some muscle memory. Make sure to leave some spaces white to create the illusion of some light cloud cover here and there. Once you’ve sprayed all your cookies, back under the fan they go for about half an hour or until the ink is dry.

When you’re ready to proceed, pick up your grey royal icing, which should be mixed to piping consistency (use a #2 tip here). Draw one long, sweeping line on your cookie, starting on the right and ending close to the left edge. Before that line has time to dry, pipe several small branches above and below your main line. Don’t get crazy and make too many, because you still have to make sure your blossoms will fit and that some of the sky is visible as well.

Without waiting for the branches to dry, grab your dark pink icing (use a #1 tip for this step). Make the dots that will become the centers of your cherry blossoms all over the cookie, making sure to stay close to the branches. Again, don’t go crazy and make 30 dots or you will be hating your life later when it comes time to make the petals. Somewhere between 15-20 should be plenty, depending on your cookie shape. Pay close attention to placing several blossoms around the end of each branch, it will help your branches look fuller. If you find that your dots are looking more like Hershey Kisses (pointed on the top) you can use a little silicon spatula like you can find in this decorating essentials set to very gently tap the tops of each of these dots about 20 seconds after piping them. It should round the top without crushing the shape. Once you’ve piped all the blossom centers, allow your cookies about 1 hour under the fan to harden.

And now it’s time for the petals. Are you ready to make dots like you’ve never made dots before? Using a #1 tip on your light pink icing, make six dots all the way around the center of the flower. I’ve tried five dots and I’ve tried seven, but six really is the sweet spot. If your petals are coming out pointed on top, use the same trick that I mentioned above and give them a light tap to tamp down any points. Try and have one of your petals touching both the blossom center and the grey branch to help it look ‘attached’. Continue working your way across the cookie- I like to go from the top to the bottom so that I don’t accidentally bump any of my flowers with my hand after they’ve been completed.

And that’s all there is to it! Give your hand a good shake out once you’re done and can take a minute to admire all your hard work. Make sure to let me know in the comments if you have any questions, and if you enjoyed this design. Happy decorating, and a very happy spring to all you lovely bakers and makers everywhere!

Foolproof Sugar Cookies

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

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.