When you think of St. Patrick’s Day, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Leprechauns, pots of gold, shamrocks? Or is it something a little more enjoyable? For most of us past the leprechaun phase, St. Patrick’s Day means beer! And so, after a request from a friend, I decided to try my hand at some cookies with none of the alcohol content but twice the fun. And best of all, I’ve never heard of someone fighting off a cookie hangover the next day at work.
First things first- I made these cookies with an assist from my airbrush machine- click here to learn how to airbrush, and to read why it’s such an awesome and versatile tool have have in your decorating arsenal. With that said, you can absolutely make these particular cookies without using an airbrush, they will just lack a bit of the finer detail.
Now let’s gather the supplies you’ll need to create these cookies!
- Find yourself a beer mug cookie cutter- I used this one, available at Amazon.
- Bake a batch of sugar cookies according to my favorite recipe, or using your own recipe.
- You will want to mix up a batch of white royal icing (click here for a refresher course), splitting it with half at slightly thinner than piping consistency and the other half thinned for flooding.
- Mix another batch of royal icing colored yellow- the more golden you can make your color, the better. Try experimenting by adding a little orange or brown/copper coloring until you have it where you want it. Split it the same way, half for piping and half for flooding.
- A food grade marker to sketch out a rough design on your cookie before you begin icing, available at Amazon.
- A counter top fan to speed the drying process and save time between decorating steps.
Let’s begin!
Start by sketching out a few lines to trace with your icing. Make a scalloped bottom on the mug, and also draw out the rest of the foam shape. Use your white royal icing to pipe the bottom shape along the marker. Follow the line up the right side of the cookie, and loop around to create the mug handle, tracking back and forth several times to make a thick line. Give your cookie a shake or two on the counter to help the icing settle and blend.
Next, grab your yellow icing. For step 3, pipe along the edge of the foam that you drew in step one, and down the left side of the mug. Fill in the space created and allow time for the icing to set- about 2 hours under a fan should be plenty. Now fire up your airbrush (skip this step if you don’t have an airbrush yet) and fill your pen with color (I used a color mix I made myself of ‘sunset orange’, ‘yellow’, and one drop of ‘black’. As seen in step 4, draw 4 vertical lines with your pen, starting at the bottom and moving upwards. Begin each line in the middle of a scallop shape (the deepest part of the yellow).
To complete step 5, all you need to do is use your yellow piping icing to draw three vertical lines downward between the airbrush stripes, with just a little bit of a ‘hook’ at the bottom of each line to add dimension. While the yellow dries, you can pipe and fill the white foam shape at the top of the mug. Allow time for the icing for firm up- about another hour under a fan.
For the final step, use your white icing to pipe and fill extra foam shapes on top of the bottom layer. Next, create several large foam ‘dots’ on the mug, with a few lower down on the left side to follow the dripping foam design. You can use your own artistry to decide how you’d like it to look!
And that’s all there is to beer mug cookies! They are not nearly as intimidating as you might think once you break down the steps. I am a big fan of only needing to make two colors of icing and still ending up with such a fun result. If you’re enjoying the plaid cookies in the above photo and would like to learn how to make them, click here for the instructions! Make sure to let me know what you think and if you have any questions in the comments below!
