Day of the Dead Sugar Cookies

I just can’t let a holiday pass by without making a batch of decorated sugar cookies.  Are you guys all familiar with Day of the Dead? Even if you don’t know much about the Mexican holiday, you’ve probably seen images of sugar skulls at some point or another. Sugar skulls are candied skulls used to honor those who have died. They are often decorated with bright colors and fun patterns. After seeing a picture of sugar skulls in a catalog last month, I was inspired to make a batch of Day of the Dead sugar cookies.

To make your own Day of the Dead sugar cookies, here is what you need to do:

• Make a batch of sugar cookies.
• Pipe royal icing along the edges of the cookies and then flood the centers with thinned out royal icing.
• Use edible markers to decorate the skulls as desired.

In addition to using royal icing, I also used a new technique to decorate some of the cookies. I  painted half of the cookies with a mixture of luster dust and lemon extract. Although this was my first time using the painting technique, I loved the way the cookies turned out. I will post a tutorial for this technique if anyone is interested.

One other piece of advice- It helps to plan out your cookies in advance by sketching designs on a piece of paper. Once you start drawing with edible markers, you can’t erase anything. Having an idea of what you want to draw will make the process easier and give you more confidence. Other than that, have fun with these cookies.! When it comes to Day of the Day sugar cookies, you really can’t  add too much color or creativity.