Animal print + glitter = fabulous sugar cookie! My mother-in-law loves all things sporting a leopard pattern so I made these high heel shoe leopard print cookies especially for her for Mother’s Day. I was inspired by leopard print cookies by Callye at The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle.
To make these beauties you will need:
- Sugar cookies made from your favorite sugar cookie recipe
- High heel shoe cookie cutter
- Royal icing in the following colors: black, dark brown, beige, bright pink (I used one consistency for everything, a 12-15 second icing.)
- Icing bags, tips, and couplers (suggested tip sizes are 1.5 and 2)
- A food coloring marker in any color
- Pink disco dust (optional)***
To start, I always make a sketch of the cookie I want to create. This helps me make sure that the design I have in my head is actually going to work out on the cookie. Sometimes details need to be resized or laid out in a different way and it’s best to figure that out before actually icing the cookies. Obviously, this is a step you can skip if you would rather wing it. (Note to self: Get some colored pencils so you can sketch in color.)
Once you have decided on your final high heel shoe design you can decide if you want to use any templates to help you apply the icing. I used a template to make the shape for the inside of the high heel shoe. To make a template, simply outline the shape in black marker, trace it onto another piece of paper and cut it out. Then, use the paper shape to cut out a new shape on a file folder or card stock. I used a red file folder. You can see my template in the above photo.
After the planning stage is complete, bake your cookies according to the directions for your favorite sugar cookie recipe and cut them using your high heel shoe cookie cutter. Once they’ve completely cooled, prep your icing by splitting it up into four sections. Using gel food coloring, make each section one of the colors you need: black, dark brown, beige, and bright pink. Add water to the icing a little bit at a time until you get the consistency that you desire. Load your piping bags and let the fun begin!
Step 1
Use your template and a food coloring marker to trace an outline of the inside of the high heel shoe on each cookie.
Step 2
Use black royal icing and a #2 tip to outline the inside of the high heel shoe and immediately flood the outlined shape. Allow time for the black icing to dry before moving on to Step 3 (about 20 minutes).
Step 3
With beige icing and a #2 tip, outline the rest of your high heel shoe, leaving the toe and heel blank. Immediately flood the area with beige icing. Work on only a couple of cookies at a time, so that you can immediately go on to Step 4 to complete the wet-on-wet icing technique for the leopard print.
Step 4
With the icing still wet, begin applying your leopard print into the beige area. Start by making random amoeba shapes with your dark brown icing and a #1.5 tip. Make each shape slightly different and spread out the shapes throughout the entire beige icing area. Complete this step on only a couple of cookies and then immediately move on to Step 5 to continue the wet-on-wet technique.
Step 5
Switch to your black icing and a #1.5 tip to trace around the outside of each brown shape with a broken outline as shown below. Again, keep the patterns random breaking the outline at different spots on each shape. Once you’ve put an outline around all the brown spots, you can fill in any blank areas with miniature amoeba shapes using the black icing. Let your cookies completely dry (I recommend overnight) before moving on to Step #6.
Step 6
With a #2 tip, outline and then immediately flood the toe and heel of the high heel shoe. Then, with the icing still wet, lightly sprinkle some pink disco dust over the areas. To make clean up easier, I suggest doing this on a creased piece of parchment paper. Let your cookies dry overnight.
***UPDATE: Please note that since this blog post was written, I have discovered that there is some debate over the use of disco dust on food products. It is marketed for cake decorating, but it is not FDA approved and is labeled only as “non-toxic”. My understanding is that it is not digested by the body and will pass through harmlessly in small amounts. For an edible alternative to disco dust, try Wilton Cake Sparkles
Step 7
Use a clean paint brush to sweep away any loose disco dust on your cookies. Fold your parchment paper along the crease and pour any excess disco dust back into the jar. Now step back and bask in the beauty of your fabulous high heel leopard print cookies!
For more fabulous cookie fun, learn how to make cookie pops like the ones I included in this leopard print gift basket.
Love it! What a great tutorial…If I weren’t so brain dead right now I could probably come up with some creative uses for leopard print.
Thanks, Melissa! Callye did some cute cookies too where she changed the color of the pattern.
Very fun! I love how they turned out. Thanks so much for linking!
Thanks, Belle. This tutorial was a lot of fun to make!
These are so adorable!!!! I LOVE them!
Thanks so much, Erin!
I love these! They’re so pretty!
Thanks, Dorothy! That leopard print is a lot of fun to play around with!
These would have been perfect with my Mean Girls cookie platter! I haven’t tried my hand at animal prints, but I will have to soon!
Your Mean Girls cookie platter was super cute and perfect just the way it was! But animal prints are fun, so I hope you make a new platter for us to gawk at!