Kawaii St. Patrick’s Day Cookies

This Kawaii cupcake cookies decorating tutorial is courtesy of our contributor Samantha of The Smarter Cookie…Kawaii cookies are a great go-to because they’re simple enough for any level cookie decorator, they are versatile in that they can match any holiday, and they are exactly what their name translates to: cute! You can pretty much turn any shape/design into a Kawaii-face cookie. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, I wanted to take a simpler yet less traditional approach so this was the perfect opportunity to turn a cupcake cookie into a Kawaii St. Patty’s cookie.

Kawaii Cupcake Cookies – What You’ll Need:

• white 20-second icing
• green 20-second icing
• black 20-second icing
• pink 20-second icing
• 4 icing decorating bags
• cupcake shaped cookies (sugar cookie recipe)

You’ll want to start with the “cupcake frosting”, or basically the top of the cupcake. When making the top, don’t feel obligated to make a straight line where it will meet the bottom portion. You can make it wavy to give the appearance of the icing being puffy or swirly. Outline and then fill it in with the white icing. I very rarely use tips anymore; I simply cut the hole to my desired size. If using tips, you could use a PME 1.5 tip or a Wilton 2 tip for this portion.

Smooth out the icing with either an offset spatula, boo boo stick, toothpick, or scribe tool. I prefer the scribe tool as it’s easy to clean and can be helpful in popping any pesky air bubbles that are created.

You’ll want to work quickly as you’re going to use the wet-on-wet technique here to create the “rosy cheeks” appearance. While the white icing is still wet, simply pipe two small pink circles where you want to place the cheeks. Again, I don’t use tips so I cut the opening for the pink icing fairly small but if using tips I recommend a Wilton or PME 1 tip.

Before moving on to the bottom portion, you will want to make sure the white icing is thoroughly dry to avoid bleeding – especially because white tends to absorb its neighboring color. If you’re in a humid climate, you’ll want to let it dry for 8+ hours (or overnight) to avoid bleeding. Alternatively, you may want to use a dehydrator to help speed up the drying process. If the air is relatively dry, you can probably handle the cookie once the top layer crusts over (about 30 minutes).

Once the white icing dries, you can then outline and fill the bottom portion. I chose green with white polka dots to create a St. Patrick’s Day theme, but you could use any color to represent the base of the cupcake – this is where this set becomes versatile in design! Again, a PME 1.5 tip or a Wilton 2 tip would work well for the green base. Outline and fill the cupcake base and smooth it out. Working quickly while the icing is still wet, add the white polka dots using a Wilton or PME 1 tip. Let this portion dry for about 30 minutes.

When the bottom of the cupcake has “crusted over” and you can safely handle the cookie, you’re ready to add the eyes and mouth. Using a PME or Wilton 1 tip, pipe two large black circles for the eyes. While the icing is still wet, pipe two white dots in the eyes taking notice that one dot is larger than the other to give it that signature Kawaii appearance. Add a small, smiling mouth with the black icing between the eyes.

Finally, you’ll want to pipe an outline around the white “frosting” of the cupcake to provide dimension and a cleaner, finished line between the frosting and the bottom of the cupcake.

Let your cookies dry overnight and pair them with other simple, traditional cookies to complete the holiday set!

We’d like to send a big THANK YOU to Samantha of The Smarter Cookie for this cookie decorating tutorial. You’re going to love her cookie designs! Follow her on Instagram for loads of cookie decorating inspiration.