Today’s tutorial is going to be for some cookies, themed for a rustic wedding.  Simple enough on a white backdrop to lend the elegance of a wedding; yet at the same time, the simplicity and color scheme also work well with the rustic look.  You can use these cookies as favors, or just to add a little pizazz to your dessert table.  Regardless of how you serve them, they’re sure to be a memory maker.   

Here’s how to make ’em!

You’re going to need:
 – Round Sugar Cookies (whatever number you need; use your favorite recipe!  Or try Chocolate Sugar Cookies for a variation and a bit of a different look).
 – White or ivory rolled fondant (amount dependent on how many cookies you’re needing to make)
 – Round cookie cutter (same size as you used to make the cookies)
 – Clear piping gel or Royal Icing
 – Brown gel or liquid food coloring
 – Water
 – Paint brush
 – Small cell stick or other fine-tipped decorating tool
 – Small decorator spatula
 – Small stitching wheel (optional)

To start out, roll the fondant out on a lightly greased, clean surface until it’s about 1/8″-1/4″ thick, and cut into circles. (Use the same cookie cutter you used to make the cookies.)  Smear a little piping gel or royal icing on the surface of one of the cookies, and place a circle of fondant over top.

On the soft fondant circle, emboss by hand the shape of a feather (more pictures throughout this post).  I also added little dots to the design.  You can create the feather shape with the thin end of a cell stick, or another tool that works for you – Even a pin or toothpick would work.  I prefer a plastic tool, as it won’t drag through the fondant as much as a wooden utensil would.

Now, color!  I usually use gel food color, mixed with a bit of water.  You could also use liquid color for this if you would prefer, but I always have gel on hand, so that’s what I use!  I find that I can control the color best by dipping the end of a toothpick into the gel, setting it down on a plate or small container lid, and then adding a bit of water to that.  Then I can mix the color and water together with the brush, using the stronger color on the toothpick for more definition if I want it, or the more watery part for weaker color.

Here’s how to paint them:

First, brush over the whole outside of the feather generously with color, letting the liquid fill up the crevices of the design.

Next, using your finger, wipe the color away completely, drawing your finger in toward the center of the feather, so as not to smear it all over the cookie.  This should leave most of the color left only in the crevices of your design (pictured first from the left in the series of three pictures below).

When that is done, go back over the feather a little more carefully, painting food coloring into the sections that you want more fully colored, and creating definition where you want it.  Then, using the tip of the brush, fill in the dots.

And then, last – Add the stitching.  This part you can actually do before you even start, if that is your preference. I did on one of the cookies in this batch, and I think that is actually a better way to go.  But for the sake of keeping this tutorial consistent with how I made most of these, here this part will be!

Run the stitching wheel around the edge to create a border. You can also omit this if you like it better without, or pipe with Royal Icing around the edges instead for a different finish.  

Ta da!  Let the cookies dry completely before packaging them in cellophane or whatever you’re planning to use.  

And now before I go… Which way do YOU like them better?  With the stitching or without?  I can’t decide… Though I think, I’m leaning more toward saying I like them best with the border.

Leave your opinion in the comments!

Thanks for reading!  Let me know if you make these; I’d love to know how they turn out.  🙂

–Naomi