It’s easy to get lost for hours in videos of Hungarian cookie decorating or cookie-decorating bloggers, watching as they weave lace from icing and create elaborate portraits from sugar. Mashable even called the cookie decorating montages the “most relaxing culinary art form.” There are thousands more YouTube clips offering tutorials and expert tips for creating sugar cookies like the ones in the videos — cookies fit for sale in professional bakeries and decorated to look like painted masterpieces, realistic everyday objects, or edible optical illusions.
The key to making these edible works of art is royal icing, the glossy mix of meringue powder, powdered sugar, and water, that stays just liquid enough to paint, marble, and pipe, and then dries hard. And if you can shake yourself out of your mesmerized state and want to transform royal icing into intricate designs like the experts, the first thing to know is that the equipment is extremely important.
Whether you’re thinking edible invitations, galaxy skulls, or an entire blossoming platter, it’s all going to start with the right tools, down to the specific brands, so we’ve rounded up a shopping list that will set you up for success and stunning sugar cookies. With these in your arsenal, all you’ll need to bring to the pastry kitchen is a little artistic sensibility.
Rolling pin with thickness rings
One of the easiest ways to doom your cookie art before you even get to the decorating portion is by failing to create an even, flat surface on which to draw. Using a rolling pin that comes with adjustable thickness rings solves this issue: It keeps your pin a precise distance (of your choosing) off your rolling surface, ensuring that not only are all of your cookies the exact same thickness, they are also completely flat when they go into the oven (and, assuming you’re following a reputable recipe, leave the oven as well).
