Their eyes will be smiling indeed when they see these Eat Drink and Be Irish Cookies from Confection Couture!
Here's what you'll need:
- Additional Cookie Cutter used in this tutorial
- 2" Square
- AirGenie Airbrush System
- Gyro-Cut Craft and Hobby Cutting Tool
- Cookie Magnets
- Plastic Bottle with Dropper Tip
- Quadrant Masking Tool (x2)
- Stencil Genie
- Screen Genie
- DecoPac Airbrush Food Coloring
- Tangerine
- Emerald Green
- Ivory Shimmer
- Sugar Cookie ingredients
- Royal Icing ingredients
- Glad Press'n Seal
- Paper Towels
Getting Started
The first step, of course, is to bake and ice your cookies!
Preparing for Stenciling
To prepare for stenciling, take the Stencil Genie and separate the two sections. Place the thicker portion down, magnets facing up, and center the flag design in the middle of the square.
To isolate simple shapes on a particular stencil, such as the orange stripe on the Irish flag, try using two Quadrant Masking Tools to mask off the surrounding areas and protect them from overspray.
***Note: the cookie cutter we used for the flag cookie was a prototype and not the final design. Because of this, the shape was backwards, which forced us to flip the stencil over so that the design matched the cookie shape. The cutter you receive will be the correct configuration, so no flipping will be necessary.***
Next, place the Screen Genie over the top of the layers. This works great to help hold all portions of the stencil flat against the surface of the cookie and also keep the edges of the design nice and crisp. Lock everything together using the upper half of the Stencil Genie.
After shaking the bottle carefully, load 5-6 drops of DecoPac Tangerine airbrush food coloring into the reservoir of your AirGenie System airbrush tool.
Always test out the airflow on a stack of paper towels or sheet of white paper prior to airbrushing each cookie and color. Adjust the flow as needed using the knob on top of the AirGenie unit.
Apply the color in light, even coats moving the tip of the airbrush tool in a tight, circular motion. Once completed, place this cookie aside.
Masking Intricate Stencil Elements
For more intricate stencil elements, use Glad Press'n Seal.
Cut a piece roughly the size of the stencil and press it firmly, flattening it to remove any bubble or wrinkles. Next, use the Gyro-Cut craft and hobby cutting tool to trim around the edge of the stencil and remove any excess plastic.
Using the Gyro cutter, trim around the "EAT" and "AND BE" text of the stencil and also the alternating leaves of the four leaf clover design. Turn the blade sideways and use it to lift a corner of each trimmed area of plastic and then carefully peel them away.
To save time later, you can also use cut away the plastic cutting all of the orange elements from the other four cookie designs.
Airbrushing the Orange Stencil Elements
Load the stencil into the the Stencil Genie and Screen Genie as described earlier. You will still need the Quadrant Masking Tools to protect the cut away areas and edges of the stencil.
You can also use Cookie Magnets to further help press any sections of the stencil against the cookie surface, if need be.
Airbrush using the same technique as described earlier.
Repeat the above procedure to airbrush the alternating leaf halves of the four leaf clover design.
Proceed with coloring the beer mug (but not the froth) in orange as well.
Airbrushing the White Stripe on the Flag Cookie
Load some Ivory Shimmer into a clean airbrush tool and repeat the above procedure, this time for the center stripe on the Irish flag cookie.
Airbrushing the Green Elements
Although not pictured here, at this point you will need to remove the Press'n Seal from the stencil and cleaning it by rinsing it under water and then drying it completely. Re-cover the stencil with Glad and then trim away the plastic covering the elements opposite the ones you did earlier.
Load some Emerald Green into a clean airbrush tool and proceed with coloring the "DRINK" and "IRISH" text and remaining clover leaves on the square cookie.
Proceed with airbrushing the frothy head on the beer mug cookie.
Complete the remaining leaf halves of the clover cookie.
Finally, mask off the left-most stripe on the Irish flag cookie and color it green.
The Eat Drink and Be Irish cookies are now complete and ready to bring some luck and good cheer to your next St. Patrick's Day gathering!
