Margaritas, Flip Flops, & a Pair of Cheap Sunglasses!

Margarita and Flip Flop Cookies are showing up everywhere! I recently saw the Margaritas at Glorious Treats with a fabulous "How To". Then I saw the Summer Cookie Cutters by Wilton at Michael's, so I just have to give them a try!

First the cookie part...
You can view the recipe I like to use and the tutorial for that by visiting my
Rockin' Shamrock Cookies Post
For this batch of cookies I am using Coconut extract to add to that tropical vibe!

On to the decorating part.....

I am not the greatest at decorating cookies at all! I used to use the wrong icing, either store bought or the same buttercream I put on cupcakes. Then when I did learn the right icing, I didn't give it a long enough time to dry. Now knowing my downfalls, can I pull off these great cookies?
After taking Wilton's Course 2 Flowers and Cake Design, I have definitely gotten used to making and using Royal Icing, so that is what I am using for these cookies, straight from the class book.

Icing Ingredients
1 box (1 pound) of confectioners sugar (this way you know you have the right amount)
3 tablespoons meringue powder
5-6 tablespoon warm water

Directions
Put the confectioners sugar and meringue powder in your mixer bowl. Add 6 tablespoons of warm water. Mix on lowest speed for exactly 10 minutes. Divide the icing into glass bowls and color as desired. Cover with plastic wrap and then with the lid. This will keep for a few weeks as long as you keep the air out!

For the outlines of the cookies- add water by the drop to reach toothpaste consistency. THIS IS THE KEY....TOOTHPASTE CONSISTENCY! I learned that from reading the "How to's" at Glorious Treats. Using a tip 3, outline your cookies. I only had one tip 3, somehow they are disappearing, so I used tip 2's on the other 2 colors.

To fill in the cookies- Put the icing back in the bowl and thin it out a little more with water a couple drops at a time to SHAMPOO CONSISTENCY! Again, I learned that from reading the tutorials at Glorious Treats! Once you are at shampoo consistency, you flood in your icing, using the same tip that you used to outline.

To put color on top of color- let dry 6-8 hours or overnight. If not, the second color will bleed right into the first color (Trust me. I know...I've done that before)  I am letting mine dry overnight before adding additional colors to be safe.....

 

The next day....

I added a little pearl dust to give the icing a little shimmer and added the finishing touches.

For the Margarita Glasses- I piped a little of the royal icing on the top of each Margarita rim and dipped in clear/white sparkling sugar and added a royal icing Violet that I have leftover from Wilton Course 2- Flowers and Cake Design.

For the Limes and Pink fictitious Lemons- I darkened some of the pink icing I had left and piped on the peel with size 3 tip, once that was about dry I piped on the white with size 2 tip.

For the straps on the flip flops- I used tip 46 to give them little ridges (although you really can't see the ridges from the pictures) and I added a royal icing Violet to the flip flops too.

The sunglasses- I piped dots and dipped in the clear/white sparkling sugar and added a Violet to each side.

I just love how these cookies turned out!

It's a lot of fun  and really not hard, now that I know what I am doing!

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These Cookies are shared at:

Sweet as Sugar Cookies: Sweets for Saturday
Party Mindie Style

A Well-Seasoned Life: Sweet Indulgences Sunday

This Chick Cooks: These Chicks Cooked

Food Corner: Decorating Challenge #2- Royal Icing