- Caroline B.
- Monday, July 19, 2021
Follow this easy, step-by-step guide on how to decorate a Valentine's Heart Cookie with Jacquie Bradley, the Butterkreme Queen.
It’s a yearly tradition we never skipped. Even if someone in our friend/sister group was in a relationship at the time, we still came together and celebrated it.
I am talking about Galentine’s Day! It’s celebrated on February 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day. Now one could argue that both holidays are entirely made up, yet I still enjoy the meaning of them both. Galentine’s Day is from an episode of the popular TV show, Parks and Recreation, and it’s a day where you can share love with all the women who have supported you throughout the year. My version of Galentine’s Day was summed up in chocolate, good wine, and a lavish dinner with a side of trashing ex’s. Ahh pre-corona. Those were the days.
My friends and my sisters would go out every year and celebrate love for the sake of love. The COVID-19 pandemic has put a pause in our plans this year, as it will just be my sister/roommate, Jacquie Bradley and I celebrating. Did I mention that she happens to be a pastry chef?
During the pandemic she started a baking business, Butterkreme Queen based in SC. I asked if she would be so kind and give us an easy Valentine’s Day cookie decorating tutorial, and like a good big sis, she obliged (without any bribes of me having to do the dishes).
So this year whether you choose to spend a night out on the town (with your mask right?) or a cozy night in, we’ve got your dessert covered. This is a fun activity you can do with your family and friends that will produce professional quality decorated cookies.
Tools You Will Need:
- 12 Large Sugar Cookies
- Royal Icing (recipe here)
- Food Coloring (gel preferably, I used pink, green and red and yellow for the writing)
- Disposable Piping Bags
- Decorating Tips (#2)
- Option: Use Ziploc bags as piping bags. Just fill and cut a small hole in the bottom corner to make a tip.
- Stand Mixer or Hand Mixer
- Large Bowl
- Small Bowls (for different color icings)
- Spoons
- Toothpicks (for food coloring)
- Paper Towels or Kitchen Towels
Piping Fill Icing
The first step is to fill up piping bag with frosting. Be sure to squeeze any air bubbles out before piping onto the cookie. You will then hold the bag in your dominant hand with the other hand guiding, holding the top closed between your thumb and index finger. Firmly, squeeze the bag and start to draw along the edge of cookie creating an outline. This is called the fill icing.
Slowly draw the outline and bring it to a close.
Piping Flood Icing
Next, going in the same direction as drawing the outline, begin to fill the inside of the outline. This is the flood icing.
With more pressure, squeeze the piping bag and slowly begin to fill in the outline by tracing from the edge to the center of the cookie.
Writing the Phrases
When the icing has had a chance to harden (roughly 5 mins.), you can then write your cute Valentine’s Day phrases!
You can use a small tabletop fan to speed along the drying process. The same royal icing from the fill and flood step will be used to write the phrases.
Obviously you can use any phrases you want, but we stuck with the more common ones.
Choose the icing you want to pipe the words. The Butterkreme Queen used red icing to add a bright contrast to the soft colors used for the fill/flood icing. Slowly pipe the words onto the cookie.
If you are not good at piping words, a tip is that she suggests you practice piping on some parchment paper before actually writing on the cookie. To practice for this session, she simply used her table (be careful of any dyes on certain types of material).
Let the cookies dry 6-8 hours or overnight before storing in airtight containers. A tabletop fan will help speed this process along.
Alternative Way to Decorate Cookies
Butterkreme Queen gives us another great technique for icing cookies. Instead of the fill/flood method, you can just dip the cookies into the icing. Simply add the icing to a bowl and thin it out with a little bit of water, one teaspoon at a time.
Dip the cookies into the icing and tilt at a slight angle to let the excess drip off. This method is great for families with small children. It’s an easy, fun task!
If you get any air bubbles, you can use a toothpick or something sharp to gently pop them. Shaking them gently to level out the icing could help eliminate this problem.
Tips from the Butterkreme Queen
- *If a cookie breaks you can use the icing to glue it back together. Be sure to let the icing harden before decorating again.
- *If you make a mistake while decorating and the icing is still wet, you can scrape the icing off the cookie and simply start again.
- *You can find piping bags in many craft supply stores as well as in the baking section of most grocery stores. If you are still having trouble, just use a ziploc bag.
Not great at baking cookies? Read this blog so you can avoid some common mistakes.
Find cookie recipes in our cookbook collection, here.
Don’t have a library card? Get one, here.
Be sure to follow the ButterKreme Queen and to remember that if these past few months has taught us anything, is that we should love one another ❤️
Meet the Chef
Jacquie Bradley is a graduate from the Culinary Institute of Charleston, and a former pastry chef of High Cotton restaurant in Charleston, SC. She is a Wilton Certified Cake Decorator with 15+ years cake decorating experience. She is the owner of Butterkreme Queen, an online bakery based in Columbia, SC. A sweets fanatic with an obsession for carbs, she can be found creating new recipes as well as discovering new bakeries.
Find more recipes, blogs and cooking resources from the library, here.