I’m thinking about making horse-head shaped cookies iced to look like the owner’s horse for my barn buddies for xmas. I’ve never done it before. Beyond the cookie cutter and an icing bag, what do I need? Any suggestion from anyone who has made them before for icing or cookie recipes, food coloring, anything else? Thanks!
I read that backwards, and thought you were making human-shaped cookies for horses…and thought - that would be bizarrely adorable 
Do you have a rolling pin & cookie pan? I’m assuming you may have made cookies before, just not this type. I’d also think about how you’re going to wrap them, as any decorated cookies can have a bit of a challenge being transported
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Let the cookies cool before you ice them. Also maybe make the cookie dough match the base color of the horse, gingerbread for bay or sugar cookie for a light colored horse.
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I did this one year, and just separated the icing into small bowls to make multiple colors. They came out cute but not nearly as I had envisioned. Turns out it was a lot harder than it looks. If I ever did it againI would ice in white glaze that would harden and then use edible paint.
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Yes, icing is very imprecise. The details get very blobby. Fortunately blobby icing is still delicious. You could also consider using a tiny hard candy as an eye.
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Make sure to try a practice batch. Icing cookies to a point of enough details to tell which horse it is is hard. I’ve taken baking courses before and know how to ice a cookie, cake, cupcake, etc. and I still find cookies very hard, though my sister who’s an artist can do a much better job. I’d also suggest getting piping tips. This will give you more control than just cutting the end of a piping bag off. If you’re using royal icing give it time to dry between colors.
You might also find YouTube videos helpful. And there’s even a Christmas Cookie Challenge on the food network that gives a lot of good pointers on things to help ice cookies, though some of the bakers are more artistic than I could ever dream to be.
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What a fun idea!
When I was in a craft store for halloween there were actually candy googly eyes! which would make your horses look terrified, I think :eek::lol:, but a candy eye of some form would probably make this production a lot easier!
To help with precise icing, making one batch of royal that is pretty runny, and another that is quite firm works pretty well. The piping is still a trick, but you neatly pipe the outlines of the colors you want (which sets up pretty quickly), then “flood” the outline with the thinner icing.
You can actually just use the same batch, and add lemon juice to the thicker icing once you have your outlines done.
I’ve never had good luck with things coming out neatly using anything other than royal icing though.
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I did this last year. I used chocolate dough for the black horses, gingerbread for the bays etc. Instead of icing for the manes (and tails, I had full horse cookie cutters) I used melted chocolate (dark and white), slightly cooled and put in a decorating syringe. The chocolate won’t run together like icing if it’s slightly cooled before using. Do a couple of trial runs first to get the hang of it (and eat them if they don’t turn out!).
For an appaloosa I used decorating pearls and dragees.
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I did this one year! It was really quite fun, yet time consuming. I bought specialty food dies from a baking store that came in all sorts of colors, so I could mix colors to make palominos, chestnuts, etc. They came out quite nice. But it’s been years. Take pics if you do this. I’m kicking myself that I didn’t do that when I made the cookies. Maybe I need to try again this year! Good luck.
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Lots of cooling racks! You can never have too many!
I suck at decorated cookies so I make candy instead, I find it so much easier.
I use the colored candy melting wafers to paint the details on the mold then fill it to match the horses body color.
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I find it easier to use cheap squeeze bottles instead of a piping bag for more control. With a firm dough such as gingerbread, you can use a garlic press for forelocks and manes.
You’re inspiring me–stuck inside with another dark, smoke-filled sky. Even UC Davis is shut down. Off to the store for baking supplies!
Please don’t make them taste like horses
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People will be thrilled to get even the most basic resemblance to their horse, and might not even want to eat it! So maybe bundle it with half a dozen small round cookies so they don’t feel like cannibals!
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To keep things relatively simple, use gingerbread dough and plain white icing and pipe the name of the horse on the cookie.
Plan on making lots of extras to practice on and for mistakes.
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I LOVE icing cookies - but it is very time consuming and takes practice to do it right… I find that its useful to bake the cookies on one day and ice them the following day.
If you have no experience with making royal icing, do a couple test batches where you play with some basic designs. MissCoCo is gave some really solid advice, I too prefer squeeze bottles to messy piping bags. For me, the most un-fun part is mixing the food coloring and putting the icing in the bottle - it always takes longer than I think!
If your test batches are too labor intensive or frustrating, go the ‘cheat’ route and just write the horses’ name on in icing.
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First of all, what BatCoach said. It is a big job to do all in one day, at least for me.
Second, read the sugar cookie thread with all of its great advice. I really like the tips of rolling out the dough between two sticks for a perfectly even thickness, and also rolling the dough on parchment paper and then chilling it before cutting out the cookies. I think this would make it much easier to avoid the problem I have which is that they get a bit distorted when I slide a spatula under them when the dough is raw.
Then, use small tips for the icing bottle or pastry bag, so that you can outline the decorated area, and then flood it. That way, it doesn’t spread outside the boundaries. On the other hand, if you want indistinct edges, like say, putting dapples on a horse, ice the base color and add dots of a slightly different color for dapples while the base icing is still wet. It will dry with softer edges.
Royal Icing will dry really hard, is easy to work with, decorates beautifully, and looks great but I don’t like it because it dries too hard for my preferences, is too much work, doesn’t taste great, and I don’t like using raw eggs in anything (although you could substitute merengue powder). A plain buttercream icing using powdered sugar with cream and no (or very little) butter, a dash of salt and some vanilla makes a wonderful easy icing. You can make it as thick or thin as you like. The resulting cookies are a little more delicate because you have to really give the icing time to dry and even then handle them carefully, but in my opinion, they are worth it!
The last time I made this recipe I made large individualized cookies and wrapped each one in a plastic/cellophane-type bag tied with a ribbon and they were beautiful and really, really delicious. That is saying something because the professionally-decorated cookies that I find at bakeries are often gorgeous but usually very disappointing in the flavor and texture department.
Going in a whole different direction, look at this cool use of colored sugars to give color and texture:
https://www.edamam.com/recipe/donkey…412d75211559a9
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I would second icing the entire cookie in a solid color appropriate to the horse - let dry - then use edible marker for eye, nostril, mane, tail and other markings. There are also edible paints/dyes for cakes/cookies in all sorts of colors - just use a paint brush to paint the color on the icing & mix them like regular paints to make needed colors. Much more accurate that trying to do everything with the icing. Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and Walmart have the edible markers and the paints.
Make sure your cookies are thick enough AND crisp enough (or you’ll end up with a soggy mess). The icing can tend to make the cookies soft if the icing is too thin or too thick - the moisture gets in the cookie. Gingerbread is the best cookie to ice, as it is dense and doesn’t have a lot of moisture to begin with. Test make your icing and adjust as needed. Don’t try to bake the cookies and ice them if its really humid/rainy out!
But most importantly, have fun doing it! Your barn mates will love your personalized cookies.
I’ve never done gingerbread horses - boxes that open, houses, churches and other buildings are my thing at the holidays. If you need recipes, PM me and I’ll dig them up!
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Take care with your recipe or you can have this problem (scroll down to the horse cookie):
http://lifestyle.diply.com/horrible-baking-fails/2?utm_medium=delicioustwitter&config=25
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I don’t know if this will work, but it did work on salt-dough horses, use a garlic press to make the manes and tails.
Fondant is cheap and can be custom-colored for whatever you want… It is easy to work with like playdoh. I buy the big tub of it from hobby lobby and then whatever color I need for the project. Make sure not to ONLY use fondant- it is nowhere near as delicious as icing.
