I wish I was a unicorn with flowers in my hair,
I would dance around the forest spreading magic everywhere,
Happiness, fun and music would swirl around me in the air,
Oh I wish I was a unicorn with flowers in my hair.*
I have been playing around with cookie designs for the girls birthday parties and this seems to be a bit of a favourite for Sweet. I guess who doesn't love unicorns, plus ombre pink with touches of gold, it's a magical combination.
EDIT update 2/0/13- we have had the party CLICK HERE to see all the lovely pictures
If you follow me on Instagram you would of course have seen the pretty copper horse cutters as soon as I bought it and lots of progress pictures of me making the cookies along the way. On facebook we had a vote - pink or gold hooves, for which gold won quite easily. Although I'm still undecided as a number of people told me the actual magic is in the horn so it should be the only gold part.
I hope you love these cookies as much as my kids do. Check back in around a month's time for Sweet's magical birthday party table (which will feature these cookies). Plus next week I will have some of Bubble's 9th birthday party celebrations up.
My cookie cutter was from Ecrandal but you can use any horse or unicorn cutter you have on hand for a similar cookie.
*first and last line of poem inspired by 'I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair' by Sandi Thom.
Unicorn Cookie Tutorial
CLICK on the picture below for the video tutorial otherwise continue to read for written instructions.
Horse or Unicorn shape cutter
Small plastic rolling pin
Cornflour
Sugar Cookie Dough (see below for recipe)
White Ready Rolled Fondant ^
Gel Food Colour (Dusky Pink, ivory, black, teal)*
Sugar Flowers (Click here for my easy sugar blossom tutorial)
Gold Luster dust and rose spirits
Couple of clean brushes used for food only
Sharpe knife
^fondant dries out quickly, when not in use store in an airtight container or ziplock bag. To use fondant knead until pliable and smooth and roll out on a workbench dusted with cornflour (cornstarch).
*You will need dark dusky pink, medium pink and light pink fondant for the unicorns tail and mane and dark ivory fondant for the unicorn horn and hooves plus a very small amount of black and teal for the eyes.
The day before decorating colour all the fondant and make the unicorn horns. To make the horn roll out 2 pieces of the dark ivory fondant into thick ropes and then twist together. Using the palm of your hand roll until the desired width, you may need to stop and retwist every now and then to ensure the horn has a tight swirl. Cut to desired length and twist the end until it is has a thin sharp point.
Using the cookie recipe and instructions below cut out and cookie horse cookies, allow to cool.
Knead white fondant until smooth and pliable. Dust workbench with cornflour (corn starch) and roll out fondant until quite thin then using the horse cutter cut out a fondant shape.
Place the darker dusky pink over the top of the white horse cut out and cut a line across where the tail meets and also along the back of the horse for the mane.
See picture for example. Do the same for the medium pink to cut out the unicorn's 'fringe/mane'.
Brush water onto the cookie and adhere the fondant, use the rolling pin to smooth the fondant into place.
Use a knife or cake modelling tool to indent details into the horse, like a mouth, nostril and leg definition (if required)
Take pea sized amounts of the dark dusky pink and roll between your palms into a thin rope, then use the rolling pinto flatten into a long ribbon. Twist each end of the fondant ribbon in the opposite direction to make a flowing corkscrew swirl.
Place onto the cookie tail area and use a small amount of water to adhere in place. Use the sharp knife to cut any excess off. I adhered around 3 on the tail and 5 on the mane area (see picture).
Repeat the process with the medium pink and then the light pink until the mane and tail appear full..
Fold a small piece of cardboard into a V to act as a support.
Mash a very small amount of fondant with water to make a firm glue past and adhere the horn to the front mane part, move the cardboard support under the horn. Add a sugar flower on top of the horn (using the fondant water glue) and where the tail meets the body.
Decide if you are having pink or gold hooves and roll out that colour fondant. Use the horse cutter to cut out the feet area and use the sharp knife to cut out hooves. Adhere to the cookie with a small amount of water.
Add eye detail, you can just draw on an eye with edible black pen.
Other wise use a small amount of black, white and teal fondant to make an eye by pressing the colours into small rounds, see picture for detail.
If you are having gold detail, mix the edible luster dust with a little rose spirits and paint onto the horn and hooves.
Allow to dry until set and then store in airtight containers for up to 3 days.
Sugar Cookie Recipe (makes 12 large cookies)
460 grams plain flour (16 1/4 oz all purpose flour)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
230 grams unsalted butter (8 1/8oz)room temperature
220 grams caster sugar (7 3/4 oz superfine sugar)#
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
#use regular white sugar if you do not have caster/ superfine sugar
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.
Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to medium low, add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and mix in the sifted flour mixture until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill in fridge for 30 minutes or so.
Line a few baking trays with parchment/ baking paper.
Dust workbench with plain flour and using a large rolling pin roll out the dough until around 1/2 cm (1/4") in thickness. If the dough is to hard you may need to work/knead it a bit until you can roll it out.
Cut out cookies shapes and place the cookies on the prepared trays. (Knead and reroll dough as necessary, if it becomes to soft you can pop it back in the fridge.)
Pop the cut cookie dough trays into the fridge to chill again for around 30 minutes until firm (or in the freezer for 10 minutes).
Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F) and cook the cookies until they just start to turn golden, around 15 minutes (less or more depending on cookie size).
Cool on trays for 5 minutes and then carefully lift onto a wire rack to cool completely prior to decorating.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.
Unless stated otherwise, the above pictures and post are original works and the property of Linda Vandermeer.
Linda Vandermeer is a blogger, baker, maker and author
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