Bachelorette Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Back in April, I was coasting through an anesthesia rotation after I’d already matched into my Residency, and decided to take on a (seriously time consuming) project for my best friend’s Bachelorette in Palm Springs, CA. As a co-MOH, I had put my type-A planning skills to use but C was stuck with the onerous task of transporting and setting up all the decorations, gifts, and supplies for the weekend. These cookies were my small contribution to the color pop of the weekend!

My trip there was the worst flight ever and our plane was re-routed to Ontario due to high winds in Palm Springs. Most passengers de-planed in Ontario and opted to drive but a small handful of us decided to take our chances, cross all fingers and toes, and pray to all the Gods that we make it to Palm Springs – and here I am writing this post. I made it, but the cookies did not. The poor little flamingos traveled all the way from Ohio to Ontario intact only to have their necks broken in the unfriendly skies above Palm Springs. Didn’t change the taste though 🙂

If you’ve never tried royal icing cookies, they’re a process. Some recipes include chilling time for the dough, then the cookies need to cool completely before decorating. For royal icing cookies, thicker icing is used for the edge and design then it is thinned so the flooding is nice and smooth. This was a multi-day process for me given all the colors and layers (and actually having to work), but so worth the time! Special shout out to my old roommate, who ran back and forth between getting ready for dinner and helping me flood cookies so we wouldn’t be late.  

I used this AmeriColor Gel Food Color set and love the vibrant color tones! There are lots of fancy piping bags and bottles you can use, but holes in ziplock bags worked just fine for me.