Decorating inspiration can come from just about anywhere, and we always love featuring innovative designs that come from unexpected places. Anne Yorks (flourboxbakery) of Flour Box Bakery in Bellefonte, PA, US found the inspiration for these cozy penguin cookies in a retail store catalog and created them by re-purposing a cutter she already had on-hand!

Here in Anne’s own words is the process she followed to make these adorable winter penguins:

Materials

#1 piping tip
1 batch favorite sugar cookie recipe
Christmas bell cookie cutter
Piping bag
Royal icing, outline and flood consistency in red, black and white
White nubs (nonpareils)

Instructions

As soon as I saw this little guy in a Pier 1 catalog, I knew I wanted to make him into a cookie. I think he is actually a gift bag. My cookie inspiration comes from all sorts of places!

I channeled my inner-Sugarbelle and decided to re-purpose my Christmas bell by cutting off the clapper to make the shape I needed for the penguins.

I baked my bell-penguins. Then, I outlined the two main sections of the cookie…the penguin and the hat. I like simple designs with two colors.

I do think the order in which you flood a cookie matters. I wanted the hat part to appear on or above the penguin. So I flooded the white parts first and then the red. I amply flooded the red to give it a puffy look.

While the red was still wet, I went back with some white icing and a #1 tip and put a little design into the hat. I added some white nubs (which is the Flour Box term for nonpareils). Nubs come in all sorts of colors.

And ta-da, my white, crowd-surfing penguin is all ready for the party.

About the Author:

Anne graduated from Penn State University in 2001 with a degree in journalism. She lives and bakes in Happy Valley in Bellefonte, PA with her husband and daughters.