Hi Everyone
This is the problem. My two little grand nephews love Mario and Luigi. I thought I saw cookie cutters at one point, but I couldn't find any. I finally found some on ebay. They're cookie cutters from 1989! Well, I bid on them, and won. (My grandsons love them too). There are 4 cutters. Mario, Luigi, Koopa Troopa, and Spiny. The impressions on the cutters are pretty detailed, and once you flood them its hard to see the details so you can fill in where needed. Also, the room to put the different colors of glace are so small it looks awful. I'm new at cookie decorating, and couldn't find any former posts on this. Would I be better off using the food coloring markers? I know, I bit off more than I can chew! (no pun intended) Any suggestions or hints would be greatly appreciated.
Kathy

Hi Kathy,

You have a couple of options you could just pip the lines & not flood the cookie or you could pip the indented lines in white to mark them then flood the colors then pass over in black icing over the white lines. If you want you could also just pip the indent in black but it looks messy onces flooded up to you.

I recently used the Star Wars cookie cutters from Williams Sonoma. They also had impressions that were useless once flooded. I did a combination of outlining/flooding the larger areas with the different colors and painting the finer details with food coloring diluted with vodka. I used RI and waited for the icing to dry before painting. I also simplified the designs a bit so they wouldn't look too messy with all the little details. Good luck!

See if Sweetopia has anything about intricate designs and how to do it. I think people do them in sections, letting them dry in between.

http://sweetopia.net/

I'll see if I have anything else in my files.

I'm sure there's also some info here in this thread. I just can't go and read all that right now.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/sweet_treats/discuss/72157619556075431/

Cakejournal.com usually has some good info.

I've seen very intricate designs in my Peggy Porschen books, but unfortunately I don't have them with me.

Hope you can find an answer to your question. Good luck!

Hi Ladies
Thanks for all of your replies. I flooded the cookies last night, and they are dry. I had to redraw Mario on the cookie with food coloring markers. I also colored in the clothes, eyes, and shoes. It doesn't look that bad. I piped in black to outline, and then piped in a fluffy moustache. I think it looks okay. I'm going to read through what was suggested, and I thank you. My sister keeps yelling at me that the kids aren't going to be picky. No, but I am. The other issue is piping in black. I know my nephew won't care if the kids faces get messed up eating the cookies, but I don't know about his wife! What are your opinions. Thanks again. All of your work is amazing. I give you all alot of credit. I personally think that decorating cookies is more intricate than cake decorating. I recently made all of the deserts for my grandsons christening, including cross cookie centerpieces/favors. They really turned out nice for my first try at decorating cookies. They are in my pics. These cookies though are going to be a pain to do properly I think. I don't want to waste too much time finishing these cause I'm shipping them from NY to New Hampshire, and I don't want them to get stale. Thanks again. Kathy

I wonder if it's possible to let your flood icing dry nearly all the way and then lightly press the cutter onto the cookie to remark the impression?

Re pressing the cutter into the icing, I wouldn't, assuming it's glacé or royal, as the dry surface would just crack. Might work well on fondant tho, for marking the areas to colour.
xx

Hi ladies
I did try the cookie cutter thing. It didn't work, cause the cookies did spread, ever so slightly, and I did crack a few. I think I'll be okay though. I actually drew Mario and Luigi free hand in food decorating pens on top of the glace. I then outlined in black royal icing, colored with the pens, and made fluffy mustaches with the royal icing. They really look cute! Now I'm finishing up Spiny and Koopa Troopa. Will they be okay with the decorating pens in the freezer? I'm sending a dozen of each character individually wrapped.

Now that I think about it, re-pressing might not work. The cookie most likely expanded a bit while baking and adding thickness from the fondant or royal or glace, the cutter would no longer fit.

Whoops iluvpeeks you beat me to the punch! I have a cookie that I got as a party favor that I'm saving in the freezer. It has writing from an edible marker and it looks fine. I'm not sure if it would smear or run if it were to defrost.

Okay, Luigi and Mario are done. Koopa Troopa and Spiney still need to dry. I'll finish tomorrow. I tried to look up online about the pens, and freezing, and defrosting. I could really find anything. If anyone knows, I would appreciate it. I don't know if I should tell my nephew's wife to leave them in the individual bag to defrost overnight, or take them out of the bag? If anyone knows I would appreciate it. I hope I didn't screw up by using the edible ink pens.
Kathy

Hi Everyone Thanks for all of your ideas and tips. I finished the cookies, but I can't upload pictures due to the problems cc is having now. I will put my pictures up asap. Many thanks again. Kathy

Hooray! I was able to upload pics. I'll try to attach them.