I have been asked to make cookies for a friend's wedding. I have attached a picture of what she asked for below. I plan on using the NFSC recipe and Antonia's icing to decorate. I will color the icing red and fill in the square background, let it dry. Then go back with the red (maybe yellow/gold icing instead) and do the Chinese character. Once that dries, go over the character with gold lustre dust mixed with vodka. Two cookies will be placed in a clear bag tied closed with a red ribbon, so the icing should be hard enough to stack.
This is my plan 
Haven't tried yet but hope that some more experienced cookie decorators might chime in and let me know if this will work or provide better ideas.
Thank you so much.
Your plan sounds right on target. I did some 50th anniv. cookies, piping the "50" with gold RI and then going over with the gold lustre dust. They bagged just fine. You are doing exactly what I would do. As I recall, I used Americolor Gold for my piped RI letters.
your plan is perfect..........however, I would allow at least 24 hrs. for the background to set up before piping on the gold lettering (so you won't get any of the red bleeding into the letters) and then allow another 24 hrs. after doing the letters before you bag them! Would hate for your letters to smudge and break right off if you bag them too soon!
I'm sure they'll be gorgeous! I would be so tempted to do a gold border around the edges too to dress them up even further, they're beautiful cookies.
Just an idea...If you made the characters in advance in royal (like one would make lace points...on sheets of lightly greased waxed/parchment paper placed over templates)...allowed them to dry...painted them gold...can make them weeeeeeeell in advance...
Then, after the cookies are baked...
flood the cookie in red...while it's still wet, set the characters in place...there would be less steps done on the cookie after it's baked.
all4cake that's a very good idea! i haven't worked too much with RI, if I do the characters in advance, will they be too fragile to handle? and how long would it take to dry before handling them do you think?
i appreciate everyone's feedback - thank you for taking the time to respond.
All4cake has a good idea of doing the characters in advance, however I wouldn't place them on the wet royal icing background. They may sink into it and the red may bleed onto the gold.
But I don't know how I would go about attaching them, maybe let the background dry for a few hours first? Maybe someone else has done something like this before.
Otherwise, is fondant an option? Can cut all of the red squares before you even bake and then either hand paint the characters in gold, or add the royal icing to them.
As with most ri elements done off cake/cookie then applied, it is wise to make extras to allow for breakage. I find this a compromise I really don't mind as my freehand sucks lollipops and I'm able to do them well in advance to alleviate the stress of last minute decorating. No, they're not too fragile to handle as long as you don't grip 'em like a winning hand in Gin. I would allow them to dry overnight before painting (longer depending on humidity) and several hours or overnight after painting (again, depending on humidity).
As long as your flooding ain't too thick(depthwise) nor too thin (fluidwise), they'll settle...not sink like be buried....Here, the flooding was a bit thicker (depthwise) than a #2 and thinner than school glue...http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1543585
Have you considered stenciling the characters on? With a large amount of cookies this is the fastest way to do it not to mention each cookie will look identical. I would do the base & stencil in Red then add the gold luster dust. If you want to glam them up get some PME luster spray this is the fastest most effortless way to "fancy" up a cookie. See my icon that's a stencil.
Doing them in advance on parchment will also help the gold stay on the characters. I find that when I paint gold, it is very hard to keep it neat, especially if you have to do alot. Also, if you can do it with a stencil, wait for the RI to dry, then put the stencil back on while you brush the gold on. It also keeps it neater.
Beautiful cookies, so neat!
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