I used Wilton's Fondant to make ghosts for Halloween. I'll never make anything with fondant again, it tastes digusting. It looks beautiful though, so nice and smooth. I've seen cakes here that were iced with buttercream, and so smooth it looks like fondant. How is this done? 
Yes....wilton fondant is disgusting and in my opinion totally inedible. If you want to use fondant try the Marshmallow fondant recipe here on CC. It is quick, easy, inexpensive and tastes great!!
For smooth buttercream, it takes a lot of practice. My favorite technique and recipe is the Sugarshack technique. The DVD's are well worth the price. There is a version of her recipe and directions on here as well, but i would say it would be good to invest in the DVD. It is so helpful.
smooth the buttercream as much as possible with your spatula then let it sit and dry a bit, so that it is no longer tacky. At this point, I use a viva paper towel (because it has no texutural patterns) and light lay it on the surface to be smoothed, then with a smoother, I gently rub over the paper towel then move it to the next area to be smoothed. Be careful to be sure that no buttercream has adhered to the towel, if there is, discard it and get a new paper towel. This leaves a beautiful smooth surface.
Remember practice makes perfect.
Good Luck
I disagree. Wilton fondant has a sweet taste. I do agree that fondant should not go on cookies. To me it is too sweet and it is the texture that doesn't go right with a cookie. Fondant is all for pretty and show and not taste.
But you are asking two different cookies. I see it as what can you put on cookies and how can yup learn to frost cakes to be smooth. I suggest you search here on cc. First go to the cookie forum here, there are tons of suggestions for which icing works for cookies. Then for how to frost a cake, search here on cc for buttercream, the melvira method, and check out the article section too. I believe there are several articles posted there.
I learned from taking a Wilton class. If they have them in your area, take the cake basics class. You will learn and get some hands on practice at the same time. Because In the end it is all a about practice, practice.
First, pleaes don' give up on fondant, it doesn't all taste like Wilton's
There are many other brands (satin ice and fondarific area couple that are well liked)
Or you can make your own. There is Marshmallow Fondant or Michelle Foster Fondant, both recipes are here on Cake Central.
As for smooth buttecream, my absolute favorite method is the Melvira method. Here is a link to her method found in the articles here on CC. And the second link is a cake that i did with it that i think really shows how well it works.
http://cakecentral.com/articles/126/quick-easy-smooth-icing-using-a-roller-melvira-method
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=600623
I guess i should clarify....i think PREMADE wilton fondant is disgusting. If you use the wilton recipe and make it as directed it tastes good. It actually is very similar in taste to the MMF
Yes, I meant the pre made Wilton fondant too.
Not all fondant tatse alike. We use a different brand at the cakery I work at. It has a butter cream taste to eat, but it too is very sweet. But Wilton has improved on the taste, plus I knead in a little almond extract also. But it tastes good enough that my 20 year old DD will sneak some away every so often.
I still say it is the consistency that throws people off, especially on a cookie. When I made them here at my house, nobody liked the fondant on the cookie. So back to royal icing it is.
practice!
use buttercream with a 0.65 SG and a clean straight spatula on a turntable! It's hard to get the smooth top and edges at first but after a while you get pretty good at it. Just keep that spatula clean each and every time you touch the buttercream.
I didn't make cookies. I made ghosts on a cake. Thanks for the input, I love the way Fondant looks, so I will try the MMF. Thanks for the video and recipes also, I greatly appreciate it. 
Duff's Fondant is tasty, and really nice to work with if you don't have time to make your own. Using Michael's coupons for 40-50% off, that might be worth a try! 
I've been going back & forth on which bc recipe I want to use. I MUCH prefer using all butter, as far as flavor. It's just a little spendy right now as butter has jumped in price. Now I need to get me a Fat Daddio's scraper & get practicing!
I use a crusting buttercream and get a nice product that I think looks like fondant (ifyou use the 3 or 5 foot rule).
Check out the faux fondant tutorial at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/abbyniemeier
Click on each picture then read the comments below each step.
I use all butter buttercream and actually do this same technique...only I have a 7" squeegee from Walmart (it's all plastic) and it works pretty good...although I may have to try the bench scraper because it look like you can get it more even. I don't have a blow torch...so I use boiling water that I put in a tall insulated cup to keep my knife clean.
I second the motion to get the Sharon Zambito sugarshack dvd. I've done BC for most of my cakes. I used the viva towel method at first & felt I needed improvement. So I bought her dvd as people here suggested. What an investment. Her BC recipe is quite good as well. I changed a few things up & I love it!
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