Butterfly Sugar Cookies

Until I sat down to decorate these sugar cookies last weekend I’d forgotten how relaxing and enjoyable punching shapes out of dough and creating little royal icing designs can be. I’m usually more of a drop cookie person but I felt like making something really spring-like and cheerful and some brightly colored butterflies seemed to fit the bill. I found a great little butterfly cookie cutter at Michaels and – wouldn’t you know – the Wilton folks had printed a cookie recipe right on the back.

Butterfly Sugar Cookies

True to their name, these cookies are indeed sugary. Buttery too. Works for me! The original recipe actually called for a half-teaspoon of almond extract but since my daughter hasn’t been introduced to nuts yet and knowing she was sure to plead for “cook-kiss” I decided to omit it and add a little more vanilla instead. It made a nice, tasty vanilla cookie.

There are a few important lessons I learned in this cookie construction process.  For one, rolling your dough out thicker than the recommended 1/8″ results in some chubby butterflies. Also, it’s probably best not to combine Wilton’s Delphinium Blue and Juniper Green Garden Tone icing colors in hopes of making some kind of turquoise. It actually makes gray (as seen on a few of these cookies in the photos). Finally, sit down to decorate when you’ve got a sizable block of time on your hands to create because, Lord, you would not believe how long I spent adding more and more details to the designs and changing colors and decorating tips. I got a little carried away.

I’m really looking forward to the day my little girl is old enough to join me for an afternoon of cookie decorating. Until then maybe it will just be my little escape.

P.S. I am “bringing” these cookies to Art & Aioli’s Virtual Open House. Congrats on your 1-year anniversary, Nicole!

Butterfly Sugar Cookies

 

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8 Comments

  1. Erin wrote:

    These are just lovely. I never have the patience to decorate cookies in such pretty detail. Awesome job!

    Posted 4.9.09 Reply
  2. Maria wrote:

    Beautiful butterflies! I love them. They are the perfect Spring cookies. Almost too pretty to eat:)

    Maria’s last blog post..Artisan in Five Calzones

    Posted 4.9.09 Reply
  3. RecipeGirl wrote:

    SO cute! Wow, these took a whole lot of patience to decorate, I’m sure!! Great job 🙂

    RecipeGirl’s last blog post..Meyer Lemon Cut-Out Sugar Cookies (No Chill)

    Posted 4.9.09 Reply
  4. Katie wrote:

    So cute! I love the colors and how you decorated them. I don’t know if I’d have the patience to do that. I usually just stick to one color.

    Katie’s last blog post..Easter Menu

    Posted 4.9.09 Reply
  5. Dani wrote:

    oh these are precious! everyone loves sugar “cook-kiss” 🙂

    Dani’s last blog post..#53) Salted Peanut Butter Cookies

    Posted 4.9.09 Reply
  6. These would be perfect for a Drop In & Decorate cookies for donation party!

    Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)’s last blog post..Limes (Recipe: Mexican tortilla and lime soup)

    Posted 4.9.09 Reply
  7. bobby wrote:

    v nice work

    Posted 1.27.10 Reply
  8. These cookies look so amazing, I would be sad eatting them. I will be trying my hand at baking them this weekend!

    Posted 1.16.12 Reply