Fancy French Black Cat Cookies

Sometimes, you  just want some cookies that are iced to look like cats. I have been experimenting with cookie recipes and royal icing for a little while, often with a lot of failures. However, all of this has led to the development of these Fancy Cat Cookies. This has been my greatest royal icing success story!

Dear hubby loved these cookies and everyone at work thought I turned the corner into crazy cat lady territory. However, with these delicious (and beautiful) cookies I am happy to occupy that corner (and I’m sure you will be too when you try it).

The cookie recipe I used is great because it doesn’t spread so you have PURRFECTLY shaped cookies every time that don’t grow bigger, and yet still taste super yummy! You can find this go to recipe here. We all have our different baking rituals and processes, sometimes it feels like we are obsessively making sure that we do it the same every time and follow the steps exactly just so otherwise our baking will not work out. The beauty with royal icing is it’s forgiving and that’s why I always keep plenty of toothpicks on hand! When I am icing there are a few things that I do to prepare myself:

• Make sure all my tools are nearby
• Make sure I’m comfortable and relaxed (read: sitting)
• Make sure I have enough toothpicks nearby.

 

These cat cookies start with a simple outlining and flooding technique. This is the most basic techniques for decorating cookies. I’ve done this before but there are still some aspects of it that I need a good amount of practice with. All I can say is keep an eye out for more royal icing recipes so I can keep practicing!
The royal icing recipe I used can be found here

Outlining

Start to outline with the tip just above the cookie: Not quite touching it, but very close to the surface of the cookie.
As I apply pressure and start to move around the cookie, I bring the tip up and away from the cookie so the royal icing drops and I can control the pattern.
As I get close to the spot where I started the outline, I lower the tip again and attempt to finish the outline right where it began.

Flooding

Pipe enough royal icing into the middle of the cookie to fill the outline
Use the toothpick to fill any gaps in the icing and pop any air bubbles to leave a smooth surface.
Shake out the cookie for a smooth, flawless look (obviously, better than in the photo below).

Cat Design

Decide what your cat design will look like and practice on a piece of paper or a ‘test’ cookie.
To get the same cat shape as you see in my cookies you have a small round circle for the head and then a larger tear-drop shape for the body (often, mine comes out more triangular and I use the toothpick to shape the icing to a more pleasing way).

Make an S shaped line for the tail

Use the toothpick to shape out the ears, whiskers and shape the icing of the body and head into a more pleasing shape — particularly if they have come out looking triangular rather than circle/tear shaped like mine do).

Decorate additionally – using dots, lines or using royal icing to stick on eyes or other decorative features.

Wait for the compliments on the amazing job you’ve done!