Happy Friday! Today is the beginning of EPCOT’s Festival of the Arts! While I won’t be in the parks for it, I’m excited to share these Ink & Paint Cookies! Inspired by drawing and painting, these Ink & Paint Cookies are a fun and edible activity. These vanilla cookies are topped with white royal icing, which can be drawn and painted on using edible markers and food coloring! Let your creativity shine!
These cookies are straightforward to make, but they do need some extra time for the icing to dry. It’s important to let the icing dry completely before writing or painting on top so that the pen and paint doesn’t cause the icing to crack. For this recipe, I used my favorite vanilla cookie recipe, but you could also use other flavors, like lemon, orange, or chocolate.
To make the cookies, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until combined. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes. For these, I used a paint palette cookie cutter, a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter, and a square cookie cutter. Place the cut out cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Bake the cookies at 350 F for 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown at around the edges. Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Decorating the cookies has two steps. The first is icing the cookies with white royal icing to make a blank canvas for you to draw or paint on. To make the royal icing, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder in a medium bowl. Add the warm water and beat until combined. Then, turn the beaters to high speed and beat until the icing is glossy and holds stiff peaks.
Scoop out four medium to large spoonfuls of icing. These will become the different colored icing blobs on the paint palette cookies. You only need enough for the colors you want to have on the paint palette. For me, that was red, yellow, blue, and green. Place the spoonfuls in separate containers and keep them covered until ready to use.
Stir in additional warm water into the remaining icing, a tablespoon at a time, until the icing creates loose ribbons when drizzled with a spoon. Aim to have the icing ribbons disappear back into the bowl within 10 seconds of being picked up with the spoon. Transfer to a piping bag. For this, I used tipless piping bags.
To decorate the cookies, pipe an outline around the edge of the cookie. Then, fill in the outline with the white icing. Use a cookie pick to make fine adjustments, if needed. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let the icing dry completely–this will take a few hours.
To add the paint blobs to the palette cookies, dye each spoonful of icing a different color using gel food coloring. I chose to dye them red, yellow, green, and blue using Wilton’s Primary Color Gel Food Colors Set. Spoon a little bit of each color onto each palette cookie.
To draw on the cookies, use edible food markers to draw your desired designs. I used Wilton’s Food Writer markers to draw some Disney characters, but you can draw whatever you’d like!
To paint on the cookies, place a couple drops of food coloring into a small bowl. Add a little bit of water and then use a clean, never been used with paint, paint brush to paint onto the cookies. You could paint the drawings you drew or just paint other colors onto the cookies like watercoloring. When you’re finished, let the cookies dry before eating!
Enjoy these Ink & Paint Cookies! If you’re visiting EPCOT for the Festival of the Arts, have a wonderful time!
Ink & Paint Cookies
Ingredients
Vanilla Cookies
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Royal Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons meringue powder
- ¼-½ cup warm water
Decoration
- red, yellow, blue, and green gel food coloring
- water
Equipment
- paint palette cookie cutter
- square or round cookie cutter
- Mickey Mouse cookie cutter
- clean food safe paint brushes
- edible food marker
- piping bag
Instructions
Vanilla Cookies
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In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
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Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
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Add the flour mixture and beat until combined.
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Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
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Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
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On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes.
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Place cut out cookies onto the prepared baking sheets and place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
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Bake the cookies 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Royal Icing
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In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and meringue powder.
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Add ¼ cup water and beat on low speed until combined. Turn to high speed and beat until icing is glossy and holds still peaks.
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To make the colored icing for the paint palette, scoop out 4 medium to large spoonfuls (one for each color) and place in separate containers. Cover until ready to use.
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Stir in additional warm water to the remaining icing, a tablespoon at a time, until icing creates loose ribbons when drizzled with a spoon. Aim to have the icing ribbons disappear back into the bowl within 10 seconds of being picked up with the spoon.
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Transfer to a piping bag.
Assembly
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To decorate the cookies, pipe an outline around the edge of the cookie. Then, fill in the outline with white icing. Use a cookie pick to make fine adjustments, if needed. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let dry completely.
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To add the paint dollops to the palette cookies, dye each spoonful of reserved icing a different color using gel food coloring. Spoon a little bit of each color onto each palette cookie.
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To draw on the cookies, use edible food markers to draw desired images.
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To paint on the cookies, place a few drops of food coloring into a small bowl or clean, food safe paint palette. Add a little bit of water to each color. Paint cookies using a clean, food safe paint brush.
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Let the icing dry completely.