Halloween is right around the corner and we can’t wait! We’ve conjured up some wicked cookie designs full of voodoo magic for all of the tortured hearts and souls out there. Yes, we know…some of you have been ready to throw up the Christmas tree and deck the halls since August. BUT…we feel like we should point out It’s October - NOT December - so you Santa fans will just have to wait. Halloween is sort of the forgotten misfit of holidays. It seems like the retail world jumps straight from the 4th of July to Christmas - and If you blink?? Well, you miss it. Halloween will completely pass you by.

We’ve ALWAYS loved Halloween, even as kids! What’s not to love? The beautiful fall weather, haunted houses, costumes, parties, oodles of candy (chocolate) and let’s not forget the awesome home decor peppered throughout the neighborhood - skeletons, jack-o-lanterns, graveyards, blood spatter, severed body parts and zombies unearthing themselves in the front lawn. Halloween gives us a free pass on all things creepy that for the other 11 months of the year would otherwise be viewed as extremely disturbing and inappropriate.

Halloween, you have our whole heart and for that reason, we feel a strong sense of commitment to you and all of the creepy things. It’s about follow through and we aren’t quitters. It’s only 31 days and we’re going to see this thing through to the bitter end. After all, we wait all year for the chance to turn adorable cookie designs into the things nightmares are made of.

Icing colors

red piping and flood
very small amount of maroon flood stored in an airtight container - do not bottle this color
(we like to just pull a bit of the red flood aside and darken it with some purple to make maroon)
gray piping

YOU CAN FIND OUR FAVORITE AIRBRUSH COLORS HERE

Supplies

heart cutter (ours is from KaleidaCuts)
booboo stick or toothpick
airbrush colors (maroon, red, black)
OPTIONAL - TMP super dust in silver mixed with a small amount of alcohol (edible paint or even silver airbrush color can be used in place of the super dust for this step)
OPTIONAL - Watermelon Flash Dust
edible food marker
fine tip food safe paint brush
PME 1.5 tip for all of your piping bags

Once your cookies are baked and cooled, you’re ready to decorate!

STEP 1

Start by marking your cookies. Plan out the pattern for the barbed wire, making your lines crisscross and alternate directions. Then, using those lines, you can plan the indentations around the edges of the cookie - this will help create a 3D effect with the design.

step 2

First, use your red piping to outline around the edge of your cookie - making sure you include the little indents you marked. Next, pipe your lines crossing through the center of the heart and connect them with the outline you just piped.

STEP 3

Add some piping to the center of EACH section. This will help keep the small sections from “cratering” in the center as they dry.

Next, fill alternating sections (as shown above) with your red flood. Be sure to pop any air bubbles before moving on.

Dip the sharp tip of your booboo stick or your toothpick into the maroon flood. You only need a little bit of icing on the end of your stick. Carefully drag the tip through the red flood in each of the sections to create the look of veins. Make sure the tip of your booboo stick is cleaned off after you’re done with each vein. This is a wet-on-wet technique so remember to move quickly. The vein detail must be added while the red flood is still wet. The frosting will begin to crust and dry after a short time and then you wont be able to add these details. Allow those sections to dry and crust over before moving on.

TIPS:

The veins look more realistic if you alternate directions in each section
less is more
make them branch out and taper away
too much maroon icing on the end of your booboo stick will make larger/thicker veins. Use a small amount of icing to keep them thin, subtle and more realistic
As you draw the veins, don’t push your booboo stick too far into the red flood frosting. Keep it closer to the surface - kind of like you’re just skimming the surface of the red flood with that little bit of maroon icing.

step 4

Fill in the remaining sections and add in the veins following the same instructions from step 3. Some times this same technique is used to create a “quilted” look. However, it’s going to give our finished heart some great dimension.

step 5

Use maroon airbrush color to lightly shade all of the corners of each small section. Try not to add too much color here. The maroon helps create dimension and a 3D look but too much of it will just make the cookie look dingy.

step 6

Lightly airbrush red over the entire cookie. This will help brighten it back up, intensify the color and create a shiny finish. You can also use a little bit of Flash Dust if you want to add some sparkle. Apply the Flash Dust immediately after airbrushing so it will stick to the wet color.

Step 7

Use the gray piping to create the long pieces of the barbed wire. Let the piping fall right into the grooves between the sections. Then, go back and create a few barbs along each of your lines. These are easy to create by piping 3 small lines side by side as shown here.

step 8

To give the barbed wire a realistic metallic finish, mix a few drops of high content alcohol (like Everclear or Vodka) with your TMP Super Dust and stir until you have a paint like consistency. (You’ll might have to experiment with the amount of alcohol and super dust you use in order to get the consistency right.)

Use a fine tip brush to carefully paint over all of your gray piped lines and allow to dry.

The alcohol will evaporate over time so you may have to add a few more drops in every now and then as you work to keep it thin enough to paint with.
TMP Super Dusts are a non-toxic decoration. You can read more about that HERE.
Some other great alternatives for this step are edible paints or silver airbrush color.

You’re almost done! Use black airbrush color to darken up all of the indentations and shade around the edge of the cookie. It doesn’t take much color to create a big effect here so be light on the trigger.