Halloween is coming, time to share my technique for making Easy Spider Web Cookies!
These cookies are actually really easy to make - most of the time involved is just waiting for the icing to harden!
While they design is really easy to make, the tutorial is kinda long - I like to make sure to have all the bases covered, to make it go as smoothly as possible for those trying this for the first time. So, let’s get to it!
First, a bit of info:
The Cookie
You can use any sugar cookie you’d like for these Spider Web Cookies - homemade or store bought - with a few caveats:
Store Bought
If you buy premade cookies, just get something that is nice, flat, and tastes great. No sense decorating cookies that taste bad!
If you’re buying dough, read the directions carefully before proceeding. Some sugar cookie dough requires additional flour to be added if it’s to be used for rolled sugar cookies.
Homemade
Homemade is going to be the best way to go, both for flavour and control over the final product.
Be sure to use a cookie recipe that is intended specifically for rolled sugar cookies. Some sugar cookies are more of a drop cookie, and will spread. For this kind of sugar cookie decorating, you want a cookie that doesn’t spread, and retains nice, sharp edges with a flat surface.
I recommend my Sugar Cookie Recipe for Decorating , or my Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Recipe for those who need a gluten-free option.
While I generally use an old school wooden rolling pin and just freehand it, when I’m decorating cookies I like to use a rolling pin with thickness guides on it - it’s the best way to get a perfectly even roll. This is the rolling pin, I use and I LOVE it.
When the cookies come out of the oven, I like to place a piece of fresh parchment paper on top of the cookies, then put a cookie sheet down on top of it. I LIGHTLY press down to just flatten out any distortions that may have occurred during baking - it really makes for a perfectly flat cookie.
Note: You CAN decorate cookies that aren’t perfectly flat, but due to the nature of this style of decoration, they’re likely to run off the edges.
I did a batch from store bought dough that I didn’t use the level rolling pin on, and didn’t flatten with a cookie sheet after making, to demonstrate what that looks like:
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The Icing
For these cookies, you’ll want to use a royal icing recipe. It’s an egg based icing that dries hard - perfect for decorating cookies like this.
There are two main types of royal icing, it’s up to you which you want to use:
Traditional Royal Icing
Traditional Royal Icing is made from raw egg white. It’s generally regarded as safe, but may not be the best option for pregnant people, immunocompromised people, etc.
Traditional royal icing dries harder than Meringue Powder Royal Icing, and is cheaper to make.
Meringue Powder Royal Icing
Meringue Powder Royal Icing is also egg based, but uses meringue powder instead of raw egg. This makes it a safer option for people who need to worry about such things.
Meringue Powder Royal icing dries softer than Traditional Royal Icing does, which makes it nicer to eat.. But meringue powder makes this frosting quite a bit more expensive than Traditional Royal Icing
Whichever recipe you choose, you’ll have to pay attention to the viscosity AFTER adding the food colouring. I give details on this in the tutorial, though.
Both of my Royal Icing recipes are at end of this post, by the way.
Equipment
The equipment and supplies required for this are important, but fairly basic:
Rolling Pin - I recommend using the type linked, to get a perfectly even roll - important, when it comes to decorated cookies!
Cookie Cutters - You’ll want round cookie cutters, ideally without a scalloped edge. I like to do these 3-4" in diameter - big enough to get a nice design going, without being unwieldy about it.
Frosting Bags - I like to use disposable bags for this, personally. You’ll want one for each colour you do, plus an extra for the white.
Couplers and Piping Tips - Using a coupler and tips are totally optional for this. I skip them for the base colours, and only use a coupler and tip for the white frosting. It just gives it a cleaner appearance for that part of the design, than if just cutting the tip of the bag off. I like to use a smallish round tip, usually a 3 or 4.
Gel Food Colouring - I prefer gel food colouring over paste or liquid colour. It’s super concentrated, available in a ton of colours, and doesn’t screw with the icing viscosity too much. Several brands make gel colour, you can get it on Amazon or at your local cake decorating supply store.
Toothpicks - Any basic toothpick will work for this - you’re just using it to drag icing outward on the cookie, to create the swags in the design.
Spider Web Cookie Technique
Roll and Bake your Cookies
1. Following your recipe directions - especially with regard to chilling! - roll and cut out your cookies - I like doing 3-4" diameter rounds for this.
Take care to ensure the cookies are of VERY even thickness, for the best results. I like to use a rolling pin with thickness guides to help with that - this is the rolling pin I use. LOVE it!
2. Once the cookies are out of the oven, you can place a piece of parchment over top of the hot cookies and gently press another cookie sheet down - lightly - to flatten any distortion that may have happened during baking. This is optional, but gives a very flat surface to decorate.
3. Allow cookies to cool to room temperature.
Prepare Your Icing
1. Prepare your royal icing, following the directions in your chosen recipe (I have my two royal icing recipes at the end of this post!)
2. Take out about ⅕-1/4 of your royal icing and set it aside, covered. This will be your white, for the spider webs.
3. Tint your remaining royal icing. You can do it all the same colour, or divide it into little bowls to tint different colours. I like to do a mix of orange, green, purple, and black,
4. Check the consistency of your icing AFTER tinting. When you use a spoon to pick some of the frosting up and drop it back down into the bowl, you’ll want it to smooth out in between 5-10 seconds. (I like to keep it about 6-7 seconds)
If your icing smooths out and disappears in less than 5 seconds, it’s too runny. Stir a little more powdered sugar in, until it is in the 5-10 second range.
If your dropped icing takes more than 10 seconds to disappear back into the rest of it, it’s too thick. Add a little water - a few drops at a time - and stir well. Re test, and adjust more as needed.
5. Once your icing is all the proper consistency, transfer it to frosting bags.
For me, I’ll put the colours into bags just as-is. You can use a coupler and round tip if you’d like, I don’t find it worth the hassle. Squeeze any air pockets out the back end, tie off the bag close to the frosting, and do not cut the tip off til you’re ready to use it.
For the white frosting, I’ll set the frosting bag up with a coupler inside, trim the end, and affix a smallish round tip - usually about a #3. You want it small enough to be relatively dainty, but wide enough that it leaves a thick enough pipe of white frosting to pull out well. Squeeze out air pockets and tie off the bag.
6. Cover any frosting not being used, it dries out quickly!
Decorate Your Spider Web Cookies
1. If you’re doing multiple background colours, decide how many cookies you’ll do in each one, and divide them out. When you get in the groove, it’s easy to do more than you thought you were doing, and not have cookies left for the other colours!
2. Grab your first frosting bag, and cut the very end of the tip off. I like to cut enough off as to leave about a ¼" diameter opening.
3. Carefully pipe your outer circle, inside the outer edge of your first cookie. I like to leave a it of a border along the outside of the cookie top, as it gives a little room for dragging the icing outward.
4. Once the outer edge is piped, quickly - but carefully - fill in the center of the cookie with frosting. You don’t have to pipe all of the frosting in, think of it more as “flooding” - you can use the frosting bag to sort of encourage frosting to spread, as you’re adding more.
5. Take your white frosting, and pipe a small circle / blob of frosting in the center.
6. Pipe concentric circles of white around the center circle. Note that these don’t have to be perfect, they’re going to get distorted in the next step.
7. Once you have all of your circles piped, use a toothpick to draw the frosting out from the center blob. Place the point of one toothpick into the center blob of frosting, and just gently drag it though the icing, ending at the outer edge of icing.
8. Wipe your toothpick off, and repeat. Sometimes I’ll just do lines one after another around the circle, sometimes I’ll do one, then go immediately across from it and pull the center out in the opposite direction. Do what feels right to you!
9. Once all the lines are pulled out, set the cookie aside to dry, and repeat on your remaining cookies.
Wait!
Allow the cookies to dry for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.
And you’re done! Be sure to take some pics of your work! If you instagram it, be sure to tag me - @OverlordMarie - or post it to My Facebook Page - so I can cheer you on!
If you're still considering ideas for Halloween, be sure to check out my:
Bloody Eyeball Halloween Punch
Halloween Themed Shooters
Easy Halloween Bat Cupcakes
Halloween Spider Web Cupcakes
3D Halloween Bat Cupcakes
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Well, the published nonsense, anyway!
Traditional Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 4 Large Egg Whites
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 4-6 cups Confectioners / Icing / Powdered Sugar
Instructions
- In clean stand mixer, whip egg whites until foamy.
- Add lemon juice, whip for another minute.
- Slowly add powdered sugar until cookie icing reaches desired consistency. You will want a fairly thick frosting – but still smooth and workable – for piping details and borders.*
- If you're not using it immediately, transfer to an airtight container, cover surface with plastic wrap, and secure lid tightly.
- Re-whip before use.
Notes
Nutrition
Meringue Powder Royal Icing
Ingredients
- 4 Cup Icing Sugar
- ¼ cup Meringue Powder
- ⅓ cup lukewarm water ideal or large mixing bowl (to beat with an electric hand mixer)
Instructions
- Combine icing sugar and meringue powder in the bowl of a stand mixer - ideal - or large mixing bowl (to beat with an electric hand mixer)
- Add water, mix on low speed until combined.
- Turn speed up to high, beat for a couple minutes until thick, smooth, and glossy.
- Check the frosting for consistency, adjust as needed for your intended usage. You will want a fairly thick frosting – but still smooth and workable – for piping details and borders.*
- If you're not using it immediately, transfer to an airtight container, cover surface with plastic wrap, and secure lid tightly.
- Re-whip before use.
Notes
Nutrition
Halloween Spider Web Cookies
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Round Cookie Cutters
- Frosting Bags
- Cake Decorating Set (Optional)
- Gel Food Colouring
- Toothpicks
Materials
- 1 Batch Sugar Cookies or
- 1 Batch Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
- 1 Batch Traditional Royal Icing or
- 1 Batch Meringue Powder Royal Icing
Instructions
Roll and bake your cookies.
- Following your recipe directions - especially with regard to chilling! - roll and cut out your cookies - I like doing 3-4" diameter rounds for this.
- Take care to ensure the cookies are of VERY even thickness, for the best results. I like to use a rolling pin with thickness guides to help with that.
- Once the cookies are out of the oven, you can place a piece of parchment over top of the hot cookies and gently press another cookie sheet down - lightly - to flatten any distortion that may have happened during baking. This is optional, but gives a very flat surface to decorate.
- Allow cookies to cool to room temperature.
Prepare Your Icing
- Prepare your royal icing, following the directions in your chosen recipe.
- Take out about ⅕-1/4 of your royal icing. This will be your white, for the spider webs.
- Tint your remaining royal icing. You can do it all the same colour, or divide it into little bowls to tint different colours. I like to do a mix of orange, green, purple, and black,
- Check the consistency of your icing AFTER tinting. When you use a spoon to pick some of the frosting up and drop it back down into the bowl, you’ll want it to smooth out in between 5-10 seconds. (I like to keep it about 6-7 seconds)
- If your icing smooths out and disappears in less than 5 seconds, it’s too runny. Stir a little more powdered sugar in, until it is in the 5-10 second range.
- If your dropped icing takes more than 10 seconds to disappear back into the rest of it, it’s too thick. Add a little water - a few drops at a time - and stir well. Re test, and adjust more as needed.
- Once your icing is all the proper consistency, transfer it to frosting bags.
- For me, I’ll put the colours into bags just as-is. You can use a coupler and round tip if you’d like, I don’t find it worth the hassle. Squeeze any air pockets out the back end, tie off the bag close to the frosting, and do not cut the tip off til you’re ready to use it.
- For the white frosting, I’ll set the frosting bag up with a coupler inside, trim the end, and affix a smallish round tip - usually about a #3. You want it small enough to be relatively dainty, but wide enough that it leaves a thick enough pipe of white frosting to pull out well. Squeeze out air pockets and tie off the bag.
- Cover any frosting not being used, it dries out quickly!
Decorate your cookies
- If you’re doing multiple background colours, decide how many cookies you’ll do in each one, and divide them out. When you get in the groove, it’s easy to do more than you thought you were doing, and not have cookies left for the other colours!
- Grab your first frosting bag, and cut the very end of the tip off. I like to cut enough off as to leave about a ¼" diameter opening.
- Carefully pipe your outer circle, inside the outer edge of your first cookie. I like to leave a it of a border along the outside of the cookie top, as it gives a little room for dragging the icing outward.
- Once the outer edge is piped, quickly - but carefully - fill in the center of the cookie with frosting. You don’t have to pipe all of the frosting in, think of it more as “flooding” - you can use the frosting bag to sort of encourage frosting to spread, as you’d adding more,
- Take your white frosting, and pipe a small circle / blob of frosting in the center.
- Pipe concentric circles of white around the center circle. Note that these don’t have to be perfect, they’re going to get distorted in the next step.
- Once you have all of your circles piped, use a toothpick to draw the frosting out from the center blob. Place the point of one toothpick into the center blob of frosting, and just gently drag it though the icing, ending at the outer edge of icing.
- Wipe your toothpick off, and repeat. Sometimes I’ll just do lines one after another around the circle, sometimes I’ll do one, then go immediately across from it and pull the center out in the opposite direction. Do what feels right to you!
- Once all the lines are pulled out, set the cookie aside to dry, and repeat on your remaining cookies.
Wait!
- Allow the cookies to dry for at least 6 hours, ideally overnight.
- ... And you’re done! Take some pics of your work, and share it with us online!
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