Have you guys ever baked some cookies with all the intention to decorate them only to never get around to it? Yea, yea me either…there’s totally not an entire tray of cookies still sitting in a tray by my desk. I would never! Alright fine you’ve caught me. I do this from time to time. I blame it on always wanting to multitask. Ooohhh, leftover dough? Must make more cookies! And that’s exactly what happened last year when I made these Watermelon Cookies. As I was cutting the watermelon cookie dough I though, oh my gosh these would make the cutest flamingo cookies! Which I’m sure what every single sane baker would think. So I tucked a few pink cookies away in the freezer to make my flamingo cookies a reality a week or two later.
That was a year ago. Oops. About a month into fall I found those poor pink unfrosted cookies at the back of the freezer. But I was not willing to let my flamingo design go to the cookie graveyard, so even though a year later I’m back with some Flamingo Cookies! Just incase your wondering…I baked new cookies. Cause you know, that was the right thing to do. (ha!)
Were they not worth the wait though? I’m practically obsessed with these cookies and if I have to be honest. Come close I don’t want the other cookies to hear…*whispers* they are my new all time favorite! You guys I’ve made a lot of cookies in my time and I tend to get a little attached to each of them. But I just can’t help but adore these sugar cookie flamingos!
There is nothing I love more then transforming a could be complicated design to a simple yet adorable design. Something anybody could recreate + add sprinkles naturally. Instead of piping out an entire flamingo I just made their cute little pink faces using a candy corn cutter which is one of my favorite cutter shapes ever. Then I used the same cutter to make the sugar cookie palm leaves! All I did to make the leaves what cut out the candy corn shape then used another pointed cutter to cut out the little left cutouts. I used an Eiffel Tower Cutter to be exact.
Have a cookie decorating projector? Great news! Here’s a projector template to make these cookies a breeze. Just click, save, project!
New to cookies? Be sure to check out these posts for the basics:
Rolled Cookies 101 + Royal Icing 101
Let’s Make Flamingo Cookies!
TOOLS
- candy corn cutter (I used the candy corn cutter from the original Sugarbelle shape shifters set)
- cutter with pointed tip, like an Eiffel tower or a moon would work
- food coloring marker
- tweezers
- piping bags
- #2 tips
- icing bottles
- flamingo templates
SUPPLIES
- sugar cookie dough (I dyed mine pink + green)
- dark pink outline icing + flood icing
- light pink outline icing + flood icing
- grey outline icing + flood icing
- black outline icing + flood icing
- light green outline icing + flood icing
- green outline icing + flood icing
- black jimmies sprinkles
- black sugar pearls
- light green sprinkles
- green sprinkles
- edible decorative flowers
COLORS
Both colors were made by creating the darker shade first then adding a small portion of it to white frosting to make the lighter shade.
- pinks – AmeriColor Dusty Rose + AmeriColor Deep Pink
- greens – AmeriColor Teal + Americolor Leaf Green
How to make flamingo cookies step by step!
Step 1: Roll, cut, and bake cookies. I used this recipe and colored half pink and half green. After cutting out the green cookies I used the top of an Eiffel tower cutter to cut out the leaf cutouts. Bake at 400 for 7 minutes or until done.
Step 2: For the flamingo cookies: use the pointed end of the candy corn cutter to draw guidelines for the beaks with your food marker. Outline and flood the black tip first and let cookies sit in front of a fan until they have begin to crust over. This will keep the black from bleeding into the grey. Next pipe and flood the grey portion of the beak. Add two small black sprinkle for the nostrils.
Step 3: Now on to the flamingo faThe third step is to pipe and fill the pink face of the flamingo. Then, drop two black sugar pearls onto the flamingo for eyes then add a dot of the opposite shade of pink just below for cheeks. I like to use a pair of tweezers to help me place the sugar pearls, so easy! Once the pink has crusted over you can add a little bit of hair using ad outline icing and a – tip. Then “glue” on your sugar flower. I’ve had these sugar flowers for quiet some time, but if you can’t find any no worries, piping a small simple flower on you work too!
Step 3: For the palm leaf cookies: These are super simple, just outline and flood each cookie, then let them dry until they are crusted over. I generally wait 2-3 hours. Pipe on a simple line down the middle with outline icing and cover in sprinkles. Shake the extra sprinkles off.
I hope you guys are inspired to flamingle with some flamingo cookies of your own! Of course don’t forget to tag me and #teamsprinkle so we can all see your creations! Until next time…keep the sprinkles flowing.
Heads up! To keep those legal gurus of the world happy, I need to inform you that some of the links in this post are affiliate links. In short – I may earn a small commission from the use of said link with no cost to you! But don’t worry I only link to stuff I use, love, and know you will too!
