How to Decorate a Hot Cocoa Mug Cookie

1 Piping bag with a star tip Mocha Brown Food Coloring

Super Red Food Coloring

Bright White Food Coloring

Spatulas & pint glasses to fill your piping bags

Scissors

Step 1: Bake and cool cookies before decorating. Get Ann Clark's no-fail sugar cookie recipe here. For a chocolate-y twist, try our Chocolate cookie recipe here.

Make sure cookies are fully cooled. If they are warm, the icing will run off of them. Make royal icing.

Learn how to mix different consistencies of royal icing here>>



Prepare the following icing colors:

Piping Consistency:
Red
White
Stiff Consistency:
White


Flood Consistency:
Red
Brown


Step 2: Outline the shape of the mug with red piping consistency icing. Be sure to outline the rim of the mug and the handle of the mug as shown.



Step 3: Using red flood consistency icing, fill the handle of the mug. Use a toothpick or scribe tool to ensure full coverage and to eliminate any air bubbles in your icing. Wait for the red flood icing to dry until just crusting over, 30-60 minutes.

While waiting for the red handle to dry, flood the top of the mug with brown flood consistency icing.



Step 4: Once the brown cocoa and red handle are dry to the point of just crusting over, fill the body of the mug with red flood consistency icing. Pipe a few squiggles of red piping consistency icing into the center of the mug, which will give your flood icing structure. When flooding, gently move the flood icing around with a toothpick or scribe tool to ensure full coverage and to eliminate any air bubbles.





Step 5: While the red flood icing is still wet, use your white piping consistency icing to pipe small dots on the body of the mug. Doing this while the icing is wet will allow the white dots to blend into the red flood. If you wait for the red flood to dry, the white dots will stand proud of the red body of the mug.





Step 6: Add some confectioner's sugar to your white icing until it is a good stiff consistency. It should hold its shape indefinitely when moved around in a bowl. Once you've reached a good stiff consistency, use a piping bag with a star tip to pipe luscious squiggles of whipped cream on top of your mug of hot cocoa.



As Vermonters, we know that nothing beats a decadent cup of hot cocoa next to a roaring fire during the long winter months. These cookies will complement your cocoa and will add cheer to any winter spread.





Cookies decorated by Julia Perugini of @juliascookiesaz