Flying Butterfly Cookies – Part 3
I really enjoyed making these butterfly cookies. They were a lot of fun and butterflies are beautiful by nature so, butterfly cookies have no choice but to be beautiful also. I really wanted to do something different in this set. I thought a few flying butterfly cookies would do the trick. It is very simple and I will show you how.
I normally don’t airbrush and paint on the same cookie but, for these butterflies, it turned out exactly the way I wanted. The bottom of the wings shows a little of the yellow airbrush color. That is hard to do without airbrushing and I think it really makes the wings look realistic. And it only takes a few seconds. Then, adding the details with a paintbrush really makes this cookie pop.
Supplies for Flying Butterfly Cookies:
(may contain affiliate links)
Recipes:
Cookie Cutter:
- Butterfly Cookie Cutter
Royal Icing Colors:
- Follow the directions here to decorate the butterfly cookies and let them dry completely.
- Black 15 Second Icing
Tools:
- Sharp Knife
Let’s get started.
Before you bake the butterfly cookies, you need to cut the wings off of the body with a sharp knife. Chilling the dough will make it easy to cut.
Bake the cookies as you normally would and make sure the body isn’t touching or is not close to the wings while they bake.
Let the fun begin!
You can find the full tutorial on how to decorate the butterfly cookies here. The only difference is you will be working on the butterfly in three pieces.
Are you ready to fly?
Once the cookies are decorated and dry, they are ready to be assembled. You need to look around your kitchen to find something that will make a place to prop both sides of the wings up so they can dry overnight. I usually use my Wilton Cooling Rack but for these, I grabbed my handy dandy rolling pins. To keep them from rolling away, I used the rolling pin spacers that I use when rolling out the dough and it works really well.
Once the rolling pins were spaced evenly apart, cover it with parchment paper.
Now it is time to make these butterflies fly. Take one of the wings and add some black icing to the edge where you want to attach the body.
Then, add the body. As you can see, the body will stick pretty well on its own. I am not holding it in this picture. It just kind of stays where you put it if your black icing is the right consistency. Add icing to the other wing and attach it to the other side of the body. You may need to place the cookies in the grove of the rolling pins to attach them.
To make the wings the right angle, you may need to adjust the rolling pins once you place the flying butterfly cookies in the middle. Once you get it the right angle for the first cookie, the others should fit in a nice row behind the first one.
Now for the hard part. Do NOT touch THEM! Let them dry overnight.
Next, pipe a circle for the head and let it dry for about 20 minutes.
Then pipe the body.
Be sure to pop any air bubbles in the icing or you will have an ugly place in the icing. Look at the head of my butterfly. Oh well. It happens to all of us.
Let it dry completely.
See! I told you these cookies were easy. A cookie, airbrush, painting, and white icing make a pretty cute butterfly cookie, doesn’t it?
To see how to decorate the butterflies, click here.
To see how to make the caterpillars, click here.
Bear hugs,
These are BRILLIANT and so well done!!! LOVE!
These are stunning and attaching the wings as you did to give them *flight* was very smart and really gives the cookies another added dimension.
The only way these would be easy for me is if you were making them! 🙂 I love how you search your kitchen for propping the wings – seems I’m always searching for just the right size something! 🙂 Beautiful cookies, looks like they’re ready to take flight!
I’ve been loving your butterfly series of posts, Lisa! They turned out fantastic! 3D cookies always have a special place in my heart. 🙂
The flat butterflies are beautiful, but the “flying” ones are extra special!! So pretty!
Is the Flying Butterfly 🦋 only decorated on one side of the cookie?
Hi Kathy,
Yes. I only decorated one side of each butterfly cookie. 😉