Puffer Fish Cookies Tutorial with a Video

Simple Puffer Fish Cookies -Sugar Cookies Decorated with Royal Icing via www.thebearfootbaker.com

I’d like to tell you a story about a vacation a long time ago. My family went to Destin, Florida, and stayed in a resort that looked like it should be on the cover of a magazine. There were golf courses, canoe rides,, bike trails, and lots of fishing opportunities. I bet you can guess what my kiddo’s caught by looking at the picture of the pufferfish cookies!

It didn’t take the boys long to catch a pufferfish, a ribbon fish, and some other weird ocean fish. The only problem is I’m not an ocean girl. I’m a lake kinda girl and I don’t know how in the world to remove the ocean fish from the hooks.

In case you’re a lake girl like me, pufferfish are the second most poisonous creature on the planet. Yep! I’m not about to touch that thing! Thank goodness I didn’t have to touch it. A really nice man offered to remove it for us. I‘m not sure it was the “deer caught in headlights” look on my face or the excitement of the boys because they looked as if they caught something from mars! I’m grateful for the kindness of strangers and from here on out, I’m sticking to pufferfish cookies and hang up my fishing rod forever. Cookies are a lot easier and you won’t die from decorating them!

Simple Puffer Fish Cookies via www.thebearfootbaker.com

Supplies:

Well, I may not hang up my fishing rod forever, but I won’t be fishing in the ocean anytime soon.

Supplies for Pufferfish Cookies:
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Royal Icing– For each pufferfish, make 2 colors of icing. Make a color for the body and a lighter version of the same color for the face.
White Icing-for the eyes
2- 4 mm Edible Bead -(New Favorite Brand is Alan Tetreault)
Black Food Safe Marker
Airbrush Gun and Airbrush Colors (Airbrushing is optional)
Circle Cookie Cutter
Fish Cookie Cutter– This isn’t the fish cutter I used because I made these so long ago I don’t think they make the cutter anymore. You can use several different fish cutters to make your cute pufferfish cookies.

Pufferfish Cookies:

Puffer Fish Cookies www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Begin by cutting out some circles in your cookie dough. You need a size that is larger than the fish cookie cutter you use for the body.
    Then, cut out some fish cookies. Use the circle cookie cutter to cut off the fish head like in the picture above. Place the fishtail cookie to the circle cookies and bake them according to the recipes.

Outline and Flood:

Puffer Fish Cookies thebearfootbaker.com

  • Outline the body and the face of the pufferfish cookies. I used a #2 decorating tip.

Puffer Fish Cookies by www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Next, flood the tail and let it dry for about 20 minutes. If you want to use the airbrush gun for this project you can. Airbrush the edges of the fish body.

Simple Puffer Fish Cookies with www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Then, flood the face of the cookies with the lighter color of icing. I used a #2 tip to flood the body but since the face is so big, I used a #2.5 PME tip. You can use whatever you have on hand.

Puffer Fish Cookies by thebearfootbaker.com

  • If you notice any air bubbles you can pop them with a turkey lacer, toothpick, or a BooBoo Stick. Let the cookies dry a while before you airbrush them.

Airbrush Pufferfish:

Puffer Fish Cookies with www.thebearfotbaker.com

  • Now if you don’t have an airbrush gun, you can stop here and work on the eyes and the details, but if you want to airbrush the pufferfish cookies, you can. I think it adds some character but I like them both ways.

Pufferfish Eyes & Details:

Easy Puffer Fish Cookies via www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Once the cookies have been airbrushed, add the eyes. Make one at a time and add a 4 mm bead. Wait a few minutes before you make the other one so it will look like two different eyes instead of a big blob. Let the cookie dry completely.

Fun Puffer Fish Cookie via www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Add the details with a food-safe marker.  Add a few lines to the tail and a simple little fin with a circle at the bottom. Use the marker to color in the circle.

Food-Safe Marker:

Fun Puffer Fish Cookies with www.thebearfootbaker.com

  • Using a food-safe marker is super easy and will allow you to add the details to your pufferfish cookies very quickly.
  • The squiggly lines on the fish aren’t hard to make. Just start small at the top and make them bigger as you get close to the edge of the cookie.
  • The mouth is easy to make. Draw a line for the mouth and a small parenthesis on the side closest to the edge and a larger one on the other side.

Pufferfish Cookies Video

You can see how to do it by watching the video.

Pufferfish:

Puffer Fish Cookies via www.thebearfootbaker.com

These little guys are a lot of fun to make and trust me, pufferfish cookies are safer and easier to deal with than real pufferfish!  If any kid ever asks me to take them fishing, I think I will make them cookies and then take a trip to Ripley’s Aquarium or to the Tennessee Aquarium. No more fishing for me!

Have you ever done anything for your kids that you immediately regretted? Leave a comment and let us know.

More beach cookies:

Bear hugs,

Lisa