Hat and Mitten Royal Icing Transfers
Baby it’s cold outside, finally! For some strange reason winter has had a bit of a tropical feel this year. It was almost 80° on Christmas Day which didn’t allow us to wear our winter hats, mittens, boots, or cute scarves. The great thing about decorating cookies is we can create a warm and cozy feeling no matter what the weather is outside. Adding cute hat and mitten royal icing transfers to your cookies is a simple way to add a little fun and style to a cookie design even if you are wearing a t-shirt and shorts in December.
I am not really into fashion, but there is something about bundling up to face the cold winter weather that somehow makes life feel complete. Summer clothes are great, but there is nothing like a new hat and mittens to help us feel all warm and cozy on those cold frosty days.
We all know that royal icing transfers are a great way to add fun details to cookies but I found a fun way to use these hat and mitten royal icing transfers. I am going to share it with you in a few days so stay tuned for some cuteness. In the meantime, you will need to make these so you will be ready.
Supplies for Winter Hat and Mitten Royal Icing Transfers:
Printable Patterns:
Winter Hat Royal Icing Transfers
Mitten Royal Icing Transfers
Royal Icing Recipe and Colors:
Half a Batch of Royal Icing Reciipe or Full Batch of Antonia Royal Icing Recipe
AmeriColor Super Red Soft Gel Paste 15 Second Icing in a decorating bag fitted with a #2 tip
AmeriColor Turquoise Soft Gel Paste 15 Second Icing in a decorating bag fitted with a #2 tip
Thick White Royal Icing in a piping bag fitted with a # 21 Star tip
Tools:
Baking sheet
Wax Paper
Painters or Masking Tape
Scissors
Turkey Lacer or Toothpick
- Begin by printing the patterns for the mitten and hat royal icing transfers.
- You will also need masking tape, scissors, a baking sheet and wax paper.
- Cut the patterns so they will fit on the back of a baking sheet.
- Tape the patterns down with the painters tape.
- Place a piece of wax paper over the patterns and tape it into place. Make sure there aren’t any wrinkles or it will affect the shape of the transfers.
- Outline and flood the hats and mittens with the 15 second royal icing.
- Use the turkey lacer or a toothpick to pop any air bubbles and to push the icing into the corners of the hat and mittens.
- Let them dry for a few days. If the royal icing transfers are really dry when you add them to your cookies it will reduce the risk of the icing colors bleeding together and messing up your design.
- Once the transfers are dry, remove them from the wax paper. I normally don’t pop them off like I’m doing in this picture, but these were really dry and the shape wasn’t delicate so I wasn’t worried about them breaking as they were removed from the wax paper. It is best if you use a sharp edge to remove them. Here is a tutorial on How to Remove Royal Icing Transfers from Wax Paper if you want to see how it works.
- Once all of the hat and mitten royal icing transfers are removed from the wax paper add a little white fur with the thick icing and a #21 star tip.
- Let them dry completely.
- Store them in an airtight container away from the sun. Here is how I store mine How to Store Royal Icing Transfers.
It doesn’t matter if it’s 80° or 20° where you live, we can decorate cute cookies for summer, winter, spring or fall anytime we want. It doesn’t have to be the right season or the right temperature because royal icing transfers are good for a long, long, long time. Like for a really long time! Just be sure to store them properly away from the sun and you will be prepared for any decorating situation no matter what the crazy weather is doing.
Bear hugs,
I’m curious as to how you used the hats and mittens after you have them done. Do you have any cakes, etc. where you’ve used lots of these transfers?
thanks
Hi Pamela,
I use them as decorations on cookies and other baked goods like cupcakes and trail mixes.
I use lady bugs on flower cookies, eyes on animals or face cookies, carrots for snowman noses and all kinds of things.
Here are all the Royal Icing transfers and free patterns if you want to make some of your own: http://thebearfootbaker.com/royal-icing-transfers/
Can’t wait to see what the adorable r.i hat and mitten transfers are going to embellish. 🙂
I’ve had an issue with my transfers bending as they dry or being concave on the underneath side. (double decker busses with open windows – tops of the busses pulled away from the paper) I’ve used both wax and parchment paper. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Elizabeth,
Humidity is awful! It causes royal icing to do bad things! Humidity is not my friend! lol
I’m sorry your having issues with your icing colors bending. There are a few steps you can take to help prevent issues.
The first thing I would do is to tape the wax or parchment paper really well to a flat surface. If the paper can move it will cause bending as it dries.
Also, dry them in front of a fan. It will help them dry faster and give them a nice shiny finish.
As far as your busses pulling away from the paper, I’m not sure I’ve seen that before. Do you have a picture you can share with me? If you can, email it to lisa@thebearfootbaker.com.
Hope this helps and if not email me. We will figure this out together! 😉
Thank you for your amazing tutorials. Thank you for taking the time and pictures and share your amazing talent. You are a continued source of inspiration and help. Here’s my question. I’m making balloon transfers (like a bunch all together) and they keep caving in as they dry. Any tips on how to get that to stop? TIA!!!!
Hi Tiff,
I struggle with that sometimes. I found a tutorial at Corianne’s Custom Cookies that explains how she has used a piping icing to stop it. Find her tutorial here:
https://www.coriannescustomcookies.com/blog/royal-icing-troubleshooting
The answer to the caving in problem is found at the bottom of the post under “Cratering.” She has beautiful cookies and great tips on her site.
Hope this helps!
Lisa