How to Decorate a Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookie

Directions

• 1

  Bake and cool cookies before decorating. We recommend Ann Clark's No-Fail Sugar Cookie Recipe. Make sure cookies are fully cooled. If they are warm, the icing will run off of them.

• 2

  Prepare the following icing colors:
  
  Outline/Piping Consistency:
  
  Red

  Brown

  Yellow

  Green*

  *Add powdered sugar to fresh royal icing until it reaches a stiff consistency where the icing is difficult to mix and does not settle at all. We want a consistency that will hold the shape of the strawberry leaf when piped.
  
  Flood Consistency:
  Red

  Brown

  
• 3

  Using the red outline consistency icing, outline the strawberry shape as shown in the photo.

  
• 4

  Flood the strawberry shape with the red flood consistency icing. Let this flood base dry for 45-60 minutes before moving onto the next step.

  
• 5

  Flood the chocolate dipped section with the brown flood consistency icing.

  
• 6

  Flood the chocolate dipped section with the brown flood consistency icing. 

  
• 7

  Cut the tip of the piping bag of the green stiff consistency icing in an inverted "V" shape. Try to make sure each cut is even. It may take a few attempts to cut, so start small and you can always cut deeper if needed. The larger the "V," the larger the leaf so keep that in mind when cutting.

  Practicing is a good idea before you pipe directly onto the cookie. You can practice piping the icing leaves onto a clean paper towel. When piping a leaf shape, make sure the icing bag is open (you can open it with your fingertips before piping), and add pressure, pushing the icing out with the pointed "V" tip close to the base of the cookie. The level of pressure added to the piping bag will affect the shape and size of the leaf piped.

  
• 8

  Once you feel comfortable piping the leaf shape, move to the cookie and pipe the middle leaf first. Let it crust over for several minutes, and then pipe the other two leaves. Allowing the middle leaf to crust over will help achieve a more precise leaf cluster design

  
• 9

  Using the yellow outline consistency icing, carefully pipe small dots or "strawberry seeds" onto the red portion of the strawberry. You can create a more realistic seed look by piping a small dot, releasing pressure from the bag, and doing a short dragging motion to finish the look of the seed.

  If dragging the piping bag feels too difficult, you can alternatively use a toothpick or a scribe tool to carefully drag the bottom of the yellow dots. Just be careful not to poke holes in your icing base!

  
• 10

  Pipe the other two strawberry leaves using the green stiff consistency icing.

  
• 11

  Using the brown outline consistency icing, pipe a "chocolate drizzle" onto the chocolate portion of the strawberry. The drizzle does not have to be precise. In fact, you can go for a very organic look here and it's still very effective. You can alternatively use sprinkles or pipe "chocolate sprinkles" onto this section if that inspires you more. If prepared sprinkles are used, they should be applied onto the brown flood icing while it is still wet.

  
• 12

  Indulge in a chocolate-covered strawberry this holiday!