Instructions
To start you will need to make two flood consistency royal icing sets, one white and one light green using the shade leaf green in gel paste food coloring. You will also need three medium consistency royal icing sets: light, medium, and dark green. You can make these using the leaf green and cypress gel food coloring.
Start by outlining the shamrock with white, flood consistency icing. Outline all of the cookies in this shape then allow them to set up at room temperature for about 5 minutes.
Cut a larger hole into your piping bag and flood the cookie with the white icing. Use a scribe tool or toothpick to smooth the icing onto the cookie and pop any air bubbles created by the icing. Set the cookie aside to dry completely at room temperature for 24 hours. You can also use a dehydrator to dry them for 20 minutes then let them cool completely at room temperature for several hours.
While the icing is drying, make the shamrock royal icing transfers. Do this by placing parchment paper over the card stock shamrock picture included in the 3D cookie cutter packaging. Use medium consistency royal icing to outline the shamrocks using multiple shades of green. Once all of the shamrocks are outlined, cut the hole in your piping bag to be slightly larger and fill in the outlines. Use your scribe to even out the icing and pop any air bubbles left by the icing. While the icing is still wet, spray the icing with jewel dust using a dust pump. This will evenly distribute glitter onto the shamrock royal icing transfers. Carefully transfer the parchment paper to the rack of a dehydrator for 20 minutes and let air dry at room temperature for several hours. If you do not have a dehydrator you can let them sit on the counter to dry at room temperature for 24 hours.
When the icing on the shamrock cookies is completely set, they are ready to be airbrushed. Line your work station with a piece of parchment paper and set up your airbrush machine. We used a shamrock stencil for the cookies featured above. Secure your stencil between the pieces of a stencil frame and be sure to match the height of your stencil to the height of your cookie. Arrange the cookie and the stencil as desired then use a scribe tool to hold the stencil against the icing to prevent any under spray when airbrushing. You can use any desired green airbrush. For this project we went with Amerimist electric green. Airbrush in a slow, sweeping motion to achieve even coverage.
Next, once the transfers are set, carefully remove them from the parchment. Lay out the shamrocks onto the cookies then attach using a small dap of royal icing.
To decorate the lucky plaque, start by outlining the cookie with light green, flood consistency royal icing. Outline all of your cookies in this shape and allow them to set up at room temperature for 5 minutes. Cut the opening in your piping bag to be slightly larger and flood the cookies. Use a scribe tool to smooth out the icing and pop any air bubbles. Then, set them aside and allow them to dry at room temperature for 45 minutes to an hour or in a dehydrator for 15 minutes.
For the best results for lettering on cookies, you want the base layer of royal icing to be crusted over on top, but not set all the way through. To pipe the lettering onto the cookie, you can freehand the letters, or use a projector. Let the cookies set at room temperature for 24 hours or in a dehydrator for 20 minutes then at room temperature for several hours to completely dry.
Store the cookies in individual cellophane bags or in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.
