Brusha, brusha, brusha: Brush Embroidery Cookie Tutorial

First, for all of you who thought immediately of Jan in Grease when you read that post title, I love you.
Here's a clip.

{Brush embroidery cookies look so romantic, almost like they belong in Victoria Magazine.}

Over the last couple of weeks, my dining room and kitchen tables have been covered in cookies.  Pint glasses filled with piping bags have collected on the kitchen counter.  We were eating a lot of take-out...and ice cream. (That has absolutely nothing to do with cookie decorating, but it happened.)

This is how things typically run at the end of a school year.  I even tried the ol', "I bet your teachers would like gift cards instead of cookies this year."  Kiddo was having none of it.

So, in my mad rush to make and package cookies, I neglected to photograph any tutorials.  I popped a quick picture onto Instagram and, well, the masses spoke.  OK...3 people spoke, but I decided to take some quick how-to pics.

Here's what you need to know about brush embroidery: IT'S SUPER DUPER EASY!!!  I think the first time I ever saw it was a Ali Bee's beautiful blog.  I used a method almost exactly like hers except, I used a damp brush.

To make brush embroidery cookies, you'll need:

• sugar cookies that have been outlined and filled with royal icing, and have dried overnight (I used a mix of AmeriColor Dusty Rose + Lemon Yellow for the base color.)
• royal icing for the embroidery, I used AmeriColor Ivory (piping consistency) 
• disposable icing bag
• coupler and tip (#2)
• clean, flat paintbrush
• cup of water
• paper towels

{Please note that I had already decorated all of the cookies BEFORE taking pictures for this tutorial. I scraped all of the brush embroidery off of one cookie to show you. Hence, the weird finish on the base.}

Use a #2 tip to pipe squiggly lines as an outer layer of petals.

Dampen the brush with water, then blot very well on a paper towel.  Place the brush right into the icing and pull towards the center.

Make another layer,

and then another.

In the center, pipe some dots for the flower center.

Done.  See?  EASY!

And, who says brush embroidery has to be soft and pastel?

Who wants to try it?!?

{Some of the links above are Amazon Associates links.}

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