Painted Flower Cookies
Painted flower cookies are much easier to make than you might first think. Find your inner artist as you decorate this sugar cookie with floral motifs. Get your kids involved and let the creativity flow!
Let's make some painted cookies! Painted flower cookies are delicate and colorful. Spring is in the air and there are plenty of occasions that call for sweetly decorated cookies like these lovely flower cookies. Mother's Day, an afternoon tea, a bridal shower or simply a gift for a friend all would be a bit brighter with painted cookies!
Other pretty cookies for Mother's Day or special occasions like a baby or wedding shower include Lavender Shortbread, Almond Flour Sugar Cookies, or Ice Cream Cone Cookies.
Are you on Pinterest? I am all about saving great ideas-- Pin these painted cookies along with me!
The recipe for these sugar cookies is my go-to, reliable sugar cookie recipe from Bridget Edwards of Bake at 350. She makes marvelous cookies and you'll spend hours on her site and in her cookbook wondering if it is possible to make some just like hers at home. (Yes, it is!!)
How to make painted cookies with flowers
In fact, this technique of brushing on the petals of flowers onto an iced sugar cookie I first saw on her site. She explains it well but I thought I'd try a beginner's hand at this brush technique by making little pansies on my cookies-- just one layer of brushing for each petal is all that is needed. My technique needs improvement but the idea is simple enough that even with mistakes, the cookies look delicate and sweet. Here's what I did, follow along with the photos with each step:
1. First ice the cookies with white royal icing and let dry for a few hours or overnight. Then make little squiggly lines which will be the edge of each flower. I thought five petals looked about right.
2. Next, take a clean paint brush and gently pull some of the icing towards the middle. Do this for each petal.
3. Let this layer of icing dry for a short time (say, for 15 minutes, not all the way dry unless you would like the colors not to blend which also looks pretty)
4. Next mix a small bowl of yellow icing. Dip a clean brush into the yellow and carefully dab a small amount onto each petal. Use the brush to blend the yellow into the petal.
5. Let the cookie dry overnight.
I also made painted cookies that reminded me of lavender. Paint stems of green with a narrow brush onto your iced cookies. Drop circle of purple icing in a cluster around the top. This brought lilacs to mind as well. Be creative and see what works for you with these painted flower cookies. It is only icing and if you truly don't like what you've made you can gently wipe it off the iced white cookie with a damp cloth and start again.
Decorating sugar cookies is one of my favorite things do. Need more ideas? You'll find so many pretty cookies on this Decorated Cookies recipe index.
Baking Supplies you may need:
Meringue Powder for the Royal Icing
Pastry and Cookie Gift Boxes with Window
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This post was first shared in May 2014; it was updated in May 2018.
Holly Baker started the food blog, A Baker's House, in 2011. She is the writer, recipe creator, and photographer for the site. Holly loves to bake and shares recipes for gluten free food, canning recipes, as well as traditional desserts too. Her recipes and food photography have been highlighted by BuzzFeed, Reader's Digest, and She Knows.
Such pretty cookies! I'm not such a great artist and I think it would take me a few times to get them looking as nicely as yours. Me and a paint brush do not seem to get along.
Hi Renee, I am a terrible artist! I even mess up stick people so that goes to show that this flower decorating takes very little artistic ability. And in the end if the flowers didn't look just right I took confidence in the fact that they tasted great! : )
Those are absolutely gorgeous, Holly! And you make it look so easy. I love that you can just wipe the colored icing off and start again because I have a feeling I'd be doing that a lot. 🙂
Thanks, Stacy, yes, it is great to be able to play with this icing and simply wipe it off and start again if you aren't happy. It was really fun and playful to be able to use a paintbrush to make these flowers.
These are beautiful Holly; I'm impressed! Did you notice the pansies in the pot at my front door. They are probably my favorite flower; I can recall planting them with my mom when I was a little girl and even went so far as to name our first dog Pansy. Maybe because they seem to be the harbinger of spring but more likely just because they are so cute and I love the color purple!
Thanks, Barb. Yes, I know you like pansies and would have brought some to you if you had not beaten me to it and done it yourself! Thank goodness for your photo updates that give me a hint of what's going on in your life. : ) It makes it easier to stay in touch for sure. I hope your flowers bloom for weeks to come!
You are an artist Holly, and I know that they taste as good as they look. What a lovely gift these would be.
You are too kind, Karen! My artistic ability is next to none but when it comes to eating cookies, I have more than enough talent to go around!! Happily these cookies made it through the mail to my grandmother. At first the post office sorted them through Denver then sent them back to my town...but then they got going in the right direction and made it to PA without turning into crumbs. Hooray!
You always do such an amazing job Holly and these are darling cookies and perfect for Spring, love them!!
Thanks, Tara! These were fun to make. I sent some to my grandmother and gave some to the teachers at school. Everyone seemed happy.
Those are so pretty Holly! What a great take on the theme. I've been looking at Bake at 350 forever and need to work up the courage!
Thanks, Karen! Do you have the Cookie cookbook Bridget from Bake at 350 published? Her online tutorials are great but it is nice to have her book right there in the kitchen with me too. She makes beautiful cookies. The technique she shared today was with stencils and it is on my list of things to try.
I love these darling little cookies, Holly! So sweet and perfect for the season. And i bet they taste great, too! What patience you must have to paint them all.
Thanks, Abbe, the painting was fun-- I did some and had a separate batch for my son to try out with his creativity too.
Such beautiful artistry on the cookies. This might be fun to do during summer when the teen is off school.
Absolutely beautiful. Pinning this one just so the world can see how talented you are. wow
Holly these are like little works of art, and I would be tempted not to bite into one but I know that you bake delicious cookies so I would not be able to resist :). I am not very artistic but I am going to give it a try, mine may just turn out to be abstract flowers.