How to Decorate a Set of Dog-Themed Cookies

Are toe beans not one of the cutest parts of a dog? Well, they are definitely super adorable when piped onto a cookie, and they are also pretty darn easy. The key to wet-on-wet designs is moving quickly; you don’t want your first color to start drying too quickly before you are done adding your second color. It’s best to match icing consistencies when doing wet-on-wet so that the second color settles seamlessly onto the first color; if you like a little more definition, make your second icing slightly stiffer.

When I went to pipe my paw prints, because the base cookie was 100% dry (for me to be able to stencil on it), my black royal icing had to be stiffer than I would ordinarily have made it; if I had used my standard consistency icing, I likely would have run into every cookier’s sworn enemy—craters. There is nothing sadder than piping those perfect paw prints, only to come back 20 minutes later and find them sunken. The worst! When you can, you should always pipe on top of icing that is well crusted, but not fully dry; this will keep the dry icing below from sucking the moisture out of the freshly added top icing and (hopefully!) prevent cratering.

I wanted to do something a little different than your standard doghouse with this set, using a basic plaque cutter. First, (before you flood with white icing) pipe thin horizontal lines nice and close to each other across the center of the cookie, alternating whatever colors you like. Use an offset spatula or a stencil scraper to lightly scrape the icing flat across the surface of the cookie; the goal is not to fully scrape all the icing off, but to meld the colors together into a flat surface.

Use black royal icing to draw the outline of the doghouse on top of your rainbow stripes, and then flood the rest of the cookie in white. Once crusted, use a large piping tip to add a roof, and if you’re feeling extra extra, add a little dog bowl (I did mine as a royal icing transfer to eliminate the stress of possibly messing up my adorable doghouse).

These were definitely the most complicated cookies in this set, for sure! If you aren’t sure of your artistic abilities (or even just to maintain your spacing!), using a projector can make these a lot easier. First flood your cookies and wait for them to dry enough to be able to add the dog portraits on top (I also piped a colored border on these cookies before flooding in white, because I had a vision in my head of wanting them to look framed). From here, we have a couple of options on how to proceed.

For this adorable little corgi, I used white and orange royal icing. This little guy was essentially done with a wet-on-wet technique, but in sections. I piped the white center of the face first, then quickly added the orange sides of the face and the ears. Let that crust, then do the same with the body. Again, let that crust, then add the tail. Pipe on eyes and a nose. Once your doggy body is 100% dry, use edible marker to outline everything (ears, legs, tail, mouth, etc). Use edible paint to paint in the mouth and ears for some extra definition, and he’s all done!

For both this little shih tzu and bulldog, I piped their bodies on in sections (to show some definition), but I only used white royal icing. Once I had their little bodies fully piped on, I used my favorite Sweet Sticks water-activated paint palettes to paint their coats. Use edible marker for outlining and details, pipe on some eyes and noses, and these little guys are all done and so adorable. This method was easier than the wet-on-wet technique I used in the corgi, but both are so fun and cute.

And there you have it! There are so many ways to decorate cookies in an adorable dog theme, ranging from super simple to more intricate.  Work with the materials you have and the skill level you're comfortable with. Sometimes those simple cookies can really shine on their own. No matter what, they are sure to be a hit!