Good Fortune Simple Chinese Cookies - Drawing on sugar cookies using an edible ink marker

Mini Cookies for our Dumpling Party

Larger Cookie Favors for Guests to take home

I wanted to make special cookies for some new friends who are going to come over and teach me how to make authentic Chinese dumplings. I checked with my brother who is fluent in Mandarin and he emailed me a link to an appropriate character. It means (according to Google and my brother) good fortune. I did not want these to have very much icing so I used this simple technique for applying a very thin layer of royal icing to the cookies. I love the look it created and the simplicity of this project.

To begin, you need cookies, royal icing, a water and a spoon. Find a container that is just a little bit larger than the cookies you will be decorating.
I thinned out the royal icing by adding just a little bit of water, about 1/4 tsp at a time using the little teaspoon. I know it's ready when it becomes runny, like corn syrup or honey. If you prefer the count method I would say this icing is about a six count icing that would normally be used just for flooding a cookie. Six count icing means that if you make a mark in the surface of the icing in about six seconds the surface will be smooth again.

Now the really fun part, gently dipping the cookies in the icing. See how runny it is? My little six year-old did a great job snapping pics.
It's alive!! So I dipped each cookies and sort of swirled them around as I flipped them over and put them on the tray. Because the icing is so runny it will smooth out on its own.
Some of the icing may go over the edge of the cookie but you can easily wipe that off using a damp paper towel. The goal here is a thin coating of icing. I know my friends don't have a super high tolerance for sweets so this will allow just enough to make a cookie canvas. When dry, this creates the perfect cookie canvas.

You can also do this using a spoon...

Or a rubber spatula.

Pop any large air bubbles. I noticed that the tiny air bubbles disappeared on their own.

Let the cookies dry. This only took about an hour or so because the icing is so thin.

Now using an edible ink marker (found here) draw the characters. Yes, I used the Kopykake 300xk. I can not write pretty letters in English so I didn't even want to try this on my own. I'm sure with a bit of practice it would not be hard to write these characters. I'm running out of time before our party.

All finished. I love the way the icing has almost melted into the cookie. It is almost translucent.

My version of a "fortune" cookie - maybe we'll make these again for the Chinese New Year