Saint Patrick's Day Cookies - How to make a rainbow cookie - How to make a Leprechaun Cookie

Saint Patrick's Day Cookies

I did not have a cookie cutter for a leprechaun or a rainbow and continue reading if you'd like to see how I improvised!! To start, I love all the rainbows sweetsugarbelle makes on her blog. They are perfect. I do not own a rainbow cookie cutter, but really wanted to make cookies like the ones she did here. I used her 20 second icing for the rainbow colors, but I don't think the consistency was perfect this time around. For best results I outline and flood must cookies. I keep trying to get the one consistency icing right, but it takes practice. I was doing so many colors I decided not to make two consistencies of each color. I used an idea from Lilaloa's post on how to make the leprechaun hats, I just added a little face. Leprechauns have always creeped me out, but I think this little guy looks pretty nice.

First, the rainbows...

Use circle cutters, or cups or bowls or whatever you can find to make a circle with a little circle inside of it.

Now remove the center and cut the circle shape in half with a dough cutter or a knife.
I learned this from sugarbelle, you can use a small flower cutter to make a cloud. Cut the small flower out first, then cut into the rainbow shape to make a spot for the flower. I sort of pressed the flower shape to make it more oval-shaped.

I chilled these shapes in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking. I didn't want to loose this cute shape. After baking and cooling, the fun starts - decorating. I used a thick icing for each color and added them one at a time, waiting about twenty minutes before adding the last 4 colors. It's hard to take pictures while decorating! I used a small metal tool to smooth out the layers.

First layer of color added.
Adding the second layer of color after the first layer has set for about 20 minutes.
The next day I added the clouds by first outlining then filling in with white icing. I waited this long because I did not want the dyes to leak into the white frosting. I also added edible glitter while the white was still wet.

Making a leprechaun hat Lilaloa style
Use round cookie cutters, or a cup or whatever you can find to cut out the edges of the hat.
Here's a better photo, the order of cutting doesn't really matter.
I used the round cutters to cut out a small face for the leprechaun.
Decorate in alternating sections. Give each layer about 20 minutes to dry. I used sugarbelles 20 second icing on this one.

Continue adding the layers and when they are set add the details. I used wilton gold dust for the buckle and the gold coins. Isn't the alligator cute? I decided not to crop him out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Thank you again Lilaloa and sweetsugarbelle for all the info on your blogs!