[EDITOR'S NOTE: It is with hugely mixed feelings that I announce that this post will be the last in our beloved Dear Yankee Girl series. I'm sad, because Kari is just about the best tutorial writer I could have ever imagined, so she will be greatly missed! (A gross understatement.) But I am happy, because Kari wanted to clear the decks to pursue some new and different things - which, knowing Kari, can only be great stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing where she takes her cookie creations next year and I wish her the very best! Thank you, Kari, for your monumental contributions to Cookie Connection! ~JMU]
Since this is my last Cookie Connection post as a contributor – yes, sad but true – I decided just to do a fun holiday cookie design tutorial. This design was on my "must do" list after seeing a stamp by Stampin’ Up! The mustache on this guy was the selling point!
And so I bring you . . . The Nutcracker!
What you'll need:
- Rectangle cookie cutter
- Mustache cookie cutter
- Small curved cookie cutter (I used a piece from a make-your-own jack-o-lantern kit.)
- Knife for trimming
- Royal icing, slightly thicker than flooding consistency, in colors of your choice (I used shades of green, red, and yellow, but you will need a flesh tone, white, and black for sure!)
- Space heater
- Royal icing, detail consistency in white, flesh, and a few of your chosen colors
Time to frankencookie!
Take a rectangle cookie and frankencookie it with a mustache. I placed the mustache not in the middle of the rectangle, but more toward the bottom. Always frankencookie on your baking sheet, as the cookie can be difficult to move after you’ve pieced it together. And be careful to make your mustache straight! You might giggle now, but it was a challenge! And no one likes a crooked mustache, right?
Let’s frankencookie a bit more, shall we??
I wanted this guy to have little tufts of hair sticking out, but the rectangle didn’t really allow for that. So, I frankencookied a small curved cookie on each side.
I take it back. That curve is too much. Trim it a bit with a knife. Like to where your hat line is going to be. There, yes! Perfect!
Bake it up!
Once your cookie is cool, you can start decorating. I did all of the flooding in stages. Remember to use your space heater in between the stages to help the icing set faster, and to eliminate craters and bleeding between colors. I also flooded this cookie with royal icing that was a bit on the thicker side. These are smaller areas and thus crater-prone. (A thicker icing helps to minimize craters.)
Start with the eyes and the bottom of the hat.
Add the top of the hat, the face (avoiding the eyes!), and the shirt.
Add the MUSTACHE!
Did I mention that was my favorite aspect of him??
Finish the hat and flood the neck/chin area. Give him several hours to dry.
Now for the details! These were pretty simple and quick to do. I used detail consistency royal icing, with a small (Wilton 1S) tip. I was feeling a bit lazy, so I only thickened the red and one shade of green for the details. The eyebrows and nose are definitely crater-prone, so break out the space heater again!
And there you have it. A super cute nutcracker with a super fabulous ‘stache! Just in time for the holidays.
Thank you so much for reading Dear Yankee Girl here on Cookie Connection. It’s been a fabulous year for me, and I’ve really enjoyed being a contributor. I’ll still be doing cookies and an occasional tutorial over at my website!
Let me know if you have any questions!
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Now, a huge round of applause for Kari and her wonderfully artistic and informative contributions to this site! Our next contributors sure have big shoes to fill! 
]
All cookies and photos by Yankee Girl Yummies.
Kari Arroyo started decorating cookies in 2011 after deciding to take a break from nursing, and learned the ways of royal icing by reading tutorials and LOTS of trial and error. When she’s not decorating cookies, you can find her chasing after two busy boys! Check her out on Facebook or her site, and email her your cookie questions at yankeegirlyummies@gmail.com.
Photo credit: Kari Arroyo
Note: Dear Yankee Girl is a regular Cookie Connection blog feature, written by Kari Arroyo, which allows you to get all your critical cookie technique questions answered, Dear Abby-style! Its content expresses the views of the author and not necessarily those of this site, its owners, its administrators, or its employees. To catch up on all of Kari's past posts, click here.
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