Royal Icing Pretzels

This is a good example of a thing you can pipe with royal icing that looks almost identical to the genuine article. You might wonder, why bother? But, probably obviously, the answer would lie in the taste. I'd definitely prefer crunching into a cupcake topper made of hardened sugar over flour and salt, wouldn't you? All you'll need to pipe pretzels are parchment paper squares (or a sheet of parchment taped to a cookie sheet), white and brown royal icing fitted with round tips #2 and #8 respectively, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of cornstarch and powdered sugar. 

 Start by piping the classic rounded heart outline. Make sure that one of the ends overlaps the other. Allow it to firm up for a few minutes.

 Pipe a diagonal piece, starting at the overlapping end of the rounded heart and ending just outside the heart's outline. When you stop the pressure and pull the tip away, you may leave a peak; touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap the peak down.

 Now you want to tuck the tip against the left side of the overlapping end, and pipe the complementary diagonal piece. Again, tap down any unsightly, inappropriate peaks.

 Allow the pretzels to dry…

…then "salt" them with tiny shots of white icing, using the #2 tip. 

 I can't wait to make Oktoberfest cupcakes! These would also be pretty sweet for Father's Day. Now I need to figure out how to pipe a tiny mug of beer to go with them…