Royal Icing Snowflakes

Today's post is inspired by one of my favorite crafts: frosted pumpkins. I used to paint and glitter real pumpkins every year, but it was absolutely heartbreaking to throw them out at the end of the season (so a few years ago I switched to Funkins). 

To pipe snowflakes that you can use to add a 3D quality to cupcakes or whatever, you'll need white stiff consistency royal icing, parchment paper, a cookie sheet, scissors, tape, small round or oval tips, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, a fluffy brush, and edible glitter like Pearl Dust. Start by taping parchment paper to a cookie sheet (cut the leftover paper into squares for other piping projects). 

 I used a #5 round tip to pipe this snowflake. Hold the tip just above the surface and at a 45 degree angle. Pipe a single line about 1.5" long.

 Pipe an "X" over the line. You can center it, or pipe it closer to one end or another, or pipe the lines in different lengths for a retro look. Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and gently tap down the center where the lines intersect.

 Pipe an "X" over every line toward the tip.

 Allow the icing to firm up for a few minutes, then fluff glitter all over it. When the icing is completely dry, it should slide right off your parchment and (hopefully) right onto a very festive dessert. A little side note: unless the Internet has a worldwide meltdown in the next 24 hours, my blog will receive its 100,000th visit today. I want to thank everyone who has ever read one post or all of them for visiting my blog! You motivate me more than I can say.