Royal Icing Hanukkah Gelt

This time of year, chocolate gelt is pretty easy to come by. However, it isn't the greatest thing to decorate cupcakes with, and folks who are allergic to chocolate need to give it a miss. For an alternative, try piping gelt with royal icing. You'll need stiff consistency royal icing in yellow, round tips #12 and #2, a flower nail, parchment paper squares, a glue stick, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick .

 Hold the #12 tip at a right angle to and just above the surface. Pipe a ring; decrease pressure as the ends overlap and pull the tip away.

 Pipe a dollop of icing in the center hole.

 Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap the icing flat into a disc.

 You can make them in a variety of sizes; the largest one here is just over 1". Allow the icing to firm up for about 20 minutes.

 Use small round tips like the #3 to pipe designs on them. To create the "interlocking" effect on the Star of David, pipe three pairs of parallel lines.

 To keep the menorah balanced, I piped the center line, then the base, then the three curving lines, starting from the center and working my way outward. The "flames" are small shots of icing that end in a point from stopping pressure and pulling the tip away.

 This gelt might not be sturdy enough to withstand an actual game of dreidel, but they'll certainly look good decorating any dessert.