Royal Icing Kissing Ball

It's easy to pipe a fairly realistic-looking sprig of mistletoe, but you could also go the route of piping a mistletoe "kissing ball." All you'll need is stiff consistency royal icing in green, white and red, round tips #12 and #3, leaf tip #65, oval tip #55, a flower nail, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, parchment paper squares, a glue stick, 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 just above and at a right angle to the surface and pipe out a kiss-shaped dollop of icing about half an inch tall. Touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and tap the peak to round it. Set it aside and allow it to dry.

 Switch to the #65 tip and start covering the icing with tiny, overlapping leaves.

 Continue until you can no longer see the base.

 Allow the icing to firm up a bit and pipe a scattering of white #3 dots for berries (you could also use red for holly berries).

 Pipe a bow with the #55 tip in any color you like (red or white are fairly traditional). I really have no directions for the bow; just pipe a couple of loops, a short shot of icing for the knot in the middle, and a couple of tails.

 Peel away the parchment when the icing is dry and use this to make any holiday dessert that much more festive. You could also use a dab of icing to hang this kissing ball over the door of your gingerbread house.

Royal Icing Mistletoe

Let me start this post by letting you in on a useless piece of information: I'm blogging from the same hotel room where I did my first "remote post" back on January 2 (Road Trip Cupcakes). So if the hideous faux burl table looks familiar, that's why. Imagine my astonishment to learn that mistletoe is Oklahoma's official state floral symbol. I thought it would be amusing to serve up a batch of cupcakes this Christmas that are decorated with this poisonous parasite; I wonder if anyone would actually be hesitant to eat them? To honor Oklahoma by piping a crop of its oldest state symbol (actually adopted 14 years prior to Oklahoma's statehood), you'll need stiff consistency royal icing in green and white, two #8 round tips, petal tip #104, a glue stick, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 blend of cornstarch and powdered sugar. Start by sticking a parchment square to the nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

 Attach one of the #8 tips to the bag of green icing (you'll want to use a coupler). Pipe a few branches, allowing them to touch each other securely; you might want to touch a fingertip to the dusting pouch and gently tap the branches together where they join.

 Switch to the #104 petal tip and pipe a few round leaves. Hold the wide side of the tip against the "branch" and rotate the narrow end of the tip around in a fan-like shape while piping steadily. Stop pressure and pull the tip away towards yourself when you've reached the end of the "fan." Neaten the edges with a dusted fingertip if you need to.

 Lastly, pipe the berries with the other #8 tip. Hold the tip just above the surface, squeeze briefly, then stop pressure and pull the tip away. If a peak remains, tap it down with a dusted fingertip to form a ball. I tried to pipe a berry or two at any place on the structure that I perceived to be a weak point. When the icing is completely dry, peel away the parchment paper. I can't guarantee this creation will have the same magical kissing effect of the real deal, but I'm about to find out.