Ladybug Party Shortbread Cookies

if there is one thing from Kiddo's party that I was SUPER excited about, was the Ladybug Shortbread Cookies I made as a take-away for all the kids. This was my first time making not only homemade Royal icing, but homemade shortbread cookies!


I got my shortbread recipe from Sweetopia, and let me tell you it totally rivals Walker's Shortbread! It is my new go-to recipe. I am just about forgoing sugar cookies! Seriously- these cookies totally melt in your mouth (who knew cornstarch was the secret ingredient?), and you say you're gonna eat one bite, and you end up eating the WHOLE cooking in about 1 minute! 


The cookies were an all day project. You make the dough (your butter MUST be room temp- it really is the key!), and then have to chill it. Then put out between two pages of parchment, and roll out (I rolled it out to large cookie sheet size) and then chill it yet again. Then you can roll it out again, to the thickness you want. I used a medium heart shape ruffled edge cookie cutter upside down (idea from Cheryl's Cookies, via Pinterest!) and got 30 cookies from the recipe.


Then back to being chilled. This is the critical step! Then baking.


Meanwhile, I had already made my Royal Icing, based on Sweetopia's uber-simple recipe! her cookie decorating tutorial was imperative to my cookies turning out so well. It is well worth the read and print out! This is now my go-to icing as well! Just be warned the half batch makes A LOT of frosting, and I also used my whisk attachments on my stand mixer, as I couldn't find my paddle ones, and it turned out just fine! 

After they cooled, I did a thicker royal icing piping around the edges, to be the 'dam', to keep the royal icing in. I let them set up, and then after thinning and reloading my bag, I quickly filled the interior with red. The key at this point is speed. Fill quickly 2-3, then grab a toothpick and move icing around to edges/fill corners, as needed, as the icing dries quickly when it hits air! I then allowed them to dry for 2 hours, then went back an added the black. This was to keep the black from running into the red, as strong colors can do that. I allowed them to then set overnight, to make sure they were solid, and then bagged them in ladybug bags the next day for giveaways.


I kept the extra out and placed them on a platter for the adults! One got away and met the big ladybug! LOL

I think they turned out really well and so did everybody else- I had quite a few "wait, you didn't BUY these, you MADE them?" comments! 


Try a batch of these cookies today and you'll be hooked too!