Three Wise Men Christmas Cookie Tutorial

     I would like to tell you that I finally designed and decorated the entire Christmas Nativity in cookies...but I think another year is going to come and go without that happening.  I was inspired to make the Three Wise Men though and honestly I think I if you really wanted you could probably make the entire nativity with just this cutter. 
 

   To cut the Wisemen cookies I used a cutter of my own design.  This cookie cutter is actually a "girl" gnome but I designed the cutter with a large hat so it could be cut down into a variety of different characters.  Plus the long dress makes it work for cloaks and robes too.
    I cut the hat down for the different crowns and also pieced an egg shape to the bottom half of the gnome cutter to make the king with a head scarf.  For more on cutting different hats with this cutter click here.  This cutter and my others are available to purchase in my Etsy store. 

    It's actually pretty easy to decorate cookies like this.  Just take every shape one at a time and let each section set up a little before adding the next shape.

     1.  Start by filling the face in flesh colored royal icing.  I use the face as an anchor for all the other elements so it's important it's the right shape and in the right place.  If you need to you can use a simple paper template to get the faces right.  
     2.  Let the face set up for a few minutes and then add the cloak and the lower sections of the hat
     3.  Let those dry a little while and finish the hats and cloaks.  At this point you should let the cookies dry for a few hours because you'll be adding sections on top of these.

     4.  When the body has dried for several hours add the arms.
     5.  Let the arms dry a bit and then add the beards or hair.  
     6.  Finally finish everything off with the little details.   Instead of adding the gifts directly to the cookies, which would have made them more complicated, I made little minis and decorated them as I went.  The little gifts can be "glued" to the finished cookies with royal icing giving them a little extra dimension.

   If you like you can also make just the faces of the Wise Men.  I found these ornament cookie cutters at Wal-mart this year and they are my current favorite cutters.  I can see so many things in them.   The curves and points work really well as beards and crowns especially when you piece the shapes together.  To see the ornament cookies I made with these cutters click here.

The steps to decorate the faces are pretty much the same as before:

• Start by adding the faces and let them dry for a few minutes. 
• Add the bottom of the hat and let dry again. 
• Finish the hats and add the beards.
• Let the cookies dry for a few hours before topping them off with piping details.

I had a lot of fun with this set and there is more to come.  Wise Men need camels of course so check out this post for silly camel cookies.

In the meantime be sure to enjoy your weekend!