The Pokemon Go craze has gone viral and there is nothing to stop the craziness. I have also been playing the game and have reconnected with my love for Pokemon. I decided to create some Pokemon inspired sugar cookies. This was my first time making and decorating sugar cookies and I was surprised at how difficult it was.

The sugar cookie recipe that I used starts with blending 1 cup of room temperature butter and 1 1/4 cup sugar (I used a bit less sugar than the original recipe) until well incorporated. Then add one egg and mix until it is light yellow and fluffy.

Once the butter, sugar and egg is incorporated, add 1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix until it is just incorporated. Taking a mini scoop, portion the dough into even balls and place on a cookie pan leaving enough space for the cookie to expand. The recipe calls for the dough balls to be coated with sugar but I knew that would make it too sweet so I omitted that step. Roll out the balls and then gently press them.

Bake the cookies on parchment paper or on a good non stick cookie pan.  Place the cookies in an oven preheated to 350 degrees and bake for 10 minutes or until slightly browned on the edges. Let the cookies cool before icing. 

I used a royal icing to decorate the cookies. This icing hardens and is able to stack (although it does take a good 24 hours for the icing to set). This was the trickiest part of the recipe since you have to add just enough water to make the icing “flow” and look glossy without it spilling all over the place. You can also make a thicker icing to create a border and then fill the inside with a more watered down icing to create a smooth finish. I wanted to skip the extra step and create an icing that would smooth out but thick enough to hold its shape.

To make the icing, mix 1 Tbsp meringue powder and 2 cups of icing sugar. Mix some gel food colouring into the water to help distribute the colour. Slowly (and I mean slowly) add the water and continue to mix until you get the right consistency. If it is too watery, add some powdered sugar to thicken it. Test the icing by squeezing some on a plate and letting it flow for a couple of seconds.

When the icing is ready, put it in an icing bag with a small icing tip (I didn’t use it for the yellow but did for the rest of the colours). I started decorating the cookies with yellow icing. This will be the base for the pikachu faces. I needed the icing to harden slightly before adding more details so I decided to do these first.

Next step was mixing black icing for the pokeballs.  For this you need to have a slightly thicker icing to prevent it from flowing too much.

I later used the same black icing and added a tiny bit of water to it. This icing was used to add some of the details for pikachu. 

Next was the red icing.  Make the icing as runny as you did with the black.

Add the rosy cheeks on your pikachu and if you are adventurous, add a bit of red to the mouth.

Using the same red, fill in the top of the pokeballs.

The last step is to make white icing. Fill in the bottom half of the pokeball and add a white dot in the middle.

For pikachu, add some white highlights to the eyes.

Let the cookies harden for at least 24 hours before stacking.  Enjoy!!

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