With Royal Icing
Quilled Cookies

The quilled cookies on this page all have been decorated without the use of a tip, but with simple handmade parchment paper cones. They have been piped line by line on top of each other to make it look like strips of quilled paper.

Watch this short video demo on how to pipe a quilled cookie:

Would you like to give the Quilled Spider a try? You can download a template with some notes on how to pipe quilled cookies. Believe me, it is a wonderful exercise in piping precision :).

Spider Cookie: The paper quilling technique as shown in a sugar art video demo for practicing piping precision

As I have mentioned before, I believe that this is a technique that I would have a beginner practice after they've mastered the outlining of a circle and the flooding of a cookie.

It really looks more difficult than it is, as royal icing somehow seems to have an affinity to itself. You will feel it once you try to overpipe another royal icing line. You might be off by a tad, but the line will not just drop to the side, but stick to the underlying line unless of course, you are way off. But that won't happen, right?

Click on an image to see a close-up

Paper Quilled Cookies
— The Beginning —

The following quilled cookies I made for the "Monochrome" Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge on Cookie Connection. But I misunderstood the instructions (duh!) when I made the first set, Balloons and Piggies. All of the cookies in the same set had to have the same color, not just monochrome cookies per se. So the Snow Rabbit Valentine cookies were born after the balloons were disqualified.

Anyway, the idea was to add some dimensions by stacking lines on top of each other.

Balloons and Piggies
I guess I could have entered just the piggie cookies, but I didn't like the big sow too much...

Balloons and Pig Cookies: Monochrome Cookie Decorating with the royal icing paper quilling technique.

Snow Rabbit Valentine
These quilled cookies don't really look like paper quilling, yet, where all the paper strips have the same width. But the appearance comes close, and it let me to try out how it would look by stacking the lines all to the same height with the Quilled Peacock. And that's how the paper quilling technique was born. Finding new sugar art techniques by accident can be thrilling :).

If you'd like to give this a try, you can download the Snow Rabbit Valentine Template (containing the rabbits, fir tree, hearts and snowflake).

Valentine Cookies: Monochrome cookie decorating with the paper quilling sugar art technique.

Quilled Hearts
Achieving dimensions and contrast on monochrome decorated cookies with different-sized "paper strips": The left heart cookie has stacked more royal icing lines toward the center, the right one the opposite. This technique has to be precise and is piped as transfers, so it can be used in cake designs as well.

If you'd like to give this a try, you can download the Snow Rabbit Valentine Template (containing the rabbits, fir tree, hearts and snowflake).

Heart Cookies: Achieving contrast on monochrome decorated cookies by quilling, done as transfers, so it can be used in cake designs as well.

Quilled Snowflake
Using different-sized "paper strips" in a monochrome decorated cookie can look a bit chaotic, or maybe it's somewhat alleviated by an orderly mandala-type cookie? In any case, this technique has to be precise and is piped at least partially as transfers, so it can be used in cake decorating as well.

If you'd like to give this a try, you can download the Snow Rabbit Valentine Template (containing the rabbits, fir tree, hearts and snowflake).

Snowflake Cookie: Adding dimensions to monochrome cookie decorating by paper quilling with royal icing.

— Tips and Tricks —

The easiest way to pipe arcs, circles and spirals is with a turn table: the piping is done with the better hand and the work turned with the other. If you've piped circles the regular way before, you know there comes a point when your hand will be in the way of seeing where the line falls.

Not so with this technique: The line will be in your view at all times, and you'll be able to control where it falls much easier. Yes, it takes some coordination of both hands, but with some practice, this is a fun technique and one that helps you become a master piper :).

Quilled Cookies
The Colorful Way

Using different colors for quilled cookies makes it a bit easier on the eyes to work with, especially when doing several of them :).

Quilled Flowers
These quilled cookies I decorated for a Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge on Cookie Connection. It required us to use the Lambeth method, either traditional or my modern form of it, i. e. quilling with royal icing. The leaves are mere transfers.
Want to pipe these? Download my Quilled Flowers and Leaves template :).

Flower Cookies: Paper quilling with royal icing the colorful way. Piped as transfers these can be used in cake designs too.

Quilled Peacock
This peacock was born for the same reason as above, for a Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge. We weren't supposed to use anything else than royal icing to decorate our cookies. And I added the isomalt gems here after the challenge was over.
The edge is adorned with a miniature version of the traditional Lambeth method.

A peacock cookie/cake topper: Decorated with the royal icing paper quilling technique and isomalt gems.

Tell me I was able to inspire you to pick up quilling :)?!

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