Patriotic Crosses With Ruffles {Tutorial}

I had some leftover icing from the patriotic butterflies I made so I froze it. This was my first time freezing royal because I've heard mixed reviews on doing it. I will say that it froze just fine and when thawed it seemed slightly runnier than when I put it in but the color did not change at all. It was frozen from May 27th through June 9th. I will say that the only downside to freezing icing is that it takes quite a bit of time to thaw. If you're impatient this is not good. I would suggest taking it out the night before you need it.

I also had several different shapes of cookies frozen. When you mainly decorate for fun it becomes cost effective to do these things. If I make cookies for friends and family and I have leftover dough I go ahead & cut shapes that I think I may want to decorate soon and bake them. Then once they are cooled I freeze them. I use Sugarbelle's sugar cookie recipe and I follow this post for tips on freezing the cookies.

So armed with leftover icing and cookies I decided to practice on the ruffle technique and make patriotic crosses with ruffles. I love God and I love my country. This is a great idea for a God Bless America theme.

To make patriotic crosses you will need:

• red, white and blue stiff consistency royal icing
• #104, #103 and #102 Wilton piping tips

Begin with red stiff consistency icing and a Wilton #104 tip and ruffle along the edge of the cross. You can allow this step to dry before continuing on but I'm lazy and impatient so I did not wait.

Next, with white stiff consistency icing and a Wilton #103 tip ruffle inside the red.

Finally, with blue stiff consistency icing and a Wilton #102 tip make a ruffle in a cross shape. In this picture I did not do this. I went around in a circle, in the middle, instead of making a cross. In the video you will see that I changed the technique since taking the photos. Either way looks good.

Here is the video of the process. In this video I'm simply demonstrating how I made the cross. For more in-depth information on making ruffles please watch this video by Ali Bee's Bake Shop. She explains the ruffle technique beautifully.

Finally, just for fun I also decorated some hibiscus cookies I had cut for May flowers and never got around to making them. I used the same ruffle technique. Aren't they lovely? These would be a great addition to your 4th of July platter.

I've got several things coming up. One is the Inspiration Challenge for July which is home decor. Be sure to check out June's Inspiration Challenge here. There's still time to participate. I'll be working on some cookies for a friend at work, Father's Day is coming up and so is my hubby's birthday.

Have a great week!