I am hopelessly in love with this technique. I won’t lie to you, these cookies are a bit involved, as you need to take your time with each step. But mostly it is waiting time for the base to set, then the lines, when finally the real fun part starts: the painting!

Keep in mind that for any design you choose, you will need to pipe fine lines with Royal icing to set the boundaries of each section. My advice is to keep it simple. Obviously, at first I did not follow this rule and decided to make a peacock. It did not have a happy ending, which explains why you will see no peacock in this post.

I flooded the cookies with white Royal icing, and allowed it to set overnight. Then I projected an image on the surface, and drew with a fine food pen. I should not have used black, a lighter color would have been better, so that is my advice #2 for you. After that, grey Royal icing that was used to pipe the lines (using white would work too, I just wanted to give it a head start for the final color). I still struggle a lot with that piping consistency, and my lines are never as smooth as I would like them to be. But I think I’m slowly getting there.

Once you pipe the lines and they are fully dry, you can paint them with silver or gold luster dust diluted with vodka, and then fill the sections with colors. This step can be omitted if you prefer to leave the lines white or maybe use another color. I wanted to go for a more “metallic” look to mimic the traditional stained-glass motif.

The stained-glass effect is obtained by mixing corn syrup, water, and gel dye. It is a trial and error experience. Place a tiny amount of corn syrup in a watercolor palette, a tiny amount of the color you want to work on in another spot, and a small amount of water in another spot.

Wet the tip of a brush with the water (you’ll need very little water, so dry the excess on a paper towel), and make a diluted mixture of corn syrup and food dye. Soon you will realize how much to add of each component. If it is too light, add more dye, if it is too runny, add more corn syrup. The abstract flower I painted with luster powder + vodka, for a slightly different look.

I am definitely going to use this technique again in the near future, as I need more practice with the fine lines. But of all the cookies I’ve made recently, this stained glass trio of flowers might be my very favorite.