Don't we all wish that we had some kind of super hero power?  I think if I were a super hero, I would shoot killer cookies and have a pink cheetah costume.  What do you think your super hero power would be?

I was hoping to make some graduation cookies this year.  Last year I made these cookies for a graduation, so I was pumped to try out the super hero cookies.  I made these a few weeks back.  I tried making the Incredible Hulk a few years back, but didn't quite get the look I wanted.  I wanted to achieve more of a realistic look this time.  I painted on most facial details for Iron Man, Captain America and Incredible Hulk.

I used this set of cookie cutters.  Like the Sesame Street cutters, they left an impression that made decorating easier.  I didn't want to just make super heros, so I made some accessory cookies too.  Captain America's shield and Hulk's fist came from here.  Spiderman had a simple spider, and Ironman well...I'm not sure what his super power is (Can you tell I'm not a comic book fan?).

I was never big into royal icing transfers in the past.  I had made ribbon roses and other flowers with leftover icing.  I still have a bunch of the flowers stored in my cookie cabinet.  When I attended Cookie Con in March, there was a presentation on RI transfer given by Myriam Sánchez. It opened my eyes on how RI transfers can make cookie decorating much faster!  I created templates to make royal icing transfers for Spiderman's eyes and Captain America's "A".  A few weeks prior, I started to make the transfers and let them dry completely.  I taped the template to the back of a cookie sheet.  Then I covered the template with wax paper and followed the template with pipping icing.  I let the transfer dry in front of a fan for a minimum of 24 hours.  Once dried, I carefully removed them from the wax paper.  This can easily be done by pulling the edge of the wax paper along the edge of the table until the transfer is removed.  The table provides a sturdy surface for the transfer to rest on as the paper is removed.  Don't try to peel the transfer off the paper, especially if it's a fragile shape like the "A's" I made.  Think of it as removing the paper from the transfer not the transfer from the paper (if that helps).  Let me know if you would like a copy of the template to make your own transfers.

For Spiderman, I flooded the cookie with red icing and then piped black icing for the spider webs while the red icing was still wet.  Then I dropped the royal icing eyes on and the cookie was done!  Trying to make the least number of icing colors, I decided to keep Captain America's face just the plain cookie.  I followed the impression left by the cutter and piped around his eyes and the feathers on his helmet.  I flooded the cookie with blue icing and dropped the "A" royal icing transfer on.  Once the blue was dry, I used white icing to fill in the eyes and feathers.  I piped additional detail on his eyes.  Once everything had dried, I painted with black Ameri-color food coloring to add the illustrated look.  I also created royal icing stars for Captain America's shield.  I piped and flooded the red sections first, then the white and blue, finally adding the star.

For Ironman, I started by piping a small amount of white icing for his mouth.  Then I followed the guide piping and flooding the maroon area.  Once the maroon and white were dry, I filled in the gold area.  I added the sunburst spot on his helmet with some maroon piping icing.  Once the gold area had dried completely, I painted on his face.  I tried doing some research to find Ironman's super power, but I couldn't find anything.  That is when I decided to make the speech bubbles.  I used this cookie cutter for the mini speech bubbles, and for the larger ones, I created a speech bubble shape in Adobe Illustrator.  I printed it, cut it, and hand cut the cookies.

The speech bubbles were piped and flooded with white icing.  Then I used Wilton's Color Mist because I don't own an airbrush machine.  To create the background, I used this stencil.  I like using scrap-booking stencils since they are more heavy duty.  They can be picked up at any local craft stores; I purchased mine at Micheal's.  With the stencils being more study, I don't use magnets to hold them in place.  I lightly hold the stencil with one hand and spray with the other hand.  If you use magnets, get some of the super strong ones.  Finally I used this font to create the action words. There are a bunch of comic book type fonts available online, so have fun choosing one!

I saved the Incredible Hulk for last because he's my favorite but I'm not sure why.  I started by piping his black hair following the outline on the cookie.  Then flooded it with black and added a few drops of  green.  I  swirled the black and green icing around while still wet to create the crazy Hulk hair.  Once the hair was dry, I pipped and flooded his green face.  That dried for a few hours and then I pipped on a white line for his mouth, dots for his eyes, and black eyebrows.  When those details had completely dried, I painted on the additional facial details.  For Hulk's fists, I pipped a black outline and then thinly flooded the cookie with green icing, so I could still see the imprinted guide from the cookie cutter.  Once the green had dried, I pipped with black icing all the hand details.  To add more definition, I went back and painted on some smaller lines.

I had a ton of fun making these cookies, and they were a huge hit at the graduation party.  I hope you enjoyed this post and try making these cookies someday!