Decorate a Hugging Apple and Pencil Cookie for Back to School

As the back-to-school season approaches, there's no better way to celebrate than with a delightful and creative cookie project! In this tutorial, we'll guide you through decorating an adorable hugging apple and pencil cookie using royal icing. Perfect for teachers, students, or just for fun, these charming cookies are sure to bring a smile to anyone's face. Plus, the cookie cutters used in this tutorial are available in my shop, making it easy for you to recreate these sweet treats at home. Let's dive into the world of cookie decorating and add a touch of sweetness to the school year!

Hugging Apple & Pencil and Back-to-School Plaque Cookie Cutters

Just added to the shop for the back-to-school season are this hugging apple and pencil cookie cutter and this back-to-school plaque cookie cutter.

In this tutorial, I'm decorating the LARGE size of the hugging apple and pencil cutter.

This pair of cookies will fit in this classic BRP cookie box (7" x 4 3/8" x 1.25").

Template for the Back-to-School Cookie Set

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template of all of the new Back-to-school cookie cutters, including this school mug design.

You can download all the 2024 Back-to-School cookie templates HERE.

If you have a Kopykake or Pico projector, just print it out (or pull it up on your mobile device) and you are good to go. For those without a projector, follow the suggested steps below by tracing the design onto the cookie with an edible food marker.

The Cookie Decorating Process

For the colors used for these apples and pencil cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

• Yellow royal icing. (I used Americolor Egg Yellow.)
• Tan icing (I mixed equal parts Americolor Copper and Americolor Ivory.)
• Pink icing (I mixed Americolor Coral Red with a touch of Americolor Ivory.)
• Black icing (I used Americolor Super Black.)
• Red icing (I used Americolor Tulip Red.)
• Green icing (I mixed equal parts Americolor Egg Yellow and Americolor Leaf Green.)
• Brown medium icing (I used Americolor Chocolate Brown.)

Step 1

Begin by filling in the main apple section with red icing, and the lead tip of the pencil with black icing. Let this icing set for about 15 minutes.

Then fill in the main pencil body with yellow icing, the eraser section with pink icing, and the apple stem with brown icing.

Step 2

Next, fill in the gray band on the pencil, the tan cone of the pencil, the top of the green leaf section, and add the middle fingers.

Then add the whole leaf, the eye details, and the remaining fingers.

Step 3

Finish the cookie by outlining the leaf detail, and draw on the smiles with a black food pen.

Step 4

For the back-to-school plaque cookie, begin by flooding the entire cookie with white icing. Let this icing dry completely.

Once dry, add notebook paper lines with a blue marker and a red marker and a straight edge.

Step 4

Next, using the back to school cookie stencil from this bundle, I used very stiff dark gray royal icing and swiped it across the stencil onto the cookie.

Back to School Cookie Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in this time-lapsed video I put together below.

Below is the completed set of the hugging apple and pencil and the back to school cookies.

For reference, the apple and pencil cookie is the LARGE size.

We hope you enjoyed this tutorial on decorating a hugging apple and pencil cookie for the back-to-school season. These charming cookies are not only fun to make but also make wonderful gifts for teachers, students, and friends. If you're looking for more back-to-school cookie cutters or other unique designs, be sure to visit our shop. Happy decorating, and have a fantastic school year!

Oh! One more thing. I used this spiced apple cutout cookie recipe for this cookie set. It complemented the apple design and tastes delicious. I highly recommend giving this recipe a try this fall.