How to Make Gingham Pillow Cookies

One of the easiest and quickest techniques to add visual interest to a cookie is airbrushing with stencils. I'm always so surprised how huge the impact is with minimal effort on my part. The stencil does all the heavy lifting. Out of all the stencils in my shop I find myself using the striped sphere stencil a lot.

This stencil creates a beautiful gingham plaid pattern that also gives the optical illusion that the surface is puffy and round. I've used the regular size sphere for pumpkins in the past. The regular size version is great for cookies 3 inches or larger.

For this tutorial, I want to show you how I utilize the smaller sized sphere stencil. This small size is optimal for cookies around 2 inches in size. Here's how I decorated this pillow pair design found in this autumn cozy fall set.

Pillow Cookie Cutter & Striped Sphere Stencil

New for this fall season is this pillow pair cookie cutter design. It's part of this 4-piece cozy fall set.

I will be decorating this design using the SMALL version of the striped sphere stencil shown below.

Template for the Autumn Cookies

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template available for all the new autumn designs, including this pillow pair, as a guideline.

You can download the all the 2021 Fall 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 Decorating Process

To decorate these cozy fall set cookies, you will need the following suggested colors:

• White icing (I used Americolor Bright White.)
• Tan icing (I mixed Americolor Taupe with a touch of Americolor Warm Brown.)
• Gray icing (I mixed the tan icing above with Americolor Super Black.)
• Burnt Orange icing (I mixed Americolor Orange with a touch of Warm Brown.)
• Dark Brown icing (I used Americolor Chocolate Brown.)
• Airbrush Orange color (I used Amerimist Copper mixed with Amerimist Warm Brown airbrush color).

Step 1

Begin by filling the lower pillow area with white icing. Allow this icing to dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Step 2

Once the icing has dried, airbrush a gingham pattern on the cookie. I used this small striped sphere stencil in my shop. I placed the stencil over the white icing and used Amerimist Copper mixed with Amerimist Warm Brown airbrush color in my gun.

Apply a very light layer of color, then rotate the stencil 90 degrees and then airbrush again.

Step 3

Next, fill in the top pillow area with white icing. Let this icing set for 1 hour.

Step 4

The last step is to add an autumn phrase like "hello fall" and then outline both pillows.

I used my projector with the help of the downloadable template to write the message on the cookie.

Video Tutorial

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

Here is the completed cookie along with the other 3 designs of this cozy fall set.

For gift packaging options, I love this BRP long cookie box (12" x 5" x 1.5"). All four cookies fit perfectly with wiggle room to seal them in heat-sealed cello bags.