Taking flight

My son & I just returned home from a wonderful trip to visit my aunt, uncle and two of my cousins....some of my favorite people in the whole world! We took a few cookies along with us, so here's a look at batch #1.
These monarch cookies were for my Aunt Janice. I am so, so happy that my uncle had the smarts to marry her! :) I'll bet that every one of my friends knows "Aunt Janice" because I frequently talk about her...she is one cool cookie!

One of the many things my aunt does well is garden, especially butterfly gardening. The design inspiration for the cookies came from Karen Tack's Hello, Cupcake! book where she uses candy melts to make a butterfly cupcake topper. I like the way they looked tied with the dotted grosgrain. To make the cookies:

• Using a #5 tip, pipe the butterfly body in black. (Spectrum Super Black)
• Switch the tip on the black icing bag to a #2 and pipe the outline of the wings.
• Thin black and orange icing with water to a syrup-like consistency and cover both with a damp dishtowel. Let sit several minutes. (AmeriColor Orange mixed with a little Spectrum Super Red)
• Run a rubber spatula through the icings to pop any bubbles that formed on the top. Pour into 2 separate squeeze bottles.
• Using the thinned black icing, follow the outside edge of the wing outline.
• Immediately fill with thinned orange icing, filling in the remainder of the wing, making sure the black and orange icings meet.
• Using a toothpick, drag the black icing into the orange, making veins in the wings.
• While the icing is still wet, drop on white non-pareils.
• Let the wings dry for an hour or more.
• If desired, go back over the butterfly body using a #5 tip in black icing.