Cutest Hairy Bat Cookies

 

I'm a little in love with the cookies - for a few reasons.

1. Bats are the coolest. More on this in a sec...
2. They are SO SIMPLE to make. Lots of cuteness with not much effort,
3. I made them with my latest cut-out cookie recipe: Black Cocoa Chocolate Cut-Outs.

Bats. First, they're just awesome. They eat mosquitos!!! Hello, how much more helpful can an animal be? 

One of my very favorite things to do in Austin is to go on a Bat Cruise to see the enormous bat colony (about 1.5 million of them) fly out at dusk from under the Congress Avenue Bridge. I took this picture this summer...it's spectacular. Every night, they eat about 20,000 pounds of mosquitos and other bugs! Read more about the bats here. 

I've been wanting to revisit bat cookies for a while but could not think of how I wanted to decorate them. I think after seeing this old post of mine, the idea started marinating. Those chocolate jimmies add so much impact! 

OK, let's make them. You'll need:

• Black Cocoa Chocolate Cut-Out cookies
• Royal Icing, tinted with Americolor Chocolate Brown mixed with Super Black, and just a bit tinted Bright White.
• Piping bags
• Icing tips: #2
• Squeeze bottles
• toothpicks
• Chocolate jimmies

Use a #2 tip to outline the center of the bat body. Reserve some of this piping consistency icing. Thin the rest with water, adding it a bit at a time until the consistency of glue. A ribbon of icing dropped back onto itself should disappear in a count of one-thousand-three. Cover with a damp dishtowel and let rest for a few minutes. 

Stir to pipe large air bubbles and pour into a squeeze bottle. Fill in the outline, using a toothpick to guide to edges. 

Holding the cookies over a basket-style coffee filter, sprinkle the jimmies onto the wet icing. Use the coffee filter like a funnel to pour back into the bowl or container. 

Let the icing dry for about an hour.

Outline the wings and flood with the thinned icing as above. Let icing set for at least 30 minutes.

With the #2 tip, add the detail to the wings. Use a #2 or #1.5 tip to pipe on the eyes. 

Let the cookies dry uncovered for 6-8 hours or overnight. 

I want to hear...do you love bats, too? Have you ever seen the Austin bat colony?