Happy Halloween!

How adorable are these cookies! I was inspired by this post from one of my favorite baking blogs, Sweetopia. If you haven't checked out Marian's amazing site, you must -- it's a must-have for tutorials and inspiration. I saw these spiderweb decorated cookies on Sweetopia's website and just had to try making them myself. I'll never be as talented at Marian, but it sure was fun trying to recreate some of her beautiful cookies. Just follow her instructions and you're good to go. :)

I'm still learning so much about baking and decorating with royal icing that I haven't really ventured out to try coming up with my own recipes or designs yet -- this is a classic example of me seeing something I liked and trying to recreate it. I think it's the best way to learn.

These cookies were made using several techniques, including marbling. The trick is to just flood the cookie, wait a few seconds, and then take an alternate color and add stripes to the cookie. Shake it a little to get the icing to "melt" into the base layer and then take a toothpick and run it through the lines to create a pattern. Again, I'm going to refer you to Sweetopia for an excellent video tutorial -- she's the best.

Also, note all of the black used in these cookies. Be prepared to use a lot of food coloring and just accept the fact that your fingers will likely stain a nice shade of pale black for a day or two.

I used my FAVORITE SUGAR COOKIE recipe for these and decorated using Sweetopia's Royal Icing recipe.