Desserts for Dudes: Cigar Cookies

These cigars you can allow INSIDE the house. I promise.

Mr. E is a cigar smoker. By cigar smoker, I mean twice a month he heads to the backyard and enjoys a cigar. Then, when he comes in the house and I say, "you smell like cigar," he is always amazed. "You can smell that?!?" Well yes, it must be my super sonic olfactory senses. ;)

No matter what you think, or smell, of cigars, they are quite manly.

Perfect for Father's Day. Perfect for Desserts for Dudes.

These are so easily personalized as well...use the cigar band to work with a color scheme, or add your dude's initial.

And hey...how cute would these be for a new dad to pass out? I'm pretty sure real cigars are banned from hospital waiting rooms. Let's give out cookies before those are banned, too.
(I'm looking at you, New York City.)

Alrighty...before we get started, you're going to make some Electric Orange sanding sugar. Yes, make. You'll need:

AmeriColor Electric Orange food coloring
white (clear) sanding sugar

Place the sanding sugar in a bowl with a lid. Add a drop of food coloring. Shake.

If the food coloring is clumping, press it out with the back of a spoon. Voila.

To make the decorated cigar cookies, you'll need:

cigar-shaped sugar cookies (I used a template.)
royal icing, tinted with AmeriColor Chocolate Brown, Warm Brown, Electric Orange, Gold, Royal Blue, Super Red
disposable icing bags
couplers and tips (#3, #4, #2)
squeeze bottles
toothpicks
gold luster dust
vodka
small paintbrushes (2)
meringue powder
orange sanding sugar

Use a #3 tip to outline the cigar with chocolate brown icing.

Thin the warm and chocolate brown icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup. You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin. Count of 2-3 is good. Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed. Pour into squeeze bottles.

Working 6-8 cookies at a time, flood the outlines with warm brown icing. Use a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Going back over the same cookies, drop lines of thinned chocolate brown icing directly on top of the warm brown icing.

Use a #2 tip to pipe the "ash" of the cigar with orange. Thin the icing as described above and fill in the outline.

Let the cookies dry for at least one hour.

Use a #4 tip to pipe a band on the cigars in gold icing. Let dry at least 30 minutes.

Flood the blue and red icings as described above. Flood the gold band centers.

Let the cookies dry for at least one hour.

Use a #2 tip to add a center detail on the bands.

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

The next day, mix a little gold luster dust with a few drops of vodka. Brush onto the gold piping with a small paintbrush.

Next, mix 1/4 teaspoon meringue powder with 1/4 teaspoon water. Brush onto the orange areas. Sprinkle on the sanding sugar over a coffee filter. Shake off excess. Use the filter as a funnel to pour back in the bowl.