Recipes and Cooking Desserts & Baking Cookies Cookie Icing Give Cookies an Artful Look with This Marbled Icing Technique Learn how to make a dazzling marbled icing for your favorite cookie recipes with these recipes and how-to tips. By Katlyn Moncada Katlyn Moncada Instagram Katlyn Moncada is the associate food editor at BHG.com, sharing food news and tutorials on becoming better home cooks. She is a writer and editor with nearly a decade of experience in digital media, photography, and video production. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on November 16, 2022 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Photo: Carson Downing No matter how old you are, decorated sugar cookies (or any cookies, really) are almost guaranteed to bring a spark of tasty joy to your day. If you usually make cutout cookies around the holidays, we've got an easy topper idea for you: marbled icing. Not only do they look elegant, but it's really a simple process to accomplish. Before we get the cookie decorating started, go ahead and bake your favorite cookie recipe that requires a pretty finish. Regular sugar cookie cutouts (or go gluten-free) will work great here, or you can try a new flavor such as cocoa mascarpone. After your cookies cool, make a batch of powdered sugar icing, then use the following steps to give your cookies a marbled icing effect. 01 of 05 Make Icing and Divide Carson Downing Add enough milk (about 5 Tbsp.) to powdered sugar icing to make it dipping consistency. Divide the icing among bowls (our example here uses three bowls) and tint in different shades of the same color with food coloring. Leave one bowl plain. Note: You may want to make more than one batch of cookie icing. 02 of 05 Drizzle Colored Icing Carson Downing Place your colored icings in separate decorating bags fitted with small round tips, or place in resealable plastic bags and snip a small hole in one corner of each bag. Heavily drizzle one colored icing over plain icing; keep lines going the same direction. 21 Baking Tools Every Home Cook Needs (Plus 16 Handy Extras) 03 of 05 Double Drizzle the Colored Icing Carson Downing Lightly drizzle an icing of a different shade of the same color over top of first drizzle, making the lines perpendicular to the first ones. Related: Our Favorite Christmas Cookies to Make Every Year 04 of 05 Dip and Twist Cookies Carson Downing Now for the fun part! Dip a cookie into mixture. As you pull the cookie up, twist it to swirl and marble the icing. Allow excess icing to run off into the bowl. Place finished marble icing cookies on wire racks, set over waxed paper, to dry. 05 of 05 Repeat Marbled Icing Process Carson Downing Repeat with remaining cookies, redrizzling colored cookie icing and cleaning your fingers as needed. Let stand until set. See how simple that was? Now that you have a new cookie icing technique under your belt, grab the kids and let the cookie decorating party begin. If you're planning your entertaining treats ahead, be sure to check out our list of freezer-friendly holiday cookies. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit