How to Decorate a Back-to-School Apple & Books Cookie with Royal Icing

Looking for a fun and beginner-friendly back-to-school cookie design? In this tutorial, I'll show you how to decorate an adorable apple-and-books sugar cookie using royal icing. This design features a bright red apple stacked on top of colorful school books, making it perfect for teacher gifts, classroom treats, first-day-of-school celebrations, and cookie sets. With a few simple decorating techniques and easy-to-follow steps, you'll be able to create a cookie that looks impressive without requiring advanced piping skills. Let's get started!

Skinny Apple Books Stack Cookie Cutter

Added to the shop for the back-to-school season is this skinny apple books stack cookie cutter.

This cookie cutter will fit in our 3" x 8" cookie box, as well as our 3" x 12" bag sleeves.

Template for the School Apple Books Cookie

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template for this apple cookie design.

Click the link below for the downloadable template PDF file.

• Cookie Template for Skinny Apple Books Stack

If you have a Kopykake or Pico projector, just print it out (or pull it up on your mobile device) and you are good to go. For those without a projector, follow the suggested steps below by tracing the design onto the cookie with an edible food marker.

The Cookie Decorating Process

Decorating cookies always starts with a good royal icing recipe. Here is my favorite royal icing recipe for cookie decorating.

For this pencil pennant cookie, you will need the following suggested colors:

• Red icing (I used Americolor Super Red.)
• Ivory icing (I used Americolor Ivory.)
• Yellow icing (I used Americolor Egg Yellow.)
• Green icing (I mixed Americolor Mint with Americolor Egg Yellow.)
• Brown icing (I used Americolor Espresso.)
• Blue icing (I used Americolor Royal Blue.)
• Dark Green icing (I mixed the green above with Americolor Forest Green.)

Step 1

Begin by filling in the lower book section with a thin layer of ivory icing. Also fill in the brown stem detail at the top. Let this icing set (about 20 minutes).

Next, fill in the red apple section. Also, add the middle book cover with green icing, as shown.

Step 2

Next, fill in the top leaf area with green icing. Also, add the yellow and blue book covers as shown. Let this icing dry completely.

Finally, outline the leaf with darker green icing. Then draw on the page lines with a brown food pen.

Back-to-School Apple on Books Cookie Decorating Video Tutorial

The steps above are summarized in this time-lapsed video I put together below.

To package this cookie, I first sealed each cookie in one of our clear heat-sealable cello bags to keep them fresh and protected. (I use the 3" x 12" size and cut off the excess.)

I finished off the presentation with a "Happy First Day" notebook tag and a pre-tied pencil bow.

This apple-and-books cookie is a fun way to celebrate the start of a new school year, and it's a design that looks impressive while using simple royal icing techniques. Whether you're creating cookies for teachers, students, or a back-to-school cookie set, this design is sure to be a favorite. I hope this tutorial inspires you to give it a try! If you'd like to recreate this cookie exactly, be sure to check out the matching cookie cutter and packaging available in our shop, and don't forget to browse our other back-to-school cookie cutters for even more inspiration.