How to Decorate a Nurse Appreciation Cookie Platter with Royal Icing (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

Celebrate the heart behind healthcare with a cookie platter designed to say “thank you” in the sweetest way. In this tutorial, I’ll walk you step-by-step through decorating a nurse appreciation cookie set using royal icing, featuring charming designs like classic nurse scrubs, sweet hearts, and a clipboard cookie with the message “Thank you, Nurses!” Whether you’re gifting a local healthcare hero or adding a thoughtful set to your order lineup, this design is both meaningful and eye-catching. You can also grab the coordinating cookie cutter set from our shop to make recreating this platter even easier.

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Nurse Appreciation Platter Cookie Cutters

This Nursing cookie cutter platter set includes a scrub top shirt cookie cutter, a heart cookie cutter, a center circle cutter, and a clipboard cokie cutter. You can purchase cookie cutters together as a 4-piece set, or as a 3-piece cutter set without the center circle, or without the clipboard.

(This is the same circle cutter used in all my platter sets, like this Wild Flower Cookie Platter, Gardening Cookie Platter, and Easter Bunny & Chick Cookie Platter, etc.)

There are two sizes available. When arranged as a platter, as shown in the example picture, the platter measures:

LARGE- 12 inches in diameter.

SMALL- 9 inches in diameter.

For this tutorial, I'll be decorating the large size.

Template for the Nursing Cookie Platter

To help with the decorating process, I made a PDF template of all of the new cookie platter cutters, including this nurse cookie platter design.

You can download all the 2025 platter cookie templates HERE.

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. This is my favorite royal icing recipe that I use to decorate sugar cookies.

For this butterfly & flower cookie platter, you will need the following suggested colors:

• Light Teal icing (I mixed Americolor Sky Blue and Americolor Lemon Yellow.)
• Darker Teal icing (I used more concentration of Light Teal above.)
• White icing (I used Americolor Bright White.)
• Black icing (I used Americolor Super Black.)
• Red icing (I used Americolor Super Red.)
• Pink icing (I used a tiny amount of Americolor Super Red.)

Step 1

For the scrub top cookie, begin by first filling in the empty space for the v-neck with a thin layer of white icing. Also, fill in te sleeve sections with light teal icing. Let that icing set (about 15 minutes).

Then fill in the remaining middle section with light teal icing.

Step 2

Next, add the small details, like the dark teal collar, the black details of the stethoscope, and the pockets.

Let that icing set, then add the remaining details of the stethoscope.

Step 3

For the heart cookie, it's simple. Flood the entire cookie with red icing. Let that icing set (about an hour) then add the heart beat line with white icing.

Step 4

For the clipboard cookie, begin by adding a thin border around the square edge with pink icing.

Then fill in the remaining middle and top section with white icing.

Step 5

Next, add the top details. I added the phrase "Thank you, Nurses!" using a cookie projector.

Nurse Appreciation Cookie Platter Video Tutorial

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

Here's the final nurse appreciation cookie platter all assembled. To create this entire platter required 12 cookies-- 5 scrub cookies, 5 heart cookies, 1 center circle cookie for support, and 1 clipboard cookie.

This is the large, 12" version. For the tray it's on, I like to use the 12" pizza pans from Dollar Tree. They are cheap and sturdy for transporting around.

With just a few thoughtful designs and some royal icing techniques, you can create a nurse appreciation cookie platter that’s both meaningful and memorable. Whether you’re gifting these to a healthcare hero or adding them to your shop offerings, this set is sure to make an impact. If you’re ready to create your own, be sure to visit our shop for the coordinating cookie cutter set and explore even more creative cookie cutters to inspire your next project!