I'm always looking for a way to combine art with my baking and how to challenge myself in the kitchen. I decided to make this giant skateboard deck cookie for a friend who owns the actual skateboard deck by CREATURE. I'd never made a single cookie this big, so was a bit skeptical if it would actually work out, but it did! So I'd love to share with you my process, and the mistakes I learnt to make it work out even smoother for you!

Good luck! And remember, whatever happens, the cookie is still going to taste amazing :D

Step 1: Baking the Cookie

You'll want to start by making your cookie dough and cutting it into the right shape. The skateboard can be as big or as little as you want. Just note that if you go big, you're going to have to take on extra responsibility throughout the whole process. I mean, it's going to need some real TLC to make sure that it doesn't break. You'll learn later on how I broke mine. But don't be discouraged; it was a silly, actually no, an unfortunate mistake. I'm sure it won't happen to you!

Alright, back to business. Any sugar cookie recipe will do! There's a ton of them out there. Jump on Pinterest and you'll be able to find one. This one here is pretty similar to the one I use for my cookies.

Roll out the cookie dough to about 1/4" thick. Using a regular, old kitchen knife, cut the skateboard deck to size. You could print a template if you want to get all particular about proportions, but I just eyeballed it.

This is a post-baked shot, but notice my hand in the shot for size proportion.

You'll need to prop up the two ends of the cookie whilst baking it to get the curvature of a skateboard deck. I did this by taking some tin foil and shaping it into 2 triangle shapes with a flat side on the bottom and point at the top. (Make sure it's something that's oven-proof hey?!)

Bake the cookie in the oven according to the recipe instructions and let cook completely before attempting to remove the foil supports or to move the cookie.

Step 2: Icing the Cookie

If you're familiar with sugar cookies and royal icing, then you've got nothing to worry about with this step. If you're not, you've also got nothing to worry about! Promise!

Royal icing can be made in a number of different ways: the kind that uses meringue powder, the kind that uses egg whites, or even the pre-made/just add water kind. Any of these will be fine!

The important part to note with this step, however, is the consistency of the icing. You're going to need to find the fine line between the icing being runny enough to flood the cookie surface to a nice, flat surface, but not too runny that the icing won't hold on the curved ends of the cookie while it's drying. It will run down the sides if it's not thick enough! My fine line was a consistency that was quite thicker than I was used to flooding cookies with, which meant the surface of the iced cookie was a bit bumpy and not as smooth as usual, but once the cookie is painted, that's not even an issue!

Another equally important thing to remember while working with the cookie now is to prop it up on something while you're working on it. You definitely don't want to be having it straight on the surface with the 2 ends supporting the cookie. It will most likely break in half. I used a small cake tin to prop up my cookie.

(In hindsight, I guess I could have used 2 different consistencies - a thinner one for the main area of the cookie and then a thicker one for the sides. See what works best for you.)

I didn't get a photo of the iced cookie, but it just looked like any plan, white royal iced cookie.

Step 3: Painting the Cookie

Now it's time for the fun part!!!

Once the icing has completely dried! I would give it at least 24 hours (give it more time if you can! Remember, it is a large cookie, so the icing will take longer than usual to dry.) Also remember that different royal icing recipes take different time to set. So carefully check that your icing is dry/rock hard before you begin painting it.

Get some reference images ready! I printed mine out and had them sitting on the bench next to me.

Using an edible ink black marker, trace out onto the cookie the design. (The CREATURE design I chose had a lot of detail in the type. I just traced on the outline of each letter and then went back in and filled in the details at the end).

Next you'll want to get your "paint" pallet ready. I use Americolor gel food colours mixed with a bit of Vodka to water them down. Once you're ready to go, you can start painting on the design! Keep referring to your reference images and most importantly, have fun!

Here's a photo of the completed cookie as well as a time lapse video I recorded of the whole painting process. Hopefully it'll be helpful in showing you the entire design development! Enjoy!

P.S. Like you paid extra care with propping up the cookie while working on it, you'll want to make sure you package it super carefully if it needs to get transported! If the design is completely dry, you may want to flip it onto the design side to transport. Otherwise, lots of padding filling the space underneath!!! (There's an extra bonus step of my cookie fail for your entertainment) :(

Step 4: How Not to Break Your Cookie Like I Did. and How to Fix It If You Do.

Ugh. So here I am, being like SUPER careful the entire way through the creation of this cookie. I finished painting the cookie, was so happy and excited with the final product. I went to stop my phone camera which was on a tripod recording the time lapse video (it was also propped up on a stack of random objects from the kitchen to get it high enough), and BAM, phone falls off the tripod and straight onto the cookie snapping it.

I think I had a tear roll down my face. But! I managed to fix it, and luckily the cookie was just a present for a friend and not a business order, so it didn't really matter in the end and we managed to laugh about it in the end.

You'll see here a photo of the destroyed cookie and what I did to fix it.

I was really lucky that it was one clean break and it didn't break into 1000 pieces. So I just got some extra royal icing and basically glued the two pieces together. You will need to hold it in place for a little while as it dries, but it will do the job pretty nicely!

But just keep home-made kitchen tripod stages out of the way and you should be fine!