You (sham) ROCK!

Again with the cheesiness.  I know, I know...I can't help myself.

You DO (sham) rock, though, you know.

A couple of notes about these cookies...

ONE. The dough was tinted green just to make it a little more festive for St. Patrick's Day.  To do this, you make your dough, then just knead in the color, kind of like you would do for fondant.  Easy.

TWO. The little shamrock guitars are parts of two shapes put together.  A shamrock (you knew that), and since I don't seem to have a guitar cutter, a cut off broom handle.

THREE. I'll show you the tutorial for the guitars below.  For the other cookies, I had this "great" idea to make shamrocks from dots.  In reality, they look more like flat leaf parsley or cilantro.  On the bright side, if you ever need to make cilantro cookies, you'll know how.

To make the Shamrock Guitars, you will need:

• sugar cookies put together to make a shamrock guitar, such as a shamrock and a broom handle,
• royal icing tinted with AmeriColor Super Black, dark & light green using Leaf Green, and Bright White,
• couplers and icing tips (#2 & #1)
• disposable icing bags
• squeeze bottles
• toothpicks

With a #2 tip, outline the guitar center and neck in black icing.  Reserve a bit of black piping consistency icing.

With another #2 tip,  outline the shamrock shape in the darker green icing.

Thin the black and green icings with water a bit at a time, stirring gently with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  Cover with a  damp dish towel and let sit for several minutes.

Stir the icings gently with a silicone spatula, popping any large air bubbles that may have formed on the surface.  Transfer to squeeze bottles.

Fill in (or flood) the black outline with the thinned icing, using a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Fill in the green outline with the thinned green icing.

Let the cookies dry for at least 1 hour.

With a #2 tip, add the bar below the center of the guitar in black.

With a #1 tip, add the strings and detail in white.  If you find your strings are "breaking" as you pipe them, squeeze all of the icing out of the bag and into a bowl, stir in 1-2 DROPS of water, then put back in the pastry bag.

With a #2 tip, add the detailing to the guitar in light green. 

(sham)ROCK ON!