How to Make Royal Icing Googly Eyes
Remember these yummy mummies? 😉 I’m pretty sure my toddler has been reminding me to make these for the last month. These Halloween Cookie Suckers are a huge hit in our house and neighborhood!
We decided to make homemade googly eyes for these adorable treats! They are super easy to make and they last forever! Kids of every age will have a blast making these crazy cute little eyeballs.
Read through her recipe, she explains everything much better than I could (plus she has great pictures)! Follow her instructions and recipe for the “stiff” royal icing. You will need to create “flooding” icing, by thinning it, for these fabulous googly eyes.
“Flooding” Icing:
Once you have created the “stiff” royal icing, add water to it one teaspoon at a time. Mix on low, until it is the consistency of syrup. Dip a spoon into the icing, lift it and let ribbons of icing drop back into the bowl, and count how many seconds it takes to make that surface flat again. If the surface is smooth between 5-10 seconds, then your icing is ready to use. If it takes longer than about 10 seconds, the icing is too thick. Slowly add more water. If the surface smooths over in less than 5-10 seconds, it is too runny. Mix your icing longer or slowly add more powdered sugar to thicken it. You may have noticed the icing was thin before you beat it in the original recipe. It is important not to skip that step. It makes all the difference in the texture.
Googly Eyes:
When you have finished making the royal icing and thinned it, divide it into 2 sections. Divide 2/3 out for the white of the eyes, and place the other 1/3 into a bowl to color black. With a rubber spatula sir in black food coloring paste until it is the desired color.
Put the icing in piping bags or handy dandy squeeze bottles. We used a #3 tip for the white and a #2 tip for the black. Place a sheet of waxed paper on a flat surface (table, counter, cookie sheet..). Squeeze out dots of white to the desired size. Then squeeze a black dot into the center of the white. You can do whatever size of pupil you want. We had some that were big and some that were tiny. We made some of the pupils looking to the side. The black won’t bleed into the white, awesome, I know! My husband may have had a little too much fun squeezing the black onto the white dots… We ended up with some pretty crazy eyes. Then you’re done! I told you it was easy! The eyes will take about 24 hours to dry. They need to air dry, don’t refrigerate or freeze them. Make sure you give yourself time to make these before you need to use them. Once they are completely dry pop them off the waxed paper and use or store!
You can find these nifty squeeze bottles at your local candy/cake decorating supply stores or online HERE.
We made 3 large cookie sheets full of googly eyes with 1/2 a batch of royal icing. I would guess we have around 1000 eyes. If you are planning on using the icing just for the eyes make sure you 1/2 the recipe! You will have tons of cute googly eyes for any number of delicious creations!
To store: place royal icing decorations in an air tight container and store them in a cool dry place for an indefinite amount of time. They will keep well as long as they are not exposed to condensation. I have tons of different royal icing creations that are years old, and they are just as fresh as the day I made them!
These adorable googly eyes will add life to any of your sweet treats 😉
If you want to bypass being Martha Stewart, you can purchase googly eyes for a great price here.
Enjoy!
Based on 15 Review(s)
Alison says
Hummmm…I was wondering how those were made! I thought you had to buy them! Thanks!
Karissa says
Eyes are cute! How did you ever think to use squeeze bottles and where did you find them the right size???
Lara says
Thanks! I learned everything I know from Bakeat350.blogspot.com. She loves squeeze bottles 🙂
You can try the link I listed above or search “decorating squeeze bottle” online! They also sell them at some candy/cake decorating supply stores!
Megan says
Where do you get the bottles? What a great idea?
Lara says
You can try the link I listed above or search “decorating squeeze bottle” online! They also sell them at some candy/cake decorating supply stores!
meaghan (the decorated cookie) says
This is great! I’ve been posting all kinds of googly eyed treats and keep saying there’s a candy eye trend this Halloween, so perfect timing! I just linked on EdibleCrafts.CraftGossip.com 🙂
Addie says
This is a great idea when you have a small amount of royal icing left over.
bridget {bake at 350} says
Thanks so much for the shout-out! I love your googly eyes!!! 😉
Kate B. says
So excited to try these today!! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful tips! I am not probably going to spend way too much time checking out Bake @ 350!!
Sarah BB @ East9thStreet says
Somewhat off subject but I get a malware warning when I try to click on the link to buy the googly eyes (because I’m too lazy to make them). Just wondered if anyone else did?
Shelley says
they are sold out 🙁 Check back in a few days.
Whatever DeeDee Wants says
Love these little eyes!
Patti says
Do you need to let the white sit for a bit before adding the black or do you add the black right away? Or does it not matter either way? Extremely cute!
Lara says
my husband just went right behind me as I squirted the white. He did the black. That’s the great thing about royal icing, it rarely bleeds!
Mimi Wan says
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I was looking everywhere for these eyeballs from Wilton and this is so much easier and I can control the color of the eyeballs to boot!! Wonderful!
Erin says
Thanks for sharing this idea on these eyes, they are great! Comment for the Twinery giveaway!
Shuby says
Hi! I want to use these on monkey face cookies. I’m planning on coating the cookies with chocolate ganache. Do you think the royal icing eyes will stick to the ganache well?
ania says
hi:)
what you do that black don’t colaps into white ? and don’t make a hole ? thank you
greetings from poland
Cheri says
I made these yesterday for cake pops decorations for my granddaughter’s birthday. I was so excited because they looked exactly like your pictures when they were wet, but once they dried the black iris sunk and I have a hole in the center of each eyeball. Any suggestions on how I can correct this or why they sunk?
Shana says
Maybe let the white dry before you do the back.
Candi says
Mine did the exact same thing, we’re so bummed out… they not only sunk in but on most of them they actually ended up with a whole in the middle, so strange and I can’t figure it out… some we let dry quite a bit longer than the others too.
danasia says
how do you make the googly eyes with oreos red cinnomon candy and red decorating gel and also white icning.
Desperate Craftwives says
These are so cute! Just pinned them!
Michal says
Awesome post! thanks a lot for sharing!
Diana says
Thanks so much for the inspiration! I made the Royal Icing with meringue powder, and added cocoa instead of black food coloring. This made them taste super! To speed up the drying process, I placed a small space heater on the table next to the pans. Perfect!