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How To Decorate Pencil Cookies with Royal Icing

ByHani Updated on

Whether you’re celebrating the first day of school, surprising a favorite teacher, or just looking for a fun project to share with kids, decorated yellow pencil cookies are always a hit.

Stacked decorated pencil cookies on a lined paper.

updated from 2013

BACK TO SCHOOL PENCIL COOKIES STEP-BY-STEP

In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to create a bright yellow pencil design with a nostalgic charm. It reminds me of fresh notebooks, sharpened tips, and new beginnings.

Pencil cookies decorated with yellow icing on a lined paper.

THINGS YOU NEED

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PENCIL COOKIE SHAPE WITHOUT A CUTTER

If you don’t have a pencil cookie cutter, you can easily make the shape out of either a rectangle or a square cutter, too.

  • Cut out rectangles, and then you can trim one end of the rectangular cookie into a point using a sharp knife, and then bake the cookies as usual (steps 1-4).
Baking sheet with unbaked pencil shaped cookies.

ROYAL ICING COLORS AND CONSISTENCIES

I used royal icing to decorate cookies. You can use standard royal icing made with egg whites (there are 3 recipes using meringue, fresh egg whites, and pasteurized egg whites in a carton recipe), vegan icing (using aquafaba), or glaze icing.

  • Yellow Icing: 15-second consistency (pencil body)
  • Pink Icing: 20-second consistency (eraser)
  • Ivory Icing: 20-second consistency (wood/pencil conical point)
  • Gray Icing: 20-second consistency, piping consistency (ferrule)
  • Black Icing: 20-second consistency (lead/graphite)

DECORATE PENCIL COOKIES

  • I used a simple cardstock template, and I traced a decorating guide onto a cookie.
  • Template is optional; if you want to ensure that all the cookies are looking sharp and cohesive, it’s a good idea to use a template (steps 1-5).
Tracing the piping guides onto a cookie using edible marker and cardstock template.
  • Let’s start with the body of the pencil, that’s the middle part. I’m using 15-second consistency yellow icing to outline and to flood this area.
  • Use a scribe tool to smooth the icing across. Pop any air bubbles while icing is wet.
  • Allow icing to crust before piping the adjacent areas.
Flooding a middle of the pencil cookie with yellow icing.
  • Use 20-second consistency pink icing to outline and flood a small area at the very end of the pencil to make the eraser (steps 1-5).
  • Let it crust.
Flooding the end of the rectangular cookie with pink icing.
  • Using yellow or golden yellow piping consistency icing, pipe two straight lines on the body of the pencil (steps 1-3).
Piping straight lines with yellow icing across the middle section of the cookie.
  • Now we can fill the ferrule area – a section between the body and the eraser with gray royal icing of 20-second consistency (steps 1-5).
  • Let it crust well, and then pipe 2 straight lines across with piping consistency gray icing.
Piping gray icing between the rubber the yellow pencil body.
The ferrule is usually made out of a metal; its function is to hold the eraser in place and prevent the wood from splitting.

PENCIL LEAD/GRAPHITE DESIGN

You have two options to create lead/graphite on the pencil.

  • Use Black Icing
  • You can partially flood the wood part of the pencil with 20-second consistency ivory icing and let it crust. (steps 1-5).
Decorating part of the tip of the pencil cookie with ivory icing, leaving very point undecorated.
  • Then you can ice the very point with black icing (steps 1-3).
Piping the tip of the pencil cookie with black royal icing.
We call it ‘lead’, but there is no lead. It’s graphite, a form of carbon mixed with clay.

Piping ivory icing on the tip of the pencil shaped cookie.
  • Then use a black edible marker and draw the graphite on the very point (steps 1-3).
Hand holding black marker and drawing the tip of the pencil cookie.

STAR COOKIES -FILLER COOKIES

If you’d like, you can also make cute little filler, bite-sized cookies. You can use any small cookie. Star works great!

  • Flood the cookie with yellow icing of 15-second consistency and immediately dust the wet icing with yellow or gold sanding sugar (steps 1-6).
  • Remove excess and let dry (steps 7-8).
A mini star cookie decorated with yellow icing, on a blue tray dusted with yellow gold sanding sugar.
Cookies in a shape of pencil, small yellow star on a lined paper.

YELLOW PENCIL COOKIES VIDEO TUTORIAL

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FROM THE PAST

Here are my very first pencil cookies from 2013. As you can see, I used sandwich bags to decorate and made large and mini ones. Aren’t they adorable!?

Large and mini cookies on a notebook paper.
Decorating a pencil with icing.
Flooding a cookie with yellow icing.
Making a gray line on a pencil cookie.
A close-up of a large cookie decorated with icing.

I think you simply can’t go wrong with their sunny yellow design and playful school-day vibe!

Mini cookies decorated like pencils with royal icing.

MORE SCHOOL-INSPIRED IDEAS

COOKIE DECORATING TOOLBOX

I published this cookie decorating tutorial on August 27, 2013. On August 15, 2025 I updated this tutorial with new step-by-step photos, written instructions, link to beginner’s decorating guides, and a video tutorial.

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