Hamburger & Hot Dog Cookies

Hamburger & Hot Dog Cookies – how to make adorable hamburger and hot dog cookies. So fun for parties and BBQs! A sugar cookie decorating tutorial created by our contributors, ellenJAY.

With the holiday weekend approaching, it’s time to fire up the grill! There’s nothing better than having an outdoor BBQ on a hot summer night with friends and family in the back yard. And of course our go to favorites to throw on the grill are hamburgers for the adults and hot dogs for the kiddos! We prepare a condiment and toppings station all lined up to dress up our burgers and dogs…well mostly just ketchup for the kiddos, but “the works” for the growups!

So let’s celebrate grilling season with a step-by-step tutorial for our adorable Hamburger and Hot Dog decorated sugar cookies! Using our go to roll-out sugar cookie dough and royal icing recipe, we’ve outlined everything you’ll need to re-create these from start to finish. From “sesame seed” nonpareil sprinkles to “relish” made out of bright green jimmies… these cookies are sure to be a shower stopper at your next BBQ. They even work for Father’s Day and football tailgating too!

HAMBURGER & HOT DOG COOKIES
a tutorial by ellenJAY

Supplies:

VIDEO TUTORIAL

BAKE THE COOKIES:

Using our favorite sugar cookie dough, cut out 12 hamburger cookies and 12 hotdog cookies. Place onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart.
Place cookies into refrigerator for 20 minutes to chill. This will help the cookies keep their shape when baking.
Bake for 10 – 12 minutes.

PREP ICING COLORS:

While cookies are baking and cooling prepare a batch of royal icing.
Icing Consistency, for your reference:
- Piping Consistency: stiff icing straight from the mixer, plus a few drops of water to make sure the icing doesn’t crack when piping lines
- Medium Consistency: stiff icing plus a few drops of water to soften icing, in between piping and flood consistency but will still hold it’s shaped when piped
- Flood Consistency: thin down icing with 1 teaspoon of water at a time, stir icing with small spatula and continue to add a tiny bit of water as necessary to reach desired flooding consistency. When you lift your spatula and the icing drips and falls back into itself after about 10 seconds, it is a good consistency.
Portion out icing into separate containers, using 1 container for each color. It is best to work with about ¼ to 1 cup of icing at a time depending on how much you need per color. Here’s a breakdown of the colors to guide you.
- Buns: 1 cup tinted ivory. Put half into a piping bag fitted with #2 tip and thin the other half until flood consistency and put in flood bottle.
- Hotdog: 1/2 cup tinted with red and brown. Put half into a piping bag fitted with a #2 tip and thin the other half until flood consistency and place in flood bottle.
- Hamburger Patty: 1/4 cup tinted brown. Thin to medium piping consistency and fill a piping bag fitted with a #3 tip.
- Cheese: 1/4 cup tinted with orange and yellow. Thin to medium piping consistency and fill a piping bag fitted with a #3 tip.
- Lettuce: 1/4 cup tinted lime green. Thin to medium piping consistency and fill a piping bag fitted with a #3 tip.
- Tomatoes and Ketchup: 1/4 cup tinted red. Leave at piping consistency and fill a piping bag fitted with a #2 tip.
- Mustard: 1/4 cup tinted yellow. Leave at piping consistency and fill a piping bag fitted with a #2 tip.

HOW TO DECORATE HAMBURGER COOKIES:

Using ivory icing, pipe outlines of the top and bottom buns. We’re using piping consistency icing in a pastry bag with a #2 tip.

Fill in the buns with the ivory flood icing from the flood bottle.

Sprinkle on white nonpareils to top of bun for “sesame seeds”.

Pipe brown in a circular motion for textured hamburger patty. This step uses medium consistency icing with a #3 tip.

Pipe orange on top of the hamburger patty to resemble cheese. This step uses medium consistency icing with a #3 tip.

Pipe lime green in an up and down motion to create the lettuce. Again we’re using medium consistency icing with a #3 tip.

Fill in the remaining spaces with red for tomato slices. Now we’re back to piping consistency icing with a #2 tip.

Here’s another look at the hamburger cookie steps, to recap!

HOW TO DECORATE HOT DOG COOKIES:

Using the red/brown icing, pipe the outline of the hotdog. We’re using piping consistency icing in a pastry bag with a #2 tip.

Using the ivory icing, pipe the outline of the bun. Again we’re using piping consistency icing in a pastry bag with a #2 tip.

Fill in the bun using the ivory flood icing from the flood bottle.

Fill in the hotdog using the red/brown flood icing from the flood bottle.

Allow cookies to dry for 4-6 hours or overnight before adding final details. Using the red icing, pipe a squiggle line across the hotdog to look like ketchup. This step uses piping consistency icing with a #2 tip.

Using the yellow icing, pipe a squiggle line across the hotdog to look like mustard. This step also uses piping consistency icing with a #2 tip.

Sprinkle on lime green jimmies to look like relish. The green jimmies will stick to the mustard and ketchup only since the rest of our hotdog is already dry.