How to Make Calico Corn Cookies

Calico corn is the best corn, don’t you agree? It’s pretty and multi-colored – and doesn’t get stuck in your teeth. Even better, in this case, the corn kernels are chocolate candies! Best. Corn. Ever. The perfect cookies for a Thanksgiving table or decorating with kids, these are fun and simple to make! 

Our friend and brand ambassador Bridget Edwards from Bake at 350 shows us how it’s done!

The first and most challenging step in making the cookies is to separate the candy coated chocolate pieces by color. The tricky part is not inhaling the other colors during the process. I like to use yellow, orange, and brown, but I’ve seen actual Calico corn in shades of blue and pink. Use whatever color scheme you love.

To make the Calico Corn Cookies, you’ll need:

• Sugar Cookie Dough
• Leaf cookie cutters in large and small (dough may be hand-cut if cutters not available)
• Royal Icing
• Gel paste food coloring in gold and egg yellow (a lighter shade of egg yellow can be substituted for the gold)
• Piping bag fitted with a #2 tip
• Food-only flat paintbrush
• Offset spatula
• Chocolate-coated chocolate candies in yellow, orange, and brown

Make the cookies. For the larger leaf cookie, which will be the center of the corn, roll the dough to 1/4-inch. For the smaller leaf cookies, which will be the corn husk, roll the dough to 1/8-inch. Bake until done. Cool completely.

Make the royal icing. Divide into two bowls and tint. Tint one a light gold and one a medium egg yellow. A note on the “gold” - the coloring is a gold-tone yellow, not metallic. If you don’t have gold, tint ivory or a lighter shade of the egg yellow. Press plastic wrap onto the icing to prevent crusting.

Decorate the husks. Transfer the gold icing to a piping bag fitted with a #2 tip. Dampen the paintbrush, blotting well on a paper towel. 

Starting at the bottom of the leaf, pipe a squiggly line. Drag the icing from the line up the cookie.

Add another line where the icing ends. Repeat with the paintbrush. Continue until you’ve reached the top of the cookie. The squiggly lines will not be precise and will vary from cookie to cookie. Let the icing dry for at least an hour.

Decorate the corn. Use an offset spatula to spread yellow icing onto the larger leaf shape.

Gently press two of the “husk” cookies into the icing at the bottom of the corn. I like to turn them upside down from the direction I used the paintbrush.

Press the chocolate candies into the remaining icing, placing the colors in a random pattern.

Let the icing dry at least a few hours before stacking or packaging.

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