All Edible Bridal Hair Comb Cookie - With 2 Different Types of Edible Feathers

Here's how to make a fully edible cookie version of a bridal/ Gatsby style jewelled hair comb. It's relatively straightforward, but can be time consuming if you want to make it as detailed as this. Just have fun with it and see what you come up with :)

I'm new here and this is my first instructable. I'm still trying to figure it all out, but I hope you can get the gist of it from what I've put up. There's also a YouTube video of the tutorial here:

with links in the description box for an ASMR version, and an older vid showing how to make your own piping cone out of cellophane.

Best wishes

Sawsen

What You Will Need

A cookie of your choice - I baked some shortbread cookies and used one of those, but any roll-out sugar cookie type thing will do. If you want to know my recipe I'll be adding a video of it to YouTube soon (*edit - video now up here )

Rolkem (or any good quality) edible lustres (must be edible!)
Paintbrush, knife
Dipping solution, lemon extract or a little water to mix the lustre into a paint
Mixing pots
Bowls & spoons
Few tbsp Icing sugar
A few candy melts in white and black (about 6-8 per cookie)
Cellophane and tape, or pre-made icing bags
Scissors
Gemstone or jewel silicone moulds (shop bought or home made, I used both types)
Baking paper
Wafer paper (aka rice paper - the edible image printer type)
Succulent sweetened coconut strips (from Holland & Barrett in the UK)
Metallic sprinkles or dragees
Patience!

Making the Chocolate/ Candy Jewels

Dust the inside of your silicone moulds with lustre dust using a dry paintbrush. I used Rolkem Super Silver, Gold and Silk (which is a pearlescent white) coloured dusts.

Melt your white candy melts in the microwave in 10 second bursts, or over hot water, stirring until smooth (take care not to burn them or get water in the bowl!)

Roll a cellophane cone and seal it with tape, or use a pre-made disposable piping bag, and fill with 2/3 of the white melts. Fold over the top and tape shut, then snip a pinprick sized hole in the tip. There's a video of this on my channel if you prefer, look for the "simple writing icing" tutorial.

Pipe white candy into the cavity of your moulds, into the parts dusted with white pearlescent lustre. Make sure to get every crevice.

Add a few black candy melts to the left over white in the bowl, and re-melt until smooth. Fill another cellophane cone or piping bag with this grayish colour, and fill the parts of the moulds dusted in silver and gold. Make enough jewels to cover most of your cookie.

Save the leftover grey candy - you'll need it in the next step.

Chill the jewels in the fridge until set.

Make the Comb

Use the remaining grey candy to pipe out a comb like pattern on baking paper, as shown. You can print out a template if you want, but I just winged it.

Measure the size of your comb against the cookie to make sure it fits.

Once done, allow to set, and be careful not to break it!

Make the Edible Coconut Feathers

Everyone knows gumpaste or fondant makes great looking feathers... that don't taste so great. Using soft sweetened coconut gives a great effect while actually tasting good too - if you like coconut that is.

Select a long piece of coconut, and using a sharp knife, trim the end into a point.

Make lots of small slits as shown to split the coconut into feather-like fibres at the edges. The more you do this the more realistic the feather looks.

Go round the whole edge like that until you have your very own coconut feather! Repeat this to make 5-7 feathers, or as many as you need for your comb.

Top tip: you'll want to make enough feathers to fill out your design, but not so many you lose the will to live. Balance is key, people.

Make the Wafer Paper Feathers

These feathers are lighter, longer, and add a little delicacy to the design. You can use these to fill in the gaps and add another layer behind your coconut feathers.

Take a 1.5cm wide strip of wafer paper, and your scissors. Trim the end to a point, and snip little feather like fronds all around the edge. Welcome to your first wafer paper feather!

Make 5-7 of these again, depending on your design.

Top tip: if you're careful, you can layer two or 3 strips and cut several feathers at once, just make sure every so often your layers are still aligned.

Attach the Feathers

Make yourself some sugar glue: mix a few tsp of icing (powdered) sugar with a few drops of water, as little as possible to make a thick paste.

Spoon into a cellophane cone or piping bag and fold over the top, then seal with tape. Snip a tiny hole into the end. My "simple writing icing" video on YouTube may help again here.

Mix some silver lustre dust with a little water, extract or dipping solution (food grade isopropyl) then paint the edges of the cookie. Flip it over carefully once dry. You could do this in the next step, I just did it now to make sure I didn't accidentally get lustre on the feathers.

Pipe your sugar glue on to the base of each feather and arrange, making sure the front of the feather will be what shows when you flip it right way up again.

Start with the coconut feathers, then build up to the wafer paper ones. Be generous with the glue. Allow to dry.

Bling It Up

Carefully pop your chocolate gems out of their silicone moulds. Use your remaining sugar glue to adhere them to your cookie.

Build up the design using layers of gems, and filling in any gaps with sprinkles and dragees, adhered with sugar glue. Be careful not to press down too hard on the cookie, or you may snap it.

Mix a little lustre dust with your thinner of choice, and go over the features to brighten the colours if needed.

Add the Comb... & Voila

Use what's left of your sugar glue to (very carefully) attach the top of your comb to the back of your cookie. The chocolate comb is by far the most brittle and delicate part of the piece, that's why it's left til last. Gently prop up the cookie on some rolled up kitchen paper or tissue to allow the comb to set in place without the weight of the cookie on it.

Finally, use a little silver lustre on the comb to make it look metallic - and then you're done! Laugh, cry, punch something, wonder where the last 4 hours of your life went ... Just remember to take a picture of it before you take a bite.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

Sawsen
:)