If you’re having a small graduation party, you’ll need treats and maybe party favors. Graduation themed cookies for a dessert buffet are a good choice for both, and you can make them yourself to personalize them for your guests. Whether it’s used for high school graduation party ideas of for a college graduation, everyone loves cookies.
A company sent me a graduation cap cookie cutter to test out, and it’s a surprisingly versatile little tool. You can buy it on its own or as part of a set with other graduation-themed cutters (like a diploma and a graduation gown), but the cap alone is more than enough to make a fun batch of graduation treats for a graduation party dessert table or party favors. The cutter is easy to use overall, but there are a couple of small tricks that make a big difference, especially around the tiny notch where the tassel goes.
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What kind of cookie recipe works best?
The biggest key to success is starting with a good cookie dough recipe, specifically one that holds its shape and doesn’t spread much in the oven.
Shaped cutters like this really rely on clean edges, and if your dough spreads too much, you’ll lose the definition of the cap. I learned that the hard way when I tested these with a dough that wasn’t my usual recipe and the cookies baked up wider than expected.
You can get my sugar cookie recipe that doesn’t spread very much here: Sugar Cookie Recipe
Roll out the dough.
To start, I lightly flour a sheet of parchment paper and roll the dough directly on top of it. The goal is to prevent sticking without drying out the dough, so you don’t need a heavy coating of flour.
To keep the cookies evenly thick, I use a rolling pin with quarter-inch dowels as guides, which helps prevent rolling the dough too thin. Keeping the cookies evenly thick will make them bake more evenly.
When it’s time to cut, I dust the cookie cutter with a little flour so it releases cleanly, then cut the shapes with a bit of space between them. How much spacing you need depends on your dough. If it spreads a lot, spacing won’t save the shape anyway, but it’s still a good habit.
The best part of rolling on parchment is that you don’t have to transfer the cut cookies to a baking sheet. Instead, you just peel away the extra dough from around each cutout, leaving the graduation caps right where they are. That avoids stretching or distorting the shape during transfer.
What to do if the cookie dough spreads during baking.
Even with careful cutting, you might still get some spread during baking because ti depends on your cookie dough. In my test batch, the cookies spread enough that the cap shape almost disappeared because the dough wasn’t the recipe that I usually use.
If that happens, you can fix it by recutting the cookies right after baking. Once they’ve cooled a little, but while they’re still slightly soft, they’ll be cuttable but not so soft that the dough tears.
Set the cookie cutter back over the warm cookie, press down, and gently wiggle it so it releases. If the cookie is too hot, the cookie probably won’t cut evenly, and if it’s too cool, the cookie will be too firm to recut cleanly. You’re aiming for that in-between stage where the cookie has set but hasn’t fully hardened.
When you lift the cutter off, take extra care around the small notch where the tassel section is, because it’s the most delicate part and the easiest area to break if the cookie is still warm. If the cookie is at the right temperature, a small shake or jiggle helps the cutter release, and you’ll get a crisp cut that makes the final decoration look much cleaner.
Once the cookies are completely cool, you can do a final cleanup by trimming any rough edges with small scissors. You usually won’t need much of this if you recut the cookies while they were still slightly soft, but it’s an easy way to sharpen the silhouette. If any small bits baked into the tassel notch or other tight corners, remove them carefully. Those narrow sections can snap if you tug too hard.
Get the cookie cutter on Amazon here and see my list of cake and cookie decorating supplies on Amazon here (affiliate links)
Outline the shapes with royal icing.
For decorating, I use royal icing in two consistencies. One is a stiff icing for outlines, and the other is a thinner “flood” icing to fill the sections.
For the outline stage, keep the icing stiff enough to hold clean lines and sharp corners. To prevent the icing from crusting over while you work, cover your bowls with a damp paper towel (wet but not dripping) between uses.
For color, I mixed a gold shade for details like tassels and accents, and a very dark black for the cap itself. Don’t panic if your black looks more like deep charcoal or steel gray in the bowl. Food coloring usually gets darker as it dries, and the finished cookies still read as black once the icing sets. I was using Americolor Gold and Super Black for these cookies.
To outline, I load the stiff icing into a small piping bag fitted with a small round tip (roughly a size 3 is big enough, I wouldn’t go much larger). It helps to put enough icing in the bag to finish outlining the batch, because once you thin the icing for flooding, it won’t behave the same way for crisp outlines.
Before piping, it’s useful to picture the cookie as a few simple sections. One is the angled top of the cap, the band that sits on the head, and the small side notch where the tassel will sit. Then outline each section based on how you want the finished cookie to look.
One option is to decorate the cookie in a traditional way, using the side notch for a tassel. Another option is to treat that area like a small ribbon banner where you can pipe a year or short message.
If you’re doing the ribbon look, pipe that shape first, then outline the rest of the cap around it. And if your lines aren’t perfect, don’t worry, small gaps are easy to patch with royal icing. This isn’t brain surgery, you can fix mistakes as you go.
Get a discount on food coloring.
If you want to shop on Oasis Supply for Americolor food coloring, you can use my coupon code REMEMBER10 to get a discount on your whole order. I’ve linked to the individual colors on Amazon in the sections below, but this link will take you to a listing on Oasis that has the same colors in a dropdown menu to choose from: Americolor food coloring on Oasis. The price on Oasis might be a little lower than on Amazon, too, even before using the discount code!
Filling in the shapes with icing.
After outlining, let the outlines dry before you flood the sections. To make flood icing, add water very gradually, a little goes a long way with royal icing. I start with a tiny amount (about a half teaspoon) and mix thoroughly before deciding if it needs more.
The target consistency is one where a ribbon of icing drizzled back into the bowl melts into itself in about 5 to 8 seconds. If it holds its shape too long, it’s too stiff to level nicely. If it disappears immediately, it’s too runny and can take forever to dry.
To fill the cookie, add icing to one section at a time and gently spread it to the edges. You can use a spoon to drop it in, then smooth it with a small spatula. If you don’t have specialty tools like a scribe, don’t worry, you can nudge icing into tight corners with the edge of a spatula or even a fork.
This is where the dry outline matters: it acts like a dam that holds the wetter icing in place so it doesn’t spill over or collapse the edges. The surface may look a little textured at first, but flood icing settles and levels as it dries.
I like to flood the larger areas first, then come back after they’ve set a bit to fill the smaller details. Even when the cap is all one color (like black), the cookie doesn’t look flat because the outlined sections subtly separate the shapes. You can still see where the top plane ends and the band begins, which gives the finished cookie a more polished, dimensional look.
Add the finishing details.
Let the flooded cookies dry for several hours, or ideally overnight to guarantee that they’re completely dry, before adding any piped decorations on top. You want the base layer firm enough that new icing sits cleanly on the surface instead of sinking in or denting the finish.
Once everything is dry, add the fun details. Pipe a small button on top of the cap, then add a tassel coming off of it and landing on that side section.
If you used the side section as a ribbon instead, it’s a great spot to pipe the graduation year. You can also make tassels with molds and fondant, or use candy clay. Whatever you enjoy working with will work for this.
These cookies are an easy way to make a graduation party feel a little more special, and you can personalize them with names for a smaller gathering. Most importantly, don’t overthink it, there are no rules. Decorate them how you like and have fun with it.
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