How to Make Ninja Turtle Cookies for a Birthday Party Bash

With just two piping bags at my disposal, I turned to dipping, airbrushing, and procreate to get creative!

Hey y’all! If you’re planning a party for a Ninja Turtle fan (big or small!) and want a sweet treat that’ll totally wow the crowd, you’re in for a treat today—Ninja Turtle cookies!

 These bright, fun cookies were made for my nephew’s birthday party, and I’m tickled green (and blue, and red, and purple!) at how they turned out.

Whether you’re new to cookie decorating or just lookin’ to add a few new tricks to your apron pocket, you’ll love the techniques we’re diving into today—airbrushing, dipping, and piping-and-flood icing. Plus, I’ll tell you how I made these cookies work even when I ran out of my favorite piping bags.(Yikes) Let’s roll, y’all!

🐢 Why Ninja Turtle Cookies?

First off, can we agree that Ninja Turtle cookies are just plain fun? They're perfect for a boys’ birthday party, a nostalgic ‘80s movie night, or even just for fans of Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo, and Raphael (or as my boys say, the blue and purple turtles 😄).

These cookies bring the bold colors and playful personality of the turtles to life, and they’re a great way to show off your creativity!

🍪 The Cookie Base

For these cookies, I used my Funfetti/Birthday Cake Sugar Cookie recipe. It’s always a hit with kids and holds its shape beautifully when decorating.

🎨 Technique 1: Dipping (Instead of Flooding!)

We started off with a little creative workaround because—I’ll be honest—I forgot to order more piping bags and was down to just two. Instead of flooding all my cookies, I dipped some of the square ones right into plain white royal icing.

After dipping, I gave each cookie a little turn to get full coverage, popped any air bubbles with my scribe tool, and let them set.

👉 Pro Tip: The thinner your icing, the more air bubbles you're likely to get—so work quickly and keep that scribe handy!

🌈 Swirl and Dip for a Glowy Effect

To bring in some of that turtle power flair, I swirled blue and purple food coloring right on the icing surface, then dipped star-shaped cookies into the mix.

The result? A dreamy, glowy design that looks like a little cookie galaxy.

My boys gave it a big ol’ thumbs up!

🐢 Technique 2: Pipe and Flood Icing for Green Turtle Cookies

Next, I pulled out my green royal icing (20-second consistency) and piped circles on some round cookies using tipless piping bags. I used the “pipe and flood” method—which means you pipe a circle outline and then fill it in smoothly by increasing pressure and guiding the icing with a scribe.

💡 Don’t worry if your circle ain’t perfect! A gentle shake or tap will help smooth out the icing, and your scribe tool is your best friend for shaping and smoothing.

🌬 Technique 3: Airbrushing for that Heroic Finish

Once the cookies were dry, I got to use my airbrush sprayer (the one I've linked here is similar to mine)—a gift from my sweet mama!

I airbrushed the edges of the cookies in green, red, blue, and purple to mimic the turtles' signature bandana colors.

Then, for a personal touch, I wrote my nephew’s name right in the center. I didn't include the picture with his name for privacy, but I did some with "ninja" and "3" and this is how they turned out, using food coloring. It gave the cookies that final pow! 💥

I also used the airbrush to create a silhouette of a ninja turtle by placing a cut out over the dry icing as I sprayed. My airbrush was turned up a bit strong, so next time, I'll dial it down a bit. That's the beautiful thing about cookie decorating or anything creative that you do for that matter, if it doesn't turn out quite like you'd hoped the first time around, you can just adjust next time.

Cookie Art is a learning experience and its a beautiful opportunity to try (and sometimes fail) and try again another time. If you could see my first attempt at royal icing, you'd never believe I went on to make a successful cookie much less teach others to do it!

🎉 Want to Learn Cookie Decorating?

If you’re itchin’ to learn all the royal icing techniques—from basic piping to watercolor designs—I’d love for you to check out The Cookie Classroom. It’s a course I created to make cookie decorating easy, affordable, and fun, even if you’ve never held a piping bag before.

👉 It’s available HERE with pay-what-you-can pricing, starting at just $1. Yep, seriously!

As a former first-grade teacher turned homeschool mama, I know how to break things down into bite-sized, doable steps—and I’ll walk you through everything from icing consistencies to fancy airbrush finishes.

Final Thoughts

These Ninja Turtle cookies were a total blast to make, and they made my nephew’s birthday feel extra special.

If you’re planning a themed party or just want to have some fun in the kitchen, I hope you give these a try.

If you'd like to check out the full video tutorial, you can watch that HERE on YouTube!

🎨 Don’t forget to tag me @sarahgracecookieco if you post your cookies online—I’d love to see your creations!

Until next time, happy baking, y’all!

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