Fish Sugar Cookies
Fish sugar cookies are a bright and playful treat that’s perfect for summer parties, beach birthdays, and ocean-themed celebrations.
This cookie recipe starts with a simple roll-out dough that holds its shape beautifully and makes decorating easy – even if you’re new to cookie decorating.
With colorful icing, fun sprinkle “scales,” and simple details, they’re a great baking activity to make with kids or to add personality to a themed dessert table.
Whether you’re planning a Shark Week snack tray or a seaside party spread, these cookies bring cheerful summer energy to every bite.
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Why You’ll Love These Decorated Fish Sugar Cookies
- Perfect for summer parties
- Great for under-the-sea birthdays
- Easy decorating for beginners
- Fun baking activity with kids
- Works with store-bought OR homemade icing
How to Make Fish Sugar Cookies
- These cookies start with a soft sour cream sugar cookie dough that rolls easily and holds its shape beautifully when baked. It’s the same recipe that we use for our beach ball cookies.
- After chilling the dough, the cookies are cut into fish shapes and baked until lightly golden, then finished with a simple royal icing made from powdered sugar and meringue powder.
- Once iced and topped with colorful sprinkles, they create bright, fun cookies.
Don’t Forget To…
- Scroll down to print the full recipe with step-by-step instructions and exact measurements.
- Check out my Kitchen Essentials for the pans, mixing bowls, and baking tools I use to make this recipe a breeze.
- Save or share this recipe on Pinterest!
Easy Decorating Tips for Fish Sugar Cookies
- Start with completely cooled cookies – Warm cookies can melt icing and cause colors to bleed.
- Use the outline-and-flood method – Pipe a thin outline around each cookie first, then fill the center with slightly thinner icing for a smooth finish.
- Work in small batches – Decorate 2–3 cookies at a time so you can add sprinkles before the icing starts to set.
- Use a toothpick for easy fixes like helping to guide icing into corners, pop air bubbles, and smooth uneven spots.
- Let cookies dry completely before stacking – Allow at least 1 hour (longer in humid weather) so the icing sets nicely.
Yes! You can bake the cookies 1–2 days ahead and decorate them later, or fully decorate them and store them in an airtight container until serving. Decorated sugar cookies are ideal for party prep because they hold their shape and stay fresh for several days.
It typically takes about 1 hour to set on the surface, but it can take up to 8 hours to fully dry depending on humidity and icing thickness. Let cookies dry completely before stacking or storing them.
Flood icing should settle smoothly into itself within about 10 seconds after dripping from a spatula. This creates that clean, glossy bakery-style finish on decorated cookies.
Try pairing summer sugar cookie recipes like Mermaid Cookies, Beach Sugar Cookies, and Aquarium Cookies with other beach-themed desserts to create a bright and playful pool party dessert table or Shark Week snack table everyone will be excited to dig into.
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Fish Sugar Cookie recipe
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
Royal Icing
- 8 oz powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp meringue powder
- 4-5 tbsp water
- gel food coloring
- rainbow sprinkles or nonpareils
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl halfway through mixing.
- Add sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Beat until fully combined.
- Add 1 cup flour and baking soda. Mix just until combined.
- Add remaining 2 cups flour and mix until dough forms.
- Cover and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Lightly flour a flat surface and rolling pin.
- Roll dough to about ¼-inch thickness.
- Cut fish shapes using a cookie cutter.Place cookies on prepared baking sheet without touching.
- Bake 5–7 minutes or until bottoms are lightly golden.
- Let cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- Cool completely before decorating.
- In a mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar, meringue powder, and 2 tablespoons water.
- Mix on low speed until mixture forms a thick paste.
- Slowly add remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time until icing reaches flooding consistency.
- Continue mixing about 5 minutes until smooth.
- Add gel food coloring and mix until evenly colored.
- Transfer icing to a piping bag and snip a small opening.
- Pipe an outline around each cookie. Fill center with icing.
- Use a toothpick to spread icing evenly and remove air bubbles.
- Add sprinkles while icing is still wet.
- Allow icing to dry completely before serving or storing.
Notes
- Room temp: 4–5 days
- Fridge: up to 1 week
- Freezer: 2 months undecorated