C’mere.  I want to show you something that will blow your socks off.

See those sugar cookies above?  The ones with the photograph-perfect seed packet pictures on them?  Pssst.  They’re edible.  Yep, you got it.  The wafer-thin paper is made of potato starch, vegetable oil, and water…and placed over the cookie using corn syrup and allowed to dry to pure and sheer exquisiteness.

My friend Sara found a list of the necessary tools to make such fabulous delights at the Fancy Flours website here.  You can find the vintage seed packet wafer papers here.  We decided that we had to make an evening of it–to determine the ease and speed of making them–since we could so see these at a tea or birthday or springtime party.

We’ve documented the experience for your viewing and planning pleasure.  I’ve provided links for everything, so click away!

First, Sara so graciously made the sugar cookies with the No-Fail Sugar Cookie recipe on the Fancy Flours site.

She cut them out with their rectangle cookie cutter.

Then, she came over to my house, and we mixed up some Royal Icing, so we could put a thin layer over each cookie.

Here’s Sara, my clever and beautiful partner in crime.

Here the cookies are in their glorious nakedness, awaiting to be clothed in color!

The wafer papers come in sheets, which you have to cut out.  Not a difficult job…just keep the lines straight!

Now a gloppy layer of corn syrup is applied to the back of the wafer paper.  The corn-syrup side is then applied to a cookie, pressing down on the entire surface, especially the edges.  We found that a little water helped keep the edges down.

After the edges are secured, the entire cookie is place upside-down on parchment paper for 30 minutes.  This allows the wafer to set and adhere to the cookie.

After 30 minutes, turn right-side-up and allow to dry a full 12 hours (overnight for us!), and voilà!–looky here, folks!

We each came away with 12 cookies.  [One packet contains 12.]

Aren’t they the loveliest things?  And guess what?  Fancy Flours has butterflies, too!  In All Hues or Green Hues or Blue & Lavender Hues or Orange & Pink Hues or Earth Hues.

The big question: how do the wafer papers taste?  They’re a lot like Communion Wafers if you’ve ever had one…they’re mildly sweet and they sort of dissolve on your tongue.

The best part?  They’re like magic; they somehow make all the cold and drear go away.

Happy Spring, y’all!