Of all the quirky TV shows in all the world, this one is a cracker. Tennant and Sheen: a classic duo with excellent chemistry. Angels and demons. Linear storytelling with flashbacks that span across aeons. Count me in. My Good Omens inspired sugar cookies with fondant make a very special viewing treat. Put that book down for a few minutes, for it is cookie time.
Note (October 2024): Due to recent events, I felt it necessary to add a note in this post about the behaviour that has been reported in relation to Good Omens. I do not condone nor support any such behaviour as Neil Gaiman (writer on Good Omens) has been accused of displaying. It is not, nor should ever be, tolerated. Good Omens is the culmination of the hard work of so many people – cast and crew – and is the adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s wonderful story. The actions of one individual should not discredit the hard work of so many others. Let’s all hope that whatever we get as a continuation of the show is beautifully crafted and wraps everything up exceptionally well.
Contents
The Bake
This one required a little more deliberation than usual. I was debating on making a bread inspired by Good Omens, but it didn’t feel exciting to me, so I started coming up with more ideas.
There is a running theme that revolves around hot beverages in the show: Aziraphale adores a good cup of tea. Hot chocolate is offered repeatedly to an important character in season two. There is a coffee shop that becomes a main location in the second season.
When I realised this, I decided to create a fun and easy bake that goes deliciously well with any of these hot drinks. Thus, my Good Omens sugar cookies with fondant recipe was devised.
These biscuits are incredibly easy and fuss-free.
Even the decoration requires little effort as I opted to top them with fondant icing that I cut out with a cookie cutter, and then painted with food colourings. You are more than welcome to pipe a royal icing mix instead but that takes more time and effort and isn’t as easy as just slapping a disc of fondant on the top.
You’ll see from a few of my other recipes, like my Outlander landscape cake and my Grogu celebration cake that I love to make shortbread. These cookies aren’t far from a shortbread in taste, but they do require a couple more ingredients that ultimately bind the biscuits together to make them more stable and alter the texture.
I’d been creating a lot of cakes for Flavour of the Film, so I wanted to make sure I was getting the simpler bakes in too. My Good Omens cookies with fondant are just that.
This recipe is inspired by a really great recipe by In Katrina’s Kitchen. There is a whole host of information about these cookies, including a Q & A if you’re in need of some troubleshooting.
These sugar cookies don’t even need chilling before baking!
I happened to make mine on a particularly humid day, so I made sure to refrigerate them just while my oven heated up. Ten minutes was all the time they had in the fridge but it’s not necessary, especially if making them in cooler weather.
The size of biscuit is down to you, but I was able to get twenty-four out of this recipe using a pretty standard round cookie cutter with a ridged edge. I then used the flat edge of a cookie cutter that is a size down to form even discs of fondant.
For the decoration, I opted for white fondant for half of the biscuits and red fondant for the other half.
This is how I represented the two lead characters. The designs I painted were based on their individual characteristics, or symbols that I knew could be connected to either Aziraphale or Crowley easily.
The M with a devil’s tale on the end (as is in the show’s title font) for Crowley. Likewise with the O that has a halo over it for Aziraphale. Then, Azirphale’s white angel wings and Crowley’s demon eyes. These designs are a guide only and can be altered or changed based on what you prefer to paint. Get creative! It’s a lot of fun.
I finished off with a healthy (ish) spray of edible glitter. It gives the biscuits that extra touch of miracle-like magic. This is optional, but recommended for extra effect.
Top Tips
- My main tip here, as with all of my bakes unless otherwise specified, is to make sure you use block butter rather than spread. It just makes sure that the bakes are more stable and you don’t risk the dough spreading or losing shape in the oven.
- The cookies don’t need chilling before baking, but I recommend putting them in the fridge at least while your oven warms up if the weather is particularly warm.
- You can use stencils for the designs if preferred, especially if you are looking to use an airbrush. Hand painting is just as effective, though!
- Try to roll the fondant out to a level of thickness that is just less than the thickness of your cookies. That way you get a better ratio of biscuit to fondant when eating.
There you have it. My super easy sugar cookies with fondant decorated in celebration of Good Omens. These biscuits are so moreish and so light to eat. I hope you have fun making them and enjoy a couple with a nice hot drink with Good Omens on the TV, whatever your preferred beverage is.
Happy baking, happy eating!
The Recipe
Ingredients
Sugar cookies with fondant biscuit dough:
- 115g [4 oz] unsalted butter
- 100g [½ cup] golden caster sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 180g [1 cup + 2 tbsp] plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of sea salt
Decoration:
- 500g (1 small pack) red fondant icing
- 500g (1 small pack or ready-rolled pack) white fondant icing
- Black food colouring/paint
- Yellow or gold food colouring/paint
- Edible glitter optional
Serves: 24
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Chilling time: 10 minutes (optional)
Baking time: 8 – 10 minutes
Decorating time: 20 minutes
Method
Sugar cookies biscuit dough:
- Prepare two baking trays by lining them with greaseproof paper/baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and the vanilla and beat in well.
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder. Add the salt and beat in until a dough has formed.
- If the mix seems more soft than dough-like, add more flour gradually, 1 tbsp at a time. Do this until a firmer dough has formed.
- Tip out onto a clean and floured surface and bring together into a disc. Flour a rolling pin and use this to roll the dough out until around ½ cm in thickness.
- Using a standard sized round cookie cutter, cut out 24 biscuits and lay in rows of 4 (across) by 3 (down) on each tray. You will need to bring the dough together and roll back out again a couple of times to do this.
- If it is particularly warm weather, place the trays in the fridge while your oven heats up.
Baking:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C [350°F] or 160°C fan.
- Once up to temperature, place your trays on the middle shelves and bake for 8 – 10 minutes, until golden. They will continue to bake on the tray so don’t be tempted to bake for longer!
- Once baked, leave to cool on the trays completely.
- While your cookies are cooling, begin preparing your decorations.
Decoration:
- If needed, roll out your white fondant on a clean surface lightly dusted with icing [confectioners] sugar, to around ½ cm in thickness.
- Using a round cookie cutter that is the size down from the one you used to cut the biscuits, cut 24 rounds out of the fondant. You may need to bring the fondant together and roll it back out again a few times.
- Either using edible glue or a dab of water applied around the edges of the fondant, secure the fondant icing discs over half of the biscuits. This isn’t necessarily needed, it just makes sure that the fondant doesn’t immediately fall off when you bite into one!
- Repeat with the red fondant and cover the other half of the biscuits.
- Using a couple of small paint brushes, paint on your desired designs in the black and yellow/gold food colourings/paints.
- Finish by spraying over some edible glitter if desired.
These heavenly light and buttery sugar cookies with fondant will last for 4+ days in an airtight container, but will soften a little over time. You can make the dough a day ahead and keep it in the fridge, tightly wrapped in clingfilm/beeswax paper. The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Enjoy!
The TV Show
Based on the original writings of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens (2019 – ) was created for television by Neil Gaiman himself, alongside John Finnemore, with Douglas Mackinnon at the director’s helm.
The story follows the angel, Aziraphale, exiled from Heaven and the demon, Crowley, exiled from Hell, both residing in the earthen realm. Before being exiled, the threat of the end of the world loomed as they teamed up in an attempt to prevent the apocalypse from happening. That’s where we find them in the first season.
The second season finds Aziraphale and Crowley reconnecting in their simultaneous exile.
They are forced to team up yet again when a familiar face turns up at Aziraphale’s bookshop… stark naked.
Aziraphale and Crowley have such a unique relationship in this story in that it is quite literally the definition of a ‘grey area’. They have such opposing ways of doing things but at the very core of it all, are more similar than it may appear on the surface level.
Their friendship is both frowned upon and manipulated by varying members of Heaven and Hell, giving it even more power as a connection.
Having known each other since the dawn of time, this dynamic makes for such an interesting watch…
And a highly entertaining one at that. Especially with Michael Sheen in the role of Aziraphale and David Tennant in the role of Crowley. Real life good pals playing earthly-based eternal beings that also happen to be good pals. In their own, peculiar way.
What makes Good Omens so enjoyable – besides the excellent storytelling and endlessly talented cast – is the quirkiness of it. The use of certain stylistic camera shots and contrasting colour palettes gives it that extra level of the weird and wonderful.
It’s also very, very funny. A fantasy comedy with light and dark shades. I’d expect nothing less from a Pratchett and Gaiman collaboration.
Alongside Tennant and Sheen, the cast boasts an array of high quality performances.
Including, but not limited to, the likes of Jon Hamm; Nina Sosanya, Gloria Obianyo, Daniel Mays, Sian Brooke, Shelley Coon, Maggie Service, Doon Mackichan, Miranda Richardson, Quelin Sepulveda, Liz Carr, Jack Whitehall and Frances McDormand.
Despite the sticky situations (not least mentioning the impending apocalypse in season one) and the troublesome occurrences that Aziraphale and Crowley encounter, I find Good Omens so incredibly wholesome to watch.
Possibly because of the dynamic between the two lead characters; possibly because it feels balanced between light and dark.
Whatever the reason, I find Good Omens so warming to watch, which is partly why I recommend it if you haven’t already worked through the two seasons.
Season two was well worth the four-year wait. Four years! We all know what is partly to blame for that. Nevertheless, the second season is just as satisfying as the first. With the way it ends, they better be making a third. That’s all I’ll say on the matter.
Recipe Card
Sugar Cookies with Fondant | Good Omens
Ingredients
Sugar cookies with fondant biscuit dough:
- 115 g [4 oz] unsalted butter
- 100 g [½ cup] golden caster sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 180 g [1 cup + 2 tbsp] plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- Pinch of sea salt
Decoration:
- 500 g 1 small pack red fondant icing
- 500 g 1 small pack or ready-rolled pack white fondant icing
- Black food colouring/paint
- Yellow or gold food colouring/paint
- Edible glitter optional
Instructions
- Prepare two baking trays by lining them with greaseproof paper/baking parchment.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and the vanilla and beat in well.
- Sieve in the flour and baking powder. Add the salt and beat in until a dough has formed.
- If the mix seems more soft than dough-like, add more flour gradually, 1 tbsp at a time, until a firmer dough has formed.
- Tip out onto a clean and floured surface and bring together into a disc. Flour a rolling pin and use this to roll the dough out until around ½ cm in thickness.
- Using a standard sized round cookie cutter, cut out 24 biscuits and lay in rows of 4 (across) by 3 (down) on each tray. You will need to bring the dough together and roll back out again a couple of times to do this.
- If it is particularly warm weather, place the trays in the fridge while your oven heats up.
- Preheat your oven to 180°C [350°F] or 160°C fan.
- Once up to temperature, place your trays on the middle shelves and bake for 8 – 10 minutes, until golden. They will continue to bake on the tray so don’t be tempted to bake for longer!
- Once baked, leave to cool on the trays completely.
- While your cookies are cooling, begin preparing your decorations.
- If needed, roll out your white fondant on a clean surface lightly dusted with icing [confectioners] sugar, to around ½ cm in thickness.
- Using a round cookie cutter that is the size down from the one you used to cut the biscuits, cut 24 rounds out of the fondant. You may need to bring the fondant together and roll it back out again a few times.
- Either using edible glue or a dab of water applied around the edges of the fondant, secure the fondant icing discs over half of the biscuits. This isn’t necessarily needed, it just makes sure that the fondant doesn’t immediately fall off when you bite into one!
- Repeat with the red fondant and cover the other half of the biscuits.
- Using a couple of small paint brushes, paint on your desired designs in the black and yellow/gold food colourings/paints.
- Finish by spraying over some edible glitter if desired.
Notes
© Flavour of the Film. All content and imagery is copyright protected. Please do not use any of my images or written content without prior permission. If you would like to share any of the recipes or images on Flavour of the Film, please link back to the recipe in question and rewrite it in your own words, crediting Flavour of the Film as the original source.
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