Cookie Decorating 101 Part 2

Sample cookies for my cookie decorating class. The favorite design of most of the students was the hot pink cookie with brushed embroidery on the bottom left.

Last night was the last session of my cookie decorating class at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and the focus was on royal icing consistencies and simple decorating techniques like wet on wet, double-decker and brushed embroidery. The latter is so striking and simple to do.

Once your base cookie is completely dry, outline a flower shape using piping consistency royal icing and a #2 tip. Then use the side of a damp square tip brush to pull the icing down and inward, cleaning the brush off periodically and being sure not to break through the outer edge of your piping.

Add another outline of petals and again, pull the icing down and inward. To finish the flower off, add some tiny dots for the center. You may need to use a skewer or scribe tool to push peaks down and flatten the dots.

The finished cookie.

Double-decker heart cookies — The base cookies are decorated with flat dots using the wet on wet technique of dropping dots of medium consistency icing onto a still wet flooded cookie. Once the base cookie is dry you can adhere a small heart on top using stiff royal icing as glue.

To add flat dots onto cookies, outline your cookies and get the icing for your dots all ready. Then, fill just one to three cookies at a time. You need to add the dots while the base icing is still wet.

Immediately drop dots of icing onto the cookies. Give each cookie a gentle shake to help settle the dots into the flood icing. Let the cookies dry completely before topping with another cookie for a double-decker treat. Or, leave the dotted cookies as is for something sweetly simple.

Me, demonstrating to the class last night how to thin royal icing to the proper consistency.

Here's some information about royal icing consistencies that I shared with the class and I hope you too find helpful. The best way to learn though is to bake a batch of cookies and just get decorating.

The Three Consistencies of Royal Icing

Having the right consistency of icing when you are decorating makes all the difference. Really, it is the most important part of cookie decorating. Always test your icing first by piping onto a plate before adding it to your cookies.


Flood:

This is royal icing that is used to fill cookies after outlining. It is also called 10 to 15 second icing because that’s how long it should take for the icing to settle back into place after drawing a line through it with the side of a spoon. If you are filling small areas you want the consistency to be 15 second icing. If you are filling large areas you want the consistency to be closer to 10 second icing. Think honey or shampoo.

If you don’t want a defined border on your cookie, you can outline and immediately fill with flood icing. It’s also convenient to only have to use one icing and one pastry bag.

Medium:

This is royal icing that is used for outlining, lettering, dots and flooding very small spaces. It’s icing that holds its shape but isn’t so thick that it holds a peak. You don’t want to see your stop and start points when you are adding lettering to cookies. Think yogurt or sour cream.

Piping:

This is stiff royal icing used for outlining, fine details and brushed embroidery. I use piping consistency for scalloped borders or anywhere I want a definite shape and don’t want to see any settling. Think toothpaste.