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.

Eiffel Tower Cookie

You'd think piping the Eiffel Tower in royal icing would be tough to do but it's actually pretty easy.

It's just a combination of lines and "X's" and it doesn't have to be perfect to be recognizable. My version has got a slant to it but I think it's charming.

Before attempting my Eiffel Tower cookie, I made a quick simplified sketch of the tower from looking at a photo online. And then, I just went for it and iced it free-hand onto the cookie.

I surprised myself with the results and I think you'd surprise yourself too. I hope you give this a try.

Just be sure to use piping consistency royal icing and a #1 pastry tip. You want your lines of royal icing to be clean and not run together after piping.

I made the cookie for my daughter Eleanor to give to her friend Elise in celebration of her birthday.

My quick Eiffel Tower sketch.

Eleanor customized the cookie for her friend by piping a little cat face in the corner.

More Cookies

Yesterday I baked and decorated just under 300 sugar cookies for our cookie boxes to benefit the Wednesday Community Meal. 

Because I needed to make so many, I chose a simple design that came together fast.

I also used a plain round cookie cutter. When you need to work in bulk there's no time for fussy cutters. You want clean edged and open cutters that allow you to cut the dough with one press and then pop it right out.

Another tip is that a circle is easier to outline and fill with royal icing than a square. With squares you have to stress more about straight lines and easing the icing into 90-degree corners.

I also didn't want to wait for the basecoat of icing to dry before adding detail so I used the wet on wet method. That way I only had to wait once for the cookies to dry.

The plain open cutter that I used.

After flooding, add red lines around the cookie.

Use a skewer to draw through the lines starting on the outside and working towards the center.

Gingerbread Snowflakes Underway

A cookie project like this kind of takes over the kitchen.

I just finished baking my gingerbread snowflake cookies. It's been a long morning but boy does my house smell wonderful!

I have half of the baked cookies set out and ready for the basecoat of royal icing. I hope to have them finished by this evening and will post pictures.

Here's my favorite gingerbread cookie recipe:

Gingerbread Cookie Dough
 6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses

Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.

Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. With cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 10 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Custom Giant Sugar Cookie

Recently my daughter Eleanor wanted to give two friends a giant decorated sugar cookie for their birthdays and so we came up with these designs.

Midori's cookie.

Owen's cookie.

We made the custom cookies just by hand cutting the dough into a large rectangle. Then, all you have to do is bake it and decorate it the way you want. Using cookie cutters to cut shapes for the double-decker cookie is easy and gives you professional looking results.

The pieces before baking. The giant rectangle took 18 minutes to bake.

The cookies we cut were 6 by 8-inches and Owen's double-decker one weighed three-fourths of a pound! These cookies were made to be shared - at least I hope so!

Wrapped and ready to give.

Double Decker Christmas Cookies

I just bought a set of mini Christmas cookie cutters and couldn't wait to get to work.

These double decker cookies came together fast and were assembled just like the Thanksgiving double decker cookies I made last month.

I was tempted to add red dots to decorate the tree cookies but my daughter convinced me to leave them plain. Sometimes less is more and the simplicity gives them a more modern look.

Dinosaur Sugar Cookies

My daughter Eleanor suggested I buy this dinosaur cookie cutter and I'm glad she did because I love these cookies. Just two icing colors are needed to make this simple design.

Prepare two colors of royal icing - one for the body and one for the details. Both icings should be flood consistency and be fitted with a  #1 pastry tip. I use this smaller tip because of the small face and narrow tail of the cookie.

Outline the dinosaur.

Fill the outline with more royal icing. I use a skewer to ease the icing towards the edge.

While the base icing is still wet, use your other color of royal icing to drop different sized dots along the dinosaur's back and add a small dot for the eye.

That's all there is to it. If you notice, the tails of the dinosaurs are positioned differently. Before baking the cookies, you can gently shape them to get the look you want.

Turkey Sugar Cookies

Here are my finished turkey cookies. I used the brushed embroidery technique to add the feather details. It took me a while to figure out a design that would add dimension to a pretty nondescript cookie cutter but it was worth the time and effort. I really like how these turkeys turned out.

Here's how to decorate them:

Flood the cookies with white royal icing and let it dry completely before moving onto the next step.

With black royal icing that is piping consistency, outline the tips of the feathers on the back of the turkey.

Use a damp brush to pull in the black icing. Be sure to wipe your brush off every now and then. Add grey feathers and use the brush to pull that icing in as well. Finally pipe white lines on top of the back feathers.

Keep working until all of your cookies are finished up to this point.

Add three rows of lower front feathers in black and gray and rows of top feathers in gray.

Add feet and a beak with orange royal icing that is piping consistency.

Outline the turkey's head and wattle with red royal icing and use a brush to pull it inward and fill in the outline. Be sure to leave an open spot for the eye. To give the eye a raised look, pipe a white dot and then pipe the black eye on top.

Polar Bear Sugar Cookies

These polar bear sugar cookies are just the thing to make if you have never decorated sugar cookies before. The shape of the bear is easy to outline and there are only two colors of royal icing needed — flood consistency white and a tiny bit of a stiffer icing in black for the eyes, nose and paws.


Flood consistency royal icing is just icing that has been thinned with a bit of water, a few drops at a time, until the icing is loose enough to spread and smooth out over the cookie. To test your icing to see if it is the correct consistency, draw a line though it with a table knife. It should take between 10 and 20 seconds for the line in the icing to disappear.

I always use a #2 pastry tip for the outline and filling of my cookies.

Here are the steps in making the bears and my favorite recipe for royal icing:

Make and bake a batch of bear sugar cookies.

With flood consistency white royal icing, outline and fill the cookies. Let the icing dry for at least 15 minutes before adding stiffer black royal icing for the details — two dots for the eyes, a larger dot for the nose and a thick line on each foot for the paws.

Royal Icing
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Food coloring, optional

In a large bowl combine meringue powder, water and lemon juice and stir until meringue powder is dissolved. Add powdered sugar and with an electric mixer on low speed, beat until evenly moistened. Then beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form. Divide and tint as desired and add water a few drops at a time to get desired consistency.

Wild Squirrel Cookies

I have been wanting to use my squirrel cookie cutter for a while but never felt inspired when I thought about decorating them the color of a real squirrel — brown, brown and more brown.

So I decided to just go for it and add some wildly bright tails. I don't care that they don't look real because these squirrels make me happy. I hope you like them too.


Here's how to make them:

Make and bake some squirrel shaped sugar cookies.

Outline and fill the body of the squirrel with brown royal icing that's flood consistency.

Outline and fill the tail with brightly colored royal icing that is flood consistency. Have a complimentary color of royal icing that is also flood consistency ready to go when you start this step because you need to use it as soon as the tail is filled in.

Using a #1 icing tip, drop dots of different sizes onto the tail.

Keep working until all your cookies are ready for their eye and nose.

Using a stiffer black royal icing and a #1 pastry tip, add dots for the eye and nose. Let the cookies dry completely before packaging.

Rose Topped Sugar Cookies

I made these rose topped sugar cookies just for fun so that I could use the royal icing baby roses I made a while ago. I think the look is simple and sweet.

To decorate the cookies,  I first added a cream base coat of royal icing and let it dry.

Next, using an ordinary table knife, I spread on a thin layer of light pink royal icing. I wanted the icing to have texture and look like an iced cake.

When the pink icing is still wet, add your royal icing rose and you're done.