Tips, Tricks, & Recipes for Making, Decorating, & Storing Royal Icing Embellished Cookies
Decorated cookies are the perfect dessert for any celebration or holiday. Acting as canvases of creativity, cookies can be adorned with any event's colors, phrases, or symbols. In this blog, we’ll cover the basics of decorating cookies with royal icing, pointers for piping technique, and ideas for finishing touches. Whether you fancy simple designs or intricate works of art, anyone can learn how to decorate cookies like a professional. With just a few simple tips and tricks, you’ll be able to express in inner artist and impress guests everywhere. Ready to begin? Then, let’s dive into the world of cookie decorating!
The Basics of Royal Icing
The best icing for creating intricate designs and decorations on cookies is royal icing. Versatile and widely used in baking and cake decorating, it's prized for its smooth texture, glossy finish, and ability to harden to a firm consistency.
The term "royal icing" is believed to have originated in England and became popular in the Victorian era, where it was traditionally used to decorate elaborate cakes and desserts for royal occasions and special events. While the exact origin of the name is not definitively documented, it's thought that the term "royal" was used to signify the prestigious nature of the icing and its association with high-profile events and celebrations attended by royalty.
The primary ingredients in royal icing are powdered sugar, also known as confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar, and egg whites. For food safety reasons, alternative royal icing recipes have been created using meringue powder, thus reducing the need to use egg whites. Comprised of powdered egg whites, sugar, artificial vanilla flavors, and various stabilizers such as corn starch, gum arabic, and cream of tartar, meringue powder royal icing recipes do not qualify as vegetarian or vegan. Vegan royal icing can be created instead using aquafaba, the viscous liquid drained from a can of chickpeas. A versatile egg substitute, aquafaba mimics the properties of egg whites when whipped and, as such, has gained popularity in vegan baking. We’ll cover how to make both recipes a bit later.
The 3 Parts of Decorating Cookies with Royal Icing
Before we jump right into the recipe, we need to briefly explain the 3-step process for decorating cookies with royal icing: outlining, flooding, and detailing. Outlining involves using thicker royal icing to create borders or shapes on your cookie, while flooding means using thinner icing to fill or “flood” the bordered areas. The only difference between the icing used for outline and the icing used for flooding is the amount of liquid added to each mixture to give it a different consistency. Lastly, detailing is anything that accents your cookie, like additional piping or sprinkles.
Classic Royal Icing
Achieving the perfect consistency of royal icing can be challenging, as it needs to be thin enough to flow smoothly for flooding but thick enough to hold its shape for piping intricate designs. It often requires careful adjustment of the icing's thickness by adding small amounts of liquid or powdered sugar. When making your own royal icing, remember there are no mistakes, just opportunities to learn!
Decorates: ~2 dozen cookiesPrep Time: 10-15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
½ cup lukewarm water
4 cups (1 lb) confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp flavored extract of your choosing (optional)
gel food coloring (optional)
STEP 1: In a large mixing bowl, add confectioner’s sugar and meringue powder. Stir to combine.
STEP 2: Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine powdered mixture with extract and water on medium-low speed. Do not add all the water in at once, but instead, slowly add in the water until the icing is the consistency of soft cream cheese. This may take between 4-5 minutes.
STEP 3: If tinting icing, divide the mixture into separate mixing bowls. In each bowl, add a couple of drops of gel food coloring and combine. Remember, it’s always easier to make your icing more vibrant than less, so start with less, and you can always add more.
Pro Bakers Tip: Make lighter icing colors first before making darker color icing. Darker color icings can be created by adding more food coloring to a lighter mixture. This will save you from having to make multiple batches of icing. For example, make light pink icing before making hot pink. Simply separate and set aside a portion of each icing color as you go.
STEP 4: Once satisfied with the icing color, divide each color between two bowls. One bowl will stay at its current consistency and be used as piping icing. The second will become flood icing. To make flood icing, add ½ tsp of water at a time to the second bowl and mix thoroughly till the icing has reached the consistency of thick honey. If the mixture becomes too thin, add powdered sugar till the icing has rethickened.
Vegan Royal Icing
INGREDIENTS
STEP 1: In a large mixing bowl, add confectioner’s sugar, 4 tbsp of aquafaba, and flavored extract if desired.
STEP 4: Once satisfied with the icing color, divide each color between two bowls. One bowl will stay at its current consistency and be used as piping icing. The second will become flood icing. To make flood icing, add ½ tsp of water at a time to the second bowl and mix thoroughly till the icing has reached the consistency of thick honey. If the mixture becomes too thin, add powdered sugar till the icing has rethickened.
How to Pipe Royal Icing Onto Cookies
STEP 4 - Let the icing dry: Depending on the humidity and thickness of the icing, this may take several hours to overnight. To speed up the drying process, you can place the cookies in front of a fan or in a cool, dry area.
Embellishing Iced Cookies
- Edible Sprinkles, Glitter, or Pearls: Available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, these details can be scattered artistically or intricately placed to create eye-catching designs, shapes, or words.
- Stenciling: Stencils are a fun and easy way to add intrigue. Place a stencil over your cookie and use a sifter or a brush to dust powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or luster dust onto the surface. Carefully remove the stencil to reveal your design.
- Royal Icing Transfers: Create or purchase custom royal icing transfers by piping designs onto parchment paper and allowing them to dry completely. Once dry, carefully peel them off and attach them to your cookies with a dab of fresh icing.
- Wafer Paper Transfers: Order custom decorations using wafer paper. Stiffer than frosting sheets and made of slightly translucent paper, these transfers can be printed using food-grade edible ink cartridges and then placed atop iced cookies.
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