Ahhhhhhhhhh…..
The luck of the Irish must not have been with me during my first go with Royal Icing!
Well, after all, I am Danish and French! My children are part Irish…but they weren’t here helping me make these cookies!
One of my goals for this year….try new ingredients, products or gadgets for the kitchen.
My first new product, dehydrated buttermilk….a success! (See January post…http://wp.me/p2e6iL-sz).
Second new product…
Hmmm….
I think there is plenty of room for improvement. I’m sure it was baker error!
The purpose of this kitchen adventure was to find a ‘travels well’ frosting.
I am quite fond of sugar cookies and have made hundreds, if not thousands, of them over the years. In all of those years, however, I have never sent frosted sugar cookies to loved ones. I have been experimenting with ‘travels well’ cookies since moving faw away from kids and grandkids. Standard, frosted cookies have not been in the goodie boxes yet. I have never frosted my sugar cookies with anything but cream cheese frosting or a simple icing (always preferring the cream cheese frosting). As I understand it, ‘royal icing’, is a good option for cookies that need to travel or for a crunchier cookie, as the icing that I usually make has a tendency to make a cookie soft after a while, due to the fat content in the icing (butter and cream cheese).
After searching numerous recipes and tutorials available on the internet I decided on using meringue powder. The result was not what I wanted or expected! These cookies did not disappoint in taste but I will go back to the drawing board on the royal icing. The royal icing was a royal pain!
You may notice that my cookies are not perfect!
What I learned from my research…you need two bowls of frosting. One bowl must be a thicker consistency for outlining the cookie.
When outline is dry… ‘flood’ the cookies with a thinner icing.And the end result…
Some of the cookies that I found online…
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/royal-icing-iii/
had a consistency similar to that of the frosting that I made.
And…:)
- All Smiles…with Royal Icing
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sugar-cookie-icing/
these cute little smiley face cookies seem to be a different consistency . The recipe details indicate that the frosting dries hard and shiny.
These are so cute and I must make these to send to a friend out West. It will make her ‘happy little self’ (one of her expressions)…happy!
I will give the Royal Icing another go for some Easter cookies and hope for the desired result.
Meanwhile….
Until we meet again at The Range I leave you with…
Vee
Be Blessed!
Home And The Range 
They are perfect!! I love the look of royal icing. I make “number cookies” for my kids’ birthdays-(for their age) and decorate with royal icing and sprinkles- such a labor intensive but fun tradition!! 🙂
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Thank you! I would love to see your ‘number cookies’! I’ll bet they are adorable! Please share them when you’ve done them again…or…I’ll come back over and see if you’ve done a post already. I’m sure your kids look forward to those each year! Thanks so much for coming by! ~Blessings!
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I post updated cookies with their birthday cakes… but here is my original post! My son has since switched to Roman Numerals!! 🙂
https://thebrookcook.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/number-cookies/
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They are awesome! What a great idea to switch to Roman Numerals…twice as many cookies, right? Thank you for sharing! A wonderful tradition!
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Your cookies are beautiful. As difficult as it was you did a fantastic job and those cookies are perfect.
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Thank you….ever so much! I really need to give this another go! I, at least, learned from the experience. There are some bakers out there with some real royal icing skill. I am not in that category yet…but aspire to be! Thanks for the visit! ~Blessings!
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I’m not in that category either when it comes to decorating I have no skills. I have to say you did a great job the cookies look really beautiful.
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When we both get to a higher skill level in the decorating category…we will have much to share! Thanks again! 🙂
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Looks delicious!!!
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Thank you! 🙂 Have a deliciously blessed day!
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The cookies look really tasty! The blessing is lovely and I hope you are blessed because of it. 🙂
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Thank you! I hope blessings find you this day…and always, as well!
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I think your cookies look great. I also have been toying with the idea of meringue powder but always end up sticking to good old egg whites. Royal icing is a bit challenging, I made it once and it was good but a bit hard to work with, I think it takes practice. I love your cookies.
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Hi! Yes, I believe it does take practice…practice that I’ve not been able to do yet. I haven’t even used the good old egg white frosting on cookies because I have a love of cream cheese frosting. I decided to try the royal icing so that the cookies would stay crisp (trying to find a good ‘travels well’ cookie). The result was not perfect…but they were definitely tasty cookies. Thank you for your kind comment and for visiting. Blessings to you!
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I know what you mean but these shamrock cookies look delightful & ooh so pretty to look at too! 🙂
A job well-done! 🙂 Yeah!
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Thank you Foodie Sophie….much appreciated! Blessings to you!
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The cookies are so pretty!
It was worthwhile the effort, gorgeous result!
Thanks for sharing the insights 🙂
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Thank you Daniela…glad to share the process and the insights. 🙂 I have picked up some good tips about how to work with the royal icing (‘post-post’) and I’m anxious to try and share those techniques. Stay tuned. 🙂 Blessings to you and yours!
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These look SO good!!! You have a lot of patience to get all those little spaces filled! 🙂
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Thank you! Well…the ‘flooding’ part of the process really wasn’t so bad but I suppose it did require some patience…or some icing finesse that I haven’t mastered yet! Barb, from Just A Smidgen, directed me to a site (SweetAmbs) and this gal really has mastered the art. I am anxious to try her techniques and hope to one day post some beautiful cookies of art! LOL!
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I think these turned out just so cute!! I made some flooded cookies a while ago, I think the only thing you could try differently.. I made the outline and then immediately flooded the cookies. The SweetAmbs recipe worked perfectly. I’d give it to you but I’d feel bad because she doesn’t charge enough for me to take that away from her. (like a few bucks). So.. outline, flood, then move to the next cookie. It works because the outside holds out while flooding but doesn’t have time to dry and look different or separate from the middle. I love those polka dot egg cookies.. I may just have to try those since it’s too late for Shamrocks for me now:D xx
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Thank you Barb…for your kind comment and the suggestions. 🙂 Please post your next cookies that you do with the royal icing (perhaps those egg cookies). Oh my! I just checked the SweetAmbs site…her cookies are works of art, gorgeous! I’m ordering the tutorial and recipe. Now I MUST try again…love, love her beautiful cookies and the cookie recipe sounds divine as well. Thank you so much!
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mmm–the cookies look delicious!
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Thank you Sheryl! They were delicious…even if not quite what I had hoped for with the icing. I’ll give it a try again. I’ve been hoping that some of my fellow bloggers may have had some success with this type of icing…and given some helpful tips. No luck yet…guess those Shamrock’s didn’t bring me luck in that regard! 🙂 Blessings and good luck to you and yours!
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Cookies look too good to eat. But of course I would try one or two or three…
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Thank you! 🙂 They were definitely tasty and Poppy (hubby) and I would have done just that (eat…one…two…three)…had I not sent them with him to share with his co-workers. 🙂
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I think they look wonderful!! So beautiful 🙂
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Thank you! YOU always make everything look beautiful! Any tips on royal icing?
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Your cookies look great! I have worked with royal icing before, and you’re right, you kind of have to get the knack for it. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
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Thank you! And who would think that one would have to be ‘skilled’ in cookie frosting, right? 🙂 Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you as well. 🙂
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They look to pretty to eat
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Awww…thank you my dear friend! Hey….when I get the hang of the ‘travels well’ goodies…will send you some. 🙂
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Your cookies look great. I have never tried royal icing….but should.
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Thank you! 🙂 If you try the icing…please let me know how it works out for you.
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I think these turned out great and are super cute. I tried Royal icing once and it was a disaster. I am a great baker I have to say, but that was so discouraging I never tried it again. Maybe some day I will.
Cynthia
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Thank you! 🙂 One great baker to another…I appreciate you sharing your experience with the royal pain…I mean icing, also! Blessings to you!
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LOL!
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These may have been a pain, but they ARE super cute!
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Awww! Thank you! Sometimes you really want the baked goods to be just as cute or pretty as they are tasty…like that delicious looking fudge I just saw on your blog! Thank you for stopping by ‘The Range’. 🙂
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Well thank youuu! 🙂
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🙂 Well you’re welcome. 🙂
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