5 Mistakes to Avoid When Icing Cookies (2024)

FAQs

What is the 15 second rule when using royal icing? ›

It's called 15-second royal icing because if you run a butterknife through the royal icing in your mixing bowl, the icing should blend back together in 15 seconds. This royal icing consistency holds its own, but softens or floods lightly so that any peaks made in the icing smooth out.

Air Bubbles and Color Bleed

Icing that is too thin can also lead to air bubbles, uneven texture, fragility (a big problem with royal icing transfers) and even color bleed. It helps to keep the icing on the thick side so that you don't encounter these problems.

In the baking industry, many believe that adding white food colouring will help avoid colour bleeding. Simply add white food colouring to the royal icing before adding the desired colour. Or, if the icing is too dark, add white food colouring to lighten the shade.

Too much whipping can leave air bubbles in your buttercream frosting. It's a minor problem and won't ruin the flavour or texture, but it may not look as pretty when it comes to decorating. Don't leave your buttercream frosting whipping forever and ever if you don't want air bubbles.

Don't overbeat: Do not overbeat the royal icing base. This will incorporate too much air, which will create bubbles. Vigorous stirring will also create air bubbles. Cover with a damp towel: Cover the decorating tip with a warm, damp towel to prevent the royal icing from drying when not using.

To check the consistency, all you need to do is drag the tip of a butter knife through the surface of your icing, letting the knife go approximately an inch deep, and slowly count to 10. If the surface of the icing smoothes over in approximately 10 seconds then your icing is ready to use.

Trapped air will definitely cause pitting in your royal icing. As the royal dries, that air will escape and leave that horrible gap behind. Don't let your flood fully dry before adding details! If you let the flood (base coat of royal) completely dry before adding the details it will cause cratering much easier.

Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating. I like to decorate cookies directly on baking sheets so I can stick the entire baking sheet in the refrigerator to help set the icing.

Lightly brush the icing with water. This will allow the icing to adhere to the biscuit. Carefully lay the icing onto the biscuit and use your finger to gently round out any rough edges.

Overmixing the icing

If you overmix or mix the icing on a high setting, you'll whip too much air into the mix, leaving you with a frosting that looks more like a crunchy sponge than a smooth finish.

What stops sugar cookies from spreading? ›

Cookies spread because the fat in the cookie dough melts in the oven. If there isn't enough flour to hold that melted fat, the cookies will over-spread. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour. If your cookies are still spreading, add an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough.

The secret is to scoop your frosting into a ziplock bag, clip the corner, and then pipe the frosting onto each cookie. Since you don't have to pick up each cookie, scoop up frosting, and spread it out with a knife, the piping process is a MUCH quicker way to get lots of cookies frosted.

Royal icing is probably the most popular icing for decorating cookies. Made using egg whites or meringue powder, royal icing dries hard, making it a fabulous option for cookies you plan to package or mail. It's most often used for outlining and “flooding”, or filling in, cookie designs.

Make sure your cookies are completely cool before you start decorating or the icing will melt as you decorate. I usually find it easiest to make the cookies on one day and decorate them the next.

Continue to mix, beating the frosting until it forms stiff peaks so the frosting will hold its shape. This takes between five and 10 minutes of beating using an electric mixer.

Then increase the speed to medium and beat until it lightens in color and looks fluffy in texture. Give it a taste, it should melt on your tongue and not feel heavy or dense in the slightest. This will take about 3 to 4 minutes of beating.

One of the easiest things that you can do to make store bought frosting fluffy would be to simply whip it up. Using a whisk attachment , beat the room temperature store bought frosting incorporating more air into it.

On the other hand, cream of tartar on its own is often included in royal icing recipes, as one of its key functions is to stabilize whipped egg whites. (It's also used to stabilize whipped cream and to prevent sugar syrups from crystallizing.)

We like to use this consistency of icing so we don't have to bother with outlining and filling. This type of icing is also called 20 second icing. This is because when you run through the icing in the bowl with a small spatula or spoon, the icing smooths out in 20 seconds.

Icing Consistency Counts:

Stiff or Thick Icing: 20-25 seconds to smooth out. Lines will not totally disappear. Medium Thick Icing: 18-19 seconds to mostly smooth over. Medium Icing: 15 seconds to settle mainly flat.

Do cookies with royal icing need to be refrigerated? ›

Temperature difference – icing chilled cookies with room temperature royal icing and vice versa. It's best when both cookie and royal icing are at room temperature.

Just allow the royal icing to completely dry between layers. I usually allot at least two hours under a gentle fan to make sure the first layer is dry before piping and adding an additional layer. You can also just let the cookies dry and set overnight before adding more decorations to them.

You've added too much water to the royal icing. The best way to fix this is to start adding a little extra powdered sugar. If you need a large amount, also add some extra egg white to keep the ratio egg whites:powdered sugar the same. Just add a little extra water.

As she says, not chilling the cookie and baking at 350 degrees can result in a more crackly cookie, since the dough hasn't had enough time to absorb the flour. Chilling it for half an hour, however, gives you thicker, chewier dough.

The first step to making beautifully decorated cookies is making sure the cookies are completely cooled when you begin adding the icing. Play it safe by making it a two-day process: Bake the cookies one day, then decorate the next day.

Chilling cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread. In addition, the sugar in the dough gradually absorbs liquid.

Light corn syrup: This helps the icing harden and what gives it that brilliant shine! Vanilla extract: For flavor. If you need your icing to be bright white, use clear vanilla extract.

Meringue Powder in Royal Icing

Both create a very sturdy and stable icing that hardens quickly on top of cookies. Meringue powder, while containing eggs, eliminates the need for raw fresh eggs, but still provides the EXACT same consistency.

Use this method to decorate cookies before baking. Put decorative sugar in a small bowl (one bowl per color). Shape dough into balls per recipe directions. Roll in the sugar, place on cookie sheet, and bake as directed.

Excess Sugar and Fat

Measuring is key in baking. If your cookie contains excess sugar or fat, it will spread while baking. If your first batch of cookies spreads, try adding a few tablespoons of flour to help thicken the remaining dough.

How to make perfectly shaped cookies? ›

Simply place the cookie cutter around one of the cookies on the baking sheet. (It should be bigger than the cookie, and therefore not cut off any of the edges.) Then, use the cookie cutter to mold the edges of the cookie from uneven to perfectly round, using a swirling motion.

Yes! You can use any canned frosting, or even make your own (but that's for another time).

Silky smooth Italian buttercream is the most stable of all the buttercreams and is not very sweet. It is made by pouring hot sugar syrup into whipping egg whites and then finished with butter, salt and flavoring.

Butter provides a great flavor in icing so it is a good idea to have at least some in your recipe, but you also don't want your icing to separate if it gets too warm. Adding some shortening won't detract from the flavor and it will allow your icing to better withstand warmer temperatures.

While melting is inevitable if no extra steps are taken to keep the desserts as cool as it can be in the summer heat, there is a type of frosting that can handle the heat better than other frostings: the buttercream made with egg whites.

In the fridge, your sugar cookies will last for up to one week but are best consumed within three days as your icing will start to bleed as time passes. You also need to make sure that the cookies are properly sealed because you don't want them to absorb the moisture or smells from other foods in the fridge.

How Long Does the Icing Take to Harden? The top layer of the sugar cookie icing hardens after just a few hours, but you'll need to wait about 20 to 24 hours before you can stack the cookies without ruining the decorations.

Hold a sugar cookie by the sides, then dip the top of the cookie in the royal icing. Lift the cookie from the icing and gently shake away the excess. That's it! (You could use a spatula or knife to spread the icing out, but it's really not necessary.)

Flood Icing: 10 seconds to settle flat. Flood Uses: Flooding (especially larger cookies), dipping, marbling, wet on wet, outlining and flooding immediately (especially smaller cookies). Runny Icing: 4 seconds to completely disappear.

If the icing is applied thinly then it should take 4 to 6 hours to dry completely (though the surface will be touch dry quite quickly) but if it is a very thick layer (such as "snowcene" icing on a christmas cake) then it can take a few days to dry completely.

What does cream of tartar do to royal icing? ›

On the other hand, cream of tartar on its own is often included in royal icing recipes, as one of its key functions is to stabilize whipped egg whites. (It's also used to stabilize whipped cream and to prevent sugar syrups from crystallizing.)

Royal Icing made with pasteurized egg whites results in an almost fool-proof product, but the addition of light corn syrup to it produces icings that dry with shiny surfaces. Depending on the humidity and other factors, however, your initial mixture will be either stiff or firm.

I like the method where you first outline the cookie and when the outlining is dry you flood the cookie with runny icing. It gives the cookie a smooth look and when it's dry, you can pipe details on the cookie. Flooding cookies is easy and so much fun to do.

Royal icing is frosting that's made from confectioners' sugar, egg whites, and flavorings, and used in many ways to decorate cookies and cakes. The biggest difference between buttercream frosting and royal icing is texture-buttercream is creamy and soft; royal icing hardens to a candy-like texture.

Dry the Royal Icing Quickly

Creating as much airflow around your drying royal icing cookies is one very simple way to get a shiny cookie. Increased air movement allows the top of the icing to dry quickly into a thin crust, creating a sheen on the cookie and also helping to avoid craters.

Overmixing the icing

If you overmix or mix the icing on a high setting, you'll whip too much air into the mix, leaving you with a frosting that looks more like a crunchy sponge than a smooth finish. Follow our step-by-step guide to make perfect royal icing.