These cookies were a lot of fun to make! It might have to do with the sparkles…
Here’s a photo of some of them in artificial light. The first pic was actually in sunlight – and although it looks darker, the sparkles show up more. It was hard to capture the shimmer in a photo!
Resisting the urge to cover them in disco dust was futile; originally I was only going to cover parts of them in the edible glitter… You can see how that turned out.
Coffee or tea?
The cookie designs were made using scrapbooking paper and my kopykake projector.
I love the added glimmer disco dust gives to the royal icing. If you’d like to try it out you can find it here
Gingerbread of course! Another batch of tea time.
This is by no means a tutorial… but I’ll share with you a few tools and a recipe I used to make these cookies. Here are the tools:
Tools Used:
1. Cloth – a damp one nearby to keep the tips clean
2. Wilton Disposable Decorating Bags
4. Wilton Decorating Tip Cover , Set of 4
5. Decorating Tip #2
6. Couplers
7. Paste Colour – Brown
8. Americolor Soft Gel Paste – I like Americolor best because I find the darker colors don’t bleed as much when I use it to color royal icing. I still do like to mix in Wilton colors if I need to achieve a certain hue.
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I used Peggy Porschen’s
Antonia74′s Royal Icing Recipe
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Ingredients:
6 oz (3/4 cup) of warm water
5 Tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 kilogram (2.25 lbs.) powdered icing sugar
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Directions:
In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds.
Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.
Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.
Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.
Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.
Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of warm water to reach the desired consistency.
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Have fun creating!
xo,
Marian
@ Simal:
You sure can!
Thank you for your website, as a first time cookie decorator I have learnt a lot.
I made the cookies with no problem, but have had a few issues with the icing.
When I made the icing, I find that it tastes horribly like the cream of tartar. Is this normal ?
I had to add nearly double the water for it to still be usable with a number2 tip without busting my hand and it was still thicker than the 10 second rule. Do you have any idea why this would be ?
Thanks for all your help for a first time decorator!
Hi Gin,
I don’t usually taste the 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar, but maybe my taste buds are not as sensitive as yours
Is it possible you added more than one teaspoon?
No worries though, you can omit the cream of tartar if you like. It seems to help the icing dry quicker.
For adding water to the icing, the humidity where you are seems to make a big difference. At this time of the year, I usually add about 1/4 cup of water to my icing when it begins to mix.
For consistency, yes, just keep adding water until you’re happy (10 second rule). Have you seen the 10 second rule video?
HOpe that helps!
Thanks for your response! Weirdly when dry you could barely taste the tartar, but when wet it was very strong!
It is very dry here as we have a fireplace but had turned on the humidifier hoping it would help. I added a full extra cup in the end and it still was over 20 seconds!
Will give it another go!
Hey Marian!
I’m wondering – do you always use Antonia74′s royal icing recipe? Your icing always looks perfect and I would love to try out the same recipe that you use. So far I’ve only used the one from the Wilton website.
Thanks so much!
-Amber
@ Amber: I do! I used to use Peggy Porschen’s icing recipe as well, (it’s a nice recipe), but I find Antonia74′s faster to make.
Happy decorating!
Hi Marian, I do LOVE your website, I would like to know if you have a different good royal icing recipe to use in cookies decorating due to in my country there is not meringue powder. What could I use instead? Or a different recipe? Many thanks!
Hi,
If the meringue powder (wilton brand) has creme of tartar in the ingredients, do I need to use more?
Thanks!
Maggie
@ Maggie: Yes, I do. Have fun decorating!
If I am making a small batch of cookies to decorate can I ‘half’ your favorite royal icing recipe with the same quality and taste? Thanks. BTW … Your web site is beautifully done.
@ Sylvia: Absolutely, you can!
Thank you by the way, and have a blast decorating!
@ Alejandra:
you can whip egg white with creme of tartar (or Lemon juice) to medium peak & slowly add powdered sugar to the current consistence. To store, place a damp a paper towel on top & store in air tight containers up to a week in fridge. Just make sure you re-whip it before use.
@ WY: Thanks so much for helping! I appreciate it!
I love the way your webside. Thanks so much for helping!. I’m from Mexico I live in Chihuahua and my friends and I thank you !!!