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 – These are not a must… You can keep your tips covered in a damp cloth.
5. Decorating Tip #2 – A bunch of these on hand for different colors is always helpful!
6. Couplers
7. Paste Colour – Brown – And other colors too of course!
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 sugar cookie and gingerbread recipe, and this time I used Antonia74’s royal icing recipe.
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
marian says
Hi Christine,
I’m sorry you experienced that! I’m not actually sure what the problem is as it hasn’t happened to me. Maybe some readers will have some input?
Dianne says
I have much success decorating many cookies with Royal Icing. One problem I continue to have is when adding details to the cookies after flooding dries.
My tip continues to clog and I am forever spending time cleaning it. It’s been a frustrating evening adding details to my baby shower cookies and I still have more to complete.
Any ideas would be much appreciated.
marian says
@ Dianne:
I’ve got a post on tips clogging here if you’d like to check it out:
https://sweetopia.net/2010/03/how-to-prevent-your-tips-from-clogging-and-what-to-do-if-it-happens-top-10-tips/
Hope that helps!
diana says
Hi, i live in colombia and i don´t know what is meringue powder Hi, i live in colombia and i don´t know what is meringue powder, could i replace the meringue power for other thing??
Thank´s
marian says
Diana, you’d have to use a recipe made with egg whites instead of meringue powder. Sorry I don’t have one on my site right now, but google will help!
Simal says
Hi Marian,
I just want to ask, can I divide this recipe by half? I usually bake 12-20 cookies once and this recipe is more than I need. Thank you!
Marian says
@ Simal:
You sure can!
Gin says
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!
Marian says
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!
Gin says
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!
Amber says
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
Marian (Sweetopia) says
@ 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!
Alejandra says
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!
Maggie says
Hi,
If the meringue powder (wilton brand) has creme of tartar in the ingredients, do I need to use more?
Thanks!
Maggie
marian says
@ Maggie: Yes, I do. Have fun decorating!
Sylvia says
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.
Marian (Sweetopia) says
@ Sylvia: Absolutely, you can!
Thank you by the way, and have a blast decorating!
WY says
@ 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.
marian says
@ WY: Thanks so much for helping! I appreciate it!
YOLY says
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 !!!
kim says
Your cookies look so beautiful.
Emma says
Dear Marian,
thank you so much for the great tutorials.I have a quick question. I have tried making royal icing (the egg+lemon) recipy but the icing sugar is crunchy ( I mean you can feel the sugar in your mouth) when you taste it in the liquid state (before you out it on the cookie). You can kind of see grains of sugar in the icing. It is not even close to the smooth and shiny icing you show in your pictures or videos. Is it the quality of the icing sugar? Should I use egg whites at room temp only, and not just out of the fridge? I would appreciate any help!
marian says
Thank you and my pleasure, @ YOLY and@ kim!
Hi @ Emma: Have you tried this recipe? https://sweetopia.net/2012/01/royal-icing-recipe-free-illustrated-recipe/ That’s the one I use.
sujitha says
do you have the traditional royal icing recipe with egg whites instead the powder??
marian says
HI @ sujitha: Yes, it’s in the Recipe section, under Icing, and then under Gingerbread House Icing. For cookies, just take out the cream of tartar, or replace with 1 tsp of cream of tartar. Have fun baking!
Jillian says
Hi Marian!! I jusrt found your website and am having so much fun reading, watching your tutorials and decorating cookies!! Your shortbread recipe is to die for!! I was wondering what your opinion is on color flow vs royal icing? I have just used color flow for the first time and thought it tasted better than royal! Any thoughts?! Thank you again for the wonderful website!!
marian says
Hi @ Jillian: I actually haven’t tried it! Just bought some the other day to experiment though. I’ll do a post on it in time. xo
Vanessa says
Hello Marian,
I love sweetopia and find myself sitting and reading for hours! But i’m a little confused about Disco dust! You use it and eat it but the link to disco dust -comments don’t eat it i’m confused??? Help
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Hi @ Vanessa: Lol. I understand! Disco dust is non-toxic, so not harmful to ingest. It’s not FDA approved (has not been reviewed, or, some sources say, it is in the process of being reviewed), but again, if you eat it, nothing will happen… it is non-toxic and goes through you. I don’t have a problem eating cookies with disco dust, but some people might need them to be FDA approved or not just non-toxic to eat them or feed them to others.
If I make and serve them, I always let the recipients know that disco dust is non-toxic and not harmful to ingest, but it hasn’t been officially reviewed by the FDA. That way they can make their own choice. Hope that helps!
martha torress says
hola me gusta mucho tu receta espero que me queden algo parecido porque nunca lo he hecho, me puedes dar una receta de galletas de mantequilla saludos
Mathea says
Hi Marian,
I love your website and i’m thinking of making Christmas cookies (the marbled ones)and i was wondering how long it takes for the icing to dry and how hard it gets when it does dry… Thank you sooo much your website has been a huge help 🙂
Marian (Sweetopia) says
Gracias @ martha torress!
Hi @ Mathea: Here is a video for you;
https://sweetopia.net/2012/01/video-how-to-dry-cookies-decorated-with-royal-icing/
eva says
hola me encanta todo lo que haces me podrias decir la cantidad de agua?grs un slaudo desde españa 🙂
LindyB says
Hi
Great website,
Could I please pick your brains? I have been asked for a ‘Frozen’ – as in the Disney film – cake.
I have been requested to use water icing (I.e. just icing sugar mixed with water) but understand that shimmer dust should not be mixed in with water. This type of icing dries quite hard and crusty and I wondered if by painting it on – my only other option – it would spoil the finish of the icing.
I would be grateful for any advice,
Many thanks
LindyB
Jennifer G says
Hi, I was wondering where you can purchase this disco dust or edible glitter? The only thing I can find in the stores are shimmer dust which is quite different than “edible glitter.” I think this disco dust is exactly what I’m looking for.
Thanks a bunch! =)