Decorating cookies in the summer can be a nightmare if you don’t know some key tips!
Have you ever spent hours making your cookies and lovingly decorating them, only to find, hours later, that the cookies have splotches or spots on the icing?
I’ve received numerous emails from you, imploring for help with this ‘mysterious’ issue. While it has rarely happened to me (and I’ll explain why in a minute), many of you have shared your photos with me, and we’ve worked together to try and resolve the issue.
So, I’m writing today to hopefully help prevent it from happening to you, or if it has happened to you, to share with you how to avoid it again.
*
Why are there spots on the icing?
I mentioned that this issue rarely happens to me… Well, I’ve figured out that it rarely happens because I live in area which only experiences real humidity during the months of June – August. It does seems to be humidity which is the real culprit.
I’m no scientist, and would love to hear from you if you have more theories and/or information, but it seems like somehow the fat from the cookie (i.e. butter), seeps into the royal icing. I’m guessing that it happens more when the cookies are drying in a warm/humid area because the butter isn’t as solid, and ‘melts’ up into the icing.
Take for example, these owl cookies I made in early May. Although we were experiencing a warm spell here, I decided not to buy a new de-humidifier (more on that coming later), to make these cookies.
My de-humidifier broke at the end of last summer, and I guess I just hoped the cookies would be fine. Well, even though it was early May, it was humid, and the base of little guys ended up getting spots.
As soon as I noticed ‘splotches’ on a few cookies, I was off to Walmart to buy a dehumidifier, so only the base layer ended up getting the spots.
I decided that the brown kind of looked textured with spots (well, hoped really!), as I didn’t have time to start them over. (Oh terrible confession! Jenn and her mom seemed to love them though).
Before I shared with you what I did to prevent this from happening again, I wanted to test the “theory” out.
I picked the colours which are most likely to get spots and to bleed (darks such as red & navy and very light colours, such as white and pale yellow), and made summer cookies.
No spots.
No bleeding.
Yay!
So, what exactly do you do to prevent this from happening to you?
How to Avoid Getting Spots on Your Cookies
1. De-humidifier and Air-Conditioner
The most important solution; work in a room with a dehumidifier and air-conditioner. I work in a room with the windows and doors shut, and with the de-humidifier and and air conditioner on. Even though the air-conditioner has a de-humidify function on it, our summers are so humid here, that I find I need an extra de-humidifier as well.
Here’s a pic of the ‘pretty’ dehumidifier I have. 😉
If you’re not able to purchase an air-conditioner or de-humidifier, there are a few things which will help:
2. Colour your white icing, white
It may seem redundant, but besides making the icing look whiter and fresher, it really seems to ‘hide’ small spots if they tend to appear.
3. Make your icing thicker
The consistency of the icing seems to make a difference. It seems the spots can ‘permeate’ through thinner icing easier. Watch a video tutorial on icing consistency here.
4. Cookie thickness
If you make your cookies on the thicker side, and it’s something you don’t mind changing, bake them so they’re approximately 1 cm or 1/3 of an inch thick.
5. Use a good royal icing recipe
I love Antonia74’s recipe. It’s ‘creamy’ and velvety. If you’d like to try it, you can find it here.
6. Let the icing on your cookies dry at room temperature
When you enclose your cookies in an air-tight container, the humidity/moisture in the container will affect the icing. Once the icing is dry, you can seal the cookies in tupperware, gift-bags etc.
7. Bake your cookies a little bit longer
If your cookies are bit underdone, or soft, the fat in your cookie seems to affect the icing with splotches more. If you do like your cookies soft though, solution #1 should work.
More to Discuss
That being said, there are questions which have stumped me when it comes to the ‘cookie-spotting’ issue. For example, Pamela of Adventures in Biscuits, wanted to know why only her purple poodle cookie got the spots.
Could it be that the type/brand of food gel coloring makes a difference?
I personally really like using Americolor because they have easy to dispense squeeze bottles, and I find the colours bleed less. Pamela has since emailed me and mentioned she found the spots happened less with the Wilton brand.
There are so many variables; what has been your experience?
Do you have any favorite decorating tips for working in a warm or humid environment?
There’s much more to learn, so I’d love to hear from you on my facebook page here, on twitter, you tube, or in the comment section below.
Happy ‘spot-less’ decorating!
xo,
Marian
p.s. ***Some of the summer-themed cookies, for example the flip-flops and shorts, are copied from Martha Stewart Crafts stickers. I noticed on facebook that there were requests on how I made them. I will do them again and take pictures but for now:
How to Make the Flip Flop Cookies:
a) Pipe outline of flip flop base (I used a projector, but you might not need to), and fill in right away. For the dotted ones, pipe the dots right away (wet-on-wet technique).
b) Once the base is dry, pipe the white straps.
c) To make the gum paste flower, you’ll need this small flower plunger cutter and gum paste. Here’s a tutorial on making gum paste leaves. Follow the same directions.
d) Once the flower is dry, pipe a little yellow dot for the center, and adhere it to the flip flop with a little royal icing.
Done!
p.s.s. Tried making two versions of the sand castle cookies; one with brown sugar on top, and one just royal icing. If you end up making these, know that the flag breaks off very easily. 😉
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Thank you to all my lovely readers here, on facebook, twitter… I am so blessed to receive your sweet comments, emails, facebook comments and tweets. You make blogging fun!
Melissa Harris says
That used to happen to all of my cookies (I live in Texas, near Houston) HUMID! all of the time. I read a tip once that you bake your cookies and let them sit over night and then ice the next morning. I think it has something to do with the butter in the cookie and the humidity. Anyways, this has worked like a charm for me.
Gina says
Thanks so much for the info! I always struggle with this and seem to just hope for the best and crank down the air!! It’s hot in Hotlanta!! I have others suggest that the cookies need to cool longer before being iced so they ‘dry’ out a bit! I hate saying that but it seems to have worked most of the time!! Thanks so much! Love your site!! 🙂
– Creative Crumbs by Gina
Laura C says
Marian,
I do exactly what you do with the air conditioner AND humidifier.
I find it’s the heat more than the humidity that causes the splotches.
I use a small room with the dehumidifier and the dehumidifier makes the room HOT HOT HOT in the summer (90 to 100 degrees…IN VERMONT) So I pipe the A/C into the room and that helps A LOT.
So, my finding is that it’s more the heat than the humidity that causes my splotching.
Now I’m experiencing some new problem, hairline fractures in my icing, along the edges. This ever happen to you???
Amber says
Lovely cookies….what cutters u used for all the different shapes?
Deborah says
I made my cookies in a diferent way. Dust them well with flour after baking. Before baked I use a brush and clean the cookie an than put the icing. But sometime happens with me even doing these and I believe it was because the white egg. I changed the eggs (bought from other farmer). Believe that hormons in the eggs can do these. Ufffff… hope you understand. Sorry for my english!
Debbie says
I started having this problem in May and after trying so many different things, I also concluded that it’s humidity. I started using Antonia74’s recipe because I heard that the cream of tartar helps with humidity. Also, I bake the cookies the day before and when I store them I put a paper towel on top of the cookies and then wax paper between layers to soak up some of the extra grease from the butter. Also, I’ve run the AC more when I’m doing cookies. With all these changes, it seems to be keeping it under control.
marian says
@ Melissa Harris: Thanks! I’m guessing leaving it overnight lets the cookie dry out a tiny bit. I’ll have to give it a try! (It still tastes good I’m sure!)
@ Gina: Should have read your comment first! Lol. Ditto to that – good to hear that it works!
Thanks @ Laura C!
Hmmm, hairline fractures along the edges… I’m not sure. I’ve only experienced them on the surface of the cookie if I’ve moved the cookie before it’s completely dry.
Is it happening with some sort of a temperature change? Or, is so much moisture being ‘removed’ from the icing, that the R.I. cracks along the seams, maybe?
@ Amber: I bought most of these at Williams Sonoma years ago. Found them on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Williams-Sonoma-Seashore-Ocean-Cookie-Cutters-S-6-/220764447285#ht_717wt_1270
Thank you for responding @ Deborah! I think I do understand; you dust the cookie liberally with flour, then bake it, dust off the flour, and decorate. Is that right?
@ Debbie: Great tips, thank you! I will definitely be trying them.
Darlita says
Thank you for the wonderful tips. I’ve had problems in the past with decorated sugar cookies and the summer months with spots and with the RI not drying. I have since purchased an AC but I have to get a de-humidifier.
Thanks again for the tips and as always….your cookies are AMAZING!!!
The Sugar Tree says
I live in Nashville, Tennessee and we have crazy humidity what seems like almost year round. (Did you know it could be 100% humidity and not be raining? Learned that living here!) I learned from Callye to bake the day before to let the cookies settle overnight, and I don’t get spotting hardly at all. I use AmeriColor just about always. I do make thicker icing, and my cookies are on the thinner side (but not super thin). I don’t use a dehumidifier, and I find the main thing effected by the humidity is drying time. Takes forever!
So, maybe a combination of things keeps it from happening?
Fantastic cookies, btw. The lighthouse is beautiful!
Thanks!
Heleen says
Thank you sharing your tips! I used in my first decorations fresh egg white without cream of tartar and spotting was time to time so bad that I cried. When I found your Royal Icing recipe and managed to buy cream of tartar everything is much easier. Only the dried egg white is not always melting properly and some tiny lumps blocks the pipe. Should I use warmer water? Unfortunately I am not able to have an air-conditioner; our summers are getting hotter and moister here in Finland.
Monica says
Thanks for the tips. Last week i made some cookies, and for the first time i notice the spots. The base color was navy, they appear the next day they were finished. I live in Panama, even though this is a supersuper humid country, this is the first time it happen…. 🙂
Lily's Treasures says
Marian, you’re a magician of the cookies. Thanks for sharing every tips you have.
Martine (koekiekoekie) says
We “after” bake our cookies sometime (lowest heat on you’re oven) to make the icing dry quicker, it gives it a nice shine too! We don’t experience spotting, but we do let the cookies cool overnight before decorating. Don’t wait too long to put them in the oven tho, if the top us settled and the inside not yet, it may crack on top or burst. Also you don’t want leave them in the oven turned off and the door closed! The moisture can’t get away then and major bleeding is happening then.
Estibaliz says
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing this tutorial! You REALLY do a great job and it’s a pleasure reading your advices and watching your adorable cookies.
And yes, here in Malaga (Spain) we have a lot of troubles with humidity and royal icing because we are beside the sea. As we have no a.c. and no dehumidifier in our kitchens, we almost have to wait until the wind changes and blows from the North or West, that is, it’s a dry wind. When that happens, we get a “strong” R.I. that doesn’t turn into dust when you press it firmly. Miriam wrote this frustrating experience in our blog a few weeks ago:
http://www.mensajeenunagalleta.com/web/?p=708
“Don’t make R.I with environmental humidity and other 10 mistakes to avoid”
Reading your tutorial I already know what it’s going to happen next time, ha ha ha
Kisses
marian says
Thanks, @ Darlita!
@ The Sugar Tree: Thanks for the input! You’re not the third person which has said to let them sit overnight and dry out a bit! I agree, the combination you mentioned sounds perfect.
@ Heleen: I wonder, to avoid the egg white problem, can you find meringue powder in Finland, or order if off the interntet? If not, maybe even try straining the egg white first to loosen it up a little?
@ Monica: Funny hey! Is anything different happening? Was it extra humid that day?
@ Lily’s Treasures: Thanks sweetie! Certainly not a magician, but I’m trying to figure things out!
@ Martine (koekiekoekie): Another great idea! I’ll have to try it out too; thanks!
@ Estibaliz: Such a cute post on the frustrations of baking in the wrong condidtions! Love it! Thanks for sharing!
Bethany says
I love your summer cookies!!!! Thanks so much for the tips! I have an air conditioner in my kitchen, but I should get a dehumidifier. I made cookies last weekend and they ended staying VERY soft! I had to be so careful with them, some of them even broke in half!! Thankfully they were for my sisters shower, so It wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m sure it’s because it was so humid!!
Heleen says
I’m sorry; with the dried egg white I mean meringue powder. It is sometimes difficult to mix with water without having those tiny lumps; should I use warmer water?
marian says
@ Heleen: Oh yes, warm water and whisk until all the lumps are out. xo
marian says
@ Bethany: Thank goodness the cookies worked out in the end. 😉
sweetsugarbelle says
I have been SO excited to see these! They are prettier than I imagined! Just wow! YOu are a shining star =)
Karen says
Thanks for the tips once again and WOW, WOW, WOW, your summer collection of cookies is truly amazing!
Debby Johnson says
I live in Texas and it can be EXTREMELY humid here. I have had this spotting problem also. I have found that thicker icing for the base of my cookies and a CEILING FAN over my table helps TREMENDOUSLY! Also, an airconditioner is a must.
bridget {bake at 350} says
Marian! Great post and your cookies?!?!? Oh, they are STUNNING as usual! Some of my favorites EVER!
Becki D. says
Good information! Thank you for sharing. And I absolutely *adore* your beach cookies – wow!! You must have the patience of a saint to work with that many colors and that many detailed designs at once. Awesome! (particularly like the brown sugar sand castle! clever!)
marian says
@ sweetsugarbelle, @ Karen: Such praise, thank you, but I’m not sure I’m worthy of it!
@ Debby Johnson: Great tip, add a ceiling fan to the mix – awesome!
@ bridget {bake at 350}: That means a lot from you! Thank you!
@ Becki D.: Well I didn’t make too many of each design. Maybe 2 or 3 of each. It was kind of fun playing around with different designs, instead of doing one many times. I do have patience for cookie decorating, but ask me about sewing (No way!)..
Sugar Bea says
These are such great tips! and such cute cookies!!
Mari, Mari's Cakes says
Very helpful info, thanks Marian 😉 Your summer cookies are beautiful, like all the cookies you do. I love the flip flops and lighthouse cookies. Have a great weekend.
Cristin (Pinkie) says
GORGEOUS cookies Marian! Thanks for sharing your tips. I made some castles the other day and they were gorgeous when I went to bed and ugly when I woke up. It broke my heart. We have heat in California, but not as much humidity usually. I guess this week is more humid than usual because I’ve only seen the spots once before. My poor castles are ruined 🙁 I think your thesis is right. I used thin icing. I did let them sit overnight though before icing them. Another gal wrote in saying that the edges of her icing were breaking off. Mine are doing that this week too, so I guess the humidity again. Thankfully, my ugly castles will still taste wonderful! Thanks for sharing your expertise! I guess I better go buy a dehumidifier…
marian says
@ Sugar Bea, @ Mari, Mari’s Cakes and
@ Cristin (Pinkie): Thank you! I appreciate your comments!
@ Cristin (Pinkie): Would you be able to salvage the sandcastle cookies by putting clear corn syrup on them, and sprinkling either brown sanding sugar, or brown sugar on them?
Nancy Reynolds (Sharp Cookie) says
I, too, have had the horror of seeing icing “bloom” on my carefully decorated cookies and I live in the opposite of humid – the west Texas desert. I use a different recipe for my flow icing than the royal icing. This recipe calls for Half & Half and corn syrup. Anyway, I have seen bloom when I have tried to freeze decorated cookes (this makes me suspect condensation/humidity as a culprit) so I never freeze a decorated cookie anymore. But I also subscribe to tinting all of my icing with the white before I color them up to use and this seems to help. I have noticed that the tinting gels actually do have a shelf life and suspect that this might contribute to the problem (I used a Ruby Red gel paste from LorAnn Oils – beautiful color but caused lots of spotting so I stopped using it). Fortunately, we rarely have the bloom problem now but every now and then, it pops up its ugly little head. Frustrating…
Thanks for this post and suggestions on how to solve the problem. Hugs from El Paso.
Nancy Reynolds (Sharp Cookie) says
As I was reading through the posts, I noticed several comments on lumps in royal icing made with meringue powder. I have to use meringue powder in my icing because of salmonella issues with raw egg whites (I am a commercial kitchen). I have been using meringue powder without these problems until 2 years ago when our tips were clogging. It was frustrating and we lost so much time (we were doing a large rush order then). I tried sifting the powdered sugar – same problem. Then I took a strainer and sifted the meringue powder through it. I was amazed at the larger “crystals” that were left behind. I use a Wilton product but have also seen this with Ateco. Fortunately, this has helped – for most of the time. We use #2 tips for most of our outlining and my rule is the 1st clog, we use a toothpick. The second clog, we change the tip. It’s not a perfect solution but I have noticed in the past year that we are getting fewer crystals in the meringue powder so maybe the manufacturers realize that there is a problem and are working to fix it.
Hope this helps….
TidyMom says
FABULOUS post Marian!! Thanks so much!!
and thanks linking up! I featured your post in my wrap up http://tidymom.net/2011/great-ideas-by-you/ Have a FABULOUS weekend!
Shelley N. says
I’m not convinced that heat and/or humidity cause spotting. I have never had a problem with spotting (or bleeding), and I live in Tulsa, OK – hot AND humid. So I think there’s got to be something more….just don’t know what! 🙂
niner from wechooseorganic.com says
here she goes again!!!
my goodness sweetie, look at all these beautiful creations ohmyyyyy..EVERY cookie is just WOW!
Thanks so so so much for these awesome and helpful tips.
I learned something new again today.
I always enjoy your posts so much.
Thank you.
Much love sweetieeeee
xoxo
niner
myrna says
Great post=) I’ve only usually experienced spotting on my cookies during the summer months also. I drew the conclusion that heat was more of the culprit than humidity. Why? During the dead of winter, I started icing a batch of cookies and let them dry out overnight. Our wood burning stove, near out kitchen, was cranking throughout the night and in the morning I found the dreaded spots >=( The butter/shortening in the cookies tends to surface during high temps and the humidity doesn’t help any either slowing down the drying time on the icing. And you’re right, it seems to be more noticeable with dark, rich colors. Absolutely beautifully decorated cookies as always!
sweetiepetitti says
Darn! My science fair days are over, but this would have been the most delicious experiment ever…..I am in the humidity as well…sometimes I feel a little splotchy in the heat myself:)
Maria says
Great tips! Thanks for sharing. The cookies are all so cute!
Marian says
@ Nancy Reynolds (Sharp Cookie): So interesting, thank you so much for the feedback!
@ Shelley N.: Intruiging! Please come back and discuss if you think of any variables!
@ niner from wechooseorganic.com: Thanks so much sweetie!
@ sweetiepetitti: Hee hee, me too!
Lisa @The Cookie Jar says
We make many cookies every week and live in a humid, hot location. I have encountered every single problem you can have Oiyyyy! I have also tried every single option out there and can add another bit of advice. Last summer, I purchased a different brand of meringue powder, as we needed larger amounts, and I found that that made a big difference in our icing. We got no more blotching, but got more bleeding. I had to experiment with mixing two different brands in different ratios until I found what worked here. I would highly suggest trying this.
I also found that drying in the oven caused more bleeding than usual. Does anyone have any info on bleeding? I can’t do whet on wet dots lately.
ALSO, what about drying in the refrigerator? My husband seems to think that would work. :/
sandy says
always lovvvve your info!!!!
Marla says
Excellent tips and all of your cookies are gorgeous!
Elsa says
Hi Marian,
I have a question to ask you about humidity.. its not in regards to the icing, but in regards to the cookie itself.
I live in the DR and from June to November is Hurricane season, so the weather varies even more than it usually does. Lately i’ve been having a lot of rain and when i bake, the cookies come out fine, they harden normally and they are good for icing but after a few hours sometimes 24hrs, the cookies become so soft to the touch i can barely handle them to put the icing on, they crumble to the touch. When i actually get the icing on you can imagine it gets worse once the cookie absorbs the icing;s humidity…
My question is, will a De-humidifier work or.. is there something else i can do.. i dont want to modify my recipe by making it dryer, since it really it delicious and it keeps its shape and everything.. but i need help!
Thanks!
Joanne says
Nancy Reynolds (Sharp Cookie) wrote:
Using the white food coloring seemed to do the trick for me with white icing, but I used some of that same icing and tinted it pink and noticed it sort of “muddied up” the pink a gave it a salmony tinge. I used the same pink tint on icing that was not previously colored white and the color was noticeably much ‘cleaner.” Have you experienced anything like that?
Laura C says
Hi Marian,
I ice my cookies on full sheet pans and don’t move them off the pans until the base is dry.
Soo, I don’t think it’s an issue with moving them, but it could be an issue of humidity being removed quickly.
It’s been so hot in the bakery, I’m using a fan on ME, not the cookies, but they do get air blown in their direction when I’m working on them. The air sets up the icing really quickly. That has to be it because it’s the only thing I’ve done differently.
damned hot flashes…
marian says
@ Joanne: I’m going to let Nancy answer that one.
@ Laura C: You are so funny! Hot flashes or not, we need the fan these HUMID days! I’m making cookies in the next few days again; should be interesting to see if the cracking happens.
Jill says
I used to get this blotchiness all the time and it drove me CRAZY. I began putting a base layer “glaze” of RI on the cookies to try to prevent the butter from seeping into the icing (which was what I thought was the problem – I’m in Seattle, so dont have the heat/humidity problem). I noticed a big difference in the cookies that had the glaze layer – not nearly as much blotchiness as those that did not have the glaze. It still wasn’t fool-proof, though, and required a lot of extra time applying the glaze. Then on a whim I decided to try a new RI recipe that calls for corn syrup (Bake at 350’s recipe). And since adding the corn syrup, I have never had any more blotchiness issues. Fingers crossed this solved the problem forever… maybe it somehow makes the butter less able to seep into the icing? I have no idea but SO happy it seems to be working!
Monica says
@ marian:
Now that you mention it..that day it was going to rain…before it rains the weather is very hot and humid 😉
Faigy says
Marian,
Your cookies are a work of art!! Any tips on preparing so many different colors of icing for the same batch of cookies? That is what always puts me off, preparing all the icing in two consistencies.
Prepared cookies last week. I prepared the icing and let it sit overnight. The color sort of sank to the bottom, it was really weird.
Anyways, thanks for these amazing tips. 🙂
marian says
@ Jill: Thanks! That sounds like something I have to try!
@ Monica:Ahhh, interesting!
@ Faigy: I rarely prepare two consistencies for the same colour icing (You’ll see examples of me decorating with one icing in a few you tube videos). The only time I need an icing which is A LOT thicker, is when I’m doing a bunch of thin, delicate lines. Then I’ll take whatever colour I need, and add a bit of icing sugar to it until I’m happy with the thickness.
For the Royal Icing sinking to the bottom, this post should help:
https://sweetopia.net/2011/01/how-do-you-store-royal-icing-and-how-long-can-you-keep-it/