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.
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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. 😉
p.s.s.s. If you’d like to never miss a post, and/or receive more tips on cookie decorating, click on this purple RSS button at the top right of the site.
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!
Faigy says
Thanks Marian,
I have learnt so much from you. When you say you don’t prepare two consistencies of the same color, does that mean you don’t pipe then flood your icing. I’ll have to check out your videos – what are they called?
Thanks again – you’re awesome!
Paula says
Super helpful post and your cookies (all of them) are fantastic. Love the fish and the flip flops 🙂
Janeen Donati says
Hi there: Where did you get the whale cookie cutter. I am looking for one that sprays water!! THANKS!
Janeen Donati says
AND…. GREAT JOB! those cookies look fantastic! Truly adorable and so festive.. love them.
Marian says
@ Janeen Donati: The whale cutter is from a set Williams-Sonoma sold a few years ago, called Sea Shore cutters. Maybe check out ebay?
mis-cakes says
These are fantastic. I am not good with the decorating but you make it seem almost easy. Maybe one day I will have to break down and try. Seriously though your cookies are fabulous!
haniela says
This is a such wonderful post, thank you for putting it all together. Beautiful cookies as always.
shelly (cookies and cups) says
This is such a great post Marian! You cookies never cease to amaze me..and I agree with all the tips!
Pam says
Very appreciative of all these tips. The photos are fabulous!!!!
Viveca says
Hi Marian, I love your work!!!! You have a lot of creativity 🙂 Well, I live in Panama where we have 80% or more humidity all year round we have tropical weather which means a “dry” season and a rainy season, and even in the “dry” season rains 🙁
When I started decorating cookies I used to make RI (because that was what my teachers taught me to make; sorry I forgot to mention that I’m a Pastry Chef and studied in Argentina) and had those spot issues, but as time went I started disliking RI and after reading Cookie Crazie Pam’s blog I’ve tried her cookie’s glaze and I’m loving it (as McD’s commercials, jajaja). Anyways, to fight the humidity I have to bake my cookies a little longer so they can be crunchier than normal and don’t get soft too quickly. Even though the humidity issues, I bake my cookies in advance because I schedule to bake everything I have to in one day. Here in Panama we don’t have a/c in the kitchens and I don’t have a commercial kitchen yet, so I really don’t like to be getting heat every day; that’s why I bake everything in one day 🙂 I let the cookies cool just the time they need to and immediately I store them in an airtight container beetwen paper towel and wax paper layers and I also wrap the container in plastic wrap (just in case my airtight container is not that tight).
When is time to decorate the cookies (usually the next day) I move to a room with a/c ( I don’t have a dehumidifier but I use this function in the a/c and it helps a lot) I just take out the cookie I need to decorate, the others stay in the container and after I have like a full tray slightly dry I take them into the lower rack of the oven with the light on so they can dry quicker (without being exposed to the air) and so on it goes. That’s the way I store my gumpaste flowers so they don’t catch humidity and seems to also work with cookies. The only issue I have with this is that the glaze lose some of its shine 🙁
Sorry for the long post 😀
Thanks for all your tips 🙂
marian says
Oh my goodness! THANK YOU so much for your information!!! So thorough and helpful!! xo
Joanne says
Humidity in NY today is thick as pea soup and the 100+ cookies I iced with white icing with white food coloring added stayed perfectly white — not a spot in sight! YAY! I <3 white food coloring!!!! 😀
Pamela says
Thank you Marian for taking the time to put all this together.
As the (frustrated) creator of the purple poodles above, which was the first time I have ever experienced this problem, I have worked very hard to stop it from happening again.
I know you have pinpointed humidity as a major culprit, but this was clearly not the case with my biscuits, as it only happened with the purple poodles, and not the other colours. So, methinks, it had to have been the icing. Have since been super careful about how I make, colour and use the icing. This has been a good thing in so many ways, as it has made my icing (and so, my decorating) better overall. Here are my tips:
Shake the bottle of colouring first.
Make sure the royal icing is really well mixed.
Error on the side of slightly thick rather than thin icing.
If you are only adding a drop of colour, add a bit more and then lighten it with white. I have found that a decent dose of colour seems to stabilise the icing and give it ‘integrity’.
After adding the colour, mix it in really really well.
Make your icing using meringue powder, or a combination of egg white and meringue powder. Amazing stuff. Produces icing with a lovely consistency, holds colour beautifully, slower to separate, and gives a lovely sheen to the finished biscuit.
After applying some icing, whack the biscuits back in the oven with no heat but with the fan on. Dries the icing in super fast time.
After all that, I am still too scared to use Americolor purple and have used Wilton instead. Haven’t had a spotty problem since….
Pamela
marian says
Thanks so much for the information Pamela! xo
Princess Polkadot says
Good detective work! As soon as I find a GF cookie recipe that passes standards, I intend to get back to decorating and your site is a wealth of inspiration.
Another datapoint: I notice the spots happened less with the OLD paste colors that were really PASTE and not so much GEL. They were also much more intense. Though this may be as much a hydration issue as anything else.
I’ve also had it happen if I’m “stacking” racks to dry them on – lack of air circulation between them, maybe?
marian says
@ Princess Polkadot: Awesome feedback, thank you! I’m still trying to find a really great GF one too. Keep me posted 😉
WY says
stumbled upon your web site, I must say you have some really good idea & nice tutorial for beginners! As a professional, when it comes to coloring icing/fondants, I found gel/paste & powder pigments work the best. I also made the royal icing from egg white (since I seems to have endless egg white in the fridge!) and whip the royal icing again if it is pre-made the day ahead. In all my years w/ royal icing, I had never have any problem w/ icing spots. Hope this helps.. 🙂
Tiffany says
Your site amazing! I am going to attempt flooding cookies for my wedding : ) Can flooded cookies be frozen? I was wondering if I could decorate them let them set and then freeze them for a week.
I was also wondering if the sand dollar cookies were flooded or covered in fondant.
Thanks so much
Tiffany
marian says
Hi @ Tiffany: Congrats on your upcoming wedding!
The sand dollars are royal icing.
I don’t have a lot of experience with freezing cookies, so I wrote a post on it (check the tutorial section for post entitled ‘Freezing Decorated Cookies’). Check the comments for lots of valuable info. from readers.
All the best! xo
Gina@Bend Cookie Company says
Marian – I still struggle with spotting, especially with red & green icing…I use a modified buttercream, and when I called Americolor, they told me that colors like red are highly water soluble and need to be mixed and sit for a bit. I definitely think it is a mix of the fat and water fighting that causes this…maybe I should just get that dehumidifier!
marian says
Hi @ Gina@Bend Cookie Company! So interesting, thanks!
Donna Dolendo says
Oh I see. Now I understand why the cookies I made a year ago didn’t turned out great. spots were sprouting everywhere on my cookies the following day. I was so discouraged that i didn’t make it again not until last week I made cookies for my sister’s birthday but used fondant instead of royal icing. I live in a tropical country and it’s humid most of the time. 🙁 . Thank you for sharing your expertise I’m beginning to understand a little more about cookies and this craft. I just hope that I can make nice cookies like yours in the future. Again, Thank You and more power.
Cindy Mae says
I live in Houston, Texas which is mega humid and these are helpful tips. Thank you! 🙂
Ahmed says
Hello. I love your cookies, they are truly amazing. But i have a hard time finding the perfect sugar cookie recipe. Can you share your sugar cookie recipe that you used to create the cookies above? (Here’s the link to the picture)
https://sweetopia.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/spots-on-owl-cookies.jpg
https://sweetopia.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/blue-and-green-cookie_picnik.jpg
marian says
Sorry@ Ahmed! I didn’t see your comment until now! I used my sugar cookie recipe for both of those. It’s in my recipe section. Make sure you read the tutorial on preventing your cookies from spreading. All the best!
Ahmed says
Hey again! When you flood the cookies with royal icing you say to let them dry for 16-24 hours. During that time what do you do with the rest of the royal icing so it doesn’t dry out?
Also could you post s tutorial of you making sugar cookies, because everytime I make mine I do something wrong and they come out terrible. Thanks!
Marian (Sweetopia) says
HI @ Ahmed: Put the icing in containers with lids.
There are videos of me decorating cookies on my youtube channel, if you like. Click the yellow YouTube button on the top right of the site. xo
anna says
Marian, I love this post and have the spots in my icing more than I like and humidity is an issue here so thank you. Another question I have for you…where can I get the sailboat and fish cookie cutters? I love the and I’m doing a sea themed shower soon. Any input would be helpful! Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge!!!
marian says
Hi @ anna: I’m glad it helps!
I think I put a link to them in the previous comments, if you don’t mind scanning them please? xo
Jaclyn's Cookies says
I have had SO many problems with blotches on my icing. I live in Maryland, which is often humid, and my cookies are very buttery. I use a dehumidifier but still occasionally had spotting. Then, I switched from Wilton meringue powder to Henry and Henry and haven’t had a problem since! I wrote up all of my experiments in my blog: http://www.jaclynscookies.blogspot.com/2012/04/great-blotchy-royal-icing-mystery.html
But I’d say if you’re having trouble with spotting, blot your cookies with a paper towel to absorb excess grease, and try CK or Henry and Henry meringue powder.
Fabienne says
Thank you so much for your blog and your reactivity !
I’m gonna try your advises and see what happens ! Merci. Fab
marian says
Thanks so much for your input @ Jaclyn’s Cookies!
Good luck @ Fabienne!
Kimberly says
I love your sandcastle cookie. May I ask where you got the cookie cutter? I can’t seem to find one anywhere. Thanks.
maria gomez says
I love your cookies!!!
I like a lot your flip flop, How you color the royal icing red??
My color is always a little bit pink, your red is very nice!!!
And your navy color? What brand is?
Thanks
marian says
Hi @ Kimberly: It came from a set through Williams-Sonoma a few years ago. I think you can still find it on ebay or amazon.
@ maria gomez: Lots of ‘Americolor Super Red’ coloring! If you want to see a similar way to how I color my white icing red, please see the tutorial section for the post, “How to color your icing black”.
For the navy, Americolor.
Hope that helps!
Ahmed says
Hi,I made royal icing but it turned out like a glaze. I used 3 egg whites and 5 cups of confectioners sugar. I beat the egg whites till frothy then mixed in the sugar at low speed 2 cups at a time. It came out like a glaze. Please help me. Tell me what I did wrong and how to fix it. Thank you.
Sheri B says
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I’ve been decorating sugar cookies for about 10 years. I have always used Wilton coloring without a problem. I used Americolor once for wedding cookies and when the base coat dried, I had to throw out 3/4 of the cookies. It looked like water marks all over the cookies. It was in the Spring, so humidity wasn’t a factor. Tried again, same thing. Went back to Wilton and the color dried perfectly.
marian says
Hi @ Ahmed: It depends on the recipe you use. I can only speak about the recipe I use, which is in the recipe section of the blog. It works for me, if you’d like to try it too.
@ Sheri B: Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
Jill says
I love your cookies and videos! Do you have any photos or a video of how you made the sailboat cookies? I am trying to make some for my sister-in-law’s baby shower. Thanks!
marian says
Hi @ Jill: I’m sorry I don’t, but if you look at the videos these ones will help:
1) icing consistency video (10 second rule)
2) outlining and flooding
All I did was start with the blue boat and mast and did the little boat ‘windows’ right away (wet on wet, like the marbling video), let that set for about 15 minutes, and then added the sails and flag.
Hope that helps! Have fun!
Janice says
Marian, I love these summer cookies, they make me smile 🙂
I live in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), well, technically just on the fringe of the GTA – we have had a very hot and humid summer to date. I have not yet had this issue with spots – I have a portable air conditioner which helps. I also am in the habit of following most of the tips you have suggested here. I can’t leave my cookies drying on the table or counter top – my sister-in-law suggested pizza boxes. She lives in high heat and humidity in Miami and she also does cookies. I gave it a try and I’m so happy I did! I think one of the most important factors is air – they need air to dry, in the boxes (or any corrugated cardboard box with a lid) they get air and they are protected at the same time.
I haven’t tried Antonia’s RI recipe yet but I think I will give it a try.
I have many cookies to make this month for a family reunion coming up on Sept. 1st – I will be extra vigilant to guard against spots since August is promising to be hot and humid just like July was!
karen says
Hi Marian, I have been having an issue with my RI this summer – not so much spots, but the icing wont dry! The plain white will dry – after a few days, but the colored will not dry – I’ve had them in a room with the A C running and still not drying after almost a week. Any suggestions? Thanks!
marian says
Super, super tips, @ Janice! Thank you!
@ karen: A dehumidifier will help as well, and perhaps a low drying fan on them (see Janice’s comment above yours). Hope that helps. xo
Marianne says
I was so excited to make the baby shower elephant cookies you have on the site. The cookie dough was too sticky so I added flour. The icing was too thick so I added water. I was so pleased at how easy it was to apply the icing to the cookie. To my dismay this morning, the legs and backs of the poor elephants were spotted/saturated…every single one of them. I read many of your tips, but I missed this one 🙁 It has been especially humid here in San Diego…or maybe I didn’t cook the cookies long enough.
Anyhow, my question is if I apply luster dust in a similar blue color to them, do you think it will cover up those spots?
marian says
HI @ Marianne: I’m sorry to hear that!
That’s one of my best solutions, to try and cover with luster dust on those spots, but make sure the icing is completely dry. Another solution is to do another layer of icing, but letting it dry in a room with air conditioning and a de-humidifier.
Hope that helps!
Marianne says
@ marian:
Thanks for responding so quickly! I was hoping that might be a good improvisation. Your other suggestion is great…I did “taste test” one of (…maybe 3) of the cookies and it could use another layer of icing. Thanks for your fabulous site and for the beautiful eye candy. I will definitely try this whole process again. -From a satisfied first-timer
marian says
Wonderful to hear @ Marianne! Cookie decorating can become kind of addicting, especially when you see the recipients reactions. Please feel free to come back any time if you have questions etc. xo