Basic Icing Tutorial

I've had quite a few requests the last two weeks for a tutorial on how to use glaze icing for cookies. Please keep in mind that this is not the only way to go about glazing, it's just my way of glazing.

What you'll need:

Powdered Sugar

Water

Lemon Juice (IF you are using lemon flavoring)

Light Corn Syrup

Flavoring

Coloring

Coupler

Icing Tip #2, #3, #5

Disposable Icing Bags

Squeeze Bottles (optional)

Popsicle Sticks/Toothpicks

Sorry, I forgot to put everything in the picture. I realized that after I was elbow deep in sticky icing. 

So I’ll own up. I’m a bit of a junkie. My husband teases me about my cache of decorating materials on almost a daily basis. But hey, every girl needs an outlet, right? 

I keep all of my materials, popsicle sticks, cutters, sprinkles, muffin cups, couplers, food coloring, you name it, in my "decorating drawer." And the rest either goes into the cupboard with the vanilla and baking soda and stuff, or into my decorating tackle box.

You read right. Tackle Box.

Now that we have successfully established that I'm a nut, we can start the tutorial :)

We're going to use my Glaze Icing Recipe from the Lemonade Cookies for this. Now, like I mentioned above, if you aren't using lemon flavoring then replace the lemon juice with more water, or milk.

Glaze Icing Recipe

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1 lb powdered sugar (about 4 cups)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

1/2 teaspoon extract or baking emulsion

Mix together in a medium mixing bowl. Make sure you use a whisk to mix the ingredients together, or you'll be stuck with lumpy icing. Yuck. 

Add either powdered sugar or water until your icing fits the "10 second rule." Dip your finger into to bowl and make a peak. It should take 10 seconds to even out with the rest of the icing. If it takes longer, add water. If it is shorter, add more powdered sugar. Use the same consistency both for detailing and flooding.

Next, when you are adding food coloring, a little goes a loooong way. Especially if you are using Wilton's gel coloring, or AmeriColor's soft gel paste. Start out with just one drop or dip into the pot with a posicle stick and see what that does. It's a lot easier to darken your icing than it is to lighten.

Once you've got the color to your liking, set up a piping bag with a coupler and a tip. Fill it with white icing (or whatever outline color you want.) Then fill either a squeeze bottle or another piping bag (with tip #5) with your flooding color. I like the squeeze bottles because they're a lot less messy, and they have a tip that works great for both flooding and outlining. Also, I use bag clips to close up my bags so I don't leak out of the tops. 

Once you've got your icing all set up, I definitely recommend getting your mixing bowls into the sink to soak. You don't want to go back 2 hours later to wash your bowls and have to fight with them.

Step One: Set out your cookies.

Make sure you have plenty of counter space, and space between your cookies.

Step Two: Outline

For new decorators I wouldn't recommend trying to work more than two cookies at a time until you get the hang of it. Even for experienced decorators, it's best to do tops 5 cookies at a time.

I wanted my cookie to be all blue, so I didn't outline in white. The steps are the same for outlining in a different color.

Step Three: Flood

When you're flooding your cookie, don't worry about getting it perfect and smooth at first. You'll spread it all out so all you need to do is put some lines of icing to start. 

Wait about 30 seconds if you want your border and flood icing to blend. If not, wait closer to 5 minutes. You can either use toothpicks to spread the icing around, or use the tip of your bag or bottle. Make sure you wipe off the tips after each cookie.

Once you have spread the icing around let it sit about 30 seconds and then pop any bubbles that rise to the surface with a toothpick.

Step Four: Detail

If you want nice smooth details on your cookie, you want to add them while the flood icing is still wet. Using your detail color, and the smallest tip you have (the icing will spread a lot), add your details.

They'll start off a little raised and gradually even out with the rest of the icing.

Make sure you let the cookies dry for at least 8 hours, if not overnight, before you stack them.

Lemonade Cookies

1) I LOVE decorating cookies 2) My camera is crummy, please forgive me 3) I think I found the perfect summer cookie, and I want to share!

Lemonade Cookies. 

Yes, they are as amazing as they sound! The cookie is a lemon-poppy seed shortbread cookie from http://sweetsugarbelle.blogspot.com  and I used a lemon glaze icing for most of the cookies, and the rest I topped with a sugar-lemon peel mix. These are light with just the right amount of crisp, and even with the sweeter more lemonier (is that even a word?) glaze on top are still just right!

                                                         ~

SweetSugarBelle's Lemon Poppy Seed Cut-Outs

 *Preheat oven to 400° *

1c unsalted butter

1 ½ c confectioner's sugar

1 egg

2 tsp lemon baker’s emulsion (I LOVE baker's emulsion)

1 tsp vanilla

2 ¾-3 c all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp salt

2 tsp poppy seeds

Cream together butter and confectioner's sugar.  Add to this the egg and flavorings.  Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt, adding this mixture one cupful at a time to the wet ingredients.  Mix until the dough forms a ball on the paddle.  Roll out on floured parchment paper and cut into desired shapes.  Bake at 400° for 7-8 minutes.

                                                    ~

So this is what your dough should look like before you 

roll it out, and yes, it will still be very soft dough

Roll it out thin, but not too thin or they'll  get too cripsy

Be careful not too over bake or they'll be reeeally crispy. See the browned edges on the next picture? Those are a little too done.

Like I said, you can bake them with a little sugar and lemon peel on top, and they are just addictive! I've eaten about six of them so far!

But, if you want to play the game like me, you can ice them up all pretty :)

So I've tried using royal icing, and it is not good. But I switched to using a glaze and I love it. A lot. It tastes great, and you still have plenty of creative freedom! 

Because these are lemonade cookies, I tweaked my glaze recipe to give it a little POP!

Glaze Icing

1/4 cup corn syrup

1 lb powdered sugar

1/4 cup water *

flavorings and colors

*For the POP! I mentioned, fill your 1/4 cup measuring cup half full with lemon juice, and then fill the rest with water. Perfect!

(Also, that baker's emulsion in the recipe above? Yes, it pretty much is just a fancy flavoring. All it is is a flavoring with no alcohol, so that the flavor stays strong even through baking, which tends to dull flavors. It's used exactly the same way and in the same amounts as you would regular extracts. Find some here: http://www.karenscookies.net/Flavorings-and-Extracts_c_93.html )

Anyhow. When it comes to decorating with a glaze, it's important not to get it too thin or it'll run right off the cookies, and not to thick or your hand will cramp real quick. So follow the 10 second rule (stick your finger in, make a peak, and it should smooth out in 10 seconds,) and use the same icing for the detail and flooding.

I promise, the yellow isn't mustard yellow

Don't flood right to the edge or it will definitely spill right over.

Just add what you think is enough and then spread it around gently.  

I like the squeeze bottles for lining and flooding- they're way easier to clean! So line the cookie, let it sit maybe 25 seconds and flood immediately so you have a nice smooth surface. I use the tip of the squeeze bottle to move the icing around so that if I do need more icing, it's there in my hand already. Toothpicks are a great option too, for both moving around the flood icing, and popping bubbles. 

One more great reason to use (or convert to) glaze is that it is SO much more forgiving than RI is! For instance. I waited a little too long to add some details and they started to dry all raised and not smooth and pretty like I wanted. My quick fix is to turn your oven on to the lowest temperature it's got (mine is "warm") and set your cookies in there just until they smooth out. Or you'll end up with this:

See how it lost it's shine? 

Instead of this:

Definitely shiny.

I don't know what you think, but these just scream summer to me!

Perfect Marshmallow Popcorn

So I can't even begin to describe the deep devoted love I have for popcorn. I mean seriously. I watch a movie, popcorn is there. I study for an hour, popcorn again. Driving longer than 30 minutes, popcorn. It's become more of an addiction really...

Well, a few years back my sister and I came up with this recipe, which resulted in me always having a bag of marshmallows on hand. Which leads me to my first delightful recipe posting.

Perfect Marshmallow Popcorn
          and I mean seriously perfect

1/3 C popcorn kernels, air-popped
1/2 bag of marshmallows ( I like to use the big Jet-Puffs)
2-3 T of salted butter
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch of salt


You can use microwavable popcorn, but it takes almost two bags to get enough to work with, and is usually pretty salty. I like to use an air-popper, though, I can make just as much as I want, and they make for a healthier alternative (when not smothered in marshmallow). While you wait for the popper to do it's job into a large mixing bowl, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it's melted and bubbly, add the half bag of marshmallows. Stir a bit to coat the mallows in butter to keep them from sticking to your pan. Continue to stir off and on until they're all melted down and smooth. Once it starts to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add your vanilla and salt. The vanilla will turn it a lovely golden color. Now with your popcorn in a large bowl, pour the marshmallow mix over. I like to pour half, stir to coat and then add the second half. Not only does that decrease the amount of precious kernels lost, but it also helps me not to burn my fingers.