This Saturday is Halloween, and I can't think of a better way to spend the afternoon than by making spooky cookies! Your kids will have a great time, and the trick-or-treaters will thank you!
Sidenote: Michael's craft store has all their Halloween cookie decorating supplies marked down by 50%!
What you need
• Sprinkles
• Icing Bags
• Icing Tips - #2 & #7
Royal Icing Recipe
Ingredients
• 2lb bag confectioner's sugar
• 11 tbsp egg beaters
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Food coloring
Pro tip: Royal icing hardens as it is exposed to air, so it is very important to have your workspace set and ready to go before you begin! To do this, I went ahead and got my icing bags in place -- the best thing to do is set them in a tall glass -- then use chip clips to close the top.
1. With your mixer, combine the confectioner's sugar and egg whites. You'll mix this on a low speed for 3 - 4 minutes. It starts out really thick and then eventually smooths out to an almost glue like consistency.
2. Add your vanilla and mix for a minute more. With the incorporation of air, your icing will start to get whiter.
3. Once everything is combined, it's time to add the food coloring. If you are decorating with only one color, you can add the coloring straight to the bowl. If you want to use multiple colors, now is the time to start divvying it out. I worked with only one color so I used about 1/2 tsp of black gel to my one bowl of icing.
4. It's time to separate our icing into "border" and "fill" bowls. Just like their names imply, the border icing is a littler thicker and goes along the edge of the cookie, fill icing is thinner and fills in the rest. We'll use about 1/3 of our batch as "border," so move that to a smaller bowl.
5. To get the icing consistencies right, we add a little water. To the small bowl of your "border" icing add 1/4 tsp of water -- until it falls in heavy globs off the spoon. To the large bowl of your flood icing, add 1/2 - 1 tsp of water. This one will flow in a steady stream off the spoon. If for any of these you feel like you added too much water, just add a little more sugar to get it back to the consistency you need.
6. Fill your icing bags. The fill icing goes with the larger #7 icing tip, and the border icing goes with the smaller #2 icing tip.
Cookie Decorating
This is my favorite part! Using wax paper, set up your workspace and lay out all the cookies. Keep your icings nearby and make sure the sprinkles are ready to go.
1. Using the border icing and the smaller icing tip, carefully outline the cookie. I like to outline four at a time, and then go back and do the fill.
2. Use your fill icing, and fill in the rest! This may get a little messy, that's ok! you can guide it around the cookie with the icing tip.
3. While the icing is still wet, add your sprinkles!
4. Allow your cookies to dry for a few hours before moving into treat bags or containers.
You did it! You just decorated cookies with royal icing! So easy right? It does require a little extra time, and you will probably have a little bit of a mess afterwards, BUT the end product is worth it.
I'd love to see what you made! Tell me in the comments!
xoxo Sallie
No comments