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Cookies, perfect for decorating... |
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My favorite Recipe to use for these
projects are my
Creative Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe Comes with a Safe Royal
Icing and a Simple Fondant Glaze Recipes
OTHERS
Finishing Touches:
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Finishing cookies doesn’t have to be a
complicated task. Cookies can
instantly turn from plain to decorated, but it does take practice and time.
HOW TO START:
1. Pick a recipe that makes has little leavening and makes a flat
cookie instead of a puffy one. They decorate much more easily and look better. I
have selected some recipes to the left.
2. Next,
cut out and bake your cookies. Let them
cool thoroughly on a wire cake rack before mixing the colors and frosting. Don't
mix too much in advance because the icing will crust or dry out. (Crusting is a
thin layer of icing that hardens on top. It can be difficult to remove. If you
stir even a small amount into the icing, you ruin it.)
3. When cookies have cooled, mix cookie icing - First separate icing into small
bowls before coloring.
You may need larger or smaller amounts depending on the color being used. Cover
immediately with a damp paper towel as they can dry quickly. Leave some white in
case you need to correct a color.
(How to tint icing).
 For
small, quick piping jobs, when you don't want to dig out the
pastry bags,
parchment
cones or use a small zipper top
plastic bag. Even a
squeeze bottle can be used.
If using a plastic
bag, fill halfway with icing, remove excess air, seal the top and snip off a
tiny bit of one corner. You're now ready to pipe away! For a large amount of
cookies, a
pastry bag
is best. |
5. For piping decorations, you can small
parchment cones for
each color, fitted with a decorating tip or use a squeeze bottle with the tip
cut-off.
Fill parchment cone about half full. Set each
one in a tall drinking glass
for each of the colors you are using and keep within reach. First put a damp
piece of paper towel in the bottom of each and then put your parchment cones in
the glasses with the tips resting on the paper towel to keep them from drying
out and clogging the opening! If you are using buttercream, you really don't
need to do this, but I do anyway.
6. You are now ready to decorate.
ICINGS: I
have several different kinds of icing that I use frequently for decorating. See
also
Creative
Cut-Out Sugar Cookie Recipe Comes with a Safe Royal Icing and a
Simple Fondant Glaze Recipes
| 1.
MY FAVORITE >>
Toba Garrett's Glace Icing:
Toba was my cake and cookie decorating instructor. Her work is
fabulous and I always like to use her recipes. This one dries as smooth as
a sheet. Check out Toba's indispensable, step-by-step book:
Cookie Decorating: Delicious
Decorating for Any Occasion.
2.
Meringue Powder Buttercream:
It is a cross between royal icing and regular buttercream. You need to
make sure it is dried thoroughly in between glazes or colors before adding
the detail work, otherwise the colors will bleed. Cookies decorated with
it are not easily stackable after they have thoroughly dried, and is not a
good choice for shipping.
3.
Royal
icing:
is probably the most popular icing that cookie decorators use
and can also be made into a glaze. It is preferable because it holds up
very well if the cookies need to be stacked, shipped, stored, etc.
However, if cookies have piped flowers or other raised designs on them,
they tend to snap off so store or ship in one layer only with plenty of
cushioning. Royal icing works great for very fine detail work.
4. Dry Fondant
Icing: This is a dry powder that you just add water to, and it
can be purchased at cake decorating stores. It is
very easy to use, and tastes great. It works great as a glaze, but if you
would like very fine detail work, you'll need to mix up some royal icing.
Also, fondant covered cookies don't freeze well.
5.
Simple Powdered Sugar Glaze:
It can't be used for detail work, but works well as a simple glaze.
Cookies covered in this glaze do not stack well. |
1.
Sugar:
The most basic way to finish a cookie is with
sugar,
which gives it a sweetened coating and a crunch, depending on the type used.
It can be applied before baking
such as large grained sugar, called “coarse grained” sanding sugar, my personal
favorite or some cookies call to be rolled in powdered or granulated sugar right
after baking to help the sugar adhere. Additional flavor can be added to a
simple cookie by rolling in
flavored sugar.
You can even
color
sugar.
 Q:
Can I use cookies as ornaments for Christmas decorations?
A: Of course!
One year, my kids and I baked all sorts of cut-out sugar cookies and
decorated them. We hung them with brightly colored satin ribbon, all over
the Christmas tree, including the actual cookie cutters. They added a
shimmer from the reflection of the lights. It was so beautiful! The only
drawback was that our two dogs ate all of the cookie ornaments that they
could reach that were hanging around the bottom of the tree -- oh, well!!
Here are some tips: Select a firm cookie recipe, such as
sugar or
gingerbread. (You can even use premade cookie dough from the grocery
store!). After cutting out the cookie dough with cookie cutters, use a straw
to make a hole near the top of the cookie.
When the unbaked cookie is on the baking sheet, cut the
hole with a drinking straw where you are going to thread a ribbon. Make sure
it is punched all the way through and is large enough, as during baking, the
hole will close slightly as the dough expands. Also, don't place the hole
too close to the edge, as it could crack when trying to put a ribbon
through. As soon as the cookies are out of the oven, "re-cut" the holes with
the straw again. When cool,
decorate and let dry. Thread with ribbon and hang. |
To help the sugar stick before baking, brush each
cookie with beaten egg white with a pastry brush, top with a light coating of
sugar and bake.
2. Color:
a little of the cookie dough with food coloring and pipe onto cut out cookies.
However, after baking, your coloring will not be as intense after it is baked.
3. Stained Glass:
Cut rolled cookie dough into desired shapes about
1/4" thick. Cut out a design in the cookie with a cookie cutter or the tip of a
sharp knife, leaving a border of about 1/2" or a little more. Place cookies on
foil lined cookie sheets and carefully spoon ground hard candies into the
spaces, filling to same thickness as the cookie. Bake until candy is melted and
cookies are slightly browned. Slide foil with cookies to wire cake rack to cool
thoroughly before removing.
4. Fruit and Nuts:
Press a whole nut or half of a candied cherry before baking, adding flavor as
well as a nice festive color. Macaroons and
Spritz cookies are often finished this
way.
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You
can add
color
to cookie dough, but you will get a pastel colored cookie. Choose a light
colored dough, and add a small amount of paste color at a time to the then
dough when almost mixed. Don't over-knead the dough in the process.
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5. Different Shapes:
Sometimes finishing a cookie is as
simple as shaping it in a different way.
Rolled cookie dough
can be cut-out with cookie cutters in
every imaginable way.
6.
Cookie Presses: stiff and buttery
cookie dough, used when making
Spritz
cookies
is pressed through metal or plastic templates into
bite size and differently shaped cookies.
7.
Cookie Stamps and Molds: A ball of
dough is pressed into a mold with an image. The
best dough
recipe to use with these stamps are ones with little or no
leavening, so it won't puff, losing the image stamped on its surface.
8. Cookies on a Stick:
Rolled and cut out (sugar cookies) or drop cookies (chocolate chip, etc.) can be
baked on a stick, such as
Bouquet of Cookies On a Stick & Heart Pops.
If making rolled, roll them out about 1/2 inch. You'll also want to choose a
cookie recipe that will not spread too much when it bakes, or your cookies will
be too thin to stay on their sticks. To control the spread of your cookies, take
these steps:
 | Use vegetable shortening rather than butter in
your recipe. Do not use margarine. |
| Refrigerate the cookie dough before shaping
and again before baking. |
| Do not grease the cookie sheets so the cookies
won't spreaqd. Use parchment paper, or an ungreased cookie sheet instead.
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Make sure that the sticks
used in your cookie recipe are long enough for the purposes of your bouquet.
Always put the sticks in BEFORE baking. Gently push the
sticks or skewers far enough into the cookie so they will stay firmly planted
and are covered in dough. Don't wiggle them as you do because you will enlarge
the holes. Press extra dough on top of the cookie stick before baking.
Right after I place the stick, I prop the end of it so they
stay parallel to the cookie sheet. I make a ball of aluminum foil, and flatten
one side by pressing it into the countertop. I then make an indentation across
the top with a stick I'm not using, where I will lay the end of the stick used
in my cookie dough.
Watch the baking time carefully - if you've made
large cookies, the baking time will increase by 5 to 10 minutes, but every
cookie is different so watch carefully. Remove the cookies from the pan with a
spatula; don't handle them by their sticks until they're completely cool.
Now, you can proceed to the
fun part, decorating!
When each and every cute cookie is decorated and dry, wrap
them. Fit a plastic bag or a sheet of plastic wrap over each one and tie it shut
with a colorful ribbon! Use several different colors, and get the kind you can
curl so they cascade down from each cookie.
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