Decorated Cookies

[JeanneCake]

I made some decorated cookies for a client's baby shower - they were 3x4" onesies iced in white glace icing with pink or blue dots and a Welcome Baby message on some. After 10 hours, although dry to the touch, the flood icing didn't dry enough so when I stacked some of the cookies, the white areas got dented and marred the look. (this is a plain sugar cookie that I bake in the convection oven - keeps its edge better than when I do it in the conventional ovens - I roll it about 1/3 to 1/4 inch thick)

So now I'm on a hunt for icing I can use to flood a decorated cookie that has a bit of a sheen to it rather than a flat (matte) look and will dry quickly enough so I can pack them soon after (3-4 hours maybe?) icing the cookies. Something along the idea of the cookies that you'd see at Eleni's New York or Rolling Pin Productions is what I'm after.

The icing I've been using is from Toba Garrett's cookie book (Glace Icing) and calls for: 1# confectioner's sugar, 90 ml water or milk (I use water), 126 gm light corn syrup, flavoring of choice. You mix the water/milk with the sugar until competely blended, then add the corn syrup. For outlining the cookie, you add more sugar until the icing is stiff then use a #2 tip to outline the cookie. You use the straight icing to flood the outline. I like this icing well enough, except it just takes forever to dry. Even the extras I made - after 18 hours - aren't thoroughly dry. Am I just not giving it enough time?

Any ideas? Tips? Suggestions?

[chefpeon]

You can do "flooding" or "runout" work with royal icing and it will dry REALLY fast.

You use basically the same principles......use a thicker royal icing for the outlines, and

then thin it down with more egg white for the flooding part. If you're squeamish about

using real egg whites (referring to that other thread), then you can use meringue powder

to make your royal icing, then thin it down with water for the flooding.

Now the drawback with royal icing as we all know is that it just ain't that tasty. That's why I use white chocolate to decorate my cookies. It sets fast, it tastes good, and it's easy to work with.

The drawback to white chocolate of course, is cost, but I think it's worth it. That's my personal

preference, anyway.

Also, you might just want to tweak the Glace Icing recipe you are already using. Try leaving the corn syrup out of it.......that's what is increasing your setting time. Anything with corn syrup in it

is always going to stay somewhat soft.

[JSkilling]

These cookies that I just did with the same glaze have a beautiful sheen but will never be as hard as my royal icing. I love working with it but the corn syrup really does make it too soft for storage. I dented my cookies in propping them for this photo shoot.

I like to flavor either Toba's glaze or my royal icing with almond and the comments I get EVERY single time someone eats one of my cookies is " Oh-my-God!" I think that's the key to getting more flavor out of the icing. On it's own, it's eh. I've added small amounts of corn syrup to the royal icing and I think it helps to maintain a more soft interior but a firm outside layer (thanks, Keith!)

I dusted my snowflakes at Christmas time with luster dust and that added some sheen on top of the matte royal icing and I thought that was a nice compromise. The shiny glaze will be used only if the cookies are being iced, dried and served in the same time frame!

Anne, do you just dip yours in tempered white chocolate and then do your designs in royal icing? I love chocolate covered cookies but they, to me, are a different cookie entirely and stand on their own.

[chefpeon]

Anne, do you just dip yours in tempered white chocolate and then do your designs in royal icing? I love chocolate covered cookies but they, to me, are a different cookie entirely and stand on their own.

When I dip my cookies in white chocolate I don't bother to temper it......no time. I dip and decorate DOZENS at a time. I do all the decorating with white chocolate too....and I color

it with powdered color. My favorite white chocolate for dipping and decorating is Felchlin

White Chocolate Rondo.

[JSkilling]

So do you dip the whole cookie or just the front? How do you store them if they are not tempered? Keep them cold? You know what I love (little kid at heart that I am) white chocolate dipped cookies with those multi colored non-pareils on them. Love the little crunch! And I love even better, sugar cookies dipped in a red mint glaze and then dipped in dark chocolate and covered with multi-colored non-pareils.

[Patrick S]

Josette, your cookies look great. I love the shine of the icing.

[JSkilling]

Thanks, Patrick, but Jeanne hit the nail on the head with this icing. On mine 24 hrs later and they are still not dry enough to stack. But that shine is glorious!

[chefpeon]

Jeanne hit the nail on the head with this icing. On mine 24 hrs later and they are still not dry enough to stack. But that shine is glorious!

Dang it! Why can't we have it all.....yummy icing, beautiful shine, reasonable cost, quick drying, easy to use......why why why? Sigh.

So do you dip the whole cookie or just the front? How do you store them if they are not tempered? Keep them cold?

I only put the cookies in the fridge for a bit to set them faster. Once they are set, they stay set at room temp....tempered or not.....that's what I love about the white chocolate. In regard to how I dip them....I just dip the front, shake off the excess, then put on parchment lined sheet pans to set. Then I decorate with different colors of white chocolate in piping bags. OR, I do the "runout" method like you do with royal icing.....except with the white chocolate.

But, man, to tell you all the honest truth, I'm SO burned out on cookie decorating! That in itself is what made my carpal tunnel problem become downright unbearable. I think I have decorated thousands upon thousands of dozens of cookies in my PC career.........ugh. Valentines, Halloween, and Xmas are the hardest times of the year in that regard.

The first couple dozen you decorate are fun.....after that, it's just a huge pain in the ass.

Edited February 2, 2005 by chefpeon (log)

[JSkilling]

Because we cannot have it all - we'd have nothing left to bitch about....

Yikes! And I'm thinking about doing these as favors for weddings. I must just be a glutton for punishment...

Ok, so back to real questions. Now when you do runout with the white chocolate do you just get it thicker to use to outline and then thin it out for the fill? I was thinking that if I wanted to mold something on top of the cookies I'd do it in white chocolate since that would be better to pop into your mouth that a hunk of fondant.

[JeanneCake]

Hmm... I never thought of straight white choc for dipping/icing cookies - and I like this idea a whole lot better than dealing with the glace icing. I was wondering about adding some melted white choc to the glace icing as I was working with it (the dots and writing were colored wh choc).

So, Anne, do you add any glucose or corn syrup to the choc or just use it straight? (I like to add corn syrup to my ganache when I use it as a glaze to help the shine last a little longer, I wonder if I should add any to the wh choc for the cookies...) Do you ever outline first (Josette's cookies have a contrasting outline on some which I thought was a nice touch!) or just dip and go?

At least now when the Swiss Chalet rep calls, I can order something without putting him off (WHY would I want to buy caramel paste when I can have my own caramel sauce ready in about 10 mins???). He's such a nice guy, too! And I did tell him not to bother about sending me a sample of the writing chocolate, as soon as someone mentioned it had peanut oil in it, I said forget it.

Josette, those are terrific looking cookies!

[JSkilling]

Thank you, Jeanne! Knowing your gorgeous work, that's a nice compliment....

Our local Starbucks has some snowflakes that look like they are dipped in white chocolate and they've had some red hearts as well. So here I am craning my neck around to get a better view of the back of the stacks to see what they've done to theirs. Maybe I just should have sprung for the $1.75 to see what they did. Which, by the way I think is cheap for these cookies....

One of the things I truly like about the glacé icing is that it's got a translucency to it so for the outline it really does look good. I'm not usually one for a different color outline to the cookie but I did like it quite a bit in this red/white combination.

[chefpeon]

Ok, so back to real questions. Now when you do runout with the white chocolate do you just get it thicker to use to outline and then thin it out for the fill?

No need to worry about thick/thin with the white chocolate, which is another reason I like using it.

You just make your outline, let it set, then make sure your chocolate is warm and fluid and fill your spaces in. This is why I like the Felchlin White Chocolate Rondo so much.....it's very fluid.

Some white chocolate is not fluid at ALL. Some people might get frustrated with white chocolate for cookie decorating.....but I've done it that way for so long it's second nature to me.

So, Anne, do you add any glucose or corn syrup to the choc or just use it straight?

No, I don't add any glucose or corn syrup to the white chocolate....that would seize it. If I add anything, I add oil or cocoa butter to thin it down to the right consistency if I need to.

I was wondering about adding some melted white choc to the glace icing as I was working with it

If you did that, wouldn't the chocolate lump up? That's what I would think it would do....but

maybe not. Haven't tried anything like that.

[Wendy DeBord]

You can use purchased (or make it yourself) fondant. Not rolling fondant, dipping fondant, the type you use on napoleons. It drys hard/firm and it has great shine. You can also flavor it.

[bkeith]

I like to flavor either Toba's glaze or my royal icing with almond and the comments I get EVERY single time someone eats one of my cookies is " Oh-my-God!"  I think that's the key to getting more flavor out of the icing.  On it's own, it's eh.  I've added small amounts of corn syrup to the royal icing and I think it helps to maintain a more soft interior but a firm outside layer (thanks, Keith!)

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You beat me to it. That's what I'd suggest. Use straight royal icing to pipe the borders, then thin the royal with corn syrup to flood consistency to fill in. For better sheen, set the cookies under a gooseneck lamp (or heat lamp) for 10 minutes or so to set the icing surface. The icing will dry fairly quickly to let you stack/store the cookies, but will remain chewy underneath so it doesn't shatter when you eat the cookie.

To avoid the two steps of piping a border then flooding, I'll sometimes just dip the face of the cookie in royal thinned with corn syrup and clean the edges with my finger.

Another option if you don't mind forgoing some of the shine is rolled fondant. While the cookies are baking, roll some fondant fairly thin, and cut it with the same cutter you use for the cookie. When the cookies come out of the oven, place the rolled fondant shapes directly onto the hot cookies. The heat will melt the back of the fondant a touch and make it adhere, avoiding the need to glue it onto a cool cookie later. Gives a good working surface with little fuss. I haven't tried it, but I bet it would work with modeling chocolate too.

[Rosalile]

These are wonderful ideas - royal icing is by far the best way to go - just be careful not to let it harden before applying.

I like to flavor either Toba's glaze or my royal icing with almond and the comments I get EVERY single time someone eats one of my cookies is " Oh-my-God!"  I think that's the key to getting more flavor out of the icing.  On it's own, it's eh.  I've added small amounts of corn syrup to the royal icing and I think it helps to maintain a more soft interior but a firm outside layer (thanks, Keith!)

←

You beat me to it. That's what I'd suggest. Use straight royal icing to pipe the borders, then thin the royal with corn syrup to flood consistency to fill in. For better sheen, set the cookies under a gooseneck lamp (or heat lamp) for 10 minutes or so to set the icing surface. The icing will dry fairly quickly to let you stack/store the cookies, but will remain chewy underneath so it doesn't shatter when you eat the cookie.

To avoid the two steps of piping a border then flooding, I'll sometimes just dip the face of the cookie in royal thinned with corn syrup and clean the edges with my finger.

Another option if you don't mind forgoing some of the shine is rolled fondant. While the cookies are baking, roll some fondant fairly thin, and cut it with the same cutter you use for the cookie. When the cookies come out of the oven, place the rolled fondant shapes directly onto the hot cookies. The heat will melt the back of the fondant a touch and make it adhere, avoiding the need to glue it onto a cool cookie later. Gives a good working surface with little fuss. I haven't tried it, but I bet it would work with modeling chocolate too.

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