Royal Icing
Royal icing makes wonderful candy decorations for cookies (and cakes for that matter) and with a bit of time, and a large work space you can make enough icing toppings to last 6 months or so! The icing recipe I use is found here
and the instructions are quite clear, the only thing to remember is when making decorations the icing should be firm and when "flowing" items it should disappear in itself within 10 seconds. Using basic icing tips you can easily make springtime decorations like the ones Danielle and I worked on this afternoon:
Royal icing makes wonderful candy decorations for cookies (and cakes for that matter) and with a bit of time, and a large work space you can make enough icing toppings to last 6 months or so! The icing recipe I use is found here
and the instructions are quite clear, the only thing to remember is when making decorations the icing should be firm and when "flowing" items it should disappear in itself within 10 seconds. Using basic icing tips you can easily make springtime decorations like the ones Danielle and I worked on this afternoon:
After making the decorations I thinned out the icing to "flow" consistency and put them in my squeeze bottles for easy-flow technique. I will post the actual cookie decorations when they get completed...ClIfHangEr...
Rolled Fondant
Rolled fondant is another wonderful tool for cookies and cakes, and as Danielle says, "by itself"! But, don't be fooled by the Wilton* Brand...it tastes like rubbery-plastic, no joke, DON'T waste your money on that stuff. Okay, now that the lecture is out of the way, I spent an entire class in Pastry School making fondant with items such as glucose, glycerin, specialty sugars and such...
but here it the true professionals trick of the trade...
Marshmallow Fondant!!!!! Jah , jahbetcha! You heard right...no need for a trip to the specialty shops, no need to special order a bunch of items, this is the recipe you will find no wrong with! (and about 1/10 the price of my Pastry-school-fondant!
Marshmallow Fondant
13.5 oz mini marshmallows
3Tbs water
2 capfulls of almond flavoring (yes that un-professional CAPful)
almost 2lb. of confectioner's sugar
Melt the marshmallows and water in the microwave for 1minute 20seconds, stir and add flavoring. (if your whole batch will be colored do it now, to save precious kneading time later!)
Pour 1/2 a 2lb. (that is 1 lb.) bag of confectioner's sugar into a well crisco-ed stand mixing bowl. Make a well and add the marshmallow, water, flavoring mixture. Mix with the dough hook on low until combined adding sugar as needed until the ball pulls away from the sided of the bowl and is no longer sticky or crumbly. (if you made a boo-boo and added too much sugar at once just add teaspoons of water at a time to get the proper consistency)
Take fondant ball from mixing bowl, knead with well crisco-ed hands and counter until the texture is smooth and pliable. (and whatEVER you do...do NOT where a black sweater when making this icing!) This is the time you can separate into sections and knead in coloring too...see picture below.
Wrap generously in plastic wrap and well, do it again, just to make sure. I then seal in a zip lock, just to make sure, AGAIN. This will store at room temperature for 3-6months. Roll out and cut into shapes as needed, or form flowers and other decorations with.
Pour 1/2 a 2lb. (that is 1 lb.) bag of confectioner's sugar into a well crisco-ed stand mixing bowl. Make a well and add the marshmallow, water, flavoring mixture. Mix with the dough hook on low until combined adding sugar as needed until the ball pulls away from the sided of the bowl and is no longer sticky or crumbly. (if you made a boo-boo and added too much sugar at once just add teaspoons of water at a time to get the proper consistency)
Take fondant ball from mixing bowl, knead with well crisco-ed hands and counter until the texture is smooth and pliable. (and whatEVER you do...do NOT where a black sweater when making this icing!) This is the time you can separate into sections and knead in coloring too...see picture below.
Wrap generously in plastic wrap and well, do it again, just to make sure. I then seal in a zip lock, just to make sure, AGAIN. This will store at room temperature for 3-6months. Roll out and cut into shapes as needed, or form flowers and other decorations with.
Rolled Fondant log, and colored rolled fondant logs after kneading in gel colors. Oh, please, PUULeeeze put me on that cookie already!
