Questions about decorating sugar cookies

I don't know if I am nuts, but I want to tackle sugar cookies for an upcoming baby shower that I am co-hosting next weekend. I've never really had the patience to deal with rolling out the dough and using my imagination to decorate the cookies creatively. Anyway, I ordered cookie cutters in the shape of a onesie and a baby carriage. I have decided to use this recipe for the cookies. I have been looking through Youtube for instructional tips on decorating sugar cookies. I really like this video. She even posts a recipe for the icing that is different from what I have usually seen using just powdered sugar and milk/water. Then there is also the question about meringue powder. So LTH, what tried and true tips do you have for me? Do you prefer to flood with a pastry bag or do you use an offset spatula or paint brush? Which icing recipe do you prefer? I don't want it to dry rock hard, but I do need it to set so I can bag the cookies for favors. Thanks

Pucca, I don't know if this idea will help you at all (decoration not really being my thing) but for Sparky's 3rd birthday, we did Thomas the Tank Engine (for those of you with baby boys, it's dangerously near in your future: just after Elmo and just before Buzz Lightyear) I tinted the cookie dough itself and made sculptured cookies in the shape of the train faces: a large circle for the head, small circles with the top of an old salt shaker for eyes, dots cut with straws for eyeballs, etc. The effect was terrific and I found it to be easier than frosting. I think you could do something similar to cookies with marzipan as well. Here's an article at Family Fun (they use candies, but it's the same idea) that may be helpful.

We've also done plain white icing (confectioner's sugar and water) and then colored it after it's set using food-safe markers, with some success (I'd dip the tips in straight food coloring of the same color.) I think we've tried to do what's pictured in the video with popsicle sticks, but I found it to be an extremely frustrating process - you'll note that she takes 5 minutes to finish one cookie.

Every Easter, Halloween and Christmas a young friend and I bond over cookie painting. She's 13 now so we've probably been doing it 9 or 10 years. For years we used the Martha Stewart Flag Cookie recipe, but more recently we've used a recipe for a gluten-free sugar cookies. I've found that royal icing flooded cookies look the best and the base colors go on pretty quickly. The icing does need to dry a bit before adding layers on top otherwise the icing sinks and can and will make a mess. I've found it best to edge the cookies with icing that thicker and flood with slightly thinner icing. If the icing isn't thin enough the layer of icing on the cookie is too thick so it stays soft underneath. If the icing is too thin it can and will run. To add details to the top layer you'll want to make sure to go back to your thicker frosting...otherwise you'll have a big mess.

I've always used a royal icing(with meringue powder) which doesn't have a great taste and add a generous amount of vanilla which helps to improve the flavor. The nice thing about the royal icing is that it gets hard so they can be stacked. I love the hard/crunchy-lke icing, it reminds me of the decorated cookies Judy's Bakery in Evanston sold.

A couple of other things:
1. Do be sure to use cake decorating bags not zip top bags. The zip tops have blown out with too much pressure.
2. The icing will last a week or so at room temperature. I always keep it in glasses that have a wet papertowel placed on the bottom so the icing in the tips don't dry out.
3. Toothpicks or skewers are very useful. We use them to 'smoosh' frosting in tiny naked spots and to lift off mistakes.

Another technique that I've found to be fun and a bit easier is the Whimsical Bakehouse chocolate technique. Basically chocolate (or faux chocolate) designs are traced onto a design that is placed below a layer of plastic wrap. Once made they'll last a few weeks or longer. If you were doing round cookies you could make any myriad of shapes. I'm not sure how one would look when placed on a shaped cookie.

Have fun!

I love decorating sugar cookies, though I tend more towards abstract designs I think are pretty than trying to make it look like something (like Mhays' Thomas the Tank Engine cookies above). Cookie decorating and egg decorating were both big huge deals with my grandparents, we always have fun coming up with strange techniques for the Next Cool Cookie, some of which come out better than others. One of my favorite techniques is this: For icing I use just a relatively thin icing of powdered sugar/butter/milk. I use a butter knife to put on the "base" color, then a toothpick (or if I'm careful, another knife) to lightly drizzle other colors in lines on the top. Then, using a toothpick I "swirl" the icing, making pretty patterns. If the icing is thin enough it will sort of meld in together so you can't see the lines from the toothpick anymore by the time it dries.

For a visual, these are two cookies I made last Christmas that I happen to have pictures of online:


(Bigger versions, if you want to see them VERY up close, can be found here and here.)

Thanks for the tips thus far. Annabelle, your cookies are very pretty.

I am going to try doing a polka dot technique on my cookies. I will post pictures next week.

*sigh of relief* Thanks for all the replies! Decorating the cookies was not as daunting as I feared. I really liked the recipes I used for the cookie and frosting - they both actually tasted good and had a nice texture that didn't chip your tooth! I used the paintbrush method shown in the youtube video. I'm a big fan of this technique. I used a #2 tip on a piping bag to insert polka dots on a couple of onesies and to outline the detail. I could use a little more practice on making more consistent pressure as I outline the cookies. Here are some pictures that I took late at night.

Adorable.

Gorgeous, Pucca! I'll bet they were the hit of the party!

Annabelle wrote:I love decorating sugar cookies, though For icing I use just a relatively thin icing of powdered sugar/butter/milk.

Annabelle - how long does it take for your icing to dry? Do you mind posting more details?

I like the taste of the icing I used (link in my OP), but I find that it is not opaque enough. Is it the corn syrup that prevents it from being opaque? I'm looking for a different recipe, but not sure I want to go the route of royal icing. Is it the meringue powder that makes royal icing unappealing?

Can someone help me find a good cake decoration course in bay area? I am looking for something like Wilton.?
I am looking for some detailed course for cake decoration. Wilton in Chicago is supposed to be the best but I am based out of bay area and looking for something which I can do in 10-15 days.
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Your cookies came out beautifully Pucca!!

foodie1 wrote:Your cookies came out beautifully Pucca!!

Thanks! I've decorated sugar cookies a few more times now - Christmas, New Years, and then a bridal shower. Since I was decorating wedding cake shaped cookies for the shower, I wanted a more opaque finish on the white icing. I went w/the outlining and flooding method. This worked well, but I am still working on getting a more fluid outline. Maybe my icing needs to be a tad thinner, and I could definitely use a steadier hand!

Does anyone know of a local supplier of Americolor food coloring? Thanks!