The Icing on The Cookie, Part One

I wanted to do a quick post about how I make Royal Icing (RI) for my decorated cookies. I had planned to do a video tut, but allergy season is in full swing and I am just not thinking it would go very well.

So instead I put together a little pictorial, it's going to be three separate posts to get it all in there, so I hope you stick around! I am trying to answer some frequently asked questions and makes it easier your you to troubleshoot any icing issues you have.

The first entry in this series is my actual recipe and the steps to making perfect RI! I think it's perfect :)

Grab your mixer and lets get started!

Start with a shiny, clean bowl.

Measure and add 6 ounces of warm water and 6 TBSP meringue powder. 6-6, easy right?!

For the first step I always use a hand whisk because I think it beats the water and meringue much better than the beater attachment. It gets down and dirty in the bottom of the bowl!

Take the whisk and beat the water and meringue several times until it gets frothy and bubbly and looks like this

Next add 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and whisk again until well blended. I think it looks a little thicker an creamier after the cream of tartar is added, but it could totally be my imagination.

Once you beat the tartar in, dump your 2lb bag of powdered sugar right into the bowl! No need to sift, I used to do that every single time and I don't notice any difference now.

You can use the whisk attachment or the beater blade, again I have used both and don't see any difference.

Start your mixer and let it go for about 1 minute on low speed just to incorporate the sugar into the frothy goodness.

You don't need full incorporation at this point, just enough to get everything moist.

Now I add 1-2 TBSP each of corn syrup and vanilla extract. 2 gives it more of a shine and a better flavor in my opinion.

Beat again for a minute on low speed until the vanilla is gone from sight.

Most of the lumps will be gone at this point and you'll have a smooth, thick syrup consistency. 

See all that froth and sugar on the sides of the bowl? I don't like that... I think it makes the icing grainy and leaves lumps that clog my tips, so at this point I grab my little spray bottle, fill it with warm water and spray the sides.

Turn the mixer back on, on medium high speed, you can spray the sides again if needed while the mixer is running. Now all the stuff is back in the bowl where it belongs and side are clean!

Let it run for 5-6 minutes until the icing is doubled in volume and looks like this

You want stiff, fluffy peaks to form when you pull the beater away from the icing.

Now I scoop it out of the mixer bowl and put it in a big (2 quart) glass measuring cup. Just to store it and free up my mixer bowl for cookie dough ;)

Doesn't it look pretty?!? At this point you can just cover it with a damp kitchen towel and save it for later. I usually make my icing first, and set it aside while I make my cookie dough!

Here is the recipe:

Vanilla Royal Icing

Adapted from SugarDeaux

Ingredients:

• 6 oz warm water
• 6 TBSP meringue powder
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 2 lbs powdered sugar (approx 6-7 cups)
• 1-2 TSBP vanilla
• 1-2 TBSP light corn syrup

Directions:

1. In mixer bowl, whisk water and meringue powder together.
2. Add cream of tartar and whisk again until frothy.
3. Add powdered sugar and beat until slightly incorporated.
4. Add vanilla and corn syrup and beat for 5-6 minutes until thick and smooth.
5. Store tightly covered.

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to check back tomorrow for part two!


Samantha
Flour De Lis

Unlikely Cookie Cutter Finds

Have you been to World Market lately? Do you have a World Market near you? You should probably go. It's a super cool little place. There is lots of fun stuff there. Seriously. Stuff you'll never find anywhere else.

A few weeks ago I saw this cute little tin of sour candies. There were several different ones of there, but I snagged a cute little Kerropi tin and decided to make some cookies with it.

Maybe next time you have an order for Hello Kitty cookies, you can make some of here friends too! 

He's cute and easy to decorate and the lid makes a really great cutter. 

You never know when and where you'll find the perfect cookie cutter :)

They had some really cute Hello Kitty ones too if you get a chance, take a look. You'll find lots of potential cookies :)

Samantha
Flour De Lis

Cookies and Cream Cutouts (Recipe)

I've been wanting to share this recipe for quite some time now, but I have forgotten to take pictures every time I've made it!
So finally I got another chance tonight when I whipped up a batch. And yay, I remembered to take a few quick pictures!

Don't they look gorgeous!?! 

I love vanilla. And I also love chocolate. Although it took me a long time to like chocolate. I hated it up until about 3 years ago I would barely touch the stuff. In high school, I would cut the chocolate off of Snickers bars before eating them. I don't know what I was thinking ;)

Chocolate and vanilla are perfect together. The flavors are very complimentary. So if ever you can't decide which to make, make them both! At once!

I used the mini Oreo's for this recipe, but it doesn't really matter if you use the regular ones. 

I also used my mortar to smoosh them up. But if you have a food processor handy you can do that too.

I actually only used the mortar, because when I bought it (over a year ago) the boy told me I didn't need it because I would never use it. So just to prove my point, that I can't live without it, I finally used it ;)

Here is my recipe for Cookies and Cream Cut Out Cookies

I adapted it from my ownVanilla Bean Citrus Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup crushed Oreo cookies

Directions:

1. Crush about 1/2 cup of Oreos until largest pieces are not much larger than chocolate chips, set aside.
2. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Add egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
4. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
5. Add flour mixture to butter mixture in two batches and mix between each addition.
6. Add crushed Oreos to dough and mix until incorporated.
7. Roll dough out onto lightly floured surface to desired thickness.
8. Cut out using you favorite cookies cutters.
9. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes until lightly golden on bottom.

Allow cookies to cool completely before decorating.

I ate one right out of the oven. First you get the mellow, sweet vanilla flavor and than BAM the Oreo jump right in! These are YUMMY!!

Not only did I get to use my mortar for the first time, but there is photographic evidence ;)

I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as I do! 

Samantha
Flour De Lis

An Exciting Announcement and Easter Giveaway!

If you've stopped by my blog recently, you may have noticed a new addition on the side bar. It's been there for a few days now, but I am just now getting everything together to share my news with you!
I have a new friend! In the cookie cutter business :)
Just what I need right ;) More cookie cutters! If DH2B were reading this, (don't worry he's not) he'd be rolling his eyes! He thinks I have too many cookie cutters already, but I keep telling him you never know what you're gonna need next!

I had hoped I would have enough time to put together a little Easter cookie tutorial but I am running out of time if I am actually going to get this stuff off to the winner in time for Easter!
So for now, I hope you'll settle for a few pictures, a BIG THANK YOU and a quick giveaway!

I have been blogging about cookies for just over a year now and I am so thankful for all of you who have tuned in to share in my adventure and encourage me along the way!

These are the first set of Easter cookie I made this year! And you can win this sweet egg cutter, to make your very own!

I used a neat trick I learned from my friend Casey from Casey's Confections for these cookies. You can watch her video tutorial right here. Pretty neat!! Isn't she the cutest thing!

If you don't want to fuss with the insert cookie, you can make these simple eggs with the same cutter!

Hopefully you are ready to make some CUTE Easter cookies, and I have a few super awesome cookie cutters just for you! I hand selected them for your cookie making fun! And my new friends over at The Cookie Cutter Company sent them over here to join some other stuff I got just for you! 

You can create a whole lot of Easter cuteness with these six cutters! I LOVE that chick!
And just because I love the colors of Easter so much, I am throwing in a few of my favorite Americolor Gels to get you started! Violet, Soft Pink and Lemon Yellow.

If you want to get your hands one some more fabulous cookie cutters, go check out the Cookie Cutter Company for yourself! You'll find some really cute designs. If you simply can't wait to win these, or you want to add more to your collection because you LOVE cc as much as I do, use code "Promo15" at checkout for 15% off your entire order!

For the giveaway, all you need to do is hop over to their website and tell me what cookie cutter or cutters you would most like to have from them and leave your comment here!
Pretty simple right?
One entry per person on this giveaway just to keep it quick and easy!
GIVEWAWAY CLOSED! Congrats to our winner Maureen!

Winner will be selected on Friday morning, March 30th using random.org and the if you respond quickly I'll get the prize in the mail the same day!

Thank you all again for your continued, amazing support :)


Samantha
Flour De Lis

A Tip for Cleaning Your Tips

When I first started my cookie adventure, I bought one of those teeny, tiny Wilton brush cleaners. I have no idea what happened to it! I never actually used it. I bought it, brought it home, but it in the drawer by the sink and somehow lost it! Seriously. But I refused to buy another one, because I knew I already had one!
Stubborn yes. I mean it only cost a few dollars if that.  I should have bought another one many times.

Eventually I got tired of holding each tip under the running water and hoping it would all wash out and be clean as a whistle. Somewhere along the line I got smart and I have no idea when it happened, I just remember at some point I started doing things a different way and cookie clean-up became much easier!

It was probably the boys idea. He is full of good ideas! Seriously, I don;t give him enough credit for all the good cookie ideas he has! I mean I take him with me whenever I go cookie cutter hunting because he sees things differently than I do. For instance he sees a cute little girl with a short haircut and bangs when he looks at the football helmet cookie cutter! BRILLIANT!! Go ahead, take a look. I would have never thought of that without him :)
So I am just go ahead and give him credit for this one too :)

This little trick is called my "Tip Jar". I wish it was full of money at the end of a long day of cookie-ing, but it's not.  Just dirty, crusty tips.

I leave it next to the sink and as I work I just toss the used tips into the jar. It's convenient for several reasons. Mainly for the reason I am talking about, cleaning is super simplified and way quicker. But it also keeps any of my tips from ending up down the garbage disposal. UGH! If you've ever lost a PME that way, you understand the pain and heartbreak...

You can pretty much use any plastic jar you have around. 

Here is my collection. I usually just have the little peanut butter jar out on the sink. But I also have a large PB jar and a HUGE whey protein jar. The boy and I work out almost everyday, so we go through quite a few of these in our household. But you don;t have to rush out the store and buy it. The PB jars work great for tips.

I keep the big one because I almost exclusively use decorating bottles. I don't use the bags very often. The big jar is great because I just throw everything into it. Tips, couplers, bottles, EVERYTHING!

 I don't know if you can see the bottles in there, but you fit quite a few. 

Once you're done with your cookie decorating, just throw your tips into the jar, add a little dab of soap and fill the jar about 1/3 full of warm water. 

Make sure the lid is on nice and tight.

Next come the fun part :) Just shake the heck out of it!! Seriously! Shake your tail feathers baby!! Or whatever you do... 

Once the water turns all sorts of crazy colors, you know it's working. It only takes about 3- seconds for this.

Your jar will be full of soapy, sudsy water after a few shakes. Just shake, shake, shake it!

Now you can take the top off and run some clean water in. Pull out a few of the tips and make sure their clean, if not give it a few more shakes. If they're clean just rinse them off with clean water and dry them.

Sometimes I stick them on the little prongs in the dishwasher and let them sit over night to dry, If I need them again right away I dry them off with a paper towel. Or if the oven is warm, I stick them on a cookie try and toss them in for a few minutes until they heat up and dry. No rust, no fuss.

This is the best and quickest way to clean tips that I've learned so far. And it keeps them from getting tarnished or eaten by the dreaded garbage disposal. Which just to clarify, I've never actually done. I have however left them in the sink and someone else ran the disposal and I cried. Or maybe I cursed. It's hard to remember now :)

No more icky, sticky, tarnished, rusted tips!

I am sure there are lots of other ways to do this, what works for you?!?

SAP
Flour De Lis

How I Package my Cookies for Shipping

I get asked all the time about what cookies I ship. And I think people are really surprised when I tell them I ship everything.  Even delicate cookies, like champagne glasses, guitars, birthday candles, letters and numbers and yes, even Justin Biebers precious little face :)

If you ship cookies and ever worry about them breaking here is my secret to worry-free, tear-free packaging!

It doesn't really matter how you bag you cookies, sometimes I put one in a bag, sometimes I put four or six minis in a bag. I seal them, I tie them with ribbon. No difference!

So first, you just package them up in the little baggies, however you like. As long as they are laying flat.

Next I take a thin piece of cardboard, a little bigger than the cookies so there is plenty of the board to go around. Shhhhh don't tell the Postmaster I steal the small flat rate boxes and cut them up! But they are PERFECT for this!! I grab them whenever I pick up the medium and large flat rate boxes to ship the cookies in.

Place one bag of cookies on each side of the cardboard. So they flat against the cardboard.  

Wrap the entire thing in a few layers of bubble wrap. You want plenty of cushioning around the cookies to keep them safe.

Finally, place them in your box (which I also line with either bubble wrap or tissue paper) and stand them up. Package them together tight enough so they don't wiggle around during the trip, but not so tightly that they get smooshed!

Once everything is in there top it all off with more tissue paper to keep them from moving around. Plus extra tissue paper makes it look like a super awesome, present and who doesn't like to get super awesome presents?!?

So next time you are at the post office, grab a few of those little boxes (don't tell the postmaster) and keep them around for your next cookie order. I started using them only for the extra fragile cookies, but I use them all the time now. It only takes a few extra minutes to cut them to the sizes I need and I never worry about getting a call or email about broken cookies. I don't even mark my packages as fragile anymore (mostly because I forget! Doh!) because I don't really think worry about them getting damaged this way.

I hope this helps ease a few of your worries when trying to decide if you can ship an order of cookies. I know I sleep much better at night since I've started doing this!

P.S. This is the ONLY way I ship vegan cookies. If you've ever made vegan cut-out cookies you know why! They are so fragile compared to other cookies. I've only made them a few times and only recently, but I can't imagine shipping them any other way. They would all break and I would cry all night :)

Let me know if you have any other useful tips for me! I am always interested in what works for you and how I can improve on my methods!

SAP
Flour De Lis

A Cocoa Conundrum

Do you have a favorite cookie recipe?
Mine is my chocolate roll-out cookies. I've made it a million-trillion-gagillion times! And it's delicious :)
For the last few years, since I became a "serious" baker, I've stuck with the same cocoa powder. It's Saco's Premium Cocoa; a special blend of natural and dutched cocoas.
I've become really partial to this cocoa because it has a rich flavor and makes a dark chocolaty dough.

What kind of cocoa or chocolate do you use in your baking? Do you have a preference? A family tradition?
Last week, I couldn't find the cocoa I love. I know!! I went to two places and both were sold out. Yep, I found myself in a cocoa conundrum. Hence the title of this post :)
So I decided to do a little experimenting! I bought all the cocoa I could find!

Here they are all! So pretty and chocolaty :)

Well, let's start from the beginning.

Cacao Di Pernigotti

Available at Williams-Sonoma for $15.00 for 12oz.

This cocoa was the darkest of all the ones I tested. It has a rich, dark flavor and wonderful aroma. It's finely ground and makes a great cookie!

Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa

Available at most grocery stores for around $7.00 for 16oz.

This cocoa was the only sweetened cocoa I tried. This one is light in color and smells sweet and mild. If you prefer milk chocolate to dark or semi sweet this one might be better for you. If you don't bake as much this is a great option, you can add warm milk and use it for hot chocolate. Chocolate is a pantry staple and this one is versatile.

Saco Premium Cocao

Avaialble at most grocery stores for under $4.00 for 10oz.

My favorite!! This one is a dark brown, almost reddish in color. It has a fresh flavor and rich, chocolaty flavor. I've used it in cookies, cakes, brownies and buttercream. The color is perfect for making anything red velvet!

Hershey's Cocoa, Special Dark

Available at most grocery stores for under $3.00 for 8oz.

This new special dark blend from Hershey's is dark (obviously) but not bitter. It has a strong flavor and is perfect for baking. It makes a really nice, dark dough and pairs well with coffee and vanilla.

Hershey's Cocoa, Natural Unsweetened

Available at most grocery stores for under $3.00 for 8oz.

Much lighter in color than the other Hershey's cocoa I tested, this one still has a nice aroma with a milder flavor. It's a nice semi-sweet chocolate, good for baking. Also good for making your own hot chocolate.

Nestle Toll House Cocoa

Available at most grocery stores for under $3.00 for 8oz.

This cocoa is light in color and has a smooth, mild flavor. It makes a lighter colored dough and really delicious buttercream. This cocoa reminds me of my childhood :)

And it makes me think of that Friends episode where Phoebe is trying to remember her Grandma's secret recipe (the one on that back for the Nestle Toll House bag). Gotta love Friends :)

I made a LOT of cookie dough this weekend. Seriously SIX batches! I'll be making cookies for a while!
All of the cocoa had good flavor and most of them were pretty close in price. The cacao de pernigotti was the most expensive and if you have an extra $15 laying around go ahead and give it a try. I didn't notice enough difference to warrant paying that much more. If you can find the Hershey's Special dark, I recommend picking it up! If you want a darker dough and a richer flavor, this one is a winner. Next time I can't find Saco cocoa, I'll be getting both types of Hershey's and mixing them 50/50.

I think the Saco is still my favorite. Maybe because I am stubborn, but maybe because it's perfect! I look for two things in my chocolate cookie dough, flavor and color. This one has both. The dough is a dark, dark almost mahogany brown. It also has a rich chocolaty taste, not too strong, not at all bitter and not too sweet. I add two different kinds of coffee to my cookie dough and this particular cocoa really pairs well with coffee. It has just the right blend of cocoa for coffee. Not too mild be over-powered and not to dark to make the cookie strong and bitter. And it's a good price for such a wonderful cocoa.

You really can't go wrong with any of these brands. They are all wonderful quality cocoa's. Next time you find yourself without your go-to ingredient, be daring! Grab a couple and let the experimenting begin :)


SAP
Flour De Lis