Christmas Cookies Round 1

The first batch of Christmas Cookies for this year has been baked and is ready to go! I found the tins at Value Village for a dollar each and they match the colours seen on the cookies. These cookies are sugar cookies decorated with royal icing, sanding sugar, lustre dust, and dragées.

There's an app for that... in cookies

So my boyfriend and I celebrated our 3-year anniversary recently. To celebrate, I had the brilliant idea of making him iPhone cookies. They were a bit of a nightmare to be honest, I really should have given myself more time. These are brown sugar cookies decorated with royal icing.

Here they are in all their glory:

From Top Row, Left to Right: SMS, App Store, iTunes, Facebook, Pictures, Notes, Weather, Clock, Camera, Stocks, The Chemical Touch, Angry Birds, Calculator, Maps, Calendar, Settings, Phone, Mail, iTunes, Safari.

So my advice to you, dear reader, is to give yourself plenty of time before attempting to do something crazy like this, or you may tear your hair out. I did learn a lot from the experience though. One being the "sugar bloom" on some of the blue and green cookies (the mottled look). Apparently it also happens quite a bit with red dyes, so I will be playing with some methods to prevent it in the future.

Royal Icing

Poodle shaped Chocolate Cut-Out Cookies decorated with Royal Icing

(The poodle cookie cutter I used is available at Amazon)

Royal icing dries smooth and hard like candy. It is ideal for icing cookies, making decorations, and cementing things like gingerbread houses together. I've found two recipes that work well with royal icing, though I personally recommend the one that uses egg whites as opposed to meringue powder as its easier to work with a provides a better finish. Egg whites can now be be bought in a pasteurized form in a carton, so bacteria should not be a concern with using raw egg whites in icing recipes.

Royal Icing Recipe 1

Makes about 3 cups of icing

1/2 tsp	1.6 g	Cream of Tartar
3	3	Egg Whites
4 cups	500 g	Confectioners Sugar

1. Beat all ingredients for 7-10 minutes or until icing forms stiff peaks. If icing is too thick, add water a teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
2. Store icing in an airtight container until use.

Royal Icing Recipe 2

Makes about 3 cups of icing

3 tbsp	35 g	Meringue Powder*
6 tbsps	90 mL	Water
4 cups	500 g	Confectioners Sugar

1. Beat all ingredients for 7-10 minutes or until icing forms stiff peaks. If icing is too thick, add water a teaspoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.
2. Store icing in an airtight container until use.

*Meringue Powder can be purchased at most hobby shops where cake and cookie decorating supplies are found, such as Michaels. It can also be purchased online through dealers such as Amazon, Global Sugar Art, Golda's Kitchen (Canada), and Wilton.