Royal Icing and Decorating Tutorial

With the holidays fast approaching, what better time to revisit cookie decorating! This time we're going to focus on the icing itself and ideas for decorating. We have a lot to cover so let's get started! Why Royal Icing? The two most common icings recommended for cookie decorating are buttercream icing and royal icing. Each has different ingredients and properties, making them better suited for different uses. Buttercream, made from butter and powdered sugar, is easier to work with at a stiffer consistency, so it's ideal for three-dimensional decorations such as flowers that stand up from the cookie. It also takes better to food coloring, allowing for richer,  more saturated colors using less dye. Royal icing has a less viscous consistency, lending well to a smoother look on finished cookies. It's also easy to work with and can be used for some three-dimensional decorations that lay closer to the surface of the cookie. Royal icing ingredients are also less expensive, as all you need is egg white and powdered sugar! Either will result in sweet and beautiful cookies, but today we will focus on royal icing. Ingredients It's easy! You just need a few simple ingredients.

• 4 Egg Whites
• 16 oz Powdered Sugar (I used 10x--the higher the number--the finer the granulation), also called confectioner's sugar
• 1 tsp Extract, if desired--I used vanilla
• Food Dye, see notes below

It can’t be stressed enough that it is so important to use food dye meant for icing. The food coloring you buy in grocery store baking aisles in the small squeeze bottles will not do the trick. They don’t saturate the icing, so you’ll end up adding half a bottle of dye and seeing no change in the icing color. They will also bleed into each other on the finished cookie as the cookies dry. I used Wilton brand gel icing colors, which can be found at most craft stores in the cake decorating aisle. They are reasonably priced and while I couldn't find a shelf life, they’ll at least last you through a few decorating occasions, depending on your icing batch size. How to Make Royal Icing Put 4 egg whites and 1 tsp extract in a bowl. I used a tabletop mixer with a whisk attachment but you could absolutely do this with a hand mixer. Beat the whites on medium speed until they are frothy (white with small bubbles throughout). Add 16 oz powdered sugar and crank up the speed to high. You'll want to stop and scrape the bowl once or twice to ensure all of the sugar is being incorporated into the icing. Mix the icing for several minutes, maybe 4-6, until you see that it is keeping its shape as the whisk or beaters pass. If you aren't sure if it's there yet, you can lift the whisk or beater out of the icing and see how long the icing at the tip of the whisk holds its shape. You want it to maintain its approximate shape for a few seconds. At this stage you decide what to do next! If you are only going to make one color, you can add the color now as I've done below. If you are going to make multiple colors, you can divide the icing into smaller bowls (about 1/3-1/2 cup of icing per color was enough to do a couple dozen cookies) then add color and mix by hand. If you intend to do any three-dimensional decorations, you'll add more powdered sugar to get a stiffer consistency. To add color: I recommend using a toothpick when working with the Wilton food dyes–doing so allows you to pick up just a small amount if you only need a hint of color or you can use two toothpicks like chopsticks to pick up quite a bit of color, then dip into the icing and mix. To make a stiffer icing, add more powdered sugar--the amount to add will depend on how much icing you're making. Keep in mind you need to hand-squeeze the icing through small tips, so you don't want the icing too hard, or it will be difficult to pipe through the bags. You can feel that it's too stiff if a spoon or whisk is difficult to push through the icing. I made a stiffer white and a stiffer green. Your icing is now finished! How to Bag Your Icing You'll want icing bags (plastic or cloth), couplers, and tips, like the ones pictured. These are also Wilton brand and can be found in the same cake decorating aisle as the dyes. You'll need to cut the plastic bag end to fit the coupler, making sure the threads of the couplers are exposed but don't cut so much that the coupler will pop out of the bag when you apply pressure to squeeze the icing out. Use a tall glass to hold the bag for you to make filling it easy. Fold the top of the bag over the edge of the glass to keep the top of your bag clean. Use a spatula to fill the bag, scraping it clean against the edge of the glass. Carefully remove the bag and unfold the top of the bag. You can shake the bag to move the icing down the bag or use a scraper. Do try to remove air bubbles or you'll have unexpected pops of air in the middle of decorating. Tie the top of the bag off with a rubber band (or hair tie like I did here!) and you're good to go!How to Decorate Your Cookies Now it's time to decorate! We used this cookie recipe that we've used before, but use whatever you like and cookie cutters you prefer. Keep reading for decoration ideas! Flat-icing is a quick way to cover your cookie with icing, creating a smooth look. First, plop icing on your cookie by either squeezing some from the icing bag or placing it onto the cookie from a bowl using a spatula. To keep the sides of your cookie clean, pull the icing across the cookie with your spatula and scrape the spatula on the edge of the cookie, essentially cleaning the spatula as you go. It's okay that the top of the cookie will look messy at this point. Then carefully swipe the top of the cookie once or twice to remove excess icing, cleaning the icing the spatula between swipes. Clean the edges by running the spatula around the edge at an angle. See below.Need some inspiration to get started? Here are some step-by-step how-tos for a few common cookie designs, including the tips used. Unless otherwise specified, use a #2 Wilton tip below. Stocking Tips needed: Wilton #2 on red and white bags Flat ice all or part of the stocking as described above. Using #2 tips, outline the top of the stocking in white and the bottom in red. Then fill in the top of the stocking with white and sprinkle with sparkling sugar to finish.Santa Face Tips needed: Wilton #2 on red, white, black, tan, and pink; Wilton #16 on a stiffer white Outline the hat in red, then outline the hat trim and beard in white. You can outline his mouth in red now now, or you can it at the end. If you do it now, also fill it in with black. Then fill in the hat and beard. Use black to outline his eyelids and pupils, or give him a winking eye like below. Use a star tip such as #16, #17, or #18 on your stiffer white icing to make a mustache, eyebrows, and ball at end of hat. Lastly, finish with outlining and filling in his mouth (if you haven't already), a curve for his nose, and two pink dots for his cheeks.Evergreen Tree Tips needed: Wilton #2 on brown, Wilton #233 on stiffer green Flat ice a mix of brown and green icing as above, except you will have piped both colors onto the cookie from the bags to create a swirl effect. If you don't love the way the swirl looks, it's okay--this will be mostly covered up and just provide a background for the limbs. Outline the trunk and branches in brown, then fill in the trunk. You won't see the branches on the finished cookie but they will guide you on the next step. Staring with the bottom branches, pipe the limbs going from the center out. You'll probably want to practice a few times to get the feel for using the #233 tip. Work your way up the tree, always starting in the center and working your way out. Then cover the "seam" that's created in the middle with more limbs up the center of the tree. Finish with powdered sugar for a snowy effect!Get creative! Have fun! Share your creations and tag us! @BobsRedMill on Instagram and @BobsRedMillNaturalFoods on Facebook!