Favorites-An outlet for all things related to food: 08/04/11

Thursday, August 4, 2011

~10 Second Rule for Flood Royal Icing Consistency~ {Video Tutorial }

I decided to make a little video tutorial about 10 Second Rule for making a Flood Royal Icing Consistency. In Cookie Decorating World flood consistency is very important when flooding cookies with icing. Too runny or too thick icing will result in a messy finish.

Today I decided to bring you a little video tutorial about the

FAMOUS 10 SECOND RULE when making flood royal icing consistency.

I think I've tried it all, different counts from 7 seconds, 8, and most days I use 9 by preferably 10 seconds. I find 10 seconds will deliver the best consistency for flooding and I do believe that the flood icing consistency has a lot to do with how your icing dries as well. I also dry my cookies under the fan, ever since I started doing this I can see a big improvement in appearance of dried icing.

I also follow10 Second rule when making flood icing for royal icing transfers like Royal Icing Butterflies

Hope you enjoyed my little video and have fun decorating.

http://hanielas.blogspot.com/2010/08/10-second-rule-flood-royal-icing.html

ROYAL ICING

RECIPE FOR ROYAL ICING

Royal icing is the most common icing used by home bakers and professionals as well. It can be used for variety of tasks and that makes it a great medium to work with. It found its way into my kitchen and I have been using it ever since.

Royal icing recipe that I use is Antonia 74 icing recipe.

Recipe for Royal Icing
(printer friendly version)
3/4 cup warm water
5 TBL meringue powder
1 tsp cream of tartar
1kg of powdered sugar/sifted//2.25 lbs/
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Make sure all your tools are grease free!
I wipe my tools with a piece of paper towel and vinegar. Wipe dry with a clean towel.

-sift the powdered sugar

-mix using a whisk 5 TBL of meringue powder with warm water, until slightly foamy, add cream of tarter, mix again and then add all the powdered sugar at once. Using your stand mixer, on the lowest setting, using paddle attachment, mix for 10 minutes, after 10 minutes you can add your flavorings.

- icing will be thick
- you can now color your icing
- when not in use store this icing in airtight container
-this icing behaves really well even after several weeks, just keep it in the airtight container and remix the icing when you are ready to use it again.

COLOR YOUR ICING - I recommend letting the tinted icing sit for at least several hours/covered/ this helps to develop the color better.

DECORATING COOKIES - You need to thin thick icing to OUTLINE CONSISTENCY AND FLOODING CONSISTENCY. This is achieved by adding a little bit of warm water into the icing, make sure you add little by little, too much water at once is not good, it creates too many bubbles. If using tinted icing, make sure you color it before you thin the icing. I find this works the best for me.
OUTLINE IS USUALLY A LITTLE THICKER THAN FLOODING CONSISTENCY, BUT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE. EVERY DECORATOR LIKES TO WORK DIFFERENTLY.
TO CREATE A SEAMLESS ICING, YOU NEED TO FLOOD AS SOON AS YOU OUTLINE.

For flooding icing consistency 10 second rule applies, meaning, when you draw a line in the icing and it comes together in 10 seconds it is ready. I sometimes use 9 or even 8 second rule.

BUBBLES IN THE ICING -When making icing for flooding, sometimes with all the mixing we let air bubbles in the icing. To help eliminate air bubbles, let the icing sit for at least 30 minutes and then gently stir with a spoon to get rid of the bubbles.

DARK BLOTCHY SPOTS on the dried royal icing-sometimes when royal icing dries on a cookie it can absorb fat from the cookie and create dark blotchy spots.I guess it is something that possibly also has to do with the amount of humidity in the air. There are few things that you can do to help prevent this:

Let the tinted icing sit overnight, especially when using dark colors, it helps to develop color and you don't need to use as much coloring agent, and it also help with blotchy spots

Brush a very thin layer of icing onto the cookies to seal the cookie, let dry and decorate as usual

Recently I have read a lot about using less meringue powder : higher humidity, Humidity is difficult to fight, I haven't tried using less meringue powder/ I do live in high humidity climate/, but article recommended to use 1/2 tsp less what your recipe asks for.

To speed up the drying process use fans

I have tested that addition of 1tbl meringue powder to the original recipe/original recipe uses 5TBL of meringue powder/, especially when working with darker colors of icing , it improves the quality of the dried royal icing finish /dried icing is is not so dull/. I have tested this several times and I saw the improvement. I only did this when I was working with darker colors, otherwise I just follow original recipe.

I don't recommend going over 6 Tbl of meringue powder, you may have difficulty with drying, and icing may stay tacky/sticky even after a significant /over 24 hours/ time period

Keep in mind that if you live in high humidity climate you need to find a way to speed up the drying process, use fans to promote more air circulation, it helps with the drying time as well.

I recommend finding what works for you the best, climate and weather can play tricks on us, so testing is always a good idea.

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Facts about Meringue powder : this powder is made by drying the egg whites and mixing them with cornstarch and gum, it is designed to replace beaten egg white in the recipes.When mixed with water it can be whipped into soft or stiff peaks.
Facts about Cream of Tartar : is a acidic salt, a byproduct of wine making cream of tartar helps with stabilizing egg whites, it also gives them more volume and helps to produce creamier texture in desserts.
Back in the day...when I was helping out my grandmother in the kitchen she would add pinch of salt into her egg whites when beating them, and this had the similar effect on the egg whites as cream of tartar, especially when it comes to volume.

Tips, ideas on COOKIE DECORATING
http://hanielas.blogspot.com/2010/04/royal-icing.html

How to make Cookie "Cutter" Templates

I'm a cookie cutter collector, still expanding my collection of cutters, but there are times when I just can't find a cutter I need or I want to make a special cookie design and a custom cookie cutter doesn't come exactly cheap. A really easy and quick way is to make a cookie template.
I started experimenting with this technique last year in 2009, using a thick cardboard, I traced the design on the cardboard and then cut it out. For these cookie below I used cardboard templates.

One thing that I didn't like when using cardboard templates was that cardboard template tends to stick to the cookie dough when you are cutting the cookie, even when the dough is really cold, so I made an extra trip...to the craft store, somebody recommended using stencil blanks for the templates....but did you see how expensive those are! So instead of stencil blanks I bought Avery Plastic Dividers, they work like magic and are also perfect for home made stencils, for the price of $3-4 you get 8 large plastic sheet.

As you can see in the photo below I'm going to be making some cookie shoes. I found some inspiration online, so I printed them in the approximate size I want the cookie to be, all you need to do is to trace the outline of your desired design on the plastic divider and then just cut with scissors...and voila your cookie template is ready

You can download

Shoes Cookie "Cutter" Templates here

Few Tips when making cookies using Cookie Templates

Use a sharp knife / I like to use paring knife/ or exacto knife / you can get one in craft store, I think Walmart carries them too/.
Make sure the blade is clean and if needed replace the blade of exacto knife.

Roll your cookie dough between two pieces of wax paper and put in the fridge/freezer till the dough is well chilled, this helps keeping the edges of your cookies sharp when cutting the dough using the knife.

Here are few examples of cookie design that I made using cookie templates.

Have fun making new cookie designs!

Hani http://hanielas.blogspot.com/2010/03/how-to-make-cookie-cutter-templates.html

Cameo Cookies

What is Cameo?
I've been fond of Cameo designs ever since I can remember.
This past week I felt inspired and made my first Cameo Cookies using royal icing transfers. I was playing with color combination and decided to go with neutral grey and pink. I think it came together quite nicely.
Here is a special tutorial I prepared. Enjoy.

What you need:
royal icing (recipe)
piping bags, tips 1,2,3 (you can also use parchment cone, or a sandwich bag if you like)
pieces of wax paper
template
luster dust(optional)
lemon extract (83%)(optional)
small soft brush(optional)
baked cookies

1.Step - just like with any royal icing transfer you need a template, I had several templates already from the time I made a Cameo Cookie Ring

2.Step -attach a piece of wax paper over the template, secure the wax paper in position with a paper clip.Pipe the outline using outline consistency royal icing and then using flooding consistency icing flood the inside of the outlined image. Let dry several hours.

3. Step -once dry you can now either add more details, like hair, necklace etc, or you can leave it plain. I left the royal icing transfers plain, using pink luster dust mixed with some lemon extract I painted the royal icing transfers.
(How to use luster dust?)

4.Step - have your baked cookies on hand.You can use your favorite cookie recipe. Sugar recipe I use the most can be found here.

Flood the cookies with icing. I used grey tinted royal icing. Let icing on cookies dry completely.

5.Step -once the icing on cookies has dried completely, you can now attach your royal icing transfers on the top of the cookie, simply peel of the wax paper, and pipe some royal icing on the back of the royal icing transfer and attach it to the cookie.

6. Step - I played with the design a little, decided to use edible pearls all around the cookie, you can attach them with a dab of royal icing, use tweezers to attach pearls on the cookie , or you can pipe tiny dots all around the cookie.
I actually prefer tiny dot over the pearls in this case.

7.Step - at last I decided to add a little fondant flower, using a dab of royal icing attach the flower.Flower was made from marshmallow fondant (recipe), using a tiny flower cutter from the

CAMEO COOKIE :

http://hanielas.blogspot.com/2010/05/cameo-cookies.html

Happy Easter!

I thought I'd do a little post dedicated to Easter, and with Easter also Spring and fresh colors arrive.

Ever since I was a little child we would decorate Easter eggs in many ways. We didn't have any fancy craft stores around, so our parents, grandparents would make the eggs for us to decorate by making little opening on the each side of the real egg and then they would blow out the egg white and yolk. Let me tell you, I made few Easter eggs using this technique only a few days ago....what a workout for your lungs and actually abs too!

My favorite Easter Eggs are called Pysanky -The term comes from the word pysaty, meaning to write, and this describes how the egg is decorated. Intricate designs are drawn in wax on the eggs, a process closely related to batik. The eggs are then dyed many colors. Ukrainian artisans are famous for their pysanky.

I decided to use the pysanky designs as cookie designs. It was a challenging task, first I found several pictures of pysanky eggs online and then I started designing the cookie designs. I made several drawings and here are the Pysanky Cookies that I have created, I was pleased how they turned out, colors are true pysanky as are the designs.

I love Spring flowers so I thought I would make a cookie inspired by Lily of the valley. They are my favorites, there is just something about those tiny bell shape flowers that really captivates me.

Last year I created a cookie template and made a cookie:
"Lily of the valley in the vase."

These cookies are very much traditional Easter cookies in parts of Europe, they are called Honey cookies, similar to gingerbread cookies. These are from 2009. I'm still learning how to pipe delicate designs like these.

Cute idea came to me after seeing a drawing of a Daffodils.
Here is what I came up with.

Daffodils

so delicate and surrounded by a flowered dress
you never make a cookie mess
spring has arrived
another winter we survived
cookies right off the hot press

Creative works of Iris can be also viewed on her flickr page eyewrisz

Parrot Tulip cookies. I wanted to create the marble effect, I used 3 colors: white, soft pink, slightly darker pink.

I felt little crafty when I made these cupcake toppers for Easter. Foam bunnies, eggs and carrots I bought at a craft store.

Who says that cutout cookies have to be sugar, gingerbread or chocolate only?
I found a delicious recipe for Chewy Oatmeal Cookies that fit the " healthier" profile in my book called Whole Grain Baking. I will be posting this recipe soon, stay tuned.

I love pastel colors on walls, fabrics, and also on cookies. Here are few soft pastel inspired Easter cookies I made.

I wanted to make a bouquets of tulips and lily of the valley flowers, and I found the cutter just for the job among the cutters from the Wilton's Flower Making Set..