Sugar Cookie Madness

And oh yes, they have driven me mad! I've recently decided to professionalize my sugar cookie decorating by switching to royal icing. The icing I was using before was just a simple icing made with confectioners sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla. The stuff isn't very versitile though and it doesn't harden quite as much as royal icing (which is akin to rubber cement).

So- of course I jumped online for tips and I must tell you, the ultimate online teacher has got to be Sweetopia. Her tutorials and tips are incredibly helpful and she truly helped me get on my feet! Don't get me wrong, it was still hard to learn how to use royal icing, and I've nowhere near perfected the process, but her website got me started and I recommend you check it out if you have any interest in cookie decorating.

I've upgraded my cookie decorating tools, going from ziplock bags with varying sized cuts made in the corner, to Wilton's piping bags and tips. GOOD move. It is SO much easier to decorate with tips; I can't believe I did it any other way, but at the same time I'm pretty proud of what I was able to accomplish without them! I'm still learning how to control the flow and I don't have a Kopykake projector like the Sweetopia blogger so I need to perfect my free-hand skills or find a cheapie overhead projector somewhere- good luck.

I recently had an order for 45 baby-themed cookies for a shower and although they turned out really nice it was really stressful- one of those if-anything-can-go-wrong-it-will kind of orders, you know, I lose half a batch of cookies to the floor, underestimate the amount of confectioners sugar the order will take, realize I'm out of the correct sized cellophane bags and have to make an emergancy run to Target, and the cost to create them, not including the hours and hours they took, pretty much cancelled out how much I earned. Phew! It was tiring, but really good practice and I'm proud of the outcome. I'm not diving into any more cookie decorating anytime soon (I say that, yet I've got snowflake decorated gingerbread cookies on my Christmas cookie list, so, yeah...).

Freshly baked sugar cookies!

Icing! Icing! Icing!



Duckies and Elephants, Oh My!

Speaking of Christmas cookies- I've got about a week or so break and then it's back at it! I'm making 6 different types of cookies and shipping them all over the country to family and friends! Reports and photos to follow, I promise :)

Stay warm and have a happy Thanksgiving!