I made royal icing last week for some drop flowers. The icing was thick dull and sorta like marshmallow consistancy. I want to do some cookies next week. Will antonia 74 icing turn out shiny like all the pics I see on this site?

You might want to direct a post to Antonia herself or send her a Pm. Sorry, I don't use her recipe.
Hugs Squirrelly

What did you put in your royal icing?

Royal icing and Antonia74's cookie icing are slightly different. I find that her recipe is really "made" for cookies, if that makes sense. I just used it today for the first time and it was perfect, applied well and dried great and beautiful! And it's very forgiving. I added SMALL amounts of water to thin while coloring, if too much, add a small amount of powdered sugar. I love it!

Well, I used to use royal with egg whites years ago, but don't anymore. I use Wilton's Poured Cookie Icing or thin down their recipe for Royal Icing or I make a type of buttercream icing that sets up - a recipe called Alice's cookie Icing that I got from Bunnywoman from the Wilton site. But it isn't super shiny like you seem to be looking for.
Hugs Squirrelly

I used Wiltons recipe. This was my first time so I didnt know what to expect. I will try Antonias74 this week.
Thanks for the replies.

Hhmn, I thought I had better add this, what I mean is I haven't tried her method because I have been doing cookies for many, many years the same way. Not that it isn't a good way to do things, I am sure it is, I just haven't tried it.
I have a tendency to put a pinch of cream of tartar in a lot of things, including some shortbread cookie recipes, again for its stabilizing action.
But I am an old brawd heehee and I have old habits that I tend to stick with, that is all.
Every year at Christmas time, I make between 1000 and 2000 cookies, some of which are decorated cookies. I don't do as many decorated as I used to because the people that I make cookies for are not big on decorated cookies. But I go back to the days when I would decorate cookies by hand with a toothpick, didn't even have an icing bag or parchment triangles or anything, just a spoon and a toothpick. You know, the Stone Age of cookies, haha! Just an old brawd that likes to bake here!
Hugs Squirrelly

I realized that Helen's cookie icing is basically a royal icing but for some reason it seems different. A few years ago I tried decorating cookies with various royal icings, glazes, etc and I hated it! On so many levels!! What I like about Helen's is that it seems made for cookies where basically you make it and it's ready!? A little bit of water to thin and it's done and they turn out great.
I just did a batch and for the first time ever I didn't dread the entire process!
Maybe it's just me but it seems more user friendly that others

Exactly and it is always nice to not have to worry about playing around with something, isn't it? When you have a degree of confidence in something right from the beginning, you are at a certain comfort level.
Sorry, didn't mean to come across harsh, I just meant that those ingredients are the basis of royal icing. I went and double checked her ingredients because of this other recipe, Alice's Cookie Icing. And because of the pourable cookie glaze recipe.
I think once we find something that works, we have won the battle.
Hugs Squirrelly

Carilyn, did Antonia74's recipe work better? I made cookies over Thanksgiving and had the same problem, I wanted shiny icing and got something that was dull and mallowy. It was good, but not the thin, shiny consistency that I wanted to do outlines and flooding. I'll be trying some more after my finals are over!!

I made Antonias recipe last night. and it was shiny and a little less thick than the Wilton. The more water I put in to thin the shinier it got. So I will use this one.

Awesome!! Thanks for the quick reply! I can't wait to make some more cookies!! Have you guys seen Eleni's on the food network?? She makes some beautiful sugar cookies!

Antonia74 = Helen


It's my real name! hahaha


Irisinbloom, the royal icing we all use for our cookies shouldn't get rock hard at all. I'd call it "crisp", but no teeth breaking by any means!

The moisture/fats in the cookie keeping the thinned royal icing from getting hard like the straight royal icing on a gingerbread house, for example.

Thank you so much Helen, I wanted to try some cookies and this was pretty much all that was keeping me from it, I just love your tutorial, so I'm off to the kitchen

Antonia answered the question you had asked me. It is also true of regular royal icing, the difference is the surface you are putting the icing on. On a very dry hard gingerbread, like you would use for a house, the thicker decorations would get harder.
The other recipe is basically a royal but with that no no, butter added which is what keeps it from hardening or setting up quite as much as a royal icing would.
Hugs Squirrelly

Thanks gals

You might want to try Toba Garrett's cookie icing recipe. I've never tried it personally, but its made with corn syrup and although messy i believe that it will give you a shinier cookie. I don't have the recipe with me. But i'm sure someone must have it on hand.

Squirrellycakes, I also use Alice's cookie icing. The butter added with the royal icing ingredients gives it a wonderful flavor, and the icing sets up nice so that the cookies can be wrapped or stacked after drying, but still stays soft when you bite into the cookie.

I used Helen's recipe today and when I thinned it to fill the cookies, it dried dull. Am I doing something wrong? I read something about steam? Please help.

You might want to send her a Pm and ask her about this?
Hugs Squirrelly

The "Royal Icing for Decorated Cookies" is shiny when wet....but dries to a matte finish.

Well, then does anyone know how to make royal icing that stays shiny when dry?

Have you tried the Poured Cookie Glaze recipe from the Wilton site?
Poured Cookie Icing

This icing dries to a shiny, hard finish. Great to use for icing or to outline and fill in with tip 2 or 3.

1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons milk
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
Place sugar and milk in bowl. Stir until mixed thoroughly. Add corn syrup and mix well. For filling in areas, use thinned icing (add small amounts or light corn syrup until desired consistency is reached).

Can I use water instead of milk? Will that change the shinyness?

You know, I have never used water in this glaze. I suppose you make a really small batch of it to see, but I just have never done it. With the milk, the cookies should still be fine for a 2-3 days, I would say more like 4-5 from experience.
Hugs Squirrelly

thanks so much for your help!