I made easter cookies this weekend and I had the worse time ever! I just wanted to give up! I printed off the article on here about how to bake and decorate cookies, made my royal icing in advance and everything. I get up Saturday moring start rolling out cookie dough and begin my very long journey. My cookies turned out great, but the icing technique was a battle all on it's own. I fluffed up the royal icing a bit, put some in a bag and began to TRY to outline my cookies and I could not even pipe it. So I thinned it out just a tad and then my outline still looked really ugly so i just attempted to flood it in freehand. I don't get the flooding thing either. Am I just that dumb? I think they turned out ok for a beginner. I am going to post them as soon as I can tell let you you all give me some good advice on what I done wrong but until then I have some questions........

1) To outline do you thin it at all and if so how much?

2) Can someone explain the flooding technique in maybe words that I can comprehend?

3) How much do you flood in, mine looked really flat compared to some on here.

4) what's up with those air bubbles when I flood?

Thanks for all your help in advance!!!

Hey, I understand your frustration! I just did my first cookies with royal icing as well. I have a few tips...maybe more experienced decorators can help you more but all I did was thin my royal icing till it was pretty runny. Like, I held up a spoon and it flowed right off. I did not outline my cookies, I just put the royal icing on freehand. It worked pretty well, I had a few bubbles but they were small. They are posted in my gallery if you want to take a look. I would like more tips as well so I will be keeping an eye on this post!

Don't be so tough on yourself, I'm sure they came out great. But to be honest with you I hate doing cookies, and whenever I do them I try to use buttercream on them. I usually only do cookies for my kids and their classmates and I found that kids tend to like the buttercream better than royal.Besides buttercream is a heck of alot easier to work with.

Although I have never had this type of experience, I can understand how you feel, and that is exactly why I ice my cookies w/ Fondant.. To me, you get better results, no fighting, no mess, and no failures. It still is a challenge though.. don't worry, we all learn from experience. you did your best..HUGS, HUGS, HUGS

Ok I am pretty new at the cookie thing but I will try and help you out. First of all this is suppose to be fun and relaxing so try not to stress after all its just a cookie. Personally when I make Antonio's icing to make cookies I only use 2 lbs of sugar and leave out the 4 ounces - other than that I do exactly what she says to do. After I get my icing done I pipe my outline by keeping my tip a little above the cookie this helps me make a prettier outline. To make my flow icing I thin it till I can drop a little bit down in the icing and it will disappear by the time I count to 5 or 6. I then put my flow into a bottle and squirt it on there (or I have just spooned it on from a bowl). When flooding them make sure you use a small squared off paitbrust to manipulate the icing where it needs to be, and make sure you butt your icing up to the outline. I keep a small bowl of water and a dish towel to wet my brush then wipe it off. It should just be barely damp. As for the lovely bubbles I just break them with either my paintbrush or a toothpick. If you let your flow sit a few minutes then stir it in a figure 8 it will help to get rid of a bunch of the little darlings. I know there are many many more people out there with alot more experience than me, but I wanted to try and help.
Melissa

I'm cetainbly not a pro, but maybe I can offer some helpful suggestions....

First, it does take PRACTICE! LOTS of PRACTICE!

As for your quesitons, I'm not sure what royal icing recipe you use, but the one I use is VERY thick. You'll have to thin it some before using it to outline and then thin it even more before you fill in the outlined area (flooding). (*when you feel more comfortable, you might do this in one step, but as a beginner, I recommend an outline and flooding).

For the outlines, try to thin it enough that if you drip it from a spoon into the bowl of icing, it takes about 10 seconds to "meld" into the icing in the bowl. For flooding (which is really just filling in the outlined area), you'll need to thin it even more. I'd say that for flooding, you want it to "meld" into the icing in the bowl in about 3-5 seconds. So, you do the outline first. Then, you thin the icing and either spoon it inside the outline and spread it around, or pipe it in. The thickness of the icing that you flood with, and how much you spread it around, determines how thick the icing is on the cookie. The more "runny" the icing is (thinner) the flatter it looks on the cookie.

Thin icing does get air bubbles. The more air you add to the icing from mixing, the more bubbles. So, you can "pop" them with a toothpick after you ice the cookie (before they dry). You might also wnat to try to let the icing - once you have the right consistency - sit in the bowl for an hour or two before you use it to fill in the cookie (covered so it doesn't dry out). The bubbles will rise to the top, and then before you use it, you can "skim" them off the top and use the less air-filled icing underneath.

I hope that helps!

Bonnie

Thank you all so very much, your words are very kind and encouraging. I love cake central!!!!! Oh to all the ones that had to see my repeat post that was repeated amny many times I am very very sorry! I thought that it was not posting so I kept trying, it kept going to page cannot be displayed. My very sincere apology.