I remember a thread sort of on this subject, can't find it. I'm looking at Tracy's square cookies, her dots are perfect. My dots (and writing) always seem to 'hollow out' or 'sink', like on my beauty school dropout and grease cookies. Does anyone know how to remedy this problem? honeydukes, you out there?
TIA

Oh! The 'ole whole in the dot problem. Yes, get it sometimes too. Don't know exactly why but it happens when my icing is kind of runny. Anyone got thoughts on this???

Could be that the icing is not thick enough or that there is air in the decorating bag or even air in the icing itself.

Hey, Shiney!

First of all those cookies are fantastic!! Love the cars!

It happens to me, too and I really don't have a problem with TG. (I have it just like I like it.) It has to do with the "bubble" not being solid. The top of the dot "falls" as it's drying. I take a pin or a toothpick and a minute or so after piping it, I "puncture" the dot to make sure the icing "fills." (You must do this before it dries.) Does that make sense? I've never had this happen with RI, which is what Tracy uses. And YES, her cookies are FAB-U-LOUS!

Honey, I seem to be using TG almost exclusively now, don't remember having that much problem with RI hollowing out. I will do the puncture thing. You're wonderful, and thanks for the kind comments. That Grease bouquet was SO much fun!

You're welcome! I'm totally gonna steal the Beauty School Dropout cookie someday!

RI shouldn't do that much, if it at all; it's a different makeup. It's very frustrating getting those darn holes! Most people won't even notice -- I certainly didn't on yours!

I KNEW Honeydukes would know what to do!!! Right after you asked me about it Shiney, I piped some runny icing and thought, "Oh, boy! This better not sink!" Lo and behold, some of them did a tad. I attributed it to the fact it was more runny than normal. I like Honeydukes solution and will give that a whirl next time I see it happening. I do think it is a matter of how thick the icing is though as I have never had it happen with less runny RI.

Thanks for posting the question and Honeydukes, thanks for another great solution! We can always count on you!

If I can hijack this thread for a moment...) Tracy, how did do your daisies? They're gorgeous!

Tracy,
I do think it has to do with how runny the icing is. This usually happens to me with royal that I have kept in the bag for a couple of days. When I make it fresh I have never had it happen. Maybe the royal has separated and I haven't mixed it well enough (see the thread about remixing your icing that has been in the bags for a few days). Just another reason not to keep royal too long. I am lazy so I try to use what is in the bag first before taking it out and remixing but I think you do get better results. Ok, gotta run off to decorate my Converse sneakers (actually for someone at Converse - I'm nervous! hope I don't get dots that sink!!!)

Susan

I got to say that everyones cookies are AWESOME! So much detail in them all!

If you have some leftover icing, you can fill the holes and smooth it over with your finger. It won't be perfect, but it is an improvement. I hate those darn holes!

I've had that happen to me more than I want!

here's my theory...
if the icing is too runny, it has a lot of water in it, and it's the evaporation of the excess water that leaves the void/hollow.

I thought that i could stick a pin in it before it dried, but it didn't really work for me. it's when I realized that I need the icing to be 'just runny enough' that I got less of it.

I did some testing and am finding a direct correlation between how runny it is and if I get dots. I think Jen has nailed it on the head as to why it happens and I do the same thing GeminiRJ does if I need to fill a sunken dot. I think there is also something to be said for how fresh the RI is. I noticed the same thing Peeverly did and thought it was just a coincidence, but now that she mentions it, there may well be some merit in it. I'm going to try less runny and making sure it is that day's RI. Thanks everyone for all of the great input and thanks to you Shiney for posting this!

Hi Honeydukes - I decorated the daisies separately, RI'd them to the dried scalloped bottom and then did my dots. If you do it, be sure to fun your RI underneath every petal when you adhere it (so it won't break when packaged). Is that what you mean? (Sorry, I was up until 2 am doing mummies and am brain dead!)

I have gotten the occassional hole even while using very, very thick icing. And it was using a #1s tip, so it wasn't that the tip was too large to break any air bubbles. I've just accepted that I'll get the holes every now and then, and deal with them accordingly.

P.S. - Gorgeous daisy cookies, Tracy!