Hello ladies!

For the 1st time ever I'm going to try and make NFSC from the recipe section here on CC. The recipe calls for just butter. My question is, would that be salted butter or un-salted butter?

With Antonia74's icing it calls for meringue powder. Should I use Wilton brand or some off the wall store brand at my local store. We don't have a Hobby Lobby or Michael's with in a hour drive.

Is the Toba Garrett Glace better than the Antonia74 icing? Which has a better taste?

Should I roll the cookie dough to 1/4 thick? How would I do this without an accuroller or a doughboard?

TIA
Ashley!

Hello Ashley
Well I can help with a couple. Use unsalted butter. Some say you can use either, but all recipes will call for un.
My cookie dough is usually rolled 1/8. I do have a doboard but just got it. Before that, I taped wooden dowels down on all sides and my rolling pin rolled right over those and the dough was the same thickness. Hope that makes sense. As far as the meringue powder, all I can find around here is Wilton. So somebody else will have to answer that. And I use fondant for my cookies.
So good luck to you

Oh thank you so much for the info! I'll give it all a try!

Ashley!

Wilton meringue powder is fine - it's all I use. If making Antonia's RI, make sure to add some vanilla or other extract (clear if you want your colours true, because real vanilla will make it ivory). The glace icing tastes good but is harder to use for small details. I always use RI and everyone really likes the flavour and texture - it does not dry rock-hard, despite what people may tell you!

I always roll to 1/4" - I have the bands that go on your rolling pin and I really like them.

Good luck!

Oh great tip about the vanilla. I would have never guess that! I've looked at buying the accuroller from Kitchen Collectables. It's like $57.99 and it comes with the rubber rings. I can see that I'm going to for sure need it if I plan on doing these cookies often.

I'll give the Antonia icing a try!

Ty!

Ashley!

Linedancer started a thread about a DIY Cookie Board on here. I followed the advice, and glued 1/4" basswood strips ($2) along the sides of an extra pastry board I had. My rolling pin was too short to reach across the board (I should have measured!), so I bought the big Wilton fondant rolling pin ($20). The cost was much less than the Dough Board, and it works great!

Sorry....dumb question. What is NFSC? Thx

No Fail Sugar Cookies...recipe is on CC.

AHHHHH, got it. Thank you!

i like the wilton brand meringue powder.. i think it smells good.. some people on this site really put it down..it is very pleasant to use.. hth.. i try and use other brands too. to see how each is.. wilton is still my favorite

I just did 90 cookies shaped like crosses and iced using Toba's glacé. I loved it! Even though I spread it on with a spatula, it dried nice and smooth and kept it's glossy appearance. Once it dried, I piped vines on each cookie with royal and attached some RI flowers that I made a couple of days beforehand.

Mark,
Did you outline first with royal icing? Or did you use very thick glace'?
If I don't outline first, the glace' sometimes drips over the edge (but it can be scraped off after it dries, which I hate to have to do).

Didn't outline at all, consistency wasn't too thick

Sassysweetz WELCOME And best of luck in your very first cookies. You will soon be addicted, if not already lol. I have used NFSC for years now and I'm just going throw in my two cents for what ever it's worth (not much probably ) I don't use real butter, instead I used IMPERIAL margarine
and everyone I make cookies for loves the taste. I do exclusively use Imperial though. I've also been using Antonia's RI for the same amount of time and I just love it. It's easy to work with and leftovers store like a dream. I have never put any kind of flavoring into the icing but I know lots of people do. I just like the cookies the way they are. As far as rolling out the dough, I once made myself a homemade "dobord" but didn't like being confined to just that amount of dough to roll out. So what I do is use my handy dandy VERY hi tech rolling guides on either side of the dough. You can get these very special tools at....Home Depot! lol I just use 1/4 inch slats in the wood trim aisle! Nothing fancy and VERY cheap! I do have some other sizes in case I want to do thicker cookies on sticks,but mostly use the 1/4 inch. I plop my dough down on parchment, put the "guides" outside the dough, and start rolling! This way I can roll a larger amount if needed, works great. Just wash the sticks up when you're done and they're ready to go for the next time.
As far a meringue powder, I've used Wilton, CK, and some other brand.
They all worked equally as well. So whatever is nearest you should be fine.

Best of luck, and we will be waiting to see your cookies!

Joanne!

Thank you so much for the great input. I love Imperial and that's basicly all I keep on hand. I'll give it a try. I hope it works for me I hope my cookies are pretty enough to post! We shall see....

Going to get baking!

Thanks again to everyone who responded!

Ashley!

Does the Wilton Meringue powder expire? Does it have an expiration date? Or is there just a rule of thumb?

Thanks.