I am new to decorating cookies and I am wondering what icing you prefer to decorate with; RBC, Fondant, RI, Color Flow, as far as taste and ease of use!!!!!!!!!!!! TIA for all your insight.

Antonia's RI all the way

I prefer Antonia's icing for decorating. This dries fairly quickly and is easy to work with. I once used MMF, which gives a nice clean look and it a little easier, but I saw some people picking it off or just not eating the cookie. Color flow is not meant to be used to decorate cookies, it tastes awful and dries really, really hard. I really do not like RBC either because it stays too soft and is greasy.

Where would I find this recipe?

I found the recipe. Does this icing taste good? I know RBC tastes good that is why I used it.

My RI is the same as Antonia's except that I add about 2 teaspoons of clear vanilla extract and it tastes great.

I use mm fondant and toba garrets glace icing.

: )

How do you like using the MMF? Is it easy to use? What about the flavor? I've never tried MMF and I'm really looking forward to making some this weekend and decorating with it. I've been dying to try it!

I use both Antonia's icing and MMF and both have rave reviews. I've made hundreds of cookies using both and they were gobbled up.

I'll try to break down why I like each - I'm in no way a pro so this is totally my humble opinion.

Antonia's - her tutorial is wonderful, everything you need to know about using RI! Her icing hardens but it's not too hard and it doesn't crack which was a big thing for me. It also tastes yummy and was a good consistency to work with. I don't outline when I use hers, I just thin it a tad bit and use a tip 3 to decorate. It also takes an edible marker very well. I just made smiley face cookies and the marker just flowed on it... so smooth and easy.

MMF - this is perfect when you want a super clean look. I love it for luster dust too! It's great when you are in a hurry because you don't need to wait for it to dry. I find it very easy to use. I make it ahead of time and even cut out my shapes ahead of time and let them rest on parchment paper. Then, I bake my cookies and when they are warm I put the MMF cutout on it and it sort of melts to it. I like the flavor. I think I add a tad bit more vanilla then it calls for but I do that for most things It's like playing with playdough... kids LOVE to play with it!

If you look in my photos you can see the difference between Anotonia's and MMF...

I hope this helps and most of all - have fun and share pictures when you're done!!!

Thanks! I just checked out some of your cookies and I love them! The look is so clean and neat, just awesome! I'm glad to see that you add the MMF when the cookies are still warm. I've been reading some posts about MMF and thought I would try that method as opposed to misting the cookie with water.

I like decorating with the RI and getting the detailed results so I can't wait to use MMF with the RI. I've never used luster dust before either and have been procrastinating. I bought some last week along with the mixing trays so I can't wait to try that as well. What do you mix your luster dust with? I read a thread today with all kinds of AMAZING instructions and tips about luster dust, mixing with lemon extract, vodka and even crisco, it was awesome!

I noticed on the coppergifts website that they sell luster dusts with lemon oil to mix with the luster dust. Have you ever tried that? I'm still up in the air as to what method to try. I'm used to trial and error and don't mind learning from mistakes Oh, do you use luster dust on RI cookies? Does it work well with RI?

Thanks so much for all your help!!

I love the taste of mm fondant on cookies. (way better than on cake, it fits cookies better)

You can look at my photos to see how I used both at the same time. : )

Yes, I have used lemon oil with luster dust to paint and the lemon oil evaporates very quickly (like it's supposed to). Works great. : )

I prefer RBC w/RI. Love it, easy to use, looks great, tastes wonderful! IMO.

Ok, I just looked at your pics and your cookies are soooo cute!!! How did you get the basket weave on your carriage for the baby shower cookies? And the army men are very cool - great detail! You make amazing cookies!

Anyway - I actually just use a little water for the luster dust when I'm doing it on MMF. I tried extract and the water mix was actually shinier and more realistic looking. But, different colors may take differently. This was just for silver and it was a dust that I bought at a local speciality shop. They recommended water for this color so I just went with it.

I'd love to try RBC, I haven't done that yet - Melanie - what recipe do you like?

Thanks Giovanna! I really love doing the basketweave. For the cookies I used #47 tip and piped the colors first, when those dried I did the white. This was my first time piping multi colors for the basketweave with RI.

Thanks for all the tips! I can't wait to start trying the MMF and experimenting with the luster dust. So, unless recommended, I should use lemon (or vanilla) extract, vodka or lemon oil for the luster dust?

I made my first batch of RBC and put it on some NFSC that I made. I had people taste them and everyone said they tasted really good. They said the cookie was a little hard so I might have to tweak that a little, but the frosting ( and I agree) tasted great!!!!!!!!!!!! I just ordered some food markers off this site so that we can make some gambling cookies for our bus trip to the casinos at the end of March