Drying Royal Icing Cookies

Baking By kalico Updated 3 May 2006 , 3:06am by MommaLlama

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kalico Posted 17 Apr 2006 , 2:48pm
post #1 of 23

what is everyone using to make your cookies dry faster? A fan? Low temp oven? I checked out a cookie shop and you can order royal iced cookies and pick them up in 4 hours. How is that possible? I made a batch yesterday and had them drying out for over 12 hours, however, after I closed the cookies up in heat sealed bags, they started to sweat in the bag yet they did feel already hardened and dry. just wondering if anyone had some pointers. thanks!

22 replies
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KHalstead Posted 17 Apr 2006 , 8:41pm
post #2 of 23

I've heard of people using those lights like they have in McDonald's to keep the fries warm??? Using those to dry the cookies out ...supposedly the royal dries really shiny and pretty when you do that...I have also heard of using the oven on a low temp....I've never tried any of these methods myself though!! I always leave em' out overnight!!

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marmar Posted 18 Apr 2006 , 8:50pm
post #3 of 23

AHHH!! My biggest concern - how to dry them fast. I've dried them in a very low oven and this does indeed give them a nice shiny finish, which seems to last indefinitely. This is my current method, but I'm investigaing the idea of those restaurant heat lights, seeing as I'm hoping to open a shop. Drying them in the oven also seems to reduce one color bleeding into the color beside it, if you flood several colors at once (I try to wait a few minutes between colors, but I'm trying to find a few shortcuts, so I pretend I'm in a shop and I'm pressed for time - so far so good)

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fallonb2000 Posted 18 Apr 2006 , 8:57pm
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I don't know if this would work, but reading the previous posts made me think of it. Maybe you could use one of those heat lamps that they have for reptiles. I think they are pretty affordable at pet stores.

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golfgirl1227 Posted 18 Apr 2006 , 9:05pm
post #5 of 23

Could you call the place that can do them in 4 hours and ask them what they use? Or email them? I'm sure they would be glad to share the info. Just tell them you make a lot of Christmas cookies and faster drying time would really help you out. That way they don't think you are competition (even though that shouldn't really matter. Lots of people give info. to their competition, but who knows?).

Please let us know what you find out!
-Suz

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marmar Posted 21 Apr 2006 , 5:26am
post #6 of 23

With regards to the 4 hour drying time of the shop kalico is talking about, do you all think that they might be using fondant to cover the cookies instead of flooding them with icing?

I've only made them once before (ages ago) so I'd kinda forgotten about them. Tonight, I made them again, and I realized that once the fondant is laid on the warm cookies, the little details I plan to pipe on really won't take any time to dry at all - maybe a couple of hours.

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o0lilnikki0o Posted 21 Apr 2006 , 5:31am
post #7 of 23

thats odd, when i made my cookies, i put them in the oven on WARM and they became ... wavey... any ideas why that woulda happend?

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marmar Posted 21 Apr 2006 , 5:42am
post #8 of 23

I'm really paranoid about overheating the iced cookies - I think the icing will probably melt. That's probably why yours got wavy. I turn the oven on warm only for a couple of minutes and then TURN IT OFF. I put all my iced cookies(on the cooling racks) into the oven , and then close the door. (I'll admit, that for the first couple of minutes (because of the paranoia, of course) I open and close the oven several times, sticking my hand in it to see if the air feels too warm, it's a bit of a guessing game. Ask herself "If I was a cookie, would I melt to death in here?"

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bonniebakes Posted 21 Apr 2006 , 11:59am
post #9 of 23

I use royal icing on my cookies all the time. I've never tried a heat lamp or puttignthem in the oven. Unless I've really, really thinned it (more than usual), they are dry to the touch in about 4 hours. But, I certainly wouldn't bag them or stack them at that point. I have bagged them after about 10 hours without a problem, if I'm careful. I prefer to let them sit out overnight and bag/stack in the morning, though.

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pinkopossum Posted 21 Apr 2006 , 2:08pm
post #10 of 23

I let mine dry overnight, hth

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kalico Posted 22 Apr 2006 , 2:49pm
post #11 of 23

thanks everyone - i guess i should stick to leaving the cookies out to dry for at least 12 hours before bagging.
those of you that use the low temp oven...how long are you actually leaving the cookies in there?

the cookie shop that can deliver in 4 hours is "cookies by design". but i read an earlier thread that said they might be decorating and freezing the cookies, so they just thaw them out when you place an order. no wonder.

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claire74 Posted 24 Apr 2006 , 8:28pm
post #12 of 23

Hi,
Just been looking though the board and saw your post about drying Royal Icing on Cookies/run outs.
I use a lamp where you can angle it into position.This does dry the icing with a nice gloss.....
I tend to do this with Royal Icing Run outs.Flood one part of the design first then put under the lamp to dry,then do the 2nd stage of the design.It helps stop colours and the icing running into one another.
Dont know if this is any help.
Claire

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beeline Posted 25 Apr 2006 , 8:15pm
post #13 of 23

Those of you who let your cookies sit out overnight to dry, do you cover them in any way? I recently iced my first cookies (yay me!) and I put paper towels over them to protect them and they made a few indents in my icing.

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kay52178 Posted 25 Apr 2006 , 8:20pm
post #14 of 23

I put them in on a cookie sheet with higher sides. Then I cover the whole pan with foil. It doesn't touch the cookies.

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TJSCAKES Posted 25 Apr 2006 , 8:28pm
post #15 of 23

The last 2 times I made cookies, I didn't make too many, so I just let them dry overnight in my Wilton rectangular cake carrier and my Wilton 13x9 cake pan with cover......

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bonniebakes Posted 25 Apr 2006 , 9:35pm
post #16 of 23

I cover my cookies when they're drying over night.

I lay them out single layer on jelly-roll pans (with the short sides). then cover the pan with plastic wrap. that new stick to the container kind is great, because you can make it really tight across the lip of the pan without touching the cookies. Or, I put them in those glad containers (like tupperware), if I don't have that many.

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prettycake Posted 25 Apr 2006 , 9:41pm
post #17 of 23

icon_smile.gif This is exactly one of the reasons why I use Fondant to ice my cookies...NO waiting.., so I can do more at much less time. But, that's just me.. icon_smile.gif

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marmar Posted 26 Apr 2006 , 2:55pm
post #18 of 23

Wondering - for those of you who cover cookies overnight, do they take longer to dry? If the cookies are moist to begin with, would covering them not keep the icing moist, also?

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TJSCAKES Posted 26 Apr 2006 , 3:40pm
post #19 of 23

I always cover mines and I never had a problem with them taking longer to dry....I usually decorate them in the late afternoon..cover them before I go to sleep and in the morning they are dry.....

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bonniebakes Posted 26 Apr 2006 , 7:44pm
post #20 of 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by TJSCAKES

I always cover mines and I never had a problem with them taking longer to dry....I usually decorate them in the late afternoon..cover them before I go to sleep and in the morning they are dry.....





yep. me too.

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MommaLlama Posted 28 Apr 2006 , 4:16am
post #21 of 23

Just for practice, I made some cookies and wanted to see how drying them in the oven would work. I set the temp at 170 dgrees waited for it to heat, then turned off the oven and placed the freshly iced cookies in. 1 hour later they were pretty dry and very shiney. I give this method a big thumbs up!!!!


ml

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Bouncin4Bonjovi Posted 3 May 2006 , 2:31am
post #22 of 23

Do you have to cover the cookies? Can you just leave them out on a table to dry?

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MommaLlama Posted 3 May 2006 , 3:06am
post #23 of 23

I don't cover mine until they are dry.

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