Good Morning,
I need some advice or at least confimation as to what I did wrong.

I made a cookie frosting this weekend the ingred. were powder sugar, morainge powder, butter, water. It was good tasting and I used the thicker stuff for the outline of the cookie and then thined it out with water and seperated it for colors.
I am not sure if I added too much water or if it was the butter I used.
But it seemed to sepearte almost like little pellets and the color was only sticking to some of the frosting.
Now was it too much water or was it cuz I did not use real butter?
I am just getting started with this cookie decorating stuff and still have not found a icing/frosing that works well for me.
The frosting also did not seem to get hard enough to stack the cookies.
Any advice would be great.

Good Morning to you too.

Here's the link to an article here on C.C. about making cookies. Maybe this will give you a head start. Good luck & happy baking.

Gloria I

http://www.cakecentral.com/article54-How-To-Bake--Decorate-Cookies.html

Definitely try the icing in the article morningglories suggested. It is fantastic and will harden for bagging/stacking the cookies. Also just as an fyi, it's always preferable to use real butter when baking. You can't beat the flavor and texture that will result.

I guess the problem here for that icing is the butter.
To decorate cookies normally you use royal icing (mixture of confectioners sugar, merengue powder/egg whited and water). Royal icing will dry hard.
Royal icing and butter or any kind of grease don't get along, so be careful to have all utensils grease free or the royal will breakappart and get too runny, it will never dry out.

Follow antonias recipe to make the royal:http://www.cakecentral.com/article54-How-To-Bake--Decorate-Cookies.html

Or if you wish try wilton's recipe:
3 tablespoons or merengue powder
1 pound of confectioners sugar
5-6 tablespoons of lukewarm water
Mix sugar and merengue. Add water and mix 7-10 minutes at medium speed until icing loses its sheen. To prevent drying be sure to store icing in an airtight container and put some plastic wrap on top of the icing.

Did you use an actual recipe that you got from here or someplace else, or did you just make it up as you went?

What recipe did you use?

I've only used Antonia's icing (the recipe that's in the tutorial on this site), which doesn't have any butter in it.

There are others which I believe do have butter (like Alice's icing), so I'm sure it's possible to make one successfully with butter in it, but I'm not familiar with those.

You might be better using a tested recipe, rather than inventing your own at this point, if that's what you did.

It sounds like your royal was breaking down because of the butter, which could explain the uneven coloring. It's much easier to get consistent color with royal icing because it doesn't have the butter in it.

You mentioned that you didn't use "real butter" - what did you use?

The answers to these questions may be helpful for someone to figure out what went wrong, but in the meantime, Antonia's recipe has been used successfully by many of us, and is well liked by everyone I know who's tried it!

Laura.

I was shocked when you referred to making royal icing with butter... it's my understanding that even a speck of a greasy substance will reduce your royal icing to a bowl of soup. Is there a royal recipe calling for butter that get's hard? I never use royal because I don't think it tastes good. I've always hated cookies from the bakery with that shiny hard icing, so I only make mine with BC. I'd love to know if there's a yummy alternative. ( I know some people like it, it's just a personal preference, I mean NO offense to anyone who does their cookies with royal!! )

melvira, i was thinking the same thing

I used Alice's Cookie Icing recipe
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-1961-0-Alices-Cookie-Icing.html

It was good tasting and it was more like frosting than icing. I liked that cuz I don't really care for the hard icing either, but like I said it just broke down.

The butter I used was Butter-UP I think that it is 1/2 veg oil and I really think that was where my issues were.

It's very easy to add too much water (ask me how I know! ) Try it again with real butter and less water when thinning.

I've never heard of ButterUp, but if it's part veg. oil, that's probably the problem.

Try it again with real butter and you should be fine - that's a recipe that many people have used and recommended here, and I don't remember anyone posting about that sort of problem with it before.

Good luck, and remember to post pictures of your cookie!

Laura.

I have a good cookie icing to share. It dries firm to the touch, so you can stack and package the cookies, but it's not rock hard like royal. I can't take credit for this recipe - I got it from The Cake Maven (aka Trish) when I took a cookie class with her.

Cookie Glaze

3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
1-2 tsp falvoring (almond, vanilla, or any of your favorties)
Food Color gel

Dissolve syrup in the warm water. Mix in flavoring and sugar until you have a smooth glaze. Add more sugar to thicken or more water to thin. Use a thicker icing for outlining the cookie and thinner for filling in. For those of you familiar with color flow, it is the same technique. Your fill-in icing should disappear into itself at the count of ten.

Use thickened icing and a tip #4 or #5 for outlining the cookie, then the thinner icing for filling in. When filling in, work quickly before the icing "crusts" over. If using different colors (one for outlining and another for filling in) let the first color dry for about an hour before decorating with the second color. Otherwise, the colors may bleed. Once dry, you can then decorate on top of the first layer with more glaze, royal icing, or food coloring markers. Let icing firm up for 24 hours before stacking or packaging.

The other method is to warm the glaze briefly in the microwave and stir thoroughly. Then dip the cookies in glaze. This does not give a detailed effect as the outlined and filled in method, but it is easy and fast.

Thanks for sharing! I think I will try it!!

Thanks for all the advice. I knew it just had to be the butter I was using. I will try that again and see.
The cookies my 8 year old daughter actually decorated for the rummage sale Grandma is having she is selling cookies and lemonade with the proceeds going to the animal shelter in our town.
The cookies really did not turn out well. I will have her take a picture today and I will get it posted in a few days.

Thanks again. You all are GREAT HELP and support.