First Time Making Over 100 Decorated Cookies
Baking By redpanda Updated 7 Apr 2007 , 7:55am by Confectionary2
I think I may be crazy for saying yes, but one of my coworkers asked me if I would make bridal gown and tux heart cookies like the ones in my gallery for her wedding later this month. Without thinking about what that would involve, I said I would love to do this as my gift for her.
The cookies that she wants me to duplicate are the ones I did for a friend's SIL's bridal shower (a lot fewer cookies!). Here's a link: http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo-259553.html
Now that I have had some time to think about it, I am wondering if anyone has tips, such as how long before the wedding the cookies can be baked? How long before the wedding can they be decorated? (I used NFSC and RI, with luster dust highlights, and she wants them to be just like those.)
I assume it's best to do the RI in stages, i.e. all of the white flooding on all 120 cookies, then all of the black. (Followed, I assume by all of the highlights/detailed outlines in stiffer RI.) If so, how long can you wait between doing the flooding and the highlights/details?
For those of you who have made this many decorated cookies, about how long did it take?
Can you tell I am starting to panic? 
RedPanda
The cookies are beautiful!!
I try to keep them to a maximum of 5 days between baking and delivering them. Although they are still good for 2 weeks or so, I start to get nervous about it after 1 week (I'm very food safety crazy, though) and you never know how long the guests will keep them once they get home. I've had people tell me they ate my cookies (NFSC with royal) for up to 3 weeks after I baked/decorated them, but personally I wouldn't do that.
When I do the clothes cookies at Christmas time (in my photos), I make a lot at one time, but I do them in stages (I also have less counter space that I could possible put all those cookies on to dry in a single layer). I bake a few batches early one day and let them cool completley, stored in a tupperwarte container. That evening I ice them with the "base coat." The 2nd day I do the "details" on the first set and bake a few more batches. I let the finsihed cookies dry for 24 hours so that I am sure that they can be stacked. On day 3, I bag the finished ones and ice the 2nd set with the "base coat." That night or the following day (I like to have about 6-8 hours between) I go back and do the detail work on that set. I wait another 24 hours for that set to comepletly dry and then bag them. If I need more, I do the same "Scedule for another day. I deliver them the next day.
Theo ther thing I try to do is use only a few colors at a time, since I have to make multiple batches of icing for that many cookies. So, I try to do as much of certain colors as I can on a particular day, since I want the colors to match. One year my main colors were light blue, green, red and white. I made a full batch of icing for each color, and did all of the same-colored base coats at one time, then moved onto another color, etc.
I'm sure the cookies will be fabulous! Don't forget to post pictures for us to see!!
I would make the bride ones more simple, that's a lot of work! In a post below when I opened a link some groom/bride cookies showed up. Do a bride one like this
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://keepsakecandy.com/images/elegantlacecookie.gif&imgrefurl=http://keepsakecandy.com/weddingcookies.htm&h=280&w=300&sz=69&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=eDp3pSLzlz65UM:&tbnh=108&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dwedding%2Bcookies%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN
When I use Antonia74's RI I can usually flood then come back a couple hours later and do detail, but of course be more carefully since the flood is not totally hard, but dry enough to do the detail.
I'm not sure about freezing, I have read on here that they can be frozen for a little while and still taste good. Do you have time to try it and see how they taste after a couple weeks frozen? Otherwise, I usually do all my baking one night, then decorate the following nights leaving 24-48 hours to dry before packaging. I have never done a huge amount at a time so I am no help on how long it will take.
Good Luck and post pics when your done!
Last year when I made about 150 wedding favour cookies, I baked them one week ahead of time and then froze them. On the Wednesday I thawed them and then iced the base colour By the time the last one was iced, the first one was hard enough for me to pipe the details on. Taking care not to press too hard and smudge or scrape against the base icing. I let it harden for about 24 hours and Thursday evening, I bagged and tagged the cookies and delivered on Friday for a Saturday wedding.
redpanda- if you need to make these well in advance, you should have no probs freezing them. I too use the 3 day method for decorating to make sure everything is set up firm before wrapping, however, when doing such a large amount, I would have to make them in batches and freeze them. I am planning on doing this exact thing for my wedding cookies. Cant wait to see your cookies!
Thanks for the feedback.
So it looks like I can bake and freeze early, and then defrost and decorate closer to the date of the wedding. I will have to clear out some freezer space soon!
I wish I could simplify, Jayme, but the bride specifically asked that I do it "just like" the one she had seen, which was the one with the straps and luster-dusted swirls. (But she wants it strapless, with red trim at the top instead of white.) I'm hoping I can talk her out of the bouquet at the bottom.
RedPanda
Actually, redpanda, if you want to put your mind at ease a little and not decorate right up to the last minute, you can freeze the completed decorated cookie way ahead of time. I've made many people do a blind taste test with a freshly dried, decorated, 2 day old cookie and a frozen-for-weeks, thawed, decorated cookie. NO ONE could taste or see any difference!
So, with your order of 100, I would COMPLETE apx. 25 in one day, dry overnight, wrap well, put into the freezer--which will "lock" in the freshness and take out all 100 the morning of delivery. This always works for me.
Hi NancysFancy,
Thanks for sharing this... I was wondering the same thing, I wonder if it works with fondant decs? And how do you wrap to lock the freshness? Just some saran wrap and then tupperware or is there a special way to do it? Thanks so much, great thread BTW!
Hi NancysFancy,
Thanks for sharing this... I was wondering the same thing, I wonder if it works with fondant decs? And how do you wrap to lock the freshness? Just some saran wrap and then tupperware or is there a special way to do it? Thanks so much, great thread BTW!
Hi nefgaby,
I wish I was more versed in fondant covered cookies. I've only used royal so far.(My fondant work is on cakes, but, of course, I've never frozen a decorated cake.) I hope someone can speak about this and I'll learn somthing new too.
My cookie orders are usually bagged and tied with a ribbon, so I do that first with my fresh, dried cookies. Then I will stack them, standing UP in rows, in a box. Next, I put this box into one or two HUGE heavy-duty ziploc type bags. And that's it! I get to reuse my big plastic bags and I deliver the already cello-bagged cookies right to the event in their box. I think this saves time and eliminates any tedious and wasteful saran wrap steps. I've never had one complaint about freshness of taste. Hope this helps!
Hi NancysFancy,
Thanks for sharing this... I was wondering the same thing, I wonder if it works with fondant decs? And how do you wrap to lock the freshness? Just some saran wrap and then tupperware or is there a special way to do it? Thanks so much, great thread BTW!
Hi nefgaby,
I wish I was more versed in fondant covered cookies. I've only used royal so far.(My fondant work is on cakes, but, of course, I've never frozen a decorated cake.) I hope someone can speak about this and I'll learn somthing new too.
My cookie orders are usually bagged and tied with a ribbon, so I do that first with my fresh, dried cookies. Then I will stack them, standing UP in rows, in a box. Next, I put this box into one or two HUGE heavy-duty ziploc type bags. And that's it! I get to reuse my big plastic bags and I deliver the already cello-bagged cookies right to the event in their box. I think this saves time and eliminates any tedious and wasteful saran wrap steps. I've never had one complaint about freshness of taste. Hope this helps!
Wow, thanks so much for all that info!! I sure helps, a LOT!
Thank you again for sharing!!! 
Thank you , NancysFancy! I didn't know you could freeze the already-decorated cookies. I was worried about discoloration of the RI, so I am glad to know that it works. (I assume that it is, however, important to protect the frozen/defrosting cookies from moist air, which might result in condensation.)
Your cookies are gorgeous, by the way!
I'm even more apprehensive about this cookie order, after having broken a small bone in my foot last night. (In martial arts class--maybe I'm getting a little old for that kind of thing!) It should be mostly healed by the time Passover has ended, and I can start working on cookies, but I can't stand or walk on it at all now.
RedPanda
I did the 225 Easter cookies in three days. Five days is my max on cookies. I want them to be nice and fresh when they get them. On my cookies I did use a lot of RBC which makes a big difference as far as time goes
! Your cookies look great by the way!!
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