I Think I Need To Stick With Cakes And Candy
Baking By cocakedecorator Updated 13 Dec 2006 , 2:33am by cocakedecorator
Ugghh. I have made my xmas cookies, just for a family get together and they look like a 2 year old decorated them. 
I used the NFSC and Icing recipe, they taste great but look like crap. Thankfully I am only using them for family. I guess I am just better at cakes,chocolates and candies. Does anyone have any tips for icing the cookie smooth. I find this to be very hard, esp. with odd shaped cookies.
Sorry you're not happy with the results of your cookies. Did you use Royal icing? If so, I wonder if it was thin enough. When I ice cookies they naturally come out smooth because the icing is so watered down; there's no spreading involved. Don't give up! If at first you don't succeed, eat it and try again!
Can you post a picture of them? I teach a cookie class every month at Gilda's Club in Metro Detroit and (thank the Lord) even the most inexperienced novice comes out of there making cookies Martha Stewart would die for! Share your pictures and I'll take a look at them and try to offer some suggestions. 
Hey -
Chin up! I bet you followed the icing recipe exactly, right? How much powdered sugar did you add? If I remember correctly, the recipe calls for 2 lbs. plus 4 oz. of powdered sugar, so one standard bag plus 4 oz. This is too much! Just use 2 lbs. plain and simple and you'll probably still need to add a bit more water to get it to flood.
Don't give up! Once you get the knack of it, your cookies will look fabulous!
Christy
I just made some cookies the other day as well. I found that depending on the texture of the icing you can use tip 3-5 to get it smooth. I also used a simple paint brush and that worked great too. You just have to play mad scientist with your icing on the first few batches and then you will know what is going to work for you.
yes i did follow recipe exactly so maybe that is my problem i need to thin it some. I will post a pick tomorrow,bobwonderbuns so that you can see them.
I've been doing cookies for years and last month I got ahold of a very bad batch of meringue powder -- cookie icing was lumpy and even after a week they had not dried!! When they finally did dry (some of them), the icing was crumbly when you bit into the cookie. That was a learning experience!!
ok here is a pic of the cookies. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Ok i can't get it to attach here so it is in my photos.
I am seeing other peoples cookies and I think my biggest problem is that my icing is not thin enough. Are you all piping on the details ? or what is being used to do that?
Yes, it looks like your icing is too thick. whenever I make cookies, I will pipe an "outline" with a tip #1 or #2, then "fill" in with the icing - and that icing has to be a little on the thin side so it will flow and smooth out. Then after that icing dries some, I go back and pipe in the details.
Okay, I just took a look. First, you have some great ideas there, we just need to tighten you up a bit on it. Are you using buttercream or royal icing? I ask because it looks like a buttercream rather than royal. If you are using buttercream, make it with milk, not water. This allows it to crust (think gingerbread men with the crunchy buttercream icing.)
To get a smooth finish, use royal icing that has been thinned down with water. I make one consistency and do both my outlining and flooding with that. My recipe for that is to take 1 lb 10X (Confectioners Sugar), 3 level TBSP meringue powder and sift together. In a grease free bowl of a stand mixer (like a K-5), [grease free -- meaning to take the mixer bowl, and the paddle attachment, and the spatula you are going to be using and wash them (even if they are already clean) in HOT soapy water, then paper towel dry, then with a white vinegar moistened paper towel, run that over the bowl, paddle attachment and spatula. This is very necessary because any little tiny speck of grease will break down the whole entire batch!!]
Now that you have the bowl and paddle attachment thoroughly cleaned, you add the sugar and meringue powder (I sift them first), then add 5 TBSP water (5 TBSP = 1/3 Cup) and 1 TBSP Vanilla Extract (or whatever flavor you like.) Mix on a low to medium speed (I like #4) for about 8 minutes, until it loses it's sheen. This will be very stiff consistency. Then take the bowl off the mixer and remove the paddle attachment and dump 1/3 Cup water right into the icing. With your cleaned spatula, fold the water into the icing and it will loosen up. Fold and stir until it is an even consistency. I then use plastic squirt bottles (as found in the candy section of the cake stores) to outline and flood with. If you want to check your consistency before you use the icing, scoop up some and drizzle it into the rest of the icing. It should completely disappear by the count of 10, even if you have to jiggle the bowl a little bit. When you flood the cookie, you will have to shake it back and forth lightly to get it to flatten out. This gives you your smooth finish. When you start to outline the cookie, don't go right to the edge because the sugar you put on top will push the icing out and you don't want it to go over the edge. Touch down on the cookie, start to pipe and raise it up, drawing where you want the icing to go, then touch down at the end point. You don't want to drag the tip along the cookie or you will get flat outline and it won't hold the flooding in the middle.
After all this, you have several options. You can start decorating with sugars or hearts or whatever you like. If you choose sugar, dump it on liberally and then (holding the cookie) turn it over and let the sugar run off. This is a quick movement -- you only want to remove the excess sugar. This is called "flocking." Or you can let it dry first in one color then overpipe with another color if you like. Or overpipe with the same color and flock with sugar for a raised effect.
Sorry to be sooo long winded here, but I think you are on the right track. If you have any further questions, ask away!! Hope this helps some! 
well i did use the royal recipe from the NFSC and it obviously was too thick. I will try yours next. Also the squeeze bottle is a great idea, i was using a spatula and that clearly doesn't work! I am going to try and give it another go provided I get all of my other baking done.
That was the problem, spatula with too thick icing. Try my idea of thinning it out and flooding -- you'll be very pleased with the results. If you have any problems, PM me and we'll talk. good luck!!
ok i will let you know how it goes. Thanks so very much for all of your help!
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%