I have seen lots of great cookies done with a flood as the base and then the same color used on the outline on top of it. When mixing the frosting (I usually use Antonia RI), in order to get the colors to match so closely, should I mix the frosting flooding consistency or piping consistency? Either way, I'd have to thicken or thin the remaining frosting. Any ideas?

What I do is thin my frosting for flooding and then add more sugar to thicken it for outling or you could take half of your frosting and thin it and use the other half for outlining.

What I usually do is make the royal icing piping consistancy first. I outline the cookie and then take some of the remaining icing and add water and flood the cookie. Then after that dries you can outline with some of the piping consistancy. So you want to make enough to do all your piping and have some for flooding also. I usually use one of those wilton bottles they have with the caps that looks sort of like a condiment container. Its great for getting into corners and things.

am i the only one who does it backwards?? i make the flood consistency, then add powdered sugar to make the outline.

Kneadacookie...no, you're not the only one, that's what I was saying I did.

oh, duh, sorry i had a blond moment, or i just can't read.
oh, now i think what i read was that you thin your icing for flooding. so are you making a medium consistency??

I know when my thinned icing is right when using a spoon I drop some back into the bowl and I by the time I finish counting to 10 slowly the "drop" has smoothed back into the rest of the icing.
I don't ouline before flooding I just start going at it.

I add more sugar to it to acheive about a medium consistancy, maybe a little thicker to outline the details. I don't make it too thick or my hands start aching from squeezing.

I do the outlining first because it gives you a dam so that your flooding doesnt run off your cookie. It will also give your flooding a thicker coat that way so your not wasting any icing.

Sometimes I outline but most of the time I don't. If I have alot of cookies to make. I will outline them and then let my help flood them.

If I need an outline for detail, I may do them without an outline, just cover with RI. THen I go back after drying some and outline on top of that. Just a different way to do cookies. I am trying to decide which way I like best.

How on earth do you flood a cookie without outlining first? Doesn't it just run off the sides of the cookie?? I'm intrigued!!

I think I'm all backwardsy then I mix my royal icing and put it in pastry bags and then mix up my glaze and put that in my bottles...I dont use the same for both outlining and filling

I mix the RI to the consistency just thick enough not to run/flood freely. I let the RI run from the spoon back into the container. The icing ribbon must stay until a count of 5 before it is no longer visible in the bowl.

The cookie recipe that I use holds a nice edge and rarely slopes. I make an outline around the cookie and then immediately fill in with the same icing. Occasionally I have had the icing run off, but I just add a small bit of PS to it again to a medium thick consistency.

Ok, that makes sense! I was thinking of thinned out flow-in worthy icing and I was cringing at the amount of mess I'd make with that! Hehehe.