I want to make decorated chrismas cookies that won't be so hard as to break the little teeth for whom they're intended. I know that RI is traditionally used for it's drying proporties, but is there some other kind of icing that crusts as thoroughly as RI without being quite so hard?

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I use royal icing but I add a teaspoon of glycerine to the icing and it still dries nicely but is soft enough to eat without breaking your teeth. Hope that helps.

Here is a link to a thread that is along the same lines as you are asking. Hope this helps. Here's the link:

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6169956.html#6169956

Toba's Glace
Antonia's royal

both recipes are on CC, toba's takes longer to dry but you get the same look as RI and it tastes great! I use Antonia's royal on all my cookies and I love it. It is not rock hard and tastes good. HTH

Toba's Glacee!! Its wonderful. Dries hard enough to stack but soft enough to bite into and have a nice consistency. It takes about 24 hrs. to dry.

You will love it!

Thanks for the replies....I'm going to TRY to make Christ-moose cookies. I'll post when done. I'm kinda excited for this one

I use fondant to decorate my cookies. It stays nice & soft. It's also nice because you can just roll it out & cut the shape with your cookie cutter, then add the details.

Just wanted to second the Toba's Glace'! I have also used fondant!

Have fun!

I've also used Toba's glase, and it looks awesome it just take a little longer to dry. I'v also used MMF and I like it too.
Good luck!

I can't find Toba's glace anywhere...help!

It's in the recipe section! http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake_recipe-2119-Toba-Garretts-Glace-Icing.html

I used it on gingerbread cookies last year, it was fantastic.

For those who want perfect cookies, please ignore my suggestions. I use a real butter and cream frosting on Christmas cookies. They are rough coated but Santa is all red but he always get a white beard, boot top and pon-pom - the star tip works well for that. Stars get yellow frosting and sprinkles. The bells are blue with a white frosting ribbon; green trees with a star and sprinkles, green holly with 3 red hots for berries, etc. All very home made looking and and kid friendly.

I do like the scalloped cookies I make, they have a smear of white frosting for background and a poinsetta (a circle of five red leaves, then 3 green leaves and yellow dots in the center) those really smarten the platter. Buttercream cookies may not look perfect, but they are really good to eat- if you have little ones helping, dump the excess sprinkles off when they aren't looking.