any ideas on why people are using Food Dehydrators to dry their cookie/icing with?  I use a regular fan.  Does the icing dry smoother or shinier with a FD?

Quote:

sugarkissed_net: Thanks for the brilliant Soft Royal Icing recipe !!

Having no art skills I use the stencils a lot.  This recipe was easier to use as it didn't crust up immediately after coming out of the icing tip.  It made a smoother cookie top without an ugly outline, (mine's still not perfect - just much better) It tasted better than regular RI, and it had a tiny bit of a gloss, It was firm to the bite- not rock hard............I'm shocked.

(Ok Ok... no laughing at my attempt to do brush embroidery (I keep seeing seagulls in clouds there)  I'll stick to stencils.)

You are all such a wealth of information and have no idea how inspired I am by all of you. I just had to share that.

I feel like such a big fat beginner right now and get so incredibly frustrated at times. Then I come on here and read and it inspires me all over again. One of these days hopefully I will be good enough to be posting on here and helping others rather than just lurking in the background trying to learn and asking the occasional question! 

Thank you all so much for your creativity and your willingness to share and help the rest of us. 

I discovered an unexpected side consequence in using the Soft Royal Icing.

I took the practice cookies to my folks to munch on.  Mom wouldn't shove the cookie in her mouth, like me & Dad.  She broke off pieces of the cookie, so she could delicately put a small piece in her mouth. I watched in surprise as the icing flaked off, so to speak as the cookie was broken.

The top part, hardened & crusted, popped off in small bits - while the soft inside icing stayed on the cookie.  The cookies were under a fan drying for 24 hours prior.

Probably something that I did incorrectly.   I actually think that I can live with this, as most people just eat the darned cookie.

I love the look of royal icing but don't like the hard texture or the flavor.  I found replacing the water with a combo of half and half and lemon juice yields a firm to the touch icing that is still soft enough to bite through with a delicious tangy flavor. 

PastryBagLady:  Very cute!  you seem to have mastered the icing like GeminiRJ has. I'm envious of your nice cookie decorating skills.  Keep up the great work folks, love the pictures.

Thanks MBalaska   Mastered, no... always trying, yes

AMy to do list for the weekend is to test different icings and drying methods. I hate how my cookies dry so dull and hard with Antonia's recipe, and I really don't like the taste. Don't know if it's the cream of tartar or what, but ewwww. Need something better.

A

Please post your results! I'd love to know a better faster method of drying :)

AAbsolutely!

I LOVE this recipe!!! I found it after I searched on how to make a softer, yet stackable RI. So happy to come upon this recipe. It is now my go-to RI recipe!!! Thank you!!!

First choice - favorite for flavor is still @GeminiRJ corn syrup glaze. 

Found a recipe this week that has become my second favorite, both for 2nd in flavor, workability, firmness and pipeability.

www.sweetsugarbelle.com/2010/12/meet-meaghan/   I've made two batches of it this week and simply love it.  It doesn't get crunchy, crackly, hard like regular royal icing, but gets firm enough after drying 12 hours that it does not get dented like a delicious corn syrup glaze does.   There are things are still better with royal like stand up piped flowers.

But I found this to be a nice medium between the basic corn syrup glaze and basic meringue powder royal icing.  It's nice to have such a variety of icing mediums to work with.  Different icings for different types of decorations.

powdered sugar

meringue powder

water

flavoring

corn syrup

Crisco (white vegetable fat)