How to Ice your Christmas Cookies like a Pro
It’s nearly Christmas and we all know what that means: it’s time to bake some delicious Christmas cookies!
Whether you are making homemade gifts, or simply want some tasty Christmas treats to nibble on during the festive season, we know that you want them to look as good as possible.
And that’s exactly what we are going to help you to do today: learn how to ice your Christmas Cookies like a pro!
Preparing the Cookie Icing
The best icing to use for your Christmas cookie decorating is by no doubt “royal icing”.
Fun fact: “royal icing” is referred to as such because this style of icing was used to decorate Queen Victoria’s wedding cake when she married Prince Albert in 1840.
But what makes royal icing so much different from traditional icing? Royal icing is made with egg whites to create a hard, candy-like coating over your cookie for a smoother surface.
How to Make Royal Icing
Making royal icing is just as simple as making traditional icing and once you’ve made it once you are guaranteed to never use a different icing method.
Ingredients:
- 1kg of Confectioner’s Sugar (icing sugar)
- ½ cup of Meringue Powder (egg white powder)
- Food colouring of your choice
- ¾ cup of Water
Method:
- Combine the confectioner’s sugar, meringue powder and ¾ cup of water in a large bowl. Now mix the ingredients together slowly with an electric mixer until stiff peaks are formed.
- The icing should be white and thick but not fluffy.
- Add in drops of food colouring at a time and mix with a rubber spatula until you have achieved the colour you desire. Remember: it’s always easier to add some more food colouring than to remove it.
But what if I can’t find meringue powder?
If you’re in a bit of a time pinch or there is no meringue powder at the store, you can make your own at home with a bit of effort.
And how can you do this? By pasteurizing your eggs.
Pasteurizing your eggs ensures that they are safe to use even when they are uncooked.
Here’s how you can pasteurize your own eggs:
- Place your large eggs in a pot filled with water. Using a digital thermometer, heat the water to 60°C. Keep the eggs in the water for 3 minutes and adjust the temperature if needed.
- After the 3 minutes have passed, remove the eggs from the water and rinse with cold water.
- Now you can follow the above method but use only the egg whites in place of the meringue powder.
Icing the Christmas Cookies
Here’s the part of the article that you have been waiting for: icing your Christmas cookies!
Consistency, Consistency, Consistency
Before you start stuffing icing into piping bags, it’s important to make sure that your icing is not too thick or too runny. The secret to great icing lies in achieving the correct consistency.
According to Georganne Bell, an icing tutor who offers online tutorials on her website (lilaloa.com), your icing is the perfect consistency when you are able to achieve a smooth surface after having banged the dish on the counter five times.
Less than five means that the icing is too thick, more than five means that the icing is too runny. Simply add a dash of icing sugar or a dash of water until the icing is the correct consistency.
Icing Equipment
Don’t create an overwhelming environment for yourself: stick to basic equipment that you are more familiar with.
The nozzle on the piping bag that you use should not be too wide or else you will not be able to correctly outline your Christmas cookies. Outlining and finer detail should be executed with a narrower nozzle where flooding (we will explain in the next section) is better achieved with a wider nozzle.
Ice, Ice Baby
The time has finally arrived to ice your Christmas cookies!
Start by slowly outlining the edge of your Christmas cookie being careful to apply only gentle pressure. When piping in a straight line, lift the tip of the piping bag about 2.5cm from the cookie. This will help you to see where you are placing the icing.
When reaching an angle or a corner, lower the tip down to the surface of the cookie until you have completed the turn and then lift the bag about 2.5cm from the surface of the cookie again.
Now it is time to flood: flooding refers to filling in the centre of the cookie. Now that you have completed the outline, flooding will be a lot easier.
Apply a bit more pressure to your piping bag if using the same narrow nozzle, or use a slightly wider nozzle, and begin flooding the cookie. This should be done in one motion without stopping as the icing will dry quickly.
If there are a few holes or iffy spots, simply use a toothpick to fix or fill any of these problem areas.
If you would like to add a second icing layer to the top of the cookie, be sure to allow it to dry completely first.
Icing Tips and Tricks
Here are a few cookie icing tips and tricks from the pros:
- Always mix more icing of each colour you think you will need
- Thicker cut cookies are less likely to lose their shape when baked
- Refrigerate your cookies for 5 minutes before putting them in the oven
- Food markers are great for finer details in cookie decoration
- Have fun and try out different decorating ideas over and over
***
Now it is time to get those Christmas cookies all iced and decorated! And, if you make a few mistakes that’s perfectly okay. You can eat them so that no one will see and they will still taste great so win-win!
Have some icing tips you would like to share? Leave a comment on Kerrygold’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages for our followers to see.
