Decorating Valentine Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Hi there!

In my home we love to decorate cookies.  So decorating sugar cookies at Christmas just isn't enough for us!  We enjoy mixing up the icing and getting out the sprinkles at every holiday. Now that the kids are a little older we've begun trying lots of new techniques.  For these Valentine cookies we used our favorite sugar cookie recipe and a wet on wet technique with royal icing.

You'll Need:

• Sugar Cookies made with your favorite recipe or store bought (we won't tell).
• Royal Icing
• food coloring
• squeeze bottles (1 for each icing color)
• toothpicks or wooden skewers

For these cookies use your favorite sugar cookie dough.  My favorite sugar cookie recipe is from Katrina's Kitchen.  I was drawn to this recipe because you don't have to chill it.  When I use this recipe I've found it helpful to soften the butter almost to the point of it being melted. 

We've tried many sugar cookie recipes over the years.  When the kids were really tiny we'd just roll out the store bought refrigerated dough.  They loved it just as much and it was a nice shortcut for a busy mama. 

Follow your sugar cookie recipe, cut out, and bake.  Let cool on cooling racks while you make your royal icing.  Cookies need to be completely cool before decorating.

Royal Icing: My favorite Royal icing recipe is from Betty Crocker.

Once you have your Royal Icing mixed, now it's time to separate it into smaller bowls, 1 for each color.  I tint the icing AFTER thinning it.

Tip: I usually reserve about a tablespoon of the icing before dividing. In case I thin my icing too much in the next step I can thicken it back up with this reserved icing. 

Royal Icing is very stiff.  For these cookies we are using the wet on wet icing technique so we need to thin out our icing.  Do this by adding a little room temperature or warm water at a time.  Add your water about 1 teaspoon at a time, mix, and test consistency.  Add more water by teaspoonful until your icing is the consistency of cream. It should run off a spoon easily but not be so watery that it will run off the sides of the cookies. 

Tint your icing with food coloring and transfer it to squeeze bottles.

To ice your cookies:

• Squirt on one color of icing, spread almost to the edges with a decorating knife or just a butter knife.
• Add words, dots, stripes, etc. We're using the wet on wet technique so you don't need to wait before applying the details.
• If desired, use a toothpick or wooden skewer to drag your colors together.  
• Let cookies sit to harden.  I usually let them harden over night and then they can be stacked.
• Enjoy! 

           

Enjoy!

Katie