We've all been there--ordering something online that doesn't look exactly like how you pictured it in your head. This is even tougher when what you ordered was meant to be used in conjunction with something you purchased elsewhere. In the world of cookie cutters and stencils, it's so important that the stencil design fit properly onto the cookie, or your decorating project can become a disaster. Let's look at some things you can do to make sure you're getting a stencil and/or cutter you can work with!
Most companies that sell cookie cutters and/or stencils tend to be very up front and visible with the sizing of their products. They want their product to work for you, after all, so making sure you know what you're getting means happier customers and fewer returns for them. In product listings, look for posted dimensions like this:
One important thing to note is that stencils are measured at their widest points in both directions. This means that if you have an irregularly-shaped stencil, it could potentially not fit on a "normal" round cookie if the tallest point on the stencil is all the way to the right or left of the design, since circles are tapered at the sides. A 3" circle is only 3" at the diameter (right across the center); move to the left or right of that center line, and your cookie is no longer 3" across.
In a similar way, cookie cutters that have an irregular shape are also measured at their widest points. The cookie below would be measured from the top of the page corner to the bottom of the spine of the book; even though those parts aren't aligned, these are the furthest points on the cookie, and that's where the measurement will be taken. Stencil measurements are the same.
The worst mistake you can make is assuming you know how big a given measurement is without actually measuring it. Put your confidence and stubbornness aside and dig a ruler out of your junk drawer. Mark the given dimensions on a piece of paper to see exactly what those dimensions look like.
And again--if a pencil cookie cutter is listed as being 4" long, that obviously does not mean 4" in both directions, as pencils tend to be much longer than they are wide. A cutter like this could easily only be 1" (or less!) wide, which might be skinnier than what you are imagining. If the product listing does not include the dimensions for both length and width, it might be worth reaching out to the shop to see if they can give you more information before you make the purchase.
PYO stencils are notoriously oddly-shaped. They will generally be taller than they are wide (or the opposite!), and it will be important to account for any areas that cause the stencil to be measured away from the center line.
Does your haunted house stencil have a tall tower on the upper left side and a spooky graveyard in the foreground on the bottom right? A circle cutter would likely not be the best choice here, due to the shape. Square cutters can be a better option in a case like this. If your stencil measures 3" from the top of the tower to the bottom of the graveyard, then you know that your 3.5" square cutter will accommodate that length in any direction.
I personally prefer to use plaque cookie cutters as opposed to circles and squares (my OCD is triggered by lopsided circles and not-perfectly-square squares). In that case, I need to make sure that any narrower areas of the plaque can accommodate the corresponding areas on my stencil. Don't forget-- the cutter is being measured at its widest point. If there is a scrolling edge that dips and rises, then there are areas of the cookie that are less than 3" wide. If your stencil is a blocky 3" all the way around, it likely won't fit the areas of the cutter where the scrolling edge dips down.
Side note: If you are purchasing mini cutters, they are also being measured this same way-- from the farthest edge to the farthest edge. A 2" mini popsicle cutter may appear shockingly small when you receive it, making you think that the sizing is off, but that is because it is not 2" in every direction, and you didn't account for the popsicle being skinny.
If you have a stencil that measures 3" at its widest point, DO NOT assume that it will fit on a 3" cookie--especially if you are newer to stenciling. This could be a recipe for disaster if you tend to not flood your cookie all the way to the edge, as many cookiers do. Your cookie immediately will be smaller than 3", and the stencil won't even have a chance at fitting.
Always average up when selecting a cookie cutter. If the stencil is 3" across, a 3.5" square cookie should do the trick. Depending on the orientation of the stencil design and where it is at its widest, a larger 4" circle may be a better fit if you're looking for a round option. There is a huge difference between a rounded 3" stencil design and a square-ish 3" stencil design in terms of how they fit on the cookie. And again, it's important to understand that irregular shapes are going to create irregular sizes, and you need to have a realistic understanding of where the measurements for that stencil are coming from.
When in doubt, reach out to the seller or manufacturer and see if they can provide more detailed sizing information. They may even be able to suggest a cutter or cutters that would definitely fit the stencil in question and take all that guesswork out of the way for you. Always worth a shot!
Anyone with a child in their house probably also has an army of soft, cuddly, and brightly-colored Squishmallow stuffed animals hanging around. These adorable stuffies come in all different shapes and colors, ranging from a cute axolotl to a hot pink boba drink with a sweet smile. As a cookier, it's almost inevitable that you might get asked to make cookies based on this theme, but having to buy multiple cutters to accommodate the almost unending number of designs is just not always doable.
Introducing the Cookie Countess Marshmallow Plushie Cookie Cutter. This cutter was designed with many of the various characteristics of these stuffies in mind--arms, horns, wings, ears, eyes, etc. When designing your cookies, this one cutter can be used to cut all of your various shapes, with some easy modifications.
Making a cute frog Squishmallow? It's as easy as slicing off the extra dough of the horn and the wings. A boba cookie? Leave one ear to accommodate the straw, and cut off the other ear, the horn, and the wings. An adorable bee? Snip off just the horn and leave the rest of the cookie as-is to accommodate wings and antennae. Pop your modified cookies into the oven to bake, and you are good to go!
No matter how you slice it (pun intended), these cookies are sure to be a hit!
Welcome to the sweet and intricate world of cookie decorating! Whether you're a seasoned baker or a newcomer eager to delve into the art of decorated sugar cookies, understanding the unique language of "cookiers" is essential. This glossary is your golden ticket to navigating the colorful, creative, and sometimes complex terminology used in the cookie decorating community. From royal icing consistencies to the most intricate piping techniques, we've compiled a comprehensive guide to help you master the lingo. So, grab your piping bags and ready your sprinkles; it's time to explore the essential terms every cookier should know, ensuring your cookie decorating journey is as delightful as the treats you create. If we missed something, leave a comment & we'll look into it!
Air Bubbles: Typically found in flood-consistency royal icing, these bubbles are the result of air being mixed into the icing during preparation. They can be popped with a scribe tool, but the best way to avoid air bubbles completely is to let your mixed icing sit covered on the counter for a while before scraping the surface with a spatula to pop them, and then transferring the icing into a piping bag. Read our post here for more information on air bubbles, including the helicopter method.
Airbrush / Airbrush System: Usually comprised of a compressor, gun, hose, and power cord, an airbrush system can be a fantastic tool to add layers and dimension to your baked goods and up your cookie game. The color in the color cup of the airbrush gun is turned into a fine mist when you pull the trigger, and this can be used to spray full color backgrounds or add stenciled designs. The Cookie Countess offers two airbrush systems to suit your needs.
Bag Topper: A bi-folded piece of printed cardstock that can be attached to the top of a cookie bag for a decorative or instructional touch.
Baking Powder: A simple leavening agent, and the eternal scapegoat of the baking world. Unless you are adding quadruple the amount of baking powder your recipe calls for, it is most likely not the reason your cookies spread.
Boo Boo Stick: Typically a 4-6” tool with a point on one end and a flat edge on the other, this is used to correct or scrape mistakes in royal icing (see also: Thingamagenie).
Tip: Keep your Boo Boo Stick handy—it's your official "I meant to do that" wand for when your royal icing decides to go rogue. Perfect for those moments when your cookie art starts looking more like abstract expressionism.
Brush Embroidery: This royal icing technique can be used to make flowers and other details in addition to giving the appearance of embroidery. Using a medium stiffness icing, pipe a 1”-2” line of icing onto your cookie. With a damp (not wet!) round brush, push the bristles about halfway into the line of icing and then pull backwards. This will create a lacy effect that can look very detailed. See our blog here for more details and instruction.
Butter Bleed: One of the banes of a cookier’s existence (see also: craters), butter bleed is essentially when the butter from your baked cookie leaches up through the flood layer to bloom on top and create oily spots on your royal icing. See our Butter Bleed blog for more details on how to combat this.
Color Bleed: This refers to dried cookies, when the color of one icing seeps into an adjacent color. Darker colors (that require more food coloring) tend to bleed into lighter colors, so common schools of thought are to a) allow your colors to sit and develop (instead of going overboard on adding color), and b) not allowing base icing to fully dry before adding details on top (the completely dry icing has a tendency to try to absorb moisture, and therefore color, from the fresh addition). Check out our blog on color bleed here for more information.
Continuous Line Art Cookies: Also occasionally called the Roundhouse technique (after the baker who popularized it), these cookies are decorated exactly as they sound: with one continuous line drawn into a particular shape. A small projector can be helpful with this technique.
Cookier: A creative soul and culinary artist dedicated to the craft of baking and decorating sugar cookies. Known for their precision with icing, an eye for design, and a heart full of passion, a cookier transforms simple dough and frosting into edible masterpieces.
Essence: More than just bakers, cookiers are part of a warm, supportive community that shares recipes, tips, and laughter. They find joy in the rolling pin's dance, the piping bag's squeeze, and the sparkle of sugar. Each cookie is a canvas, each design a story, making every bite a moment of shared happiness and sweet connection.
Coupler: A coupler is essentially something that connects two things—in this case, connecting piping tips to your piping bag for easy swapping and removal. The coupler is first placed inside the piping bag, and a piping tip is then placed over the end of the coupler, sandwiching the material of the piping bag between them. A collar is finally fitted over the piping tip, threading onto the grooves at the end of the coupler and holding the tip in place. To switch tips, simply remove the collar, swap the tip, and replace the collar once done.
Craters / Cratering: Typically found in small flooded areas of a cookie (think eyeballs or lettering), craters are small caved-in holes that appear in royal icing. There is no guaranteed trick to avoiding craters, unfortunately, but using a slightly stiffer icing (and/or putting a squiggle of a stiffer icing in that area first to then flood over) is one of the go-to options for avoiding them.
Crust / Crusting: This term refers to the hardening and drying of royal icing. As soon as icing starts to dry, it begins to develop a “crust” that will crack and deform if it is touched too soon. Some techniques require waiting until your base flood has crusted before moving to the next step; this simply means that you should wait until the icing won’t deform before adding the second layer, in order to have definition between the two layers.
Dehydrator: A device that can be used to speed up the drying of royal icing. Choose one with sliding removable shelves and a fan on the back or side to facilitate an easy in and out process and even drying.
Dipping / Dip Method: A method of flooding cookies without having to actively flood with a piping bag, dipping involves placing a thin-consistency icing in a bowl, gripping your cookie by the sides, and gently (but evenly!) dipping the cookie into the surface of the icing to fully coat the cookie in one go. See also marbling.
DIY / “Do It Yourself” Cookie Kits: Fun and easy for any age, these kits typically include several blank (baked) cookies in a variety of shapes, a few small piping bags of royal icing, and some sprinkles or nonpareils. Cookiers like these kits because the decorating is up to the customer—we just have to provide the materials!
“Edible”: A product that is certified as intended to be eaten or ingested.
Embossing Technique: Another way to add dimension to your cookies is the parchment paper technique. Originally started by simply crinkling a piece of parchment to add a funky crinkled effect to cookies instead of a flat flooded surface, embossing is a super easy way to create visually interesting cookie. Parchment squares now come in a variety of embossed designs that can be transferred to cookies by simply placing them on a freshly-flooded surface. See our post here for some tips and tricks.
Emulsions: This typically refers to a flavoring that is not alcohol-based. Common thought is that alcohol (and thus the flavor) bakes off in the oven, so using emulsions results in more flavor being left behind.
Extracts: These flavorings are alcohol-based, and they are more readily available in grocery stores.
Flood Icing: This icing is thinner in consistency due to a higher water content. It is typically used to cover the full surface of the cookie, although it can also be used in smaller sections.
Fondant: This is an edible icing used to decorate cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. It is typically rolled into thin sheets and then draped over cakes to create a perfect finish, but it can be cut into cookie shapes and applied on top of cookies as well. Silicone molds can be used to form fondant into unlimited numbers of shapes, and it can also be used to create edible decorative sculptures.
Fondust: This product works well for adding color to low-moisture products like fondant. Simply add a little bit and massage into the fondant until fully dispersed for a big color payoff.
“Franken-cookie”: This term refers to merging two cut pieces of cookie dough into one shape. Once baked, the cookie will hold this shape for decorating.
Gel Food Coloring: Unlike the liquid food coloring most usually found in grocery stores, gel colors are thick and don’t add additional liquid to your icing or baked goods. They are also super pigmented, so they typically require less to achieve dark or vivid colors. Cookie Countess gels can be found in a variety of colors and shades here.
Glaze Icing: Typically only containing powdered sugar, water, corn syrup, and flavoring, this icing is prepared without the addition of meringue powder. It can result in a softer bite (no crunchy, hard icing here!), but it can hold up less well than true royal icing for designs requiring stiffness and definition (think flower petals).
Heat Sealer: Also called an impulse sealer, this machine is used to seal cookie bags for freshness. A pulse of electricity is sent to a metal wire on the sealing platform, melting one side of the plastic bag to the other.
Helicopter Method: This silly name refers to the act of twirling a closed, tied piping bag full of royal icing in a circular motion (like a helicopter blade) to force air bubbles out of the icing. Make sure that your piping bag is completely sealed, unless you were intending to clean your ceiling anyways.
Impulse Sealer: See Heat Sealer.
Instant Icing: These royal icing mixes come plain or pre-colored, and they just require the addition of a little bit of water to turn into ready-to-go royal icing. Keep a bag of white on hand for making royal icing transfers, or for if you run out of your icing and just need a little more. Instant black and red mixes are perfect for stenciling and details, and they provide perfect colors with no additional food coloring required.
Lip and Tape Bags: These cookie bags are self-sealing, in that they have an adhesive strip at the end of the opening flap. Simply peel away the protective strip from the adhesive, fold the flap over, and the bag is sealed.
Luster Dust: This product does have some shimmer, but (unlike Sparkle Dust) it is meant to be brushed onto a cookie, either wet or dry, in order to add color and sparkle.
Marbling: When using the dip method, a marble effect can be achieved by drizzling colored icing over the surface of the base flood color in the dipping bowl. Give a quick zigzag through with a scribe to soften the lines and then continue to dip as normal. This will result in some spectacular and unique patterns that just couldn’t be achieved with standard flooding.
Meringue Powder: A staple in traditional royal icing, meringue powder is essentially dried pasteurized egg whites that have been turned into a fine powder (or superfine, in the case of Genie’s Dream!). This product helps to whip your icing into a stiff consistency that is great for any design requiring stiffness and definition (think flower petals or basketweave design).
Mesh Mats: Unlike Silpat or other silicone baking mats, these mats have an open-weave design, allowing for air to flow under and around your cookies in the oven. The perforations leave a professional design on the bottoms of your cookies and can help with cookie spread. For a full comparison of mesh mats to Silpat, etc, read our blog here!
“Non-Toxic”: A product that is not intended to be eaten, but which won’t harm you if you ingested it in a small quantity (think a child eating a Crayola crayon—it’s not ideal, but they’ll most likely be fine). See our coordinating post about non-toxic versus edible here.
Petal Dust: This product has a matte finish and is meant to be brushed onto royal icing, fondant, gum paste, etc to provide shading and dimension.
Piping Tips / Piping Nozzles: These small metal tips are typically used in conjunction with a coupler and piping bags for flooding and detailing cookies, cakes, etc. Round tips are good for flooding and line work, but other tip options include leaf, basketweave, star, drop flower, petal, and more.
Procrastibaking: This term has two completely different definitions, depending on who you ask.
Projector: A small projector can be used to display images, writing, and more directly onto the surface of your cookie, allowing for easy tracing, piping, and spacing. Pair with a tripod or other mount for most effective use.
PYO / Paint Your Own Cookies: These cookies are flooded white and then stenciled with a coloring-book-style design that can then be painted in with an edible paint. Pre-made PYO palettes can be found here for purchase, but some cookiers prefer to attach colorful candies (the coatings can be rubbed off with a wet paintbrush and then applied to the cookie design), or make their own palette with gel food coloring on a separate cookie.
Roundhouse Technique: See Continuous Line Art Cookies.
Royal Icing: The standard icing used with decorated sugar cookies, this typically consists of powdered sugar, meringue powder, water, flavoring, and corn syrup. Royal icing usually starts off as a very thick, stiff icing that is good for stenciling and assembling gingerbread houses, but it can be thinned for flooding and piping with the careful addition of water.
Royal Icing Transfer: This refers to a small design that has been piped onto a piece of parchment paper and allowed to fully dry. Once completely dry, the design can be removed carefully from the parchment and glued onto a cookie with a dab of royal icing. These transfers are a great way to get a head start on a project, as they can be kept in an airtight container almost indefinitely. It also allows you to make mistakes on parchment, not your limited supply of cookies.
Scraper: Different than a standard spatula, a scraper usually has a long, flat, flexible edge that can be used to scrape stencils clean of royal icing.
Scribe (Tool): A scribe or scribe tool is a pointed instrument used to pop air bubbles in icing, help spread icing to the edges of the cookie, scrape away mistakes, and any number of other tasks when decorating cookies. Scribes typically come in 4” and 6” options, but a toothpick can also be used in a pinch!
Silkscreen: Typically used in airbrushing, this refers to a product that is a porous membrane that lays on top of your stencil to hold it flat and flush to your cookie, but through which airbrush color can pass easily, resulting in crisp, clean lines. Fabric silkscreens can also be used with royal icing, although standard stenciling technique needs to be adjusted in order to do so. Silkscreen options can be found here.
Silpat / Silicone Mats: These mats create a solid nonstick surface on which to bake your cookies. They don’t conduct heat, so they don’t create hot spots that can cause your cookies to burn. Unlike the mesh mats, the solid silicone surface can cause air pockets to develop on the bottom surface of your cookies. For a full comparison of types of baking mats, refer to our blog here.
Sparkle Dust: Typically spritzed onto the cookie (or even just a portion of the cookie) using a dust pump to give a little sparkle.
Spread: When you hear cookiers talk about cookie spread, they are usually lamenting that when they put their cutout dough in the oven to bake, it comes out of the oven wider and misshapen. There can be several reasons for this (too-soft butter, dough being placed on hot pans, not enough flour, etc), but a simple hack is to use your metal cutter to re-cut the cookies as soon as you take them out of the oven—don’t try this with plastic cutters unless you love the taste of melted plastic!
Stencil Genie: This is a 2-piece plastic frame that holds a stencil in place and snaps together with magnets on the four corners. Easy to use and easy to clean, this is a must-have item for cookiers who use stencils.
Thingamagenie: Another great Genie product, these come in a set of two and can be used as both a scribe and a boo boo stick to correct mistakes. The flat edge can also be used to hold areas of a stencil in place when airbrushing.
Tip Clips: Use these tiny clips to clamp the ends of opened tipless bags and prevent leaking royal icing.
Tipless Piping Bags / Tipless Bags: These disposable piping bags have one seam and a closed point that can be cut to any size opening you need. “Tipless” refers to the fact that you do not have to use a coupler and piping tip to use these bags. For more information, refer to our blog here.
Tissue Paper Method: Used by cookiers to transfer an image to a flooded cookie that can then be filled in with royal icing. Use an edible ink marker to create or trace a design onto tissue paper. Place that tissue paper design onto the flooded cookie, and trace the lines again with edible ink marker. Lift the tissue paper away, and the design should be left behind.
Turntable: A smaller version of a Lazy Susan, a turntable can be used to easily spin cookies while they are being airbrushed or even flooded. Choose one with a removable top platform for easy cleaning.
Underspray: Underspray, interchangeable with overspray, is when you are using a stencil with an airbrush and color manages to get under the stencil, thus creating a fuzziness to the edges of the stencil. This can be avoided by aiming directly down at the stencil/cookie to prevent air from lifting up the stencil when using. A Magic Screen is a great tool to help prevent underspray.
Wet-on-Wet: This refers to the method wherein you flood a base layer of royal icing and then immediately add detailing in a different color of the same consistency of icing. The two will retain their definition, but they will merge to be one level layer. Take this technique up a notch by using the tip of a scribe to achieve hearts, rosettes, chevrons, and more.
10-Second Icing: You can substitute any number at the front of this term, and the meaning is essentially the same. This refers to the number of seconds it takes your icing to “heal” itself when you drag a knife through it in the bowl, and it is a method of measuring the consistency of icing. A 10-second icing is better for flooding (because it will settle and even out on the cookie relatively quickly and easily), whereas a 20-second icing is better for outlining and details (since it will hold its shape better and doesn’t automatically want to flatten out). Read our Icing Consistencies blog for a full breakdown.
Every now and again, I have the cutest, most perfect cookie cutter, but I’ll wish that it came in a plaque version that I can personalize. Kids always love a cookie with their name on it (let’s be real, who doesn’t?), but that adorable cutter design may not be conducive to adding personalization. This is a perfect opportunity for a Franken-cookie!
What the heck is that, you ask? Well, just like in Dr. Frankenstein’s story, this is when you take parts from two different things and assemble them into a new creation. More specifically, you’ll cut out two separate cookie dough shapes and meld them together before baking, resulting in one new joined design—no murderous green monster here, unless that’s the cookie vibe you’re going for. In this case, we’re going to use a cookie stick to add some personalization space to our cute little bunny butt for a great placeholder cookie for Easter dinner.
Cut both shapes out in your cookie dough. Figure out where you want the cookies to join, and use the Bunny Tail cutter to cut away a portion of the cookie stick, leaving the outline of the Bunny Tail cookie.
Match up the modified cookie stick to the side of the Bunny Tail cutout and gently use your fingertips to smoosh the dough together at the joint (technical baking term here, smoosh). If you chill your dough, you’ll want to let it come to room temperature a little bit so that the dough will be willing to meld together.
Move the new cookie to a baking sheet and bake like normal. And voila—your Franken-cookie creation is ready to be decorated and enjoyed! See the full decorating video below, as well as links to all the supplies used.
Here is where you can find all of the digital download freebies and links we've shared on social media. If you can't find what you're looking for, please email us at support@thecookiecountess.com and we can point you in the right direction.
Table of Contents
To download, click on the download button and wait for the PDF to open in another tab. From there, print out as many copies of the transfer sheet as you'd like, and get started! You can find our full blog with videos and instructions here.
Related Links:
In a world where visual cues dominate, Braille stands as a beacon of inclusivity, offering those with visual impairments the independence and joy of reading and writing. Developed in the early 19th century by Louis Braille, himself blind from a young age, this tactile writing system has transformed countless lives. Braille is not a language but a code that can be translated into many languages, including English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and more, making it a universal tool for empowerment. Each Braille character, or 'cell', consists of six raised dots arranged in a rectangle comprising two columns of three dots each. The specific combination of raised dots within each cell represents a letter, number, or punctuation mark. This ingenious system allows fingers to glide over the dots, enabling individuals to read everything from beloved books to essential documents. World Braille Day, celebrated annually on January 4th, Louis Braille's birthday, is a day of recognition for the importance of Braille as a means of communication in the full realization of the human rights for blind and partially sighted people. This day serves as a reminder of the need for accessible and adapted written material for people with visual impairments. In the spirit of this day and the remarkable language of Braille, this blog post delves into a unique and touching project: creating cookies with Braille lettering. This endeavor not only celebrates the tactile language but also symbolizes the sweetness of inclusivity and the joy of learning, no matter the challenges one may face.
A while back, a high school friend of mine had her third baby, and this adorable little munchkin was soon found to be mostly blind. Her fantastic family rallied together, and over the last few years, she has posted to Facebook sharing their challenges and their wins. Their biggest win is that this sweet little boy is happy and thriving and learning to navigate the world around him. When his smiling face makes its way across my timeline, I can’t help but smile, too.
When she posted that he was learning Braille, I was so happy for him and for them, and it made me want to try something I’ve never done before: Braille cookies. I do so many pretty cookies for people all the time, but helping someone who can’t visually see the design to know that cookies were made and decorated specially for them was a little out of my wheelhouse. Since I didn’t want to overstep in an area where I have no personal experience, I reached out to ask if this was even something that would be wanted—and thankfully, she was gracious and welcomed the idea with thanks. She explained that he was learning to identify letters in general and his name in particular, and she provided me with the Braille spellings of his and his sisters’ names.
I then started doing some research on Braille lettering, and I found that there are specific guidelines for how it has to be spaced, raised, etc. My initial thought had been to use nonpareils or royal icing transfers to make the dots, but I felt this would create an irregular shape and be difficult to place with the precision needed. So Plan B was to pipe the dots individually, and it actually worked out pretty well. I wanted to make sure that the icing was nice and sturdy, but we also had an egg allergy to consider, so I used the Ann Clark vegan icing mix as a substitute for using meringue powder, and that held up really well for both piping and flooding.
My second issue was how to keep the Braille dots evenly spaced and nice and straight. Our Notebook Stripes stencil was perfect for solving this problem and helped give me the “school writing” look I was going for. An edible marker to add his name lettering without interfering with the Braille, and the cookie was done. His mom was kind enough to send me a video of him reading his name, and that was sweeter than any cookie!
Supplies Used: Whipped White Gel Color, Tipless Piping Bags, Black Edible Marker, Notebook Stripes Stencil, Beachy Blue Edible Airbrush Color, Royal Red Velvet Edible Airbrush Color (Incredible, Amazing & Strong Words Stencil has been discontinued since this photograph was taken)
Key Considerations for Braille Cookie Projects
If you're inspired to create Braille-decorated cookies, it's important to approach the project with sensitivity and awareness. Here are some crucial aspects to consider:
Remember, a project like this can be a creative, educational, and respectful way to celebrate Braille and the visually impaired community. By keeping these considerations in mind, you can ensure your Braille cookie project is both meaningful and well-received.
Learn more about Braille and World Braille Day here: Learn More
So you have managed to successfully make your first batch of decorated sugar cookies? Congratulations! Now it's time to package those beauties up for distribution! There are so many bags on the market, it can be hard to figure out what kind and what size to get. Let's look at what you should consider when making your bag purchase.
"We're going to need a bigger bag."
Let's do some cookie math to see what size your 4" cookie ACTUALLY is:
Cookie width: 4"
Cookie height (un-iced): ¼" (don't forget to account for both the “up” one side and the “down” the other side of the cookie)
Icing height: 1/8"
In terms of how much of your bag space your cookie will take up, you need to account for 4"+¼"+¼"+1/8", which is a grand total of 4 5/8" (or 4.625"). And this doesn't factor in any spread, decorative elements, or additional puff that your cookies might have. If you roll out to ¼" but your cookies puff up in baking, then I'm sorry to say you do not have a ¼" cookie, my friend. Just as I do not wear hats because I am forced to confront my extra-large head size every time I try to cram it into a stylish ball cap, you too must be honest with yourself and realize your cookies cannot fit in the too-small bags you have purchased--and it's not the bags' fault! Average up to a larger bag, and you will be much better off in the long run.
Say it with me: A FOUR-INCH-WIDE COOKIE WILL NOT FIT IN A FOUR-INCH-WIDE BAG!!!
So many cookiers have tasted the bitter sting of defeat when trying to bag their cookies, only to realize that they forgot to account for the fact that cookies are three dimensional when they chose those bags. All this to say--when you measure your cookies at 4" wide, you're not done measuring yet. You still have to account for the depth of your cookie.
Unless you are purchasing bags that are gusseted on the sides, when you insert a cookie into the bag, the top face of the bag itself lifts up, and the sides pull in. This is because you are not inserting a completely flat item; you are inserting a 3D object that requires the bag to expand in order to fit.
Gusset: a piece of material that provides expansion
If you do purchase gusseted bags, then much of this cookie math becomes a moot point. Bags like this have built-in expansion that account for the depth of the item being put in it. Think of trying to force your PB&J into a sandwich bag that doesn't expand. It's probably not going to happen, and even if it does, either your bag or your sandwich is going to be worse for the wear. Using this same analogy, though, many freezer bags have gusseted and non-gusseted versions, and it is up to you to know which one to pick, depending on what you are planning to store in it.
Most cookie/treat bags are made from either cellophane or polypropylene (commonly referred to as cello bags and poly bags). Poly bags tend to be durable, if a little cloudier (not quite as clear), and they're tougher on the environment, as they are made from man-made materials that are not always biodegradable. Cello bags are usually crystal clear, are made from plant-based materials, and are great for food packaging because they don't transfer any taste or odor to the contents.
Poly bags have a reputation for sticking to dry royal icing, which can leave marks on the finished cookie. Unscrupulous sellers occasionally also list their bags as cello, but if you peek at the product descriptions, they will mention polypropylene, making it a poly bag, NOT a cello bag. (Sellers on the rainforest website ::wink wink:: are known for this, so always read the full product listing before hitting Add to Cart.)
One other awesome option for cookie bags is the decorative style of bags that may have a zip top closure. These are great because you can typically fit multiple cookies in one adorable bag, although you always want to consider your cookie design before shoving multiple cookies in one bag together. But again, you have to be able to fit your cookies through the opening first! If you are reading the listing for a bag and it says that the zipper opening is 3.5" wide, that does NOT mean a 3.5" wide cookie will fit through the opening, for all the same reasons we discussed at the beginning of this blog. A 3.5" wide piece of flat paper? Sure. But not a 3.5" wide cookie with icing and floral embellishments on top. Not gonna happen. Save yourself the heartache by measuring and planning accordingly.
If you were to ask me which cookie design I get the most emails about, it has to be this Argyle Heart Hillary made years ago. For Cookie Countess customers, this cookie is their Roman Empire (if you know, you know). This design lives in their heads rent-free, and emails about how to recreate the argyle look come in year-round. So let's break it down step by step and product by product, shall we?
With the exception of the flood icing, this cookie is entirely airbrushed. To recreate this exact pattern, you'll need the following:
If you find your concentrated airbrush colors to be a little too dark for your design, you can also add a drop or two of Whipped White airbrush color to your gun well to make the red and pink a little more vivid and less dark.
As you can see, this argyle cookie design is a lot simpler than it looks, but it definitely makes an impact! Show off your argyle skills by mixing up the colors, and have fun!
One of the top questions I see posted in cookie groups all the time is “why are my iced cookies drying matte, and how can I get them to dry shiny instead?” Although it might seem like it, I assure you--it's not witchcraft. There are a few simple things you can do to get that pretty, shiny effect, so let's take a look.
The journey to shiny cookies starts with the icing itself. It's important to start your icing off on the right foot before you even apply it to the cookie, so let's start there.
Adding corn syrup to your icing can result in a softer bite (who among us didn't make a rock hard royal icing when we first got started, amiright?), but it can also affect the visual result, as well. Recipes that include corn syrup typically add between one tablespoon and ¼ cup per 2lb bag of powdered sugar. As with any new “optional” ingredient, I always recommend starting out on the conservative side and adjusting upwards as desired, but I have definitely found that adding corn syrup to my recipe results in a more consistently-shiny icing at the end of the day.
Overmixing your icing, on the other hand, can cause it to dry more matte. This is one of those aggravating baking terms that can drive you crazy because exactly what the heck does “overmixed” mean?! There is no recipe that says “mix icing for 4 minutes and 17 seconds, and not a second more or your icing will be overmixed.” That would make things too easy. Recipes have to be a little more general, unfortunately (read: “mix for 3-5 minutes”), and so much of the royal icing-making process is in taking visual cues. But an additional two minutes of mixing can be the deciding factor between icing that is perfect and icing that is overmixed, so it's important to keep an eye on your bowl and know when to pull the plug, so to speak. I typically look for my icing to turn a bright white color instead of the dingy wet-powdered-sugar look you start out with. Only once I reach that point do I add white gel food coloring to my bowl; if I add it with the other ingredients at the start, I might miss that visual cue that tells me my icing is done. All that to say, if your icing is drying matte, it might be worth taking a look at how long your mixer is running for.
One of the main keys to shiny icing is getting that icing to dry quickly. The faster the icing dries, the shinier it will be.
One simple method to faster drying is to just aim a fan at your drying cookies. I like to aim the airflow so that it passes evenly over my cookie sheet, not directly down at a particular cookie. And, of course, you don't want to drag your old bedroom fan out of the attic for this purpose, with its dusty fan blades ready to spread that dust all over your freshly-flooded cookies. Invest in a small, inexpensive fan you can dedicate for this purpose only, keep it covered when you're not using it, and make sure to clean it as needed.
Another (albeit more expensive) option is to invest in a food dehydrator. Choose one with multiple sliding shelves and a fan at the back of the unit that blows evenly over all the shelves at once when in use. I typically set mine to the lowest heat setting possible and pop my cookies in there for 10-15 minutes before removing them and letting them finish drying on a cookie sheet. This gets your icing crusted over and drying ASAP. Just don't let them stay in there too long, or you'll accidentally dry out your actual cookies, too. This is also another case where you do not want to repurpose an old device you have hanging around in your pantry--if your dehydrator smells like beef jerkey, your cookies will also now smell like beef jerkey, so now is not the time to try to cut corners.
So if your Holy Grail is cookies with a glossy, shiny icing, it's worth a try to add one or more of these techniques to your cookie arsenal. You'll be amazed at what a difference speeding up the drying process will make in your end result!
This week Hillary & Sarah went live on Instagram and Facebook to fully unbox both the Royale Max and Mini Airbrush Systems. Watch the replay below if you missed it!
Scroll down to see some of the common questions aked during the live & their answers as well.
Q: Does airbrush color have a long shelf life?
A: Yes! It’s water based, so it’s good on your shelf for a long time. A few tips on storing airbrush colors:
Q: Are there any taste concerns with the airbrush color, especially if you’re using a lot (relatively speaking) such as with coating an entire cookie?
A: No, there really isn't. It’s mostly water based with the other ingredients just being food color, so there is no detectable food color taste even if you’re sparying the entoire background of a cookie. You definitely might get a bright pink mouth from eating a bright pink airbrush cookie until you brush your teeth, but there should not be any taste issues.
Q: What finger are you supposed to use to pull back the trigger on your airbrush gun?
A: Most people tend to use their pointer finger, but I like to use my thumb! It’s honestly just figuring out whatever feels comfortable for you - when it comes to functionality, the airbrush gun doesn’t prefer a specific finger over the other.
The most important thing you can do is not think of the trigger like an on/off switch. You’ll want to spend some time practicing and playing around with the amount you pull back the trigger for different situations.
Using old coloring books, or printing out blank coloring pages and airbrushing in the lines is a great way to practice this!
Q: What does the Magic Stencil Screen do?
A: The Magic Stencil Screen is a tool we invented to hold your stencil reeeeeeally tight to your cookie to give you the least amount of overspray possible.
Q: Where should you have the pressure knob set to?
A: I always have mine turned on the highest pressure and use the trigger to control how much color is coming out.
Q: What is the benefit of the larger .5mm airbrush gun?
A: The .5mm gun is better suited to handle thicker colors, like white or metallic!
Q: How much color should I add to the airbrush color well?
A: My rule of thumb is to add color until I reach the part of the color well that turns from a curved cup into a straight ridge - if you look at the gun you will see what I mean.
Q: How many cookies can I airbrush with one well full of airbrush color?
A: This is a tricky one to answer because it really depends on the individual user. Factors like how much of the cookie you’re airbrushing, how deep you want the color to be, how heavy or light handed you are on the trigger and how big or small the cookie is will all play into the amount of cookies you can get done before adding more color to your airbrush gun. The best way to figure out how much you use, is really to just use it! Once you have done a few sets of airbrush cookies, you will have a much better feel of how much color you use and how frequently you will have to refill the color well in different decorating scenarios.
Q: How do you avoid getting airbrush on the sides of your cookies when you’re doing shading work?
A: The short answer is, you don’t! It is really unavoidable, and not something most people will notice if they are eating the cookie. If your cookie has a straight edge, you can always use a hand grater and lightly shave off the layer of cookie that got excess airbrush color on it!
How to make lemon flavored cookies for cookie cutters. These delicious and easy cookies hold their shape when baked. The secret to getting a cookie bursting with lemon flavor is to mix the fresh lemon zest with the sugar, so the flavors bind together. These pair well with our classic royal icing, recipe here.
Want to know the quickest way to start a fight? Venture into a Facebook cookie group and say that you used non-toxic luster dust on your cookies. Go ahead. I'll wait…
Oh, you're already back? See, I told you it would be fast. Glad to see you escaped the torches and pitchforks relatively unscathed. Now would you like to know what on Earth that was all about? Let's talk about the difference between products that are listed as non-toxic versus products that are listed as edible.
Have you ever eaten a crayon? I mean, not recently. Like, when you were a kid. This is a rhetorical question, so don't bother denying it-- all kids do it at some point.
The point is, you're still here! Go you! Is it because your body is that of a god or goddess, and you are immune to the effects of a good old fashioned poisoning? Unlikely. It has more to do with the fact that although that crayon wasn't intended to be eaten, it didn't contain any ingredients that would poison or kill you. Your body didn't digest it and instead simply kept it moving along in the Exit Only lane. This is what happens with non-toxic bakery decorations, too. They aren't generally going to make you sick, but they really just aren't meant to be ingested.
Edible things, on the other hand, are intended to be eaten and digested by your body and won't cause harm. You may think back to the last time you had Taco Bell and take issue with this loose definition, but stay with me on this.
“Edible” cookie and cake decorating products have been tested and approved by the appropriate government agencies and been found to meet the requirements to be labeled as such. These products will list ingredients, as required by law. (Also, please keep in mind that this post is specifically in reference to products in the US. Other countries have different laws as to what is safe for consumption, so check your country's regulations before making a purchase.)
"Life is better with sprinkles on top. Just make sure they're edible sprinkles. Wait, gold dragees? For the love of God, NOT THE GOLD DRAGEES!!!"
Non-toxic decorations can be used on your cakes and cookies as long as they can be removed before eating (think decorative flowers or large decorative sprinkles). If your client wants their cake to be shining like a disco ball, you should make sure to purchase a sparkle dust that is clearly labeled “edible,” as once a cake is coated in sparkle dust, it's impossible to remove. If your product doesn't have an ingredients list, or if it says “for decoration only,” then it is likely firmly in the non-toxic camp, and you should look for an alternative. If, however, you are looking to paint a fondant topper that won't be eaten, a non-toxic product can be fine as long as everyone involved is aware that it should not be eaten; that being said, there are so many great “edible” products on the market nowadays that keeping your pantry free of “for decorative use only” products is relatively easy.
If you are in the baked goods business (or thinking about getting into it), your food license is on the line if you get caught using unregulated, unapproved ingredients in and on your products. This is a case where it is NOT better to ask forgiveness than permission. It can be hard to tell a customer waving a Pinterest photo of a golden birthday cake that their vision is essentially reliant on sparkles from the craft aisle at Michael's, but it's better to have a realistic chat than have someone getting sick because they just assumed everything on a cake should be edible.
It is also worth noting again that rules and regulations vary from country to country. Gold and silver dragees, for example, are fine to use in Canada and Europe, but the US Food and Drug Administration says they're a no-go. If you purchase from a sprinkle company based in Canada, their mixes are likely to have those little gold or silver balls in them, which is perfectly acceptable in the country where they are sold. But as soon as that bottle lands on your counter here in the US, you have to be aware that those dragees technically need to be removed from your cake, cookies, etc before the actual baked good is eaten.
Now that you know the difference between non-toxic and edible products, you can make an educated decision when it comes to purchasing products and decorating your cakes and cookies. And if you truly miss the thrill that riling up an entire Facebook group of cookie people gave you, feel free to stop in there every now and again and take a firm stance on using baking powder in your cookie recipe. Happy baking!
If you're anything like me, you might feel like you don't have an artistic bone in your body (cookie decorating skills aside), and simply winging a design is a terrifying thought. Or possibly the idea of making the exact same design over and over again is intimidating to you, making you wonder how you can possibly make them all identical. Or maybe you're just a Prepared Pollyanna who knows they're going to need a certain embellishment for an upcoming cookie order, and you want to get ahead of the game. If any of these apply to you, royal icing transfers can be your new best friend!
I personally LOVE a good royal icing transfer, and there are so many ways and so many reasons to use them! Made from royal icing, they are essentially a big sprinkle that you can place where you need them to be. As I mentioned above, if you know that you will be making (for example) five dozen cookies that need to have a small pumpkin design on them, you can either flood and decorate those five dozen cookies and pipe those five dozen little pumpkins directly onto each individual cookie (doing your best to make sure they are all identical in size and shape), ORRRRRRRRR you can make those pumpkins ahead of time and make your life exponentially easier. If I have an order coming up, I usually try to see if there's any way to save myself a little time by incorporating royal icing transfers. Yes, I might spend the same amount of time piping overall, but if I can make my transfers a week ahead when I have some free time, that can help me not have to stay up til 2am on my actual decorating nights.
Icing transfers can easily add dimension to your cookies and make that embellishment really pop, since you can add them on top of your base design. This can differentiate them from the rest of the surrounding cookie art in several ways, especially since you can add them to wet icing or dry, depending on the look you're going for. Want that snowman's carrot nose to have definition but also look like it was just smushed into the snow? Pop it right onto the freshly flooded snowman face. Want some flowers to rise above the rest of the bouquet? Wait until the base icing is dry, and then add some drop flower transfers. I'm a big fan of making royal icing eyeballs in a variety of sizes, just to have them on hand--you'd be surprised how often they come in handy!
One of the reasons I love using royal icing transfers so much is that it helps me not have to deal with things like color bleed or cratering. (Color bleed happens when the coloring from a darker icing seeps into a nearby lighter color; cratering refers to small pits or holes that appear in small piped areas of royal icing. Both are total pains in the butt and can be hard to combat.) If, for example, you needed to make black buttons for your snowman cookies, you could pipe them directly onto your crusted white icing, or you could simply make royal icing transfers that could be “glued” on later, eliminating the possibility of color bleed. If you have any transfers that crater, well, just don't use those particular transfers and move on with your life. Easy peasy.
This leads to my most common reason for making and using royal icing transfers: I don't have to worry about making mistakes on my actual cookie (or at least, not in regards to this particular embellishment, anyways lol). If I am worried about making sure all of my drop flowers are as Mary Poppins as possible (practically perfect in every way), making transfers allows me to make sure I'm ONLY putting the best flowers on my cookies--no wonky petals in sight. Making transfers gives me the opportunity to cover a piece of parchment paper with a field of flowers and then pick and choose which ones I want. Mistakes happen, but they don't always have to happen directly on the cookie!
Royal icing transfers are made by piping designs made from your normal royal icing onto parchment or acetate sheets, allowing them to dry, and then peeling them off. That's it! Here are a few tips for making and storing transfers:
Links: Trick or Treat Ghost cookie cutter, Outrageously Orange Gel Color, Whipped White Gel Color, Tuxedo Black Gel Color, Tipless piping bags
Links: Outrageously Orange Gel Color, Gourmet Green Gel Color, Preppy Pink Gel Color, Whipped White Gel Color, Rubber Tipped Tweezers, Ateco Leaf Tip #65
I absolutely love Fall, and all the gorgeous colors it brings—not to mention the cooler temperatures (baking in summer heat and humidity is high on my list of “things to avoid at all costs”). When designing a set of Fall-themed cookies, marble-dipping is a no-brainer for me, because you can incorporate all the great colors found on the trees right now in a really simple way. Add something extra with a Fall-inspired airbrushed stencil design, and you’ll end up with cookies that are almost too pretty to eat. Let’s get started!
Dip it. Dip it real good.
First things first: dip your cookies to create the base. Make a batch of very thin royal icing (think 5-second icing, or thereabouts). Even though we will be making multiple Fall colors, you really want all of them to be the same consistency so that the dip method will work; it’s easier to make one batch and then separate it into smaller bowls to make the Fall colors you need from there. I used Outrageous Orange, Sunshine Yellow, and Gourmet Green gel colors, and I added a drop of Totally Brown gel to each one to get that earthy Fall vibe.
Once you have all of your Fall colors, pop them into piping bags, except for whatever color you want your base icing to be, which you should place in a wide mouth, flat-bottomed bowl. Whatever color you use (mine was white), drag the flat edge of a spatula across the surface of the icing to pop any air bubbles that rise to the surface. Drizzle your bagged Fall colors back and forth over the surface of the base icing, and then drag the tip of a scribe tool (or toothpick) back and forth through the icing a bit. We’re not mixing, just blending a little bit on the surface!
Once your icing is ready, hold a cookie gently by the sides and dip flat into the icing, making sure to make contact fully across the surface of the cookie. Lift the cookie out of the icing and allow any excess to drip back into the bowl. Flip the cookie over, and allow the icing to settle into place (feel free to give it a little shake to get things to smooth out). Use a scribe tool or toothpick to nudge icing into any empty spots and to pop any air bubbles. Repeat the process for your next cookie, and allow everything to fully dry.
These cookies are already pretty enough, but let’s take it to the next level by airbrushing our 2-piece Autumn Leaves and Acorns Stencil on top. Using Cookie Countess Brick Red airbrush color, carefully spray the first half of the stencil design. As always, using a Stencil Genie and Thingamagenie will make your stenciling process a million times easier.
Allow that layer to dry, and then repeat the process with Outrageous Orange airbrush color and the second half of the stencil, lining everything up with what you have already done. The quick-connect gun that comes with the Royale Max airbrush system makes it easy to swap colors quickly and easily, and since the compressor has two integrated gun holders, you can have more than one gun ready to go at any given time. Have I mentioned how much I love a quick-connect airbrush gun? So, so much.
The fabulous thing about this Fall-inspired design is that because airbrush color is see-through, you will be able to see some of your marbling right through the airbrushed leaves, adding even more color and dimension. Pipe or scrape a sentiment on top, or leave them as-is, but either way, these cookies have definite wow factor! Happy Fall!
If you ever find yourself with leftover cookie dough in your bowl, or—gasp—you’re one of those amazing people who thinks ahead for future orders (could never be me), you’ll need to store that dough in the fridge or freezer until you are ready for it. Although it’s tempting to just roll it into a ball and wrap it in cling film, there are much better ways that will save you time in the long run.
The problem with refrigerating or freezing a ball of dough is that it will come to room temperature at an uneven rate. The inside of the ball will be rock hard long after the outside is already becoming soft and mushy. For this reason, it’s much preferable to roll your dough flat before refrigerating or freezing. So what’s the easiest way to do that?
Well, if you only have a small amount of dough left, my favorite storage method is to pop that dough ball right into a gallon-size Ziploc bag (don’t zip it up yet!) and use my rolling pin to level the dough to a flat that fills the bag. You can unstick and lift up the top half of the bag now and again to allow the air pockets that develop in the bottom corners of the bag to be released. Depending on how much dough you have, you can roll it right to the thickness you would ordinarily, or you can simply roll it to a relative flatness that you can adjust when you’re ready to use the dough; if you have enough dough to fill two bags, you are better off dividing the dough and making two flats than forcing it all into one thick flat.
Zip the flattened bag(s) up when you are ready, and if you plan to use the dough within a few days, you can stick it right into the fridge; if you don’t think you’ll be using it soon, go ahead and pop it in the freezer. Just make sure that the dough is laying flat when you put it in the fridge; you don’t want to drape it over a takeout container, or your chilled dough will take on that wonky shape. When you’re ready to bake, it’s as easy as removing the dough from the fridge, slicing the bag open, and plopping the flat of dough onto some parchment for any final rolling (frozen dough will obviously take a bit longer to come to temperature than refrigerated flats).
**If you prefer to be more eco-friendly and be able to reuse the bags, roll the dough between sheets of parchment instead, and then insert the flat into the Ziploc bag for storage.
Rolling your dough into flats might seem like a waste of time at first glance, but it will save you so much time once you are actually ready to get started baking. Flats from the refrigerator will require just minutes at room temperature before your cutters will be able to work on them without issue, and although frozen flats will definitely require a little more time, it’s not even in the same ballpark as if you simply froze the dough in balls. And bonus--chilled cutouts tend to retain their nice sharp edges and clean lines better than room temperature dough.
Time is money, but sometimes putting a little extra in at the start will save you more in the long run!
The same principle applies for larger batches of dough, but Ziploc bags generally won’t be big enough (unless you can get your hands on some industrial-sized bags). Instead, roll out flats of dough between sheets of parchment that are just slightly smaller than the size of your cookie sheets. Once rolled, stack the flats of dough in your cookie sheets and then wrap tightly with cling film (I can typically fit three flats per tray). The important thing is to minimize air contact with the dough to prevent drying it out.
Halloween is my absolute favorite cookie season by far, because you can be as over-the-top and fun as you want, or you can go creepy and mysterious—and there are so many pop culture references! The sky is the limit with Halloween designs, and no one even bats an eye at eating a bloody eyeball or a zombie hand—err, cookies shaped like eyeballs and zombie hands, that is!
Although I personally am a gigantic scaredy cat, I do love a spooky graveyard scene, and putting one on a cookie is easier than you may think. This particular technique involves stenciling the graveyard with both airbrush and royal icing, but if you don’t have an airbrush, you can still make a slightly simpler version of this cookie!
To start, flood your cookie the creepy background color of your choice. You can’t go wrong with a Glowing Green or Positively Purple for an otherworldly graveyard effect. Allow to completely dry.
Next, situate the Graveyard Scene stencil in the midground of the cookie and airbrush a light layer of Tuxedo Black airbrush color to give a spooky background effect. This works best if you use the far left or far right part of the stencil so that you can use the opposite part of the graveyard scene in the next step. (If you don’t have an airbrush, you can leave this step out completely.)
Once the background graveyard is dry, flip the stencil so that the parts of the graveyard that were on the right are now on the left (and vice versa), re-situate the stencil in a way that it overlays the bottom of the airbrushed background design, and scrape with black royal icing to add the foreground graveyard. Make sure to align the bottom of the open stencil area past the bottom of your cookie so that you don’t leave a harsh edge line on the face of the cookie. Clean up your edges with a Thingamagenie as needed.
If you have an airbrush, here’s where you can add some eerie details. If you want to leave a moon silhouette in the sky above your graveyard, use a round object like a larger piping tip (or a piece of paper, etc) to block out where you want the moon to be. Gently spray around the edges of the round shape with a silver shimmer, enough to leave the outline behind. You can add a little more silver across the sky if desired, but once you are done with the moon and background, add a drop of Tuxedo Black airbrush color to your silver shimmer to make a metallic dark pewter color that you can use to lightly add some cloud cover to your night sky. Make as many or as few clouds as you like, even overlapping them across your moon shape for a spooky mist effect, but use a very light hand so that you don't end up with harsh lines. The goal is for the “clouds” to still be see-through and create a foggy atmosphere floating through and above your graveyard scene.
If you don’t have an airbrush, you can mimic this look with Roxy & Rich black luster dust and a dry, blunt paintbrush. Gently buff and brush small amounts of luster dust across the sky, layering more color where you want the shadows and clouds to be darker. Petal dust can be used similarly, although it will leave more of a matte finish.
Because no project is ever complete without some sparkle (in my opinion), feel free to add a quick spritz of Roxy and Rich Super Pearl Sparkle Dust across the whole cookie to add a little extra spooky shimmer to your graveyard scene without adding any extra color.
To make this snowglobe cutter into a creepy crystal ball graveyard scene, pipe the base of the shape with black icing, allow to dry, and then brush with Gold Luster Dust that has been mixed with Everclear or vodka. This gives a great antique look that goes so well with our creepy vibe. Alternatively, use this graveyard design to elevate a simple plaque shape on its own! It works great as a background or as the star of the show. Either way, your graveyard cookies are sure to make for a spooky Halloween!
Cookie sticks are a fun and easy shape that can be great for any occasion or season. Here at The Cookie Countess, we feel the same way about butterflies, so let's make some pretty butterfly cookie sticks that use several different techniques for max impact and wow factor!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“I was looking to get a professional airbrush system & this fits the bill. I love my Royal but the Royal Max is at a pro level but without the high price tag. Love that it has holders for 2 guns. Would highly recommend it.”
-Karen
First, airbrush the bottom of your flooded, dried cookie sticks with our Tall Grass stencil and some Gourmet Green airbrush color. Allow that to dry completely.
To give the illusion of more grass that is going in different directions, situate a different part of the stencil over your cookie--flipping the stencil over completely (so that it is "backwards") can be a great way to achieve this effect! Airbrush another layer of grass. This will give depth of color to some parts of the design where your layers overlapped, and it will give more dimension and fullness.
Finally, airbrush a layer of Beachy Blue over the rest of the cookie to fill in the sky and allow to fully dry. It's ok if the blue sprays over the green grass a bit. The colors will blend and give even more dimension. Now to add our butterflies!
Use stiff white icing and our Butterfly Trail stencil to scrape the design at an angle across the “sky” of your cookie. Use magnets to hold your stencil in place if your stencil holder frame can’t accommodate how you want to angle the butterfly stencil (our table is metal, so the magnets stick to it with no problem; place your cookie on a baking sheet if you are going to use magnets). There's no right or wrong angle here--the goal is to just have your butterflies flying across the cookie in a way that is pleasing to you! Allow your royal icing to dry completely.
SweetSticks Water Activated paints are an easy and fun way to decorate our butterflies. Simply add a drop of water to each swatch of paint in the palette, wait one minute, then swirl your brush in the color—a little goes a long way, and you can even blend the colors for a custom butterfly look.
Wait until your paint has fully dried, and add details to your butterfly bodies and wings with an edible marker. Spritz with edible glitter for an even more glam look. Every butterfly is unique, so yours can be as similar or different as you like!
Remember when our parents used to tell us not to play with our food? Nuh-uh, couldn't be us! We're not like regular moms--we're cool moms (and dads). And we know that sometimes a cookie can be more fun if you can play with it first! Here's a quick guide for how to make Funny Face cookies that everyone will love.
The first step, of course, is to make the actual cookies. (This isn't where you get to play with them, though--no one likes salmonella poisoning.)
First, roll out your dough to at least 5/16" thick using the Cookie Countess Precision Rolling Pin. If you typically roll your cookies to ¼" thick, trust me--you need the extra thickness for stability with these cookies. Use the Funny Face Cookie Cutter to cut out your shapes and transfer them to a cookie sheet. Don't crowd these cookies, or you won't have room to add your cookie sticks!
Chilling these dough cutouts is optional, but it can be helpful for this next step! Once the dough is firmed up a bit, gently insert an oven-safe cookie stick at the bottom of each of the cookie shapes. Bake as usual and allow to cool.
From warty witches to cute turkeys to Easter bunnies--the possibilities are endless. And the best part? It's so simple! The fastest way for decorating any face cookie to go downhill FAST is by putting eyeballs on it. All it takes is one wonky eye, and I start questioning if I was meant for the cookier life, after all. I live in fear of people asking for character cookies. ::Shudder::
But that's what makes the Funny Face cookies so easy--you're only decorating the bottom half of the face! Pipe on a Santa beard or kitty whiskers or vampire fangs, let them dry, and you're all done!
Snip a tiny hole in the bottom middle of a matching Clear Lip & Tape Bag and pop your cookie into the bag, stick first. Carefully feed the stick through the tiny hole you snipped, and seal the bag. Leave a little extra room at the top of the bag, because here comes the fun part.
Depending on the face you have made, attach the matching Funny Face Bag Topper to the top of the bag by carefully securing with a staple on each side. You now have a completed face cookie that is packaged adorably and easily!
And here's where you can finally let those kiddos play with their food! Once the cookies are removed from the bag and topper, they can enjoy holding them up to their own faces and pretending to be a werewolf or Christmas elf. Make one design or several, and feel good about encouraging children to engage in imaginative play. Ipad who? You and your cookies are heroes, really, I would say. Well done, and keep up the good work!
When it comes to baking cookies, not all mixing is the same. Recipes direct you to beat, cream, and whip with no further explanation of what that means, and how it can affect your cookies. Let's take a look at some of the most common cookie mixing methods, when you'd use them, and what kind of results you end up with.
"I like big bowls and I cannot lie." --Sir Mixalot
This mixing method calls for placing all the ingredients together in the bowl of your mixer, turning it on low, and mixing with the paddle attachment til the ghosts of your ancestors whisper to you to stop--or til the ingredients are fully combined, whichever comes first. There's not a whole lot of control with this method for mixing ingredients, obviously, but it works well for cookies like coconut macarons, which come out chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside.
For this mixing method, the fats, sugar, salt and spices are beaten together with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy, and then eggs and liquids are added into the mix. The last things added to the mixture are the dry ingredients, like flour and leavening. Chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies are typically both made this way, but they obviously have very different results. Sugar cookies tend to be firmer and crumbly, while chocolate chip cookies can vary from chewy to crispy, depending on the ratios of the ingredients used.
In this mixing method, the dry ingredients and fats are mixed together first, just until they have a sandy texture. Eggs are added last, and then the dough is mixed until everything is incorporated and smooth. Shortbread cookies are made using this method, and they are typically crumbly and buttery and delicious.
This mixing method requires you to whip the eggs and sugar together first and then fold in the dry ingredients. French Macarons are made using this method, and they are a super delicate cookie that many bakers fear making, due to the precision needed to get them to come out right. If done correctly, macarons are light and chewy on the inside, but if the whites are not whipped perfectly, they are unlikely to come out right.
By understanding and experimenting with these different mixing methods, you can see what results in tender and chewy cookies, and what results in something crisp and crumbly. This knowledge can help you become more confident in the kitchen and in your own baking abilities. Mix things up a little bit, and have fun!
At the beginning of my cookie journey, I found a recipe that I absolutely loved taste-wise, but that had me ending up with amorphous blob-shaped cookies. Delicious, but not so pretty—but I didn’t know there were any other options! Every sugar cookie I had ever seen had been pretty similar, so I didn’t think anything of it. As time went on (and as I stalked cookie tutorials online), I realized that I could make some changes that would help my cookies retain their cutout shapes. So let’s talk about some tips and tricks for reducing (or eliminating!) cookie spread.
Temperature is so important in all aspects of the baking process, and not just as it relates to your oven temp. Keep an eye on these three things in particular if you notice that your cookies are spreading:
Butter consistency- Most recipes call for using “room temperature” butter, but that doesn’t mean you should leave your butter out on the counter for hours. Thirty minutes on the counter (less if your house is on the hot side) is more than enough. The goal is really just to be able to make an indent into the butter if you press on the stick with your finger. Very soft butter is one of the key culprits when cookies are spreading, so keep an eye on this one!
Hot pans? No thank you—If you are a home baker, chances are pretty good that you are baking batches of cookies back to back, using the same pans over and over. Whatever you do, make sure you let those pans cool down before placing new cookies on them, or that residual heat from your last batch can make your new cutouts start to soften and spread. Having at least 3-4 cookie sheets in rotation will help keep you from rushing to reuse a hot pan.
What you’re baking ON is just as important a factor. Consider these two thoughts when making your next batch:
Do you have good quality pans?—I know it’s tempting to buy one of those inexpensive 3-packs of cookie sheets, but I promise, investing in good cookie sheets can make a huge difference in your results. They don’t have to be super expensive, but there are a couple of thing to look out for: light-colored pans are better than dark, and heavier pans are better than super-thin, lightweight, flexible ones.
In addition to your tools, there are a few things you can do while putting everything together that can have an impact on whether or not your cookies spread:
What happens when you overmix the wet ingredients? Well, you incorporate a ton of air (and heat) into your mixture, and that can cause your cookies to rise and then fall, resulting in spread. You shouldn’t need to beat your butter/sugar mixture for more than a couple of minutes.
Don’t overload your baking sheets OR your oven. Especially if you have a standard home oven, it may not be up to the task of baking multiple sheets of cookies evenly. Fill your cookie sheet with cutouts, leaving at least 1” between them, and bake one sheet at a time, rotating halfway if needed (rotating may not be necessary, depending on how your oven bakes).
If you are currently experiencing cookie spread, take a look at the items on this list and see if any of them apply to you. You never know—adjusting one thing in your process may make a world of difference in your end result! Good luck, and happy baking!
Have you ever experienced different results when making a recipe more than once? Maybe it tasted different, or just didn’t look the same? If you have eliminated every other possible reason for the difference (expired ingredients, oven issues, etc), it would be worth looking at how you are measuring your ingredients.
Most of us know that there are different measuring options for different types of ingredients (wet versus dry, for example), and that there is a difference between a packed measuring cup and one that has been filled with a spoon. But we don’t always think about the fact that when a recipe calls for a certain amount of a particular ingredient, we will likely end up with a different amount depending on whether we use a measuring cup or a food scale. Able to measure both wet and dry ingredients, food scales can be found in almost any kitchen goods or grocery store—and they can make the difference between a recipe that is good some of the time and one that is spot-on every time.
If you use measuring cups for your cookie recipe and have never had a bad batch—that’s awesome, go you! This is in no way telling you that you’re doing it “wrong.” Certain recipes are just inherently much better served by weighing ingredients versus using measuring cups and spoons (macarons, for example, are notoriously finicky, giving them the reputation as the most difficult cookie to make successfully). And again, if you find yourself struggling to get that consistently perfect bake, it is worth trying to figure out why. When a recipe goes wrong, it can be hard to pinpoint what happened, and where the problem is. But baking is science—without all the cool Bunsen burners and microscopes. If you measure your ingredients in a more scientific way (hey there, food scale, looking at you), it will ensure that your recipe—and your results!— will be more consistent. Food for thought!
Have you ever wondered how you can scale up or down a cookie recipe depending on how many cookies you need to bake or how many ingredients you have at hand? If so, rest assured that you are not the only one--most pastry chefs and bakers at some point have to ask this question. To be able to answer it, we let's first talk about what recipe ratios and yield actually are, and how they relate to your cookie recipe.
Ratios are like the building blocks of recipes--they show the proportions of ingredients compared to each other. By understanding ratios, bakers can easily adjust recipes to make more of fewer cookies, depending on their needs. This flexibility helps them maintain consistency and efficiency in their baking.
Yield is another important factor. It refers to the quantity of finished products a recipe will make. Knowing the yield helps bakers plan their production accurately, ensuring they have enough ingredients and avoiding wasting them. Yield calculations also help with estimating costs, determining pricing, and managing inventory effectively.
But how do you actually adjust a cookie recipe and still get the most consistent results? Well, it's all about math! Don't worry, though--it's simple math that you can easily master with practice.
The Baker's Percentage is a useful tool that simplifies recipe adjustments. It expresses each ingredient's weight as a percentage of the total weight of flour. This allows bakers to easily analyze and modify recipes based on their preferences or production needs. The Baker's Percentage also helps bakers understand the dough's hydration level, which affects the texture and consistency of their baked goods. Let's take a look at a couple of examples to understand this better.
Suppose we have a basic cookie recipe with 14 ounces of flour, 8 ounces of butter, 6 ounces of sugar, 1.6 ounces of egg, and .33 ounces of vanilla. The flour becomes our reference point at 100%. We can calculate the percentages of the other ingredients using a simple formula:
(Weight of ingredient ÷ Weight of flour) x 100 = ingredient %
Butter: (8 ÷ 14) x 100 = 57%
Sugar: (6 ÷ 14) x 100 = 43%
Eggs: (1.6 ÷ 14) x 100 = 11%
Vanilla: (.33 ÷ 14) x 100 = 2%
Now that we know the percentages of each ingredient, we can modify any of them while keeping the rations consistent.
Let's say we have 17 pounds of flour and want to determine the amounts of other ingredients needed to use all the flour. First, we need to convert the 17 pounds to ounces for consistent measurement:
1lb = 16 oz, so…
17 lbs. = 272 ounces
Then we can use the same formula as before to calculate the new ingredient weights:
Weight of flour x ingredient % (decimal) = New ingredient weight
Butter: 272 x .57 = 155.04 oz
Sugar: 272 x .43 = 116.96 oz
Eggs: 272 x .11 = 29.93 oz
Vanilla: 272 x .02 = 5.44 oz
These new measurements will allow us to use the full 17 pounds of flour for a batch of cookies.
Now let's imagine we only have three eggs and want to make as much cookie dough as possible with them. Three large eggs (without the shell) weigh approximately 4.8 ounces. Based on this weight, we can calculate the new amounts of the ingredients.
First, we need to find the new weight of flour based on the eggs:
New ingredient weight ÷ Ingredient % (decimal) = New flour weight
Flour: 4.8 ÷ .11= 43.6 oz
Now we can calculate the weights of the other ingredients using the formula from the previous example:
Weight of flour x ingredient % (decimal) = New ingredient weight
Butter: 43.6 x .57 = 24.9 oz
Sugar: 43.6 x .43 = 18.75 oz
Vanilla: 43.6 x .02 = .87 oz
By modifying the flour amount based on the available eggs, we can adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly.
The Baker's Percentage helped us modify a recipe based on how much of a particular ingredient we had on hand. Now let's talk about modifying a recipe based on the desired yield--the amount of cookie dough you want to end up with.
Using the base recipe mentioned earlier, the yield (the sum of all the ingredients) is 29.93 ounces. Let's say you have a 20-quart mixer, which can handle a lot of dough. How do you calculate the ingredients amounts to fit your mixer?
First, convert the size of your mixer bowl into ounces. A 20-quart mixer equals 640 ounces (1 quart = 32 ounces). This becomes the new yield you want to achieve. To find the conversion factor, divide the new yield by the old yield.
Conversion Factor = New Yield ÷ Old Yield
Conversion Factor = 640 oz ÷ 29.93 oz = 21.38
Now apply the conversion factor to each ingredient:
Flour: 14 x 21.38 = 299.32 oz
Butter: 8 x 21.38 = 171.04 oz
Sugar: 6 x 21.38 = 128.28 oz
Eggs: 1.6 x 21.38 = 34.21 oz
Vanilla: .33 x 21.38 = 7.06 oz
These adjusted measurements will ensure the recipe fits your mixer's capacity.
Suppose the original recipe yields 1.5 dozen (18) 3-inch round cookies, but you need 16 dozen cookies. We can use the same calculation as before to find the conversion factor.
Conversion Factor = New Yield ÷ Old Yield
Conversion Factor = 16 dozen ÷ 1.5 dozen= 10.67
Now multiply each ingredient by the conversion factor
Flour: 14 x 10.67 = 149.38 oz
Butter: 8 x 10.67 = 85.36 oz
Sugar: 6 x 10.67 = 64.02 oz
Eggs: 1.6 x 10.67 = 17.07 oz
Vanilla: .33 x 10.67 = 3.52 oz
These adjusted measurements will allow you to make the desired amount of cookies.
Understanding ratios, yield, and The Baker's Percentage is essential for bakers and cookiers. These concepts provide a solid foundation for adjusting recipes and ingredients, ensuring consistency and desired results in baked goods. They also give you the confidence to experiment with new recipes and variations. By mastering these fundamental concepts, you'll be well-equipped for baking success, whether you're a beginner or an experienced baker.
Picture it: dozens of freshly-flooded soccer ball cookies drying on the counter, meticulously piped with carpal-tunnel-inducing black and white sections. Gorgeous, right?
Ok, now picture it 12 hours later, when those crisp black and white sections are now crisp black sections, and white sections that suddenly have a whole lot of grey happening at their borders. Now that cookier has carpal tunnel AND fuzzy soccer balls, to boot. THE WORST!
This, my friends, is the devastation that is color bleed. Let’s have a moment of silence for that poor cookier…
"Noooo, God! No, God, please no! No. No! Noooooooooooo!!!!" --Michael Scott finding out Toby is back, and Me waking up to color bleed
Ok, now let’s talk about how to avoid falling into this same devastation. Nine out of ten cookiers admit to dealing with color bleed at some point or another, and that tenth cookier is a dang liar, so they can’t be trusted (statistics may or may not be completely fabricated, but still sound right). The good news is that, since color bleed is such a widespread issue, there are lots of tips and tricks for how to mitigate the possibility of color bleed. The not-so-good news is that there is nothing you can do to 100% guarantee you won’t run into it, but it’s still worth a shot!
Start with a base icing that has white gel added to it. Uncolored royal icing has an off-white natural tinge and is more likely to allow bleed and absorb color. Add white gel to your base to act as a stabilizer to prevent color bleed right off the bat.
The biggest culprit in color bleed is usually oversaturated color. If you know you need a dark color icing, your best bet is to make it a day or two ahead so that you can use as little food coloring as possible and let it sit and develop, checking in on the progress and giving a stir every now and then. Get in the habit of making your icing the day before you need it, and color everything then so that it will all have time to develop. If the color you’re struggling most with is black (which is pretty typical), aim for a dark grey instead of true black.
Another tactic to prevent color bleed is to use a medium consistency flood instead of a really loose flood with a lot of water in it. Again, we are looking for stability, and the thicker flood can help each color mind its own business.
Pipe full borders in each adjacent section, and let them dry a bit before adding the flood to prevent color bleed.
Use the same consistency in each color. Mismatched consistencies react differently to each other, so this starts them off on the same level and lowers your chances of color bleed.
Flood dark sections first and allow them to dry for a while before flooding lighter sections. Dried sections want to absorb moisture from freshly-flooded sections, so dried white will suck up black color, but dried black sections absorbing white color are harder to see and are less problematic. (This method obviously isn’t always possible, depending on the design, of course—especially if you have to add dark color on top of a light color, instead of next to it).
If you do have to flood a light section first, don’t allow it to dry completely before adding the dark neighbor. Again, you don’t want your dry lighter color to start to leech color from the fresh dark section.
Make royal icing transfers ahead, or use edible marker or paints.
Again, unfortunately there’s no guaranteed way to avoid color bleed, but hopefully making a combination of small tweaks to your process can help make a difference.
Scribe tools are as ubiquitous in the cookie world as piping tips are—they’re everywhere! And they can definitely range in price and style. So what’s the deal?
Most new cookiers probably start out the same way, using a toothpick to pop air bubbles and make wet-on-wet designs. This is cost effective and easy, especially at the beginning of your cookie journey when you’re not quite sure yet how far you’ll go. The downside to toothpicks (besides the fact that they always blended into my cookie decorating area and I could never find the same one twice lol) is that they are a) porous, and b) so darn small. I would go through a bunch of them for every order, one for every color; I didn’t want to chance not being able to get all of the previous color off and contaminating my new color. I also found that the size and length didn’t work for me—I needed something a little longer and more ergonomic for my hand to hold.
Once you decide to invest in a cookie scribe, you’ll be faced with numerous options to consider.
If you're like us, you love creating beautiful sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. But have you ever wondered how to pack and ship them safely to friends and family? Don't worry, we've got you covered! Follow these simple steps to ensure your cookies arrive in perfect condition.
Before you package your cookies, make sure the royal icing has fully dried. This will prevent the icing from smudging or sticking to the packaging material. Depending on the humidity and temperature in your area, it may take anywhere from 6 to 24 hours for the icing to dry completely.
The drying time for royal icing on sugar cookies can vary depending on the humidity and temperature of the environment. Generally, it takes about 6-8 hours for royal icing to dry completely on a sugar cookie. However, if the weather is humid or the cookies are stored in a damp area, it may take longer for the icing to dry. To speed up the drying process, you can use a fan to circulate air around the cookies. This can help to evaporate the moisture from the icing and make it dry faster. Another tip is to use a dehumidifier in the room where you're drying your cookies. This can help to reduce the humidity and speed up the drying process. It's important to make sure the icing is completely dry before packaging your cookies, otherwise the icing may stick to the packaging material and get damaged during shipping. You can test if the icing is dry by gently touching it with your finger. If it feels firm and doesn't leave a dent, it's dry and ready for packaging. If it's still soft or tacky, give it more time to dry. In addition to drying time, the thickness of the icing layer can also affect how long it takes to dry. Thicker layers of icing will take longer to dry than thin layers. If you're in a hurry, you can use a thinner layer of icing to speed up the drying time. Just make sure the icing is still thick enough to provide good coverage and create a beautiful design on your cookies.
Bag your cookies in individual clear bags as normal. Whether using lip and tape bags or opting to heat-seal, individually bagging the cookies will ensure they stay as fresh as possible in transit.
Once your cookies are bagged for freshness, it's time to wrap them for safety. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
Once your cookies are bubble-wrapped, it's time to break out the boxes--and yes, I do mean boxes, plural.
Now that your cookies are packed up and ready to go, here are some things to keep in mind:
By following these simple steps, you can package and mail your beautiful sugar cookies decorated with royal icing with confidence. Happy baking and happy mailing!
Who among us hasn't watched a cookie decorating tutorial in fascination, thinking “I can totally do that”? The confident and capable cookiers in these videos always make it look so easy, from flooding, to making florals, to even something as basic as loading a piping bag with icing. Well, let's get back to basics by talking about piping--something every cookier will need to learn, practice, and master over time. Knowing how to properly hold your piping bag, how much pressure to apply, and even deciding whether or not to use piping tips--these are all basics that can make or break your project, so let's dive in!
Your icing's consistency is probably the most important factor in determining whether what you are trying to achieve is going to work or not. Are you flooding? A thin consistency is key to making sure you can achieve a smooth, level finish to your base icing. Making flowers? A stiff icing is imperative if you don't want your petals to immediately wilt and melt into themselves. It is important to understand when you would use the different consistencies of icing, as well as how to achieve them. (Definitely take a minute to check out our Icing Consistencies blog here.)
Here's the most important thing at the end of the day: if your icing consistency isn't working for you for some reason (too thick, too thin, etc), dump it back into your bowl and fix it. Struggling to make the wrong consistency work is basically self-sabotage. Don't do it!
There is a huge variety of piping bags available to choose from, so test them out and see what works for you. From reusable silicone and fabric bags to disposable bags (standard and tipless), there are plenty of choices, along with several different size options that can make a difference
When choosing a piping bag material, consider the type of consistency you will be piping with and your personal preferences for ease of use and sustainability. Don't want to have to wash piping bags? Disposable is the way to go. Hate the idea of single-use plastic waste? Grab some washable bags that can be used over and over. By selecting the right piping bag for the job, you can achieve great results and enjoy the process of decorating your cookies.
When choosing disposable bags, there are also variations in the thickness of the plastic. Which thickness you choose is generally related to two things: 1) how it feels in your hand (personal preference), and 2) the thickness/consistency of the icing you will be piping. Using thinner bags to pipe florals, for example, is a popped seam and a mess waiting to happen. Use the 40 micron bags for flooding and piping thinner consistencies; use the 55 micron bags for stiffer icing.
And finally, size matters! Bag size, that is. Do you have 100 cookies to flood? You're going to go through a TON of 8" bags, or you're going to be filling it up every fourth cookie. That does not make for a very efficient process. Instead, grab the 10" or 12" bags for larger capacity. And if you only need a tiny amount of a particular color for small accents? Don't waste a 12" bag when an 8" will do perfectly. Having an assortment of bags on hand is always a good idea in general.
-Hamlet, probably
Tipless bags are great for cookiers who don't want to have to use couplers and piping tips all the time. They have only one seam, and they are great for flooding and any process that would use a simple round piping tip. There is no sense dirtying a coupler and a basic size 3 round tip when you can simply cut the size hole you need directly into the tip of the bag. Minimal mess, easy cleanup.
My love of tipless bags aside, however, there are just some things you can do with a piping tip that you simply can't without one. Although a vee can be snipped into a tipless bag to result in a simple leaf design, florals, starbursts, etc really require the assistance of a piping tip. You can either use couplers attached directly to your bag, or you can use your loaded tipless bags as “bullet bags” and pop them inside a second prepped piping bag loaded with a tip. Again, easy cleanup, and the ability to use that one bullet bag of icing with multiple tips, if desired.
Holding a piping bag at the right angle is crucial when decorating cookies with royal icing. The angle at which you hold the bag will affect the shape and thickness of the icing lines you create. When decorating cookies with royal icing, hold the bag at a 45-degree angle in order to allow you to apply consistent pressure to the bag and control the flow of the icing as it comes out.
Holding the piping bag too vertically can cause the line of icing to break off as it is held at an angle that is not conducive to good flow; as the icing exits the cut tip, it will drag along the side of the hole instead of flowing from it smoothly. Similarly, holding the bag too horizontally can cause the line of icing to become too stretched, resulting in broken lines that have to be repiped. By holding the piping bag at a 45-degree angle, you can create clean and precise lines of icing that are the perfect thickness for decorating cookies.
It also helps to keep the tip of the piping bag close to the surface of the cookie (but not directly on it!) for maximum control and accuracy. Practicing your technique and finding the right angle for your piping bag can take some trial and error, but with a bit of practice, you'll find that your piping comes more easily and naturally, and your projects will benefit from your newfound confidence.
20 min
10-15 min
3 dozen 3" cookies
Desert
Preheat oven to 350*F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the softened butter and sugar until fluffy and lighter in color.
Add the eggs, vanilla bean paste, mint emulsion, and a couple of drops of the gel food color (one at a time). Mix well in between additions, and mix until everything is well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and the chocolate shavings. Add them to the mixer bowl 2 cups at a time. Scrape the bowl in between additions. Mix until combined, but do not overmix.
Divide the dough into equal portions and roll it in between two sheets of parchment paper. Use our precision rolling pins for equal thickness of the dough.
Once rolled, cut your cookies with any cutter that you want, and bake at 350*F for 10-15 minutes.
1. Cookie Bags in Various Sizes
The Cookie Countess offers a wide range of cookie bags, including self-sealing bags and open-top bags. With 14 different sizes available, you can find the perfect fit for your cookies. These bags are not only functional but also visually appealing, elevating the overall presentation of your cookies. AND they keep your cookies fresh!
2. Specialty Printed Cookie Bags
For a touch of whimsy and charm, consider the specialty printed cookie bags. These bags come in delightful designs, perfect for occasions like Easter or Christmas. They are particularly popular for packaging mini cookies and Paint Your Own (PYO) kits. Simplify your packaging process by using these bags that are both adorable and convenient.
3. Cube Boxes with Windows
If you're looking for a unique packaging option, the Cube boxes with windows are a fantastic choice. These boxes offer vertical space and have windows on all sides, allowing your beautifully decorated cookies to be showcased. They also feature extra interior compartments, providing ample space for cookies, icing, and other decorating essentials. Moreover, these boxes can be used as stylish carrying cases to ensure the safe transportation of your cookies.
4. Bakery Style Boxes
The Cookie Countess also offers Bakery style boxes in different sizes. These boxes are ideal for packaging larger quantities of cookies, making them perfect for special events, parties, or gifts. Sturdy and attractive with large viewing windows, these boxes ensure that your cookies remain fresh and intact during transport.