How to Outline and Flood a Cookie with Royal Icing

Happy Halloween! I wish you could bring your little trick or treats to my house tonight so I could give them some all hallows eve cookies. The only thing is you’d never find my house because you have to go through mountains, around crazy wicked curves, and through a creek. So let’s outline and flood a few hallows eve cookie with royal icing instead.

How to Outline and Flood a Cookie with Royal Icing by thebearfootbaker.com

There are a lot of new cookie decorators out there so I thought this would be a great time to go over some basic decorating tips. It doesn’t get much easier than learning how to outline and flood a cookie with royal icing. And let’s face it, sometimes life gets busy and we can’t give 100% of our attention and time to making cookies. That’s OK. You can make simple cute cookies and everyone will love them because you made them something special. It’s a gift they can’t buy in stores that you made just for them.

How to outline and flood a cookie with royal icing:
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Royal Icing Recipe or Half Batch of Royal Icing Recipe
15 Second Icing fitted with the #2 tip in the following colors:
Orange Icing with a touch of Ivory
Lemon Yellow Icing with a touch of Gold
Sky Blue Icing with a tiny, tiny touch of Ivory
Black Icing
Optional- Airbrush Gun with AmeriColors Airbrush Colors Warm Brown and Blue

How to Outline a Cookie with Royal Icing:

Begin by outlining and flooding the cookies. Each cookie is outlined and flooded the same way so I wanted to take a few minutes to share with new cookie decorators how easy it is.

How-to-Outline-and-Flood-a-cookie with royal icing by www.thebearfootbaker.com

When outlining a cookie with royal icing, place the tip close to the cookie and squeeze the piping bag gently until the icing comes out of the tip.

Then, let the icing touch the cookie and begin to lift the tip away from the cookie while continuing to add gentle pressure.

As you outline the edge of the cookie, hold the tip away from the cookie and let the icing fall as you guide it. If you try to outline with the tip close to the cookie, you will probably end up with a wiggly outline. Holding the tip away will allow you to pipe with control even if your handshakes a little.

How to Flood a Cookie with Royal Icing: 

Flooding a cookie can be accomplished with or without piping an outline. If you use an outline, it will help the icing stay on the cookie without oozing off the edge of the cookie. Flooding without an outline will give you a seamless edge.

How to Outline and Flood a Cookie with Royal Icing via www.thebearfootbaker.com

To flood a cookie with an outline, begin by starting at the edge of the outline and squeeze the piping bag until the icing comes out. Keep applying pressure to the piping bag as you slowly apply the icing around the edge of the cookie. Keep flooding the cookie by going around the cookie until you reach the center.

 I will show you how to outline a cookie without an outline soon.

Once your cookie is completely flooded, gently shake it and tap it on the cookie on the table to help the icing flatten out. Use a BooBoo stick or a turkey lacer (thank you, Heather, for sending me this little miracle tool) to pop any air bubbles. You can get a turkey lacer after the holidays on the clearance rack for next to nothing and it is by far my favorite tool.

How to outline and flood a cookie with the bearfootbaker.com

Once you have learned how to outline and flood a cookie with royal icing, you’ll have a nice base coat for decorating. There are millions of ways you can decorate cookies. You can leave them simple and cute, add sprinkles, add royal icing embellishments, stencil or you can pipe a few details. Seriously can do anything you can imagine.

How to Outline and Flood a Cookie with Royal Icing by thebearfootbaker.com

I chose to airbrush these by adding a little AmeriMist Warm Brown Air Brush Color to the edges of the orange and yellow cookies. The blue cookies were outlined with AmeriMist Sky Blue Air Brush Color. Here’s a video on how to use an airbrush gun if you want to take a look.

How to Outline and Flood a Cookie with Royal Icing

How to outline and flood cookies with royal icing www.thebearfootbaker.com

Happy Halloween! I hope you and your family have a safe and wonderful night filled with costumes, sugar, and laughter! Remember, once you master how to outline and flood a cookie with royal icing, the sky is the limit! If you are looking for some tips and tricks for cookie decorating, you may enjoy the  “Beginners Guide to Cookie Decorating.”

Bear hugs,

Lisa