Sugar Cookies 101- Part 3 Royal Icing Tips
Bearfoot Basics Sugar Cookies Part 3 is finally here! Are you ready for some royal icing tips? I sure hope so because I have a few that might help you out. There are also a few things that might help you understand why we do what we do when we work with royal icing. Should you add cream of tartar to your royal icing recipe because what does it actually do? Why do my icing colors bleed together hours after I decorate my cookies, or why does my icing have a million and one air bubbles.
Keep in mind all the information in this post isn’t going to work for everyone. Royal icing has a mind of its own and that is what makes it so hard to work with and unpredictable. But if I did my job right, you’ll be able to find a few things that will help you understand and adjust so your icing will behave!
Get prepared to take a deep dive into royal icing because I’m working on breaking things down into smaller videos that will help answer the questions you have. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner when it comes to working with royal icing or if you’re more experienced, we are going to go over things that will answer your questions and maybe give you a few royal icing tips that will make decorating easier for you. Stay tuned!
Sugar Cookies 101- Part 3 Royal Icing Tips:
(may contain affiliate links)
Bearfoot Basic Sugar Cookies 101 Part 1
Bearfoot Basic Sugar Cookies 101 Part 2
Royal Icing Recipe
The Cookie Countess Stencils
Artfully Designed Creations Stencils
- Do you buy cookie stencils? Did you know you can use them to make royal icing transfers? How’s that for a royal icing tip?!
- Take a look at these Curly Sleighs I made with a stencil from The Cookie Countess.
- Just airbrush or trace the pattern onto a piece of paper.
- Tape it to the back of a baking sheet.
- Tape a piece of wax paper on top of the sleigh pattern you just made.
- Pipe your sleighs and let them dry.
- Once they are 100% dry, remove them and you’ll have yourself a bunch of royal icing curly sleigh transfers. It’s so simple and you don’t need an airbrush gun to make them.
Click here to see the full tutorial for the DIY Royal Icing Transfers with A Stencil. You’ll be making all kinds of royal icing transfers because it’s so easy!
One of my new favorite tools is this Mini Heat Gun. I bought it to close those FDA Approved Shrink Bags and saw people using it to help dry the surface of their cookies. What I didn’t know is it makes your cookies dry with an amazing shine and helps prevent your royal icing colors from bleeding. Do you see why it’s one of my new favorite decorating tools?
Royal Icing Tips Video:
I hope you enjoy this video and find lots of helpful royal icing tips that make your life easier.
I hope these simple little royal icing tips help make your cookie decorating a little sweeter. If you have any questions let me know by leaving a comment below because we want to help. I’m working on some new videos and I want to make sure I cover all your questions. Remember, all of these tips may not work for you because your climate has a lot to do with how your royal icing behaves. Don’t let that stop you. We have amazing big brains and wonderful friends that will help us conquer those royal icing questions. We’ve got this!
Just do me a favor and never give up because you can make beautiful cookies. If you don’t know the answers, ask because I’m here to help and so are many other bloggers! That’s why we do what we do!
Don’t forget to leave your questions about royal icing in the comment section because I’m here to help!
Bear hugs,
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Such great information. You’re such a sweetheart for sharing. I learned a lot of things.❤️❤️❤️
Hi, I’ve tried making royal icing transfers but have not had much success with them, say only 10%! What should the thickness of the icing be to make them? Whenever I’ve made them, they crack or break when I go to peel them off. I used parchment paper. Does that make a difference? Would the transfers be easier to take off if I stencilled them onto wax paper? I’ve never seen these questions answered with any cookier’s blog. All I’ve ever read is how easy royal icing transfers are easy to do. Thank you.
I have the same problem, so any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks.
Lisa, When you said you dry decorated cookies in front of a heat fan…is that a portable space heater? When I read blogs that suggest drying cookies with a fan, I thought they meant a regular portable cool air fan {so now I use one}. But my cookies do not dry shiny. Why is that? Thank you. I learn so much from your blog.
Where do I order the tipless decorator bags you mentioned?
Lisa!!! Thank you ever so much for sharing your expertise and for the much needed encouragment! You are amazing at what you do!!!
What a great post, Lisa! Makes me want to dig my tools out of storage and ditch the retirement!
Wonderful helpful video, I also have question about the royal icing transfers and didn’t see any answers to the above questions. I would also like to know because I have not seen this question before, it is if you have to let the cookies dry for some say 24 hours in some cases do the cookies ever get stale from setting out in the open for long periods of time? I have only made cookies for Christmas gifts and immediately after cooling put in air tight containers. Besides the ones we eat for snacks but, those are also kept in a cookie jar or tightly covered. Thank you so much for all this valuable information it has me almost ready to jump into getting the rest of the supplies I will need to try to make beautiful cookies. I also live in high humidity so I will have to experiment a lot like you suggested which is a little scary but, I am going to try this.