It’s that time of year, again, when I get out the icing bags, tips and meringue powder and attempt to make beautiful cutout Valentine’s Day cookies with Royal Icing. I usually spend endless hours leading up to Valentine’s Day going down a rabbit hole watching cookie decorating videos until I have myself convinced that this year will be my year and my cookies will be a success.
However, every year I encounter the same failure. As easy as those videos make it look, it just doesn’t work for me. I think I get confused with words like “flooding” and “peaks” and “run-outs.” Whatever the case may be, I cannot seem to master it, so for another year, I am stuck with my cookie decorating Plan B.
Canned Frosting
This is as easy as using your favorite can of frosting. Any brand works, I just happened to pick up Pillsbury. You can buy white frosting and color it or you can buy the pre-colored red and pink which is what I did.
Let’s Get Started
First, open the icing can and peel away the foil seal. Place in the microwave for 30-45 seconds and, then, pour in a bowl and stir.
Next, start by dunking just the topside of the cookie only. Once you’ve done this, shake the cookie vigorously to get off all the excess icing. This is a messy process so be prepared to get your fingers sticky.
Next, try just dipping about a third of the cookie into the icing. As someone who prefers salty over sweet, I, personally, prefer only putting the icing on a portion of the cookie. I like how it looks, and it, also, doesn’t make your teeth hurt as much with all that sweetness.
Once you dip the first color, let it set for 5-10 minutes before you dip it in the second color.
So that’s it, Friends. It’s really as easy as those two simple steps. Heat and dunk. You can, also, embellish with sprinkles or other candies as desired or just leave them plain like I did here. This icing doesn’t harden quite as much as Royal Icing, but if you’re looking for a quick, easy idea for cutout cookies and you are Royal-Icing-challenged like me, consider this hack. If you actually want to try making Royal Icing, use this recipe here. To grab the recipe I used for these delicious cookies themselves, go here. This is the best one I’ve ever tasted.
Finally, if you have any personal tips or tricks that you use for cookie decorating, please leave them for me in the comments below. I appreciate it. And if you’re looking for a little Valentine mantel Inso, check out last week’s post right here.
Happy Baking!
