Royal Icing Cookies...

So here's the skinny...

1. You can make your own cookie cutters! I did-- Princess dresses and shoes

2. You can make professional looking cookies (you know, the really smooth, royal icing ones). Mine weren't by any mean professional, but I have an idea of how to make them.

I didn't make these cookies (above), but I thought they were really cute and would give you a good idea of the cookies I'm talking about. Check out this site: http://sweetopia.net/

First off, Cookie Recipe:

My sister-in-law, Anna, gave me an AMAZING sugar cookie recipe. I'll post it soon. :)

Cookie cutters:

Here's a great site on how to make your own shapes (remember, there need to be contrasting curves in the design or else it might look like a circle). Click "cookie cutters" above for link.

Royal Icing Recipe:

I bucked up and bought Meringue Powder so I wouldn't have to gather egg-whites from... eggs (eh, of course it would be eggs, right?!). I guess I have a wee bit of a problem touching eggs. I each cookie dough all the time and so that doesn't bother me, it's just egg alone that bothers me. Weird huh?

So because I just bought that powder (which can be purchased from the cake decorating aisle from Wal-mart), I decided to just go with the recipe from Wilton.

This is another good site... I like it more than the Wilton recipe, but seeing corn syrup as an ingredient was an instant turn off. So,, go with the Wilton recipe, but following everything else from Bake at 350. Search around on this site for the how-tos of doing royal icing.

Here are 2 more great sites: Sweetopia and Sweet Sugarbell

* I used my hand mixer and it worked like a charm to mix the icing

* I bought disposable parchment paper, and it was great. It was nice not to feel guilty not cleaning them up! (down Walmart baking aisle as well)

* When you "flood" your cookies, do NOT add too much water. They look horrible and run everywhere! Mix in a little at a time until it's like ranch (the thinner type, if that makes sense?).

* Make slightly more icing of a color than not enough. A platter of cookies isn't nearly as cute when the colors are off just a hair. So if you don't make enough, then I suggest making a really noticeable change in colors. I wish I had with some I made-- Eeek! :)

Food Coloring:

I love Americolor food coloring. You can get ANY color-- including white! They're my absolute favorite because they're super concentrated. A lot goes a loooong way. There's a place here called "The Prepared Pantry" and they sell them cheap, and always have little deals like buy 1 get 1 free. My kind of deal! (Link to direct Prepared Pantry's Americolor shopping guide http://www.preparedpantry.com/food-color-supplies.aspx)

P.S. I'll include a post tomorrow about Lenéa's birthday party. She was such a cutie! Our little princess. :)