Finally, finally Royal Icing
Since years I owe you my royal icing recipe with which the glazing of cookies is a delight!
Today is the day! Here comes my favorite recipe to make a very classic cookie cutter cookie dough – so nothing can go wrong.
Emphasis on classic – and very buttery
Ok, one ahead: today’s recipes fall not in the category: sugar free, gluten free, healthy or vegan.
I am not that far yet. I know there are fantastic cookie recipes out there, which combine all these attributes onto the most wonderful. They are more sustainable, healthier and still delicious. Who knows, maybe I surprise you next year with a new recipe but this year we are going to bake Grandma’s classic cut out cookies!
Classic cut out cookie dough
The ingredients make a fair amount of dough so small hands to assist in cutting out are always very ich appreciated. At least for the stars, hearts, trees …
The snowflakes are a bit more complicated for cutting, but your creativity is unlimited. I found it almost meditative trying out new forms. It’s best to have a couple of different snowflake cutters and off you go. I have a set of 3 basic shapes in different sizes and then two small forms with which I cut out the the pattern. However, I got it a long time ago, I do not know whether they are still for sale in well-stocked kitchen stores.
Print
Klassischer Ausstechen -Plätzchen-Teig
- Prep Time: 10 Minuten + Kühlzeit für den Teig
- Cook Time: 7-10 Minuten
- Total Time: Ein Nachmittag voll Freude!
- Category: Christmas cookies
Ingredients
- 375g Butter
- 190 g Zucker
- 5 Eigelb (Eiweiß für das Royal icing aufheben )
- 500g Weizenmehl
Instructions
Alle Zutaten verkneten und für mindestens 1 Stunde in den Kühlschrank legen. Je kälter der teig ist, umso besser bleiben die Ausstechen in Form beim Backen. Bei 180°C 7-10 Minuten golden ausbacken. Komplett auskühlen lassen und nach Wunsch verzieren.
Notes
Wer mag kann die Austecher natürlich auch mit etwas Eigelb bestreichen und mit Zuckerperlen verzieren…
Keywords: Dough, Christmas Cookies
Perfect Royal Icing
There are many, many recipes to make frosting. Powdered sugar mixed with lemon juice is probably one of the easiest and it is completely sufficient for many needs.
But, if it comes to glaze or coat cookies, we need the royal icing in two different consistencies. It sounds complicated, but it is not!
What is important here : first you need a piping bag with a little firmer icing to draw the outside lines of the cookies aka the contours. As with the Christmas tree up in the image. You draw a border that is followed by the more fluid icing , “with which the interior of the cookie will be flooded “. We want that perfect, smooth surface so our icing must “run”, just not over the top, please!
I dye my royal icing with gel food coloring. I haven’t said anything about healthy here…
Print Royal Icing
- Prep Time: 10minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes plus time to decorate
- Category: bakery
Ingredients
- 450 g Powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp Creme of Tartar
- 85 g / 3 ounce eggwhite (I measure it, as egg sizes vary so much)
- Water or fresh pressed but filtered lemon juice
- food coloring, if desired
Instructions
- Measure all ingredients
- Mix powdered sugar and cream of tartar
- Add the egg whites to the sugar mixture and mix with the hand mixer or kitchen machine at a low speed
- Increase speed for at least 1-2 minutes high speed, it must absolutely be seen no more lumps.
- The color gets increasingly white
- If all is well pitched, the icing has a firm, shiny consistency
- Now split into 2 portions
- Stir in 3/4 teaspoon of water or lemon juice – for outside lines or even the fine lines on the snow. The frosting is still viscous. As desired colorize portions.
- For the glaze, thin the Basic frosting with 2-3 teaspoons of water or lemon juice. The consistency is now flowing liquid from a spoon. Here, too, as colorize desired portions.
Notes
Lemon juice needs to be strained – otherwise the pulp clogs the fine paper tip later!
Make your own pipping bag out of baking paper. A good tutorial can be found here.
Keywords: Royal Icing, frosting
The big dilemma
And as I write this text, I feel the great dilemma of holding sustainability / consistency high and, not being too dogmatic.
My blog is to encourage you to bring climate change into your kitchen. Consciously deal with the earth’s resources. Re thinking where to go.
And then I bake cookies with lots of butter in it, I make royal icing with conventional powdered sugar (since organic powdered sugar just is not as bright white!) and even cooler it with artificial dye !!! Help!
It is a dilemma. But I will keep writing some well-tried recipe that does not fall very sustainable and healthy on this blog, too.
Because my experience on this issue is clear: as soon as it becomes to dogmatic, I lose the joy of trying out new things. My creativity gets lost and the little devils applaud in their hands and shout “HOORAY”!
My thoughts wander to the “what do I hope to accomplish, there is nothing I can do” corner and hey, that’s not what I am here for! I can do a lot and I do it well! Step by step! So if there are sustainable energy balls beside the buttery, glazed snowflakes – I’m happy anyway!
I will keep thinking about possibilities to make recipes more sustainable and healthy. But not in every case.
What do you think?
Will you come with me this way? What do you want to read in 2019 on the blog? Write me, I am burning to listen to your ideas! And now ran and bake and decorate – it’s so much fun !!
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