After last week’s fancy cookies I wanted to take a step back and do something simple. These crosses were an experiment for a christening coming up next month. The coloring was significantly more cooperative with these. Blue… and blue. But only a tiny bit of blue. Almost none at all really. I almost ruined it with too much, but thankfully I caught myself before mixing.
I did learn something this time though: Let your icing rest. After mixing the color and thinning the icing, let it sit in the mixing bowl for a few minutes before putting it into the plastic wrap for the piping bags. Rest allows some of the bubbles to come to the surface and pop. This makes for less bubbles in the flood icing background. And I’ll tell you, the less time popping bubbles with the scribe tool, the better!
Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve shown you how I make my plastic wrap icing tamales. Though honestly they look more like hot dogs. Oh well, that’s the name that stuck in my head. I can’t claim this trick as my own though. I found it while perusing icing mixing videos a while ago. Here is the video I found from Lindsay Ann Bakes if you’d like to see it. It’s for cupcakes, but it works just as well for cookies.
I used some of last week’s leftover icing since it’s a nice dark color and a little easier to see. Wait until you’re ready to start icing your cookies before making your tamales. If you do it too soon you risk the icing separating.
Mix your icing, let it rest. See all the bubbles? Yes I use baby dishes and spoons: sturdy, little, with tight sealing covers, and I get to re-purpose… all good things!
Put a square of plastic wrap on the table and pour your icing in the middle. If you’re working with flood icing, work fast! 😉 Fold one side over and press to make a little seal, then fold the other side back. Roll it up and twirl the ends like a jump rope. There you go, a little icing tamale. Or dog, whatever you like.
Pull one end through the piping bag and trim the end just a little shorter than the tip you’re going to use. Now, if all goes well you should only get icing in the piping tip and the rest of your bag will stay clean.
When you’re done or need to change/refill colors then just pull out the wrap and everything should still be pretty clean. Holy smoke, this is a serious time saver! Hopefully, you’ve already found this trick. If not, give it a try.
Until next time!
Love and Cookies,
Sherry
Frosted Bear Bakery 