Royal Icing

Every year I make ghost cookies for Halloween. Last year I made them for all the Young Women in my ward. I usually take them to the ward Halloween party. It is about the only time I actually decorate cookies. Usually, I just put frosting on Valentine cookies. Occasionally, I make decorated Easter Egg cookies.

I started to take a cake decorating class when I was in college, but it didn't work in my schedule, so I quit after the first week. I have had a few lessons since then but really never got the hang of it.
A few years ago, I went to a class on decorating cookies. The woman made sugar cookies that were absolutely darling. But she only used royal icing to frost them with. Royal icing tastes awful. It is hard and makes the cookies crunchy. I don't think it is a very good combination. However, if you use it sparingly, you don't even notice that it is there and it makes the cookies much easier to frost with good frosting. I just use it to pipe around the edges of the cookies. I let it dry, then I usually use cream cheese frosting (that I have added a little milk to to make it a little runny) to float the frosting onto the cookie. It makes the frosting on the cookie look very smooth. After the cream cheese frosting has set up a little I use a tiny bit of royal frosting to add detail to the cookie. If I am decorating very much, I still just use cream cheese frosting because it tastes so much better, and I figure, what good is a cookie if you can't eat it?

Royal Icing

1 lb powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 Tablespoons meringue powder

3 ½ oz water

Beat 5-10 minutes until stiff