Just a quickie little post today to share some cookies I made for a bridal shower yesterday.
I wanted to go a little more elegant than my normal buttercream frosting. It just doesn’t get the details necessary for these cookies. I love the look of Royal icing but hate how hard it dries and there is no flavor.
I had used a recipe that was a cross between Royal icing and my buttercream for my under the sea cookies that was fairly successful but forgot to save it so had to search the web for it again. I lucked out and found it pretty quickly. Thank goodness it’s unique enough that it didn’t make my search impossible. I used Karen’s Cookies Meringue Powder Buttercream Frosting recipe and was quite pleased with the results. The frosting is nice and smooth like Royal icing and dries pretty quickly but when you bite down into the cookie the frosting is still soft. You have to be pretty careful in handling the cookies or you’ll leave finger and thumbprints around the edges. I messed up a couple of cookies with my fat fingers putting them on the tray. Oh darn!
I ended up using more vanilla and almond extract than she called for because the meringue powder left a sharp tangy flavor that I didn’t like. I still wasn’t too sure about the flavor but once the frosting had time to sit and “age” it tasted perfect. My daughter loved it and she’s a huge fan of, what she calls, my birthday cake frosting and is therefore quite picky.
The frosting was nice and smooth and I could thin it down to any consistency without breaking (shortening is what helps make it more like buttercream). It took a few tries to get it where I wanted but it eventually flowed nicely to fill in the cookie. No spreading with a knife.
I’m still not very comfortable with using this type of frosting so wasn’t 100% happy with how they turned out. I was hoping for a little more elegance but then again I’m told I’m entirely too picky and no one will care but me. Apparently it’s the truth because everyone loved them and thought they were pretty. Even my sugar cookies turned out perfect this time. I have a tendency to bake them a little too long so they are more crispy. These were nice and soft but weren’t so thick that you had a mouth full of dry cookie. I think some people make their cookies a bit too thick so I try for something in between thin and crispy and thick and puffy. My marble rolling pin has helped a lot in helping to keep the cookie dough the perfect thickness believe it or not. Because it’s so heavy I don’t have to put hardly any pressure on the rolling pin and the dough just spreads out perfectly.
I really want to start decorating my sugar cookies with this icing more often than not. I’m looking forward to Christmas and see how my usual Christmas cookies look with this icing instead of regular buttercream. I think we’ll have much prettier cookies.
A Little of This and a Little of That 