I have shied away from royal icing for some time. In one of my Wilton classes, I was scared into believing that if any grease got in the icing, it would ruin the batch. It was advised to keep a separate set of tools for royal icing. I have only made one batch of royal icing since being told that.
I love the look of decorated cookies, but since royal icing was the best way to do these, I have stayed away. I didn’t even believe a non-domestic type made the cookies she once brought to a baby shower. I figured she bought them somewhere and claimed them as her own.
Anyway, to prepare for the birth of our best friends second daughter, I needed something special. There were some adorable cookies in my new “Pretty Party Cakes” book. I decided that they were too adorable not to try. I managed to find a couple baby appropriate cookie cutters locally and made a pattern myself for a onesie. I baked the sugar cookies adding some almond flavoring. It was a simple recipe, but the cookies were delicious. The rest of the day I nervously waited until I had several hours of free time to make the royal icing. In the evening I finally did.
Amazingly, the icing wasn’t difficult and even if I am not 100% sure the icing was grease free, I know it wasn’t ruined. My cookies turned out smooth and beautiful. I lined a shirt box with tissue paper and cut a piece of wax paper to fit the bottom. Then I gently placed each of the cookies in the box and tied it with ribbon.
Whenever I try something new, I know it won’t turn out perfectly. Usually I am disappointed with the results even if friends or my husband compliment me. This time I feel proud of my results.
We hand delivered the cookies to the hospital today. I plan to make more for another friend’s baby shower next week. Now that I have a better feel for royal icing, I think the next batch will turn out even better.
