Hi all,
I am new in making cookies and have few questions about decorating cookies.
1- Why the dough starts tearing while rolling it? and what to do to prevent it?
2- how to make the icing (rolay icing) shiny after it dries? ( mine came out dull )
3- what other icing or glaze could be used instead of royal icing for decorating the cookies?
thanks Katy

Hi Charmed--
Not sure about the answer to ? #1
? #2--I put my under a fan to dry and they stay fairly shiny. I have also heard of a heat lamp being used.
? #3--I also use powdered sugar, corn syrup and wateror milk to make a cookie glaze.

Katy,

I'm not sure what's going wrong with your dough, but could it be that you are rolling it too thin? It needs to be about 1/4 inch thick. Other than that I'm not sure what it could be...What recipe are you using?

There are a couple of reasons I can think of why your dough would be tearing. You could be rolling it too thin.

You could also be "pushing" it instead of rolling it. When you roll out dough--make it into a disc with your hands first (like pie dough) and then when you roll it, do not use outward pressure. Rather use downward pressure on your rolling pin and roll it out from the center--never from the edges in.

Also--your dough could be a bit dry or too cold to roll nicely. My dough needs to be refrigerated, but I find if I chill it for any more than 1/2 hour ro so--it's too cold to work with nicely.

I have a recipe for Alice's Cookie Icing that I got off of this site--you could probably do a search or I could try and look it up. I believe Squirrelly posted it a while back.

As far as your royal not being glossy--I have no idea on that one. Sorry.

HTH!!

Lisa