Hi.
I just noticed my dried iced cookies (with Toba Garrett's recipe) has little white specks in it. Does anyone know what causes that or how to stop it. They weren't there when they were iced??? I have always iced with just a similar glaze but tried hers this time. The only difference was her addition of corn syrup. Could that be it?

Any thoughts on how to make sure it doesn't happen again would be great. I doubt Toba has white specks in hers...

I used 1 box powdered sugar, 3/8 c milk, 1 Tbl vanilla and 3/8 c corn syrup.

Thanks!!!

I've had that happen, too. I figured out that if the icing is too thin, it will dry like that...especially if it's dry outside or in your kitchen (due to the furnace being on). Now I always err on the side of having it a bit too thick. It will still smooth out nicely and there won't be any white spots.

Thanks!
I actually thought it was a little thinner than I would have liked. It was thick, however, if I got too close to the edge of the cookie, it would drip down.

I will definitely make it a little thicker next time.

Thanks again!!!

I just got a message back from Sarah Phillips, the woman who runs Baking 911 and she highly recommends Toba's glace recipe. She told me that it wasn't stirred enough. I used my kitchenaid mixer, but I guess I will just do it a little longer next time. The specks are small...hmmm, maybe just more sprinkles on the cookies next time to cover them up!
haha

Thanks again!

I can't believe that on their message boards she personally answers you right back. I bought the Baking 911 book a few months ago and I really love it.

It wasn't stirred enough? I always mix mine by hand, so maybe that;s my problem, too. Although I think I do a pretty thorough job! I didn't realize that Baking 911 was that quick or personal...something to keep in mind!

You just go to the "Ask Sarah" message board - you have to register, but its free. And then you post a question about ANY topic, candy, cakes, cheesecakes, pies, etc and she, personally, will answer you!!!

It is sooo awesome to get an answer from an expert!!!!!!!!!

She will look at a recipe for you to see where it is failing, she will correspond back and forth with you to help you.

She is amazing!

Wow that's good to know. I will check it out.

Here is a follow up reply from Sarah Phillips once I mentioned that I used my kitchenaid:

"Good point. You don't want to beat the icing. You want to stir it with a large rubber spatula or hand held mixer on LOW.

I think I know what your problem is -- The KitchenAid beater attachment does not reach to the bottom of the bowl, so there must be some undissolved/unmixed sugar in the icing -- that's what the white dots are -- little sugar crystals or unmixed/undissolved sugar crystals.

So, in your case, you need to make sure that the icing is mixed thoroughly, as I said earlier -- as for time, it's hard to give you an exact time, but the glaze should remain solid as it sits. It shouldn't be any gritty texture when you rub it between your fingertips -- not even a tiny trace."

That site is awesome!

I would suggest sifting your sugar, sounds like it didn't get dissolved.
Hugs Squirrelly

I get the tiny specks too but was afraid to mix too long since the recipe says to "mix just until combined." I also have been noticing that after I ice the cookies, the shiny finish becomes dull overnight. Does anyone have that problem?

kos

KOS - I made some stars and the # 16 from royal icing for a cake I just made. I wanted them to be shiny. I remembered reading in a thread on here that some people put their royal icing items under a heat lamp to dry to make them more shiney. I didn't have a heat lamp so I used my hair dryer and careful waved it back and forth over the royal icing. It dried shiney and was exactly what I wanted. I had also made a couple of extra stars and numbers and didn't use the dryer on them and they dried to a duller finish.

Thanks Price

I think the royal icing tip came from MissBaritone in England. I don't use royal icing too much. I mostly use Toba Garrett's recipe for icing. I have a few Valentine cookies left--I'll try the hairdryer on them right now! Gotta go!



kos

I would love to know if the hair dryer works with Toba Garrett's recipe too. It was funny because I was telling someone else, I always used a powdered sugar glaze for my cookies, but it just never had the corn syrup in it. I know the corn syrup is suppose to make the finish shiny, but I honestly didn't notice and difference from the ones I always made without the corn syrup or Toba's recipe.

I felt the finish was a little dull too. Hmmm. I use whole milk, so it isn't the milk. I plan on trying heavy cream next time.

Someone also said that if you use a toothpick through it to swirl colors, that seems to make the finish dull too. I don't know if there is any truth to that or not.

Let me know how the hair dryer works. I would love Toba's cookies to look shiny. They take much longer to dry with the corn syrup, so I would like there to be a great end result to make it worth the wait.

mohara

No luck with the hair-dryer. drats!
I did get two tiny specks that started to look a bit shiny but I think it actually started to melt the icing and now the cookie just looks blotchy.

kos