Okay... so my godmother wanted me to make fish cookies. I use royal icing, and decided to try putting a border on them and flooding them because of the shape. Problem is, now you can see where the border was piped! It didn't all flow together. Is there a trick to this so you can not see that a border was piped first?

Thanks!
Shaynee

when you flooded, did you use a wet paint brush to merge the two?

It may be that the "outline" icing was already too dry when you began to flood.

If you haven't you read the wonderful cookie tutorial article written by Antonia74, it might be helpful to you. She makes a suggestion about the right consistency to do the outline and flooding in one step so that you dont' see the "outline."

Could you go over it with a different color outline to accent the cookie. For example, if you're fish is blue, you could use green or white.

I agree with the poster who recommended Antonia74's tutorial. It's called "How to bake & decorate cookies" and can be found in the Articles section here. She gives very detailed instructions on the method she uses to avoid the "outlined" look.

The only time I don't do them that way is when I want the outline to show, like outlining my smile face cookies with black, then filling in with a different color.

You may have to experiment a bit to get just the right consistency of icing, but the results are worth it!

Laura.

OMG... my cookies went from bad to worse overnight. I always cover them very lightly with tin foil so they can finish drying, and it got humid here, and the icing stuck to the foil! This has NEVER happened before.

Needless to say, I am in tears over these cookies this morning, and I can't re-do them becuase my God mother is leaving town this afternoon .

Lesson learned all around, I suppose!

I do think my border was too hard when I flooded them. I also did not use a wet paint brush. I will go read the cookie tutorial now! I am planning on making some cookies to give to my Godmother next week as an "I'm sorry" gift, so I can practice on those.

Ugh... I am so upset.

Do a lot of you use the boder and flooding method, or do you just ice w/o a border?

Thanks,
Shaynee

I haven't really done very many cookies. But, I covered mine with fondant. IT WAS SO EASY. And they tasted so yummy. I did some with alice's icing and some with fondant. Fondant was so much easier..and they looked nicer. I

I pipe all my borders and then go back and flood......so my borders are always almost completely dry..........all I do is take a toothpick and kinda swirl the wet icing making it adhere to the edge of my border icing that is hard.......hope that makes sense

I've had a lot better luck with not doing a border. Just start at the top of the cookie and fill it in back and forth all the way down. That way I don't have lines or edges that stand out. The icing has to continually touch the most recent place it was piped so that it will adhere and keep melding together. I got my info from Antonia's tutorial too.

Sorry about the cookies - chalk it up to a learning experience, and I'm sure your Godmother will understand.

I've never covered my cookies while they're drying, but if you feel you need to, try to sit the rack of cookies in a box or something, and cover the top of it, so nothing is touching the icing.

Antonia's method for "border-less" cookies actually has a border, but you pipe the border with the same thinned icing that you flood with, and then flood immediately. The border doesn't set up before you flood it, so the icing all settles together and there's no line between the border and the fill-in, if that makes sense.

Just keep posting questions, there are lots of us who started in the same place you're at, and we're happy to help!

Laura.

just a question...what are you flooding your cookies with? I have had very good luck with thin icing in plastic squeese bottles and I just bring the icing very close to the edge, no border. I just have to be careful not to go too far because it will spill over the edge. If I do want a border I will wait until the flooding is dry and then pipe a border with thicker icing in either the same color or a contrasting color. Hope this helps!

Sweetpeeps,
I am with you on the Fondant thing..
I cover mine also with Fondant. As what you said,
it is easy, quick, yummy, no hassle and no mixing..


I just don't have the time to deal with problems such as this.
It might be a good lesson to learn.
How about scraping it all off and start from scratch ?
Hope the next time will be better..

I outline and then flood immediately. It sounds as if the outline was already dry. Everyone here has had "bad" cookie experiences so you are not alone. It just takes practice.

When you cover cookies with fondant, do you just use the same cookie cutters?

Yes, use the same cookie cutter used for the cookies so the the shape fits or aligns perfectly.

Yep. You use the same cookie cutters. I tried the fondant with hot cookies and also the corn syrup technique. The one's that I applied fondant to when they were hot had such a nice finished surface. The were so smooth and they seemed to even taste different to me. Maybe it was just my imagination. lol. Then you can do your other color decorations on top to if you need to.

I use the plastic bottles also. I just run the border around first and then come back and start flooding use the tip of the bottle to push the icing to the outlined line.It works pretty well, then I just put the tip back on the bottle and it keeps from drying out. I keep several bottles with different colors, so I don't have to stop and mix.

Okay... another question...

How do you easily fill the plastic botles?