Okay, I don't know hot to do a poll. If someone else does, can you pm me some instructions? I just got two new books and one is Cookie Craft which is all about royal icing and the other is Flour Pots which is all about fondant. I can see where fondant would be a nice touch as you can add texture and mix colors a little more easily and I might go so far as to say fondant appears easier to work with. I am sure that I am wrong about that. I think it is very pretty in part because there is no fill line as with flooding. Now, I have also seen some gorgeous cookies done with icing. And I love the texture of a perfctly smooth cookie too.
I know... get to it already! Which do you use more, fondant or icing? If you have a preference, why? Or does it just depend on the design that you are doing? I haven't done a fondant cookie. I have done a simple round cookie with icing. And it seemed anything but simple. But I loved doing it so much!
hi!
i don't much care for the taste of fondant on a cookie. it does look wonderful, but the taste and texture don't do much for me. royal icing is also wonderful to decorate with, but i don't like rock hard icings if i can avoid them. what i use most is toba garrett's glace icing. over the years i have used this to do more than just flood cookies (plaids, dots, writing) but because it lacks the stiffness, you cannot use it to pipe roses, drop flowers, leaves etc. when i have a design that calls for that type of pattern, i flood the cookie with glace then do my design work in royal icing.
the glace takes a bit longer to set/dry than royal icing, but it tastes great.
i hate the fill lines too 
. i do not have them with the glace. i pipe my outline and then immediately flood and i get a seamless edge to my cookie. i take my squeeze bottle and start filling in the flood right at the outline, or i take my small spatula and "push" the flood right up to the outline.
here is a photo to show one of the things you can do with glace (not just flood) and the seamless edges you can get with it.
diane
WOW 
, your cookies are flawless! Very beautiful and your lines are perfect. I dream to be like your one day.
... here is a photo to show one of the things you can do with glace (not just flood) and the seamless edges you can get with it....
Gorgeous cookies!! LOVE the design and the colors -- so, so pretty!
I've seen a lot of cookies, but yours...wow. Absolutely Flawless! Have you made a tutorial? Hint?!
thank you so much! reading your posts was such a great way to start off my morning .
there are only two recipes for glace icing, flood and outline, but i have found that there are really a lot more consistency points in between those two that work better for the decorating part.
for most decorating i take my flood icing and add more PS to stiffen just a bit more (still closer to flood consistency than outline).
when i do flood dots (see attached heart cookie) i take my dot color and add PS. i wish i could give you a measurement, but it depends on how much flood you have. i do not make it stiff, i just give it a bit more body to keep the shape of the dot and help minimize bleeding. usually for a cup of flood, i probably add two heaping tablespoons is what i estimate. you want to make sure it still flows pretty well, so the best way to do this is just eyeball. when i drop my dots into the flood i hold my tip just over, but not touching, the flood (this helps get a nice round shape).
when i do lines, i use the outline consistency. i also use this if i want a a softer dot.
when i do a really perky dot or writing, i usually add a tablespoon or two to the outline to make stiffer if you are not getting good definition. when using glace for writing, you have to bear in mind that you cannot cross lines of icing without them blending together.
when i do plaids, i have to let the lines in one direction set up for a bit (anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour) before i do the lines in the opposite direction to keep the lines clean and seperate.
i do dots on dots with glace too; i just let the base dot set for a bit before dotting the top of it with another color. i will post of picture of some practice butterflys i did last year so you can see how this looks in glace, but remember it was practice .
i outline with a number 2 tip and disposable pastry bag. i use squeeze bottles for the flood. if i need to push the flood around to fill in any tight corners, i use a food only fine tip paintbrush (toothpicks do not work as well, but they can be used too). i like to start my flooding with the tip of my bottle nosed right up to the outline and just follow the outline with the bottle tip.
for decorating, since glace is soft, you really don't want to use a tip much larger then no.2 for anything.
you need to let glace iced cookies dry overnight before you put them in cookie bags.
sorry about the novel!
diane
Diane - Your cookies are stunning!!!! Wow! Such gorgeous work! Thanks also for the info on glace! That was very kind of you to do so. I use RI, but have thought about playing with glace. The drying time throws me off, but I guess I would just have to plan ahead better 
. Looking forward to seeing more of your lovely designs!
Wow, Diane! Welcome to the Cookie Forum! Your detailed instructions regarding consistencies is so helpful to all of us. Your cookies are absolutely beautiful and I can't wait to see more of what you do. Looking forward to seeing you in our little cookie corner
In answer to the original question, I use royal icing. I've played with fondant briefly but use it only for decorations for cupcakes.
I love using Antonia74's recipe on here. It's great and NOT rock hard.
I have been thinking of trying the glace. It definitely has a different look(translucent) that might be interesting.
Diane, your cookies are stunning!
Adorable cookies! I would love to do those, but I don't think my hands are steady enough. I really don't do piping any more than I must.
wow, i just finished looking at the cookies you all have posted and i am blown away!
i started with the glace way back when because i do a lot of cookies for the kindergarden crowd and they thought royal icing was "yuckie", lol. but i have always been a bit frustrated by the piping design limitations of glace. cookiemookie, i think i will try antonia74's recipe next round of cookies! thank you.
tracylh, your "love" cookie is astounding! i ran across that photo, i think on flickr, but i am not sure, a couple months ago and it floored me. i think it is an amazing cookie. is this a cookie design you could do in quantity or is it too time-consuming?
tonedna, thank you! it was actually your video that taught me how to use letter cutters i used on the heart cookies. i am so grateful i get a chance to thank you for all your wonderful videos and tell you how helpful they have been to me as i learn about making cakes.
diane
wow, i just finished looking at the cookies you all have posted and i am blown away!
i started with the glace way back when because i do a lot of cookies for the kindergarden crowd and they thought royal icing was "yuckie", lol. but i have always been a bit frustrated by the piping design limitations of glace. cookiemookie, i think i will try antonia74's recipe next round of cookies! thank you.
tracylh, your "love" cookie is astounding! i ran across that photo, i think on flickr, but i am not sure, a couple months ago and it floored me. i think it is an amazing cookie. is this a cookie design you could do in quantity or is it too time-consuming?
tonedna, thank you! it was actually your video that taught me how to use letter cutters i used on the heart cookies. i am so grateful i get a chance to thank you for all your wonderful videos and tell you how helpful they have been to me as i learn about making cakes.
diane
Diane - Hi again! I don't have any photos on Flickr. I think you are thinking of the 'Love' cookie done by the incomparable Zoe of Whipped Bakeshop. Hers is based on a sculpture in their city. My design was inspired by a stencil design I saw on one of Cookiemookie's cookies, except that I made several changes to make it my own design. I do love Zoe's version, but mine is different. Hers is just wonderful though. I saw hers a while ago and as tempting as it may be when one sees cookie perfection, I was not about to copy someone else's design (even though I like hers better! ). It's so hard when you see a 'perfect' cookie and you know you can't copy it and it is already so perfect. Much like Antonia74's cookies (Sigh! When I grow up I hope I can design like her!). Sorry - off topic! No, I do not do them in quantity due to the amount of time they take and freshness is key to me and with how long they take, they would be hard as rocks by the time I was done if I did a large quantity . I appreciate your kind words! I will say that is my favorite cookie design in my portfolio. Looking forward to seeing your pics! Your work is just outstanding!
I meant to answer the OP when I posted, but forgot. 
I prefer glace' icing. On occasion I'll use fondant for accents. I have never actually eaten a cookie covered in fondant, so I will definitely have to give it a try.
Diane, your cookies are amazing. I appreciate your detailed directions and I hope I see more of you. I've used Toba's icing once before, but didn't like the consistency much, maybe after viewing your cookies I'll try once again.
Don't hesitate to add more powdered sugar to get a thicker consistency, or add more corn syrup for a thinner consistency. I almost always add more powdered sugar. I like to make the icing thick enough that I don't have to have two consistencies...one for outlining, one for flooding. I outline the cookie and then immediately fill in the area with more icing in a zig zag pattern. I then use an off-set spatula to smooth out the icing over the entire area. I will then add even more powdered sugar to the icing until it's a peanut butter consistency. I use this to add details. Works great!
Diane - I don't know if you know this, but Antonia uses a meringue powder that has vanilla flavoring already built it, so hers tastes a bit different when we make it her as it is not something we can get stateside. Many of us flavor the RI. I use 1 tsp. pure van. extract and if I need it to be white, I use 3/4 tsp. pure van. extract and offset the color change with Americolor Bright White. Pure almond extract works well too. There are a lot of other options, but these are two I use and would recommend if you want to give it a try. I strictly go with van. extract now as I want to keep all of my RI nut-free due to possible allergy concerns and just put the almond flavor it in the cookie if I am looking for that flavor.
Yeah, those leaves are CRAZY GOOD! I will have to look into glaze. Something a little softer without the distinct fill lines... That is awesome!
I live by the cookie recipe in the book Cookie Craft and I also use her royal icing recipe with dried egg whites and I love it. But I use her powdered sugar mesurements only as guidelines. I adjust it to the project and weather. But I also have The Flour Pot cookie book and I love using fondant. I make the marshmallow fondant and use that. I guess it just depends on the design. Check my photos. The brown hearts are in fondant and the cookie bouquet is royal icing. Hope this helps.
May I ask if you add any flavors to your RI? I made it for Christmas and didn't like the flavor of it. I just added a little bit of vanilla extract.
Thanks for any help.
In answer to the original question, I use royal icing. I've played with fondant briefly but use it only for decorations for cupcakes.
I love using Antonia74's recipe on here. It's great and NOT rock hard.
I have been thinking of trying the glace. It definitely has a different look(translucent) that might be interesting.
Diane, your cookies are stunning!
Mickeebabe - I use Antonia74's RI. Her MP that she gets in Canada has vanilla flavoring already built in, unlike what we have here. I add 1 teaspoon pure van. extract (the Kirkland brand Madagascar Pure Van. Extract) during the last minute of mixing. If I need the icing to be white, I use 3/4 tsp. instead and balance out the color with Americolor Bright White. I have used pure almond extract in the past and loved the taste, but now keep all my RI nut-free lest anyone have allergies. There have been several postings on flavoring RI that you might be able to find. Here is one I know of, but there are more:
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopicp-6276309.html#6276309
Hope this helps!
I don't make cookies like the gorgeous ones in this thread, but I have made some with glace (delicious!) and some with fondant... I love fondant on cookies... I cheat and just apply an edible image, but I love the texture and flavor, especially on rolled chocolate cookies... Also for the record, I hate fondant on cake, just don't like the chewy-ness of it but cookies and fondant are a match made in heaven for me 
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