I made 10 dozen Christmas cookies with Toba's glace to give the neighbors. They looked beautiful the first day. The second day, I outlined and did some detail on them and they still looked great. Then when my husband went to deliver them this morning, the glace has developed that "snowflake effect" and the colors looked washed out. I used Americolor gel colors and bright white. All my ingredients were fresh.

WHY is this happening????? I just want to cry! Cookies are way too much work to end up looking like this! I was so frustrated, I wouldn't even take pictures. I don't like the taste of royal icing at all! I love the taste of Toba's glace and I know some of you use this glace with no problems - any suggestions?

Humidity is NOT a problem - it's extremely dry here and the temperature is constant and so is the light.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I love doing cookies but they are way too much work if this is going to happen every time I use this glace.

I'm sorry, i don't know the answers - but i just wanted to keep this thread *bumped* up for you.

Bluehue.

I have had this happen before but only if i have stored them in the freezer.
I was told to use the white and add the color ( i use Wilton ) to keep it from "snowflake" effect.
But it doesn't always happen. I have this years cookies in the freezer and they are all good. And i didn't use the white this year...so I'm not sure either.

I use less water in my recipe... Like 1 water for 2 corn syrup.. and never had a cloudy cookie since that.. except in the freezer!

Sorry I can't help but I'll give you a bump!

I had been using the Wilton white in my Toba's Glace' + Americolor gels for the color. I recently ordered some of the Americolor white and it doesn't seem to have the same (as much in the same amount) whitening strength as the Wilton's does.

I haven't tried this yet, but from what I understand from a thread they had going on here the other day, you have to put some white coloring in your icing first, then color it. Apparently, the white prevents these discolorations. I need to try it soon, but I need to go buy some white coloring.

Thanks for the replies. I am using Americolor Bright White. Maybe I'll try some from Wilton and see. I put the white in before I mix the colors and I have been letting the glace sit for about 12 hours before I use it - hoping that would help.

Hmmm! I wondered if more corn syrup and less water could help. I seems like the corn syrup would help "hold" the color where the water just dilutes it. Good thought!

I have noticed when I thin my icing if I don't mix in the water really well it separates on the cookie

If i recall correctly, Toba's recipe says to add corn syrup to thin out the icing or ps to thicken it. She does not say to use water.

I don't use water in my glacé. . .10x, corn syrup and milk. I haven't used the whitening stuff yet but will try it because I do still get the cloudy white effect.

I love glace'.

I use milk (no water) and I've never used the White color at all, just regular gel colors mixed in very very well.


I've never had cookies change color or "snowflake". I'm sorry after all that work you did, that this happened....so frustrating.

BUT, I'm sure they tasted awesome!

Okay, now I feel really crazy. The recipe I printed off for the glace nearly a year ago says 3/8 cup water and 3/8 cup corn syrup. I wish I knew where I got that one! I just went and searched for Toba's recipe here and it says MILK not water. So that may be my problem!

Everyone loved the cookies. They didn't notice or even care. And they were good - at least in my husband's opinion.

Thanks for all the replies. I love all the great information I get from this site!

Oh that's annoying isn't it?

Here's the recipe I use from here.
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/6523/suagr-cookie-icing

It's very similar to Toba's I believe (as far as ratios)

I've had a problem every now and then with the icing getting dull (really dull) when it's cold in the house as it dries. I always use milk, and I always use brite white. I think this icing just needs to be in a warm environment as it dries. Good luck in the future.

dkelly, thanks for posting that link. I will try that one next time! I really like the fact that the one you use is in smaller amounts than the one I made. It used a little over 2 pounds of powedered sugar. Of course, I was covering A LOT of cookies but that isn't always going to be the case!

I had the same problem. I made dark red, green for a Christmas tree, and pale blue. The pale blue I just barely added a tiny bit of blue and it was too bright, so I added white (all colors Americolor) to make it more pale, and even that one snowflaked. I used milk, not water, and I added a lot of extra powdered sugar because I was used to the 5-10 second rule w/ thinned royal icing, and all traces of the drizzle were gone w/i 3 seconds w/ the glace (even then, it ended up too thin for outlining, but I ended up having to push it around with a toothpick to make it work as the fill color, *sigh*).

I thought they ended up looking awful, but everyone else thought they were cool. They told me it made the pine tree look realistic and the red stocking look like velvet, and I had someone ask me to teach them how to do cookies that way.

I would like to figure out how to make it NOT do that, though, because I'd really like to have beautiful cookies like the ones I see on here. I'll try and get the picture I took of them posted, too.

- Leisel

Cool! I'm a huge Sox fan too, but I figured it's football season so I should have a Pat's avatar.

I'm about 50 miles south of Boston on the RI border.