Shiny Cookies. I Wonder If This Would Work
Baking By sweetcreationsbykimberly Updated 23 Mar 2010 , 1:21am by EvMarie
I know we can add corn syrup to our RI and we can use the glaze to ice the cookies. Either way I still can not seem to get my cookies as shiny as most of the ones I see posted. I am wondering if anyone as ever tried brushing corn syrup over the cookies after the icing has dried? Wondering if it would make any difference at all.
I use corn syrup to 'glue' RBC to cookies, and seems when it gets on the RI, it goes gooey. I have yet to find a way to get a shiney dry cookie.
You could try, but I am not getting the warm fuzzies on it drying without being tacky ('tacky' as in sticky, not 'tacky, tacky').
I know that some say (when asked why their cookies are so shiny) that they shoot them while they are still wet. RI dries matte by nature. I have heard of some adding some glycerin in order to try to get a shine, but I don't know the amounts. Just know that you can lengthen drying time by doing that. One option is to add luster dust for a bit of sheen. Someone mentioned that they use a luster dust spray (?) or something to give a sheen. Not sure if that helps much, but thought I would pass it on.
Yes, luster dust looks nice, I do that alot for a glittery cookie
Tracy, I didn't take a pic of my marbles, but it was cute, cut out rounds of marbled RBC. THANK YOU! (I know, this isn't the place, but I was here.)
Oops! I just came back to this and saw that Shiney answered before I hit the "Submit" button. Hi, Shiney!
Hurray about the marbles! Two thumbs up for you!! So sorry you lost your marbles before you got a pic! (Okay, okay, faint stab at humor. I will take my sleep deprived brain upstairs now.)
Please excuse that Shiney and I hijacked the thread a bit. We are old cookie friends that go way back.
Thanks Tracy, you know that I've been after that 'shiney' cookie from the beginning, and haven't figured it out yet. I've even tried the glycerin, but maybe didn't use enough, but was scared to alter the taste. I have some that look shiney in the pic,but they are photo'd wet
That seems to be the case when people post pics of 'shiny cookies'. I think it leads many astray as they do not know what they are missing in that step. RI and glace just don't dry shiny. Verano is right though about glace as it seems to be less matte. Kimberly, you might want to try that.
Okay, I am a little slow. I had been sitting here wondering 'what does she mean by "shoot" them while they are still wet'? Got it now.
OP, as previously stated many of those pictures were taken while the icing was still wet, be careful adding too much corn syrup, I did that once and the cookie was not edible. Way too sweet. I love sweets and I couldn't even eat it. I haven't tried luster dust but will soon after seeing these comments
i use glace and don't shoot when wet and most of my cookies have shine. it's not a super high gloss shine, but it is def. not matte. glace does usually dries shiny, again, not a chrome surface shiny, but still shiny.
i use equal amounts of corn syrup and water (not milk, though you can use milk). mix water and PS first, add corn syrup and then once it is combined, i beat on very slow for 10 minutes.
getting shine with white and black and be challenging (black is next to impossible on most days). avoid the wilton white, it textures the dried icing and destroys the shine.
some colors just don't want to dry shiny...very irritating, lol. i struggle with pink and have no clue why. maybe some colors just don't reflect light as well?
generally better shiny colors from americolor instead of wilton.
oddly enough, i find i get a better shine from a thicker flood than a thinner one. don't know why .
also, i think temp in house can affect level of "shiny". warm is better with no drafts.
this is photo is glace and was fully dry for over 24 hours and i think is is about as shiny as you can expect.
hope this is helpful!
diane
Those are gorgeous apple cookies, drakegore!!!!
Oh, and I, too, was wondering what they meant by "shoot wet." I've made some really ugly cakes and cookies that I've wanted to shoot -- thank Heaven, we don't own a gun!
I am not undertanding the "shoot at them while wet" but I am thinking what about using confectioners glaze?
I am not undertanding the "shoot at them while wet" but I am thinking what about using confectioners glaze?
"shoot" means take a picture, many people might say " shoot a picture"
you guys are cute, you make me laugh
I place items with royal icing under a hot lamp to dry and it seems to help the shine a little. I usually use a hot desk lamp and place it right above the project. I don't know if it really works, but it makes me feel better about getting it shiny. I don't have a real close up picture of what it looks like, but if you look at my photos, there is an Eagle Scout cake and a Luther's Rose cake that both were done with royal icing. You can see a slight shine. Has anyone else tried this?
I am so happy to hear that I was not the only one that didn't know what "shoot while still wet" meant. My daughter in law laughed at me when I told her that I posted that. I told her that at first I thought maybe they mean, they shoot the cookies with a blast of hot air from a blow dryer or something.
am not undertanding the "shoot at them while wet
"
I am SO sorry! I just checked in and saw that my wording was confusing. I apologize. I am a former photojournalist and I meant to say that some "photograph" the cookies while still wet. I was only talking about the ones that look really wet, not like the lovely effect that Drakegore achieves. I have just seen many that were really wet looking and then all sorts of understandably excited comments asking how they achieved that look and then the cookie decorator says that they were still wet when photographed.
Again, sorry about that and I will be more careful in the future.
Diane - Wow! That shine on those cookies is fantastic! Love your work as always! Those are quite gorgeous and I do see what you mean by the shine to them. I may have to play with glace in the future now. Thanks for sharing your information!
Duhhhh I feel so stupid but then again it was a long day!!!! I have some cookies that I am in the middle of making and I am not liking them becaue of the matte finish and it's frustrating
Duhhhh I feel so stupid but then again it was a long day!!!! I have some cookies that I am in the middle of making and I am not liking them becaue of the matte finish and it's frustrating
add some details with RI or Glace and then shake some sanding sugars over it. I love sanding sugar
I am so happy to hear that I was not the only one that didn't know what "shoot while still wet" meant. My daughter in law laughed at me when I told her that I posted that. I told her that at first I thought maybe they mean, they shoot the cookies with a blast of hot air from a blow dryer or something.
I figured that's what you guys were thinking, too funny
I have some cookies that I am in the middle of making and I am not liking them becaue of the matte finish and it's frustrating
I have had good luck with luster dust and products like that to add a bit of shimmer. I know this is not the overall look are you going for, but might be something to try for this batch if you have access to the products. Just a thought.
the pme luster spray in super pearl is great on cookies! it's a different kind of shine, but it is very cool .
i just did some wedding cookies with the pearl spray on peach glace (i also used the gold spray on yellow glace and that worked great but i had to be more careful about not getting it on the cookie because it showed more visibly) and i think they turned out great (i might be biased, lol).
diane
I too put cookies under a desk lamp. It seems the faster you can get it to dry, the shinier it stays?
i did the desk lamp too for a long while because i think it does help.
but i stopped when i decided it wasn't worth risking crazing (super fine cracking lines)and ruining the nice finish i got when i didn't move them in their intial set-up phase....and i discovered that it didn't affect the shine not using the lamp. however i do think heat is a critical element in getting the shine and i always keep the heat up really (really, lol) warm when i am working on glace cookies (this kills my polar bear husband, lol).
One warning though to say others the possible heartache I experienced. I realize this is different from the desk lamp idea, but I thought I would share to help prevent my disaster.
I had read where people put their cookies in the oven on a very, very low heat to dry their cookies and I did this one time when I had someone shave a full day off of when they needed theirs. Just be very careful if you do this as I ruined several cookies when the heat started causing horrid dark splotches to grow. My guess is that the low heat affected the butter which then came up through the RI. Just a warning so nobody does this. It never 'settled out." On top of it, it was my most time-intensive design. Big lesson learned on my part.
I used to use a work lamp to dry them and will try that again to see if I can get the shine Diane is talking about. I am a RI girl so I am curious if it will work as it does for her glace. (Now I am really dying to try the glace!).
Thanks for all the great info on "shine"! I am still trying to find time to experiment with glaze. Thanks to "drakegore" for all the generous info! And, TracyLH, I've pm'd you also. Glad to hear your offering up generous info as well!
I've been sticking with the 1/2 RBC and 1/2 MMF mix. I have been getting "shimmer" via an airbrush and americolor pearl, gold, and silver colors. I'm getting better at developing my own style. But still working on RI application.
Oh - it's doesn't achieve a wet/shine type of look, but the sparkle sugars are fabulous too. I've seen some designs done on here with borders and accents piped and then sprinkled...after base coat dried of course. I think they look beautiful.
SHINE ON !!!
I will have to try the desk lamp thing. One difference, I have under cabinet lighting (the heat producing, expensive to run ones). that should probably work nicely. Can't wait to try it!!
Hi EvMarie! Nice to see you again! Your cookies look so great!! Love the dimension and such great designs!
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