Dry Cookies Are Driving Me Bonkers!

Baking By MariaK38 Updated 12 May 2010 , 12:28pm by MariaK38

MariaK38 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
MariaK38 Posted 7 May 2010 , 6:56pm
post #1 of 7

hi all! I'm making some decorated sugar cookies with royal icing. There's flood icing and then drawing on the cookies with an edible marker and a piped border around the edge. The cookies are about 3/8" thick. I decided to make them more than 1/4" because I thought they were too dry after putting the icing on them and thought a thicker cookie wouldn't get as dry... WRONG!
I use the "Gimme Some Sugar" cookies recipe. They are a good tasting cookie, but I think the royal icing takes the moisture out of them. Does this happen to you all? What do you do to combat it? Is there a non-drying royal icing recipe out there? I definitely need something that will decorate, stack, and package well. Any help?!

Thanks! Maria

6 replies
tastyart Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
tastyart Posted 7 May 2010 , 7:04pm
post #2 of 7

I like to use glace icing on cookies. I think it actually adds a little moisture back to the cookie. The frosting takes a little longer to set up for stacking or packaging, but it leaves a nice, glossy surface that really looks great.

Texas_Rose Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
Texas_Rose Posted 7 May 2010 , 7:16pm
post #3 of 7

I use fondant on my cookies. If you put the cutouts on the cookies when they're hot out of the oven, the fondant will harden enough to stack the cookies in less than an hour. I also underbake a little bit...I use an insulated sheet and bake for 6 min at 400, no matter how large the cookies are.

tastyart Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
tastyart Posted 7 May 2010 , 7:19pm
post #4 of 7

I too, am careful on baking time. I rarely bake as long as suggested on the recipe. There's nothing worse than a crunchy cookie when you wanted a soft one.

MariaK38 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
MariaK38 Posted 7 May 2010 , 10:00pm
post #5 of 7

thank you! I'm going to try some things in the next week, including fondant and Karen's Cookies meringue powder buttercream recipe to see which I like better.
I tried a plain cookie a little bit ago defrosted from the freezer to make sure it wasn't my cookie and not the icing, and it was great, nice and moist but solid. I think it's definitely the royal icing.

luv2bake6 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
luv2bake6 Posted 11 May 2010 , 6:20pm
post #6 of 7

I agree with everyone with regards to the cookie and icing. I roll out my cookies to 3/8" and bake them until the edges are just starting to brown.
Maria, try using glace if you think RI is the culprit for the dry cookies.

MariaK38 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
MariaK38 Posted 12 May 2010 , 12:28pm
post #7 of 7

well, after experimenting with royal, glace, meringue powder buttercream, and dry candy fondant icings, I went back to royal to flood the cookie and meringue powder buttercream to pipe the borders on. The others just didn't dry hard enough for me to write on them, even after leaving out for 48 hours or more.
I'm also undercooking my cookies by just a smidge, and it seems to be working. I really like that when I bite into the cookie, the border on the outside isn't so hard because the icing is still soft on the inside. But I can still package them, which is good!
Thanks for all the advice!

Maria

Quote by @%username% on %date%

%body%