Halloween Cookies .. Spiderweb Cookies (Royal Icing)

For a fun Halloween treat I tried my hand at spiderweb cookies using royal icing. I'm really loving the look of royal icing cookies. NOW if I was eating a cookie I'm a huge fan of a large amount of frosting on it (use frosting on cookies .. heck frosting alone is my downfall). These sure look fun, now I'm no master cookie maker but I love that I'm getting better. 

What you Need:

Sugar Cookies cut into circles (see my fav sugar cookie recipe below)

Royal Icing in White (no coloring) and Black (recipe below)

AmeriColor Gel Food Coloring Black (to dye Icing - This is my fav brand I had to use Wilton)

Pipping Bag

I use the dipping method with my royal icing. I started to do this about 6 months ago to speed up my decorating time. You can pipe each cookie which is a little cleaner but I find the dipping method to be the best. You get your royal icing to the outline consistency and put into a pie dish (I find this is not too deep). Once you dip the top of the cookie you tap off the extra icing and then you let dry! Once dry you can add your details. I like to do my cookies the night before to give plenty of time for the icing to harden, but this needed to be wet to add details. I took a plastic piping bag and added the details with Black royal icing. I have found in the past making this a little thicker than your outlining consistency is best if not they run together.  I tried a few different ways to make the webs. The best way I have to make the web is to make a spiral on top of a WET cookie. I then started from the middle and pulled out to make four sections. I then went and pulled IN in between these sections. Play around find what works best. I pipped the lines on also but didn't like the look. Since earlier this week I ran out of black AmeriColor and picked up black Wilton color to Michael's I used this. Wilton in a NON squeezable bottle. I so hate these bottles the squeeze bottles are the easiest and LESS messy!!
 

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INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened 2 cups white sugar 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3.	Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Julie Usher, she has a GREAT YouTube video on how to make, color and make consistency adjustments. 

Royal Icing what you need:

2 lbs Powdered Sugar

1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar

5 Large Egg Whites (or equivalent) 

Flavor to Taste

Gel Icing Color

Mix powder sugar and cream of tartar in your mixer, just to make sure it is incorporated in. Slowly add egg whites, then whip start of slow then go to very high speed. She says around 2 minutes, my friend had an older mixer so it took almost 10 minutes. You want stiff peaks that hold on and won't fall off the spoon. Add in your flavor, I would suggest you use a clear flavoring.  This would be the glue texture great for ginger bread houses etc.

Take 1 cup of royal icing in a smaller bowl then add your coloring, lightly mix so you don't get air into the the icing. I'm like her and like the gel coloring. 

For Top Coating - Add 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 tsp Water (This is if you don't want to outline and flood)

For Outlining - Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp Water

For Flooding  - Add 2 to 3 tsp Water

WATCH her video on How to Top-Coat, Outline, and Flood Cookies. YES it is around 7 minutes BUT if you have never done this technique it's a MUST she explains it perfectly.