Icing

Good morning, everyone.  Fall is in full sway here in Kansas City.  It's fantastic that we've already had a bit of snow; not a lot, but enough to call it a real snow, not just a dusting.  Here's hoping for more of the same.  I know many people don't like the snow, but for me it's the best part of winter.  Winter is a great time for cookies, and one I love to have around is my sugar cookie with bright yellow icing.

When I make sugar cookies, I'm particular about the icing.  I make it a very specific consistency every time.  The rough part is applying it.  Over time I developed a neat little trick.

This an icing we're talking about, not a frosting.  There is a difference.  I think of icings as thinner, more liquidy, they flow.  Frostings are thick and can be spread with a knife or a spatula, and they do not flow.  Since icings flow, they are perfect for my neat little trick.

I place a pastry ring on the baked cookie, which has been already cooled.  Since I've tested the process with this icing, I already know how much icing to use, and how long to let it sit.  I put in a specific amount of the icing using cookie dough scoops so that each cookie has the same amount.  The icing slowly spreads outward and down from the center.  And the pastry rings contain the icing flow.  They allow the icing to develop a nice neat circular edge.  I let the icing sit for precisely 10 minutes, and then I remove the ring.  The edge is disturbed just a bit when the ring is removed since some of the icing tries to cling to the ring.  But the icing hasn't completely set yet and so all by itself gravity does the work of smoothing out the edge.  And, voila!, the icing finishes setting.

It's much easier than using a knife or a spoon to apply.  And I'm always happy with the result.  If it's not quite perfect, that's ok.  Perfection is highly overrated.  

Have a great day, everyone!