CookieCrazie Glaze Icing Recipe (Vegan)

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The key to any cookie's success is it's taste and texture.
Glaze icing is the CookieCrazie icing of choice because of it's fabulous taste and softer texture!

Unlike other decorating icings, it's taste is sweet with no after taste. The texture does not dry rock hard and chalky......but keeps a lighter, softer consistency. Because it dries slower, it gives extra time for decorating, less problems with clogging tips.....and even has an added benefit of being able to create texture on it's surface while it is partially dry. Air bubbles are not a major problem with glaze. And it leaves a shinier finish upon drying compared to other icings.

One of biggest advantages of glaze is it's simple list of ingredients that do NOT include eggs, thus making it vegan. It's pretty incredible that you can take three basic ingredients (powdered sugar, corn syrup, and water) to make an icing that can decorate with the best of them!

CookieCrazie Glaze Icing (Vegan)

1 lb (3-3/4 cups) powdered sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

approx 1/4 cup water

few drops Americolor Bright White Gel

Mix all ingredients together on lowest mixer setting. Mix well for at least one minute.

Notes:

• This recipe covers approximately 20 medium cookies.

• Flavorings can be added before mixing up the glaze. I use 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/8 tsp butter flavoring for this recipe, but it is totally a personal preference.

• Add Americolor Bright White Gel to the entire batch of glaze to avoid translucency. 

• Keep the mixer on the low setting to prevent excessive bubbles.

• With no perishable ingredients, glaze can be kept 1-2 weeks at room temperature.

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For tips on coloring glaze, go HERE.

Got White Spots on Glaze Icing Sugar Cookies?

By far, the question I get asked the most about glaze icing......

"What causes those awful white spots on my icing when it dries?"

I suspected that it was temperature related, but I'd never actually tested my theory.

Until now......

Since I'm asked about this phenomenon at least once a week.....

it was time that I did a little experiment to see if I could pinpoint the problem.

Now....I'm not a chemist.

Oh sure.....my job title at my real job is Clinical Laboratory Scientist.

I do the testing in a hospital laboratory....and I minored in Chemistry a LONG time ago.....

but I can safely say that I don't remember most Chemistry. haha

So my experiment is certainly not truly scientific.

I went the practical route.

Since I've experienced white spots on my cookies more in the winter,

I suspected that it was due to the cooler temperatures in some way.

The house is cooler in the winter than in the summer.

And since I don't put my cookies in a special climate-controlled room when I dry them....

that probably means that the temperature matters in regard to splotches.

So.....I made five different rectangle cookies and flooded them with glaze.

I picked dark blue for the color since that seems to be one that shows spots more frequently.

As soon as I flooded them, I place them in their "drying areas". 

The first two cookies were dried at room temperature......kind of my "control" cookies.

We set our thermostat at 68 degrees in the winter.

I suspect that it is actually a little cooler at our kitchen table since it is in a great room

and right next to a sliding glass door to the outside.

One  of the two cookies was just flooded....period.

The other one was flooded and then dried slightly with a heat gun.

(My normal routine is to lightly dry my cookies with a heat gun.

You can read about it more here in this post.)

Oh.....and I use a floor fan to dry my cookies the first few hours after I decorate them.

(Can you find the blue rectangle cookies?
Instead of "Where's Waldo?".... where's the blue cookies? haha)

I placed the third cookie outside in the garage (partially covered, of course).

The temperature that night was about 30 degrees F.

 The fourth cookie went into the refrigerator.....which is in the range of 2 - 6 degrees F.

And finally, I put the last cookie in our chest freezer.

I'm not exactly sure what the temp is in there.....but it is COLD and frozen. ;)

Note: The only cookie I covered was the cookie sitting out in the garage.

And I only partially covered it.

The rest of the cookies were open to the air in their environment.

I let the cookies dry overnight.

The results were as expected......except for one rather incredible surprise.

I did my best to take photos to give you a clear view of what the dried glaze looked like.

But it is really hard to show tiny white blotches.....

However, I do think you can see the difference in these photos....be it ever so slight.

It was not a surprise to find lots of little blotches on both the refrigerated cookie

and the cookie set out in the cold 30 degree temps.

(You have to look really close to see the white spots, but they are there.)

The big surprise was the cookie placed in the freezer.
Notice it is the cookie on the far left.
It turned out darker and amazingly more shiny than all the rest.
And there was not a single white spot/blotch on it at all.
It looked as good as the room temp cookie using the heat gun.
AMAZING!

Now I'm not necessarily recommending that you can
 freeze your decorated cookies ahead for any length of time.
I tried this once.....freezing the already decorated cookies for more than a week.
And they ended up having blotches all over them. :(
Here's the blog post I wrote about it.

But maybe "flash freezing" the wet glaze is an option.
I'll have to do more research and freeze them for different lengths of time.

What I would suggest if you are having lots of problems with white spots/blotches....
make sure you dry your cookies in a warmer room temperature.
In the winter.....maybe put them in a room with a space heater.
In the summer.....with air conditioning, make sure your cookies are not close to the AC vent, etc.

OK.....I'm now going to take my "scientist" hat off.....and replace it with my cookie decorator hat.

:)

Freezing Glaze Decorated Cookies?
Heat Gun
Heat Gun II

CookieCrazie Glaze Icing Recipe (Vegan)

View fullsize

The key to any cookie's success is it's taste and texture.
Glaze icing is the CookieCrazie icing of choice because of it's fabulous taste and softer texture!

Unlike other decorating icings, it's taste is sweet with no after taste. The texture does not dry rock hard and chalky......but keeps a lighter, softer consistency. Because it dries slower, it gives extra time for decorating, less problems with clogging tips.....and even has an added benefit of being able to create texture on it's surface while it is partially dry. Air bubbles are not a major problem with glaze. And it leaves a shinier finish upon drying compared to other icings.

One of biggest advantages of glaze is it's simple list of ingredients that do NOT include eggs, thus making it vegan. It's pretty incredible that you can take three basic ingredients (powdered sugar, corn syrup, and water) to make an icing that can decorate with the best of them!

CookieCrazie Glaze Icing (Vegan)

1 lb (3-3/4 cups) powdered sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

approx 1/4 cup water

few drops Americolor Bright White Gel

Mix all ingredients together on lowest mixer setting. Mix well for at least one minute.

Notes:

• This recipe covers approximately 20 medium cookies.
• Flavorings can be added before mixing up the glaze. I use 1/4 tsp almond extract and 1/8 tsp butter flavoring for this recipe, but it is totally a personal preference.
• Add Americolor Bright White Gel to the entire batch of glaze to avoid translucency. 
• Keep the mixer on the low setting to prevent excessive bubbles.
• With no perishable ingredients, glaze can be kept 1-2 weeks at room temperatur

For tips on coloring glaze, go HERE.

Let's Talk About Corn Syrup Glaze Icing

Continuing with my series to show you how I do the basics.....let's talk about icing.

If you've read much on my blog, you know that I don't use royal icing like the majority of cookie decorators. Instead I use a corn syrup glaze icing that is quite simple and delicious. You can find the recipe in my FAQs.  It does, however, present a few challenges compared to decorating with royal icing. Hopefully I'll be able to demonstrate to  you through various tutorials how to achieve almost all the effects you can get from royal icing.

First things first.......the ingredients.

One of the best things about the icing is how simple it is. You just need powdered sugar, corn syrup, water, and flavorings. My standard glaze has clear vanilla, almond flavoring (the photo shows almond emulsion......but almond extract works just fine), and butter flavoring. (Spices, Etc does not sell their clear vanilla in a darkened bottle....and since clear vanilla will darken over time with exposure to light, I have transferred mine into a darkened bottle.)

You'll also notice Americolor Bright White Gel Paste. I always add some bright white to each batch of icing I made. It seems to make all the colors more vivid.....and helps to prevent bleeding. (I'm not saying it eliminates bleeding.....but I think that it lessens it.)

Along with the ingredients.....you need your tips, couplers, and bags.

Also, the Wilton purple bag ties and tip covers come in very handy. Both of these products can be purchased at Michael's or Hobby Lobby or anywhere Wilton is sold.

Oh.....and regarding tip couplers.....they are NOT created equal.

I have a gazillion Wilton couplers (on left in photo) and they are always cross-threading....sometimes they get so bad I have to throw them out.

One time I ordered couplers from Karen's cookies and received Ateco brand (on right in photo). I absolutely LOVE them. Ateco couplers are quality made and don't cross thread. I don't have to fiddle with them to screw on right.....they just do. I highly recommend them.

In fact, Karen stopped carrying them because they are a little more expensive than Wilton. I convinced her that when people know the difference, they WILL pay a few more cents because they are worth it.

So hop over to Karen's to get your very own Ateco couplers.:)

For coloring......no question.....buy Americolor gel. They are the BEST!

No where else are you going to achieve the red and black colors like Americolor.
And they have a wide selection and variety.

Notice I do have a few Wilton pastes. There's certain colors I can achieve best with Wilton.....in particular purple and moss green.

(And yes....I know I have a RIDICULOUS amount of gels. I LOVE color!!!)

Speaking of color.....I got ready to do my Valentines cookies the other day. The cool thing about Valentine's Day is that you only need red, pink and white.....and you're good to go. :)

So I got out my Super Red, and my Bright White......but then for pink.....I couldn't settle on one shade, so I got them all out to made a custom pink. lol

One final tool that I couldn't live without when making my icing is this Wilton scraper. It's paddle is firm....and allows you to scrape the edges of the bowl thoroughly. I love it!

OK.....so we've seen all the ingredients and tools to make the icing. Later this week, I'll share the coloring and bagging of my icing. Lots more photos to come!

Here's a few pics of my final winter collection....

I hope you have a great week. :)

P.S. If you haven't entered yet, go to yesterday's blog give-away post for a chance to receive a wonderful Valentines cutter from Ecrandal.

My Little Cookie World

I thought it would be fun to show you where I decorate cookies and what my set up looks like.

God has blessed me with a brand new house with a fabulous kitchen. I am so thankful! Truly every time I work in it, I whisper prayers of thanks for His goodness. :-)

Here is my "Kitchen Aid" corner. Back when we were looking at the model while our house was being built (a year ago this month), I had determined that this corner was where my brand new Kitchen Aid mixer would sit. :-))))))))) (And by the way, my mixer is AWESOME. I couldn't do cookies without it....at least not with such ease.)

I have everything sitting out as I prepared to make icing yesterday for my latest cookies.

Here's a pic of some mixed up icing.

The trickiest part is getting just the right consistency......not too thick so that it leaves sloppy peaks on the cookie, but not too thin as to flow right off the sides. Trust me, it is a very delicate balance. Too often I don't get it just right and it either makes it miserable for my hand to squeeze the bag or it produces some very sloppy looking cookies with drips everywhere. ;-) Here's a pic of using the "10 second" rule. You put your finger in the icing and pull it up into a stream. The surface of the icing should fall down flat in about 10 seconds.

On my island counter, I set out all my tools. This is where I bring my icing once it is mixed in order to color it, place in bags, and start decorating. The height of the breakfast bar is perfect for me to stand and decorate my cookies. :-))))))

I didn't getting any pics of the decorating process. Once I get in the "cookie zone" (thanks for the term, Cindy M :-)), I don't hardly come up for air.....so the camera was forgotten once I started decorating.

So now you have an idea of my little cookie world.....