What's the secret to a poofy dried royal icing on top of the perfect sugar cookie?
It's really quite simple and is all in the consistency! And I mean a minimum of 15 to 20 second consistency. Thicker icing will give you a bigger poof.
What does that mean? As you thin out your royal icing with food coloring and/or water, take a knife and stir a small circle in the middle. When all the icing joins back together smoothly by itself in twenty seconds, you then have what is called a 20-second consistency.
Yes, this icing will take more work to get smooth and flat on your cookie after you flood it, but the results are stunning! I find the best way to get it to lie flat is flood your cookie, quickly use your scribe to push any flood into any blank spots, and then give your cookie a good shake back and forth hitting one end of the cookie against your finger or the cookie sheet until all of your icing is smooth.
The results of this spider is full of "poof," and it's all because I used a thick icing. There is no dried base under his body. It is simply a full packed flooded oval that dried just like this! Play around with your consistency. Practice makes perfect, and you will have your beautiful poof in no time! Oh and one extra bonus....thicker icing won't crater nor collapse on you! WIN WIN!
