royal icing | Bake No Prisoners

I went red a few months back and I couldn’t be more happier. I am no stranger to trying new things when it comes to my hair. I’ve been purple, pink, blonde, brunette…I even did the “Jennifer Lawrence” before Jennifer Lawrence. But I feel red suits me the best. I mean…come on…all the best people are ginger nowadays. Take Ron “Won Won” Weasley, for example. He is easily the best character in all of Harry Potter. And what about the Doctor…he is always wishing that his new regeneration be a ginger, but alas Peter Capaldi is no redhead. And I am convinced that even Princess Leia has a hint of red in those auburn buns of hers.

Speaking of….today is a very special day. It just so happens to be May the Fourth…as in May the Fourth be With You.

So for all of you Star Was fans out there, I made cookies…

Now I am a complete cookie decorating novice, so I went to the web to research a few things. First, I used the loyal and trusted Royal Icing recipe found on Sweetopia. To be honest, I always end up thinning out my icing with a few more tablespoons of warm water to make it more pliable and easier to work with.

Second, I read her tutorial on how to use a Kopykake projector. I recently purchased one to help me become a better decorator. Because I am left-handed, it is difficult for me to really freehand any images onto my cakes or cookies, so the the Kopykake basically does the work for me. It projects an image onto a surface below, without much heat, so that I can trace or copy the image onto my cakes or cookies.

Finally, I had really never worked with black icing before, so I made sure I found the black food coloring to icing ratio that I wanted to ensure that my icing would be black, instead of a dark grey. I found that if you take about a tablespoon of black food coloring to 1/3 cup of icing, then that would give you a nice, black color without the yucky taste of food coloring.

In addition to it being May the Fourth, this weekend also happened to be Free Comic Book Day, and the 16th anniversary of the battle at Hogwarts. Ahhhh…..a geeky girl’s dream. Happy May the Fourth, you guys!

Sugar Cookie Recipe

Royal Icing Recipe

I have always said that New Years Eve is my least favorite holiday.

The champagne, the staying-up-late, and the New Years resolutions just don’t appeal to me. Like at all.

Whether it is a sip or a glass of champagne, my body totally does a 180° and yells at me the next morning. I mean, I am not a crazy drinker to begin with, but there definitely is something in the champagne that makes me feel like I am going to die a slow, painful death the next morning.

As for staying up late, I am more of the early to bed, early to rise kinda girl. I hate to waste daylight hours on sleeping in when I could be whipping up a new recipe for you guys or holding a Harry Potter marathon in my living room.

To me, New Years resolutions are just, plain silly. If I have something I want to accomplish or overcome, then why wait until the new year to set my goal. I started a new goal to lose a few lbs. in the middle of the holiday season this year. I know, crazy, right? But it taught me to watch what I ate during the worst possible time of the year. And you know what? I have lost 12 lbs.

So to brighten my outlook on New Years Even, I made cookies.

I have to admit, these champs cookies were a total last minute. I had purchased the champagne glass cookie cutter a few days after Christmas on Amazon and never dreamed that it would get here in time. But of course, Amazon proved me wrong and it arrived early yesterday. So I whipped up a batch of sugar cookies and got to frosting.

When it comes to royal icing, my go-to recipe is from Sweetopia. Not only does she provide the most amazing royal icing recipe from Antonia74{cakecentral.com}, but she also gives some great tips and helpful hints.

To give it some champagne flavor without the actual champagne, I added a few drops of champagne flavoring oil to the icing. A little bit goes a long way… Adding too much can overpower the cookie and you definitely don’t want that. Cuz these are good..#nomnomnomnom

I used a small brush and some yellow sugar crystals to mimic the bubbles in champagne. I started at the top and worked my way down, making a stamping motion with my brush. I also added this brittle, transparent sugar glass to make the stem of the champagne glass look more realistic.

I hope you have the happiest of New Years filled with joy, love, and cookies…