The "Supers" . . . Works for Me Wednesday

I've touched on this before on the blog and just in case you dozed off in the middle of one of my lectures, I think it bears repeating...

If you are making black or red icing, PLEASE treat yourself to some AmeriColor Super Black and Super Red gel paste food colorings. 

If you've tried another brand, you've probably noticed that you had to use the entire bottle to get a true, deep color.

And then, you probably noticed a not-so-pleasant taste?


AmeriColor "Supers" are the way to go.  Just a bit gives nice, saturated colors...and the taste?  What taste?  All I taste is icing.  (That's a good thing.)


Where to buy it?  Well, here are just a few options:

• your local bakery supply shop
• Sweet!
• Copper Gifts
• Bake It Pretty
• Layer Cake Shop
• Amazon

AmeriColor Super Red and Super Black...they work for me!  They'll work for you, too.  Trust me, I'm a doctor, um, baker.

How to Stop the Bleeding . . . Works for Me Wednesday

{that sounds kind of creepy, huh?}

The tips here are not a guarantee against bleeding icing colors, but hopefully they will help.

First, a little general advice:

1. Use a high quality gel paste food coloring (I like AmeriColor).  I LOVE their Super Red and Super Black food colorings.
2. Use as little food coloring as possible to achieve the right color. Remember that colors, dark colors especially, will deepen over time and as they dry. Over-saturated colors tend to bleed more than others.

 
For applications, like this one, where you are applying thinned icing on top of wet icing:

1. Work several cookies at a time, filling in the base color, then going back to the first cookie filled and applying the second color.  This will allow the base coat a few minutes to set before applying the second color.
2. Thin the icing colors out to as close to the same consistency as possible.

 
{Why did one cookie bleed and the other didn't?  I'm not sure.  It's a cookie mystery.}

For applications involving a dark outline:
 

1. If filling a cookie that has a dark outline, give the outline a little extra time to dry.  For a black outline, I let the outline dry 30-60 minutes before filling with a lighter color.  Another cookie maker I know (hi, Jen!) waits 3 hours.  And her cookies are perfection.
2. If adding detail piping in a dark color on top of a light color (like the beer mugs or the white hearts below), give the flood icing at least one hour to dry before adding the detail.

 

 Here's my most important tip for bleeding icing...

don't sweat it! 

It's just a cookie; it doesn't have to be perfect. 

YOU are probably the only person who notices. (I promise.)

{Plus...once it has been eaten, there will be no evidence!} ;)

Tasty Kitchen . . . Works for Me Wednesday

{Oh, you must try this Greek Pizza!}

Tasty Kitchen...have you been there?

Tasty Kitchen is the brain-child of Ree, The Pioneer Woman (y'all know Ree, right?).  It's a "happy cooking community" where real people like you and me share recipes.  Real recipes. Delicious recipes.

Every member has a recipe box...and the site is also searchable by type of dish.  Want chicken main dish? It's there.  A pizza? Yep.  Brownies?!?  Of course!

This is my recipe box.  Although there are sweet recipes, I started adding some of our savory favorites here, too.  (Including my latest obsession, Rosemary Cayenne Sweet Potato Fries...)


What I love most about Tasty Kitchen (well, besides the recipes) is that once your recipe is entered...it's printable!!!  You can print as 3x5 cards, 4x6 cards or a full page!  It's a great way to share recipes with friends...or your sister. (Hi Molly!)

Here are some I'm printing...and trying SOON!

Oregano and Lemon Chicken Souvlaki from Wenderly.  I can almost taste it now.


Creamy Caprese Pasta from How Sweet Eats.  Pretty sure my waist is expanding just from looking at the picture.


And Frozen Strawberry Squares from She Wears Many Hats.  How perfect is this for a hot summer day?

Are YOU a member of Tasty Kitchen?  Leave your member name in the comments so we can all be TK friends and share recipes!

Sprinkles and Sugars and Dragees, oh my! . . . Works For Me Wednesday

Here's a little secret about cookie decorating...everything looks cute covered in sprinkles or sanding sugar or jimmies, etc. etc.  Don't like how your cookie looks?  Cover it in sprinkles!  Instant Cute!

Here's the low-down on the different types of cookie accoutrements:


Nonpariels: These might be my favorite.  Maybe it was all of those years eating "chocolate stars" at the movies.  Remember those?  Anyone?

The multi-colored ones are really cute, too.  Can't find the mix you want?  Mix them yourself!  I mixed black and white nonpareils for these cookies.

 
Sugar Pearls: a little bigger than nonpareils and with a pearly sheen.  I have never used these, but could not resist buying these sweet pink ones.


Next we have jimmies.  Chocolate Jimmies are the most common jimmies...and every time I use them, I can't help but think of Seinfeld. "Jimmy likes these jimmies."

 
Dragees: Did you eat these as a kid?  Me, too.  Now they are for "decorative purposes only." Yeah, right.

{PS...dragee is pronounced "draah-zhA," not "drag-EE" like someone might have said in front of a group of people at THE Lodge. *blush*}  It's dragees, dahhhling.


Sparkling sugar versus sanding sugar: Sanding sugar is finer than sparkling sugar and, I think, a little more sparkly.
 
Sugars come in all sorts of colors...even gold!


And, last but not least.....SPRINKLES!!!

Repeat after me....."Sprinkles fix everything."

How to transfer flood icing to a squeeze bottle . . . Works for Me Wednesday

Over the last few weeks, I've gotten this question over and over again in the comments, in my email and on twitter:

"How do you get flood icing from the bowl into the squeeze bottles?"

Here's my secret...I don't have a secret.  I just pour it in.

Take an empty squeeze bottle,


and icing thinned for flooding,


preferably, do not try to do this while holding a camera in one hand.


Pour in s-l-o-w-l-y.


There we go; that's better.


I'm right-handed, so normally, I hold the container of icing in my left hand and with a silicone spatula in my right, carefully guide the icing into the bottle.


{Sometimes it gets messy, but usually I can make it with no spills.}

If it does plop over the side, wipe it up with a damp paper towel.

There it is...my non-secret secret.

I guessing someone has a better (neater) way.  Spill it, sister (not literally). 

How to Clean Icing Tips . . . Works for Me Wednesday

OK, remember last week's WFMW post?  It was "how to clean squeeze bottles".  I teased that this week I would post "how to clean toilets."  You guys....I scared Mr. E.  He read the post then immediately texted me.  He was worried that I used the word "toilets" on a food blog. 

{Mr. E....I love you for looking out for me. ♥  Aaand, I just used it 2 more times.}

On to cleaning icing tips...

This might be my least favorite part of cookie decorating.  The dreaded tip cleaning.

1. Let your icing bags sit on the counter for several hours, or overnight, and hope someone else will clean them.

2. Fill a glass with hot soapy water.

3. Remove the tips from the couplers.  Drop the tip and the coupler tip in the soapy water.

4. Squeeze the extra icing out of the bags.

5. Working from the small part of the bag, push the remaining piece of the coupler and work it out of the end of the bag. Place in soapy water.

6. Let the tips soak for a few minutes....several minutes if you've waited a while to clean them. *cough*

7.  Scrub the inside of the tips and couplers with a tip brush.
 
(I use the spiral looking end.  There is also a cone-shaped tip brush that is difficult to find, but awesome.)

(I do this under running water and hold the tip down, so I can see the water running through it....especially important on smaller tips.)

8. Let the tips dry on a drying rack.  They are supposed to be rust-proof.  To make doubly-sure they remain rust proof, dry with a paper towel, or stick them in a 150 degree oven for 5-10 minutes.  

That's it!   It's not too hard after all.  (But still see if your hubby will do it.)

---

If you haven't visited us on University of Cookie in a while, here's what you are missing:

• Shelly's Soft Sugar Cookies (I'm SO making these!)
• a video tutorial on brush embroidery (yes, on COOKIES) from Ali B.
• a video about icing consistency from Marian
• Callye shows how she applies sanding sugar to her cookies

Come join us over at University of Cookie!  Tuition is *always* free!

How to Clean Squeeze Bottles . . . Works for Me Wednesday

The good news?  You've just decorated 5 dozen cookies.

The bad news? Your husband is on a business trip and YOU are the only one left to clean the squeeze bottles.

Truth be told, I'd much rather clean out squeeze bottles than icing tips.
{If you want more information on using squeeze bottles for flooding cookies, please visit this post.}

First, pour out the majority of the icing.


Then, fill with hot, soapy water.  Let it soak a few minutes.


Next, shake and squirt out the water; refilling with clean water.
 

Continue shaking and squirting out the water until it runs clear and is no longer soapy.  It's fun; I promise!


Now, turn upside down and let dry on a drying rack.

After a few hours, if the water hasn't all drained out, do the chopstick trick.

Here's the chopstick trick:

• twist a piece of paper towel around a chopstick,

• use the paper toweled-chopstick to dry up any lingering water drops.

{And isn't this the prettiest picture of a squeeze bottle & a chopstick you've ever seen? I know you've seen a lot.}


Voila! Clean as a whistle...and ready for your next batch of cookie decorating.

Next up, how to clean a toilet.

{I kid.}