[MUSIC PLAYING] Hey, guys. It's Tracy from the decorating
room here at Wilton. Have you ever seen those
colorful decorated cookies that are so popular in
bakeries and in social media? Now if you've ever wanted to
make these beautiful cookies, then you're in luck
because today I'm making the royal icing you need
to make these cookies amazing. The icing I'm going to show you
is a thinned down royal icing. And some people know it as
flow-in icing or flood icing. It's actually all
the same thing. And then the decorating
room, we refer to it as thinned down royal icing. This icing dries to
a smooth hard finish that looks like porcelain. And once it's set,
it's pretty durable, which makes it perfect to
present as gifts like in treat bags or boxes, unlike
cookies iced in buttercream which never fully dry. Now in case you
are wondering, this is the exact same recipe we used
in the Wilton decorating room, and we've used this icing
on hundreds and thousands of cookies. Now I love this recipe
for icing cookies because it's so versatile,
and the consistency is completely adjustable. I also like that it's
made with meringue powder because it makes your
icing shelf stable. Now some recipes use raw egg
whites, which is traditional. But using meringue powder
allows you to make the icing up to two weeks in advance and
store the decorated cookies at room temperature without
any of the safety concerns that come from using raw egg whites. Now thinning icing
is fairly simple, and it's really fun to play
around with and experiment. Even if you're a
total beginner, you'll be making perfect
cookie icing in no time. Now let's start with the
base of our cookie icing, which is a modified version
of our royal icing recipe. We have the recipe
in the link below, but I have some
additional tips for you. Now if you've made
royal icing before, you already know the importance
of sifting your powdered sugar because it can sometimes
clump together and especially important to sift powdered sugar
when you're decorating cookies. Now not only can the small
sugar particles clog your tip, but any small lumps
and bumps will show up after your icing dries. Now make sure to use
a clean mixing bowl free from any grease
because your icing will not set up when it comes
in contact with grease. Now here's our
secret for achieving the right consistency-- slightly under beat your icing. Our royal recipe calls
for about seven minutes of beating on a stand mixer,
but for cookie decorating, probably around five
minutes is enough. But what's more important to
look for is the right texture. Now, you want it
to be thick, shiny, and smooth just like this. Not light and fluffy. And beating this icing too long
will make your icing foamy. And once it dries,
it could be crumbly. And my last tip is to
always cover your icing. Royal icing starts to dry very
quickly when exposed to air. After making your icing,
immediately scrape the sides and cover your bowl
with a damp cloth so that it doesn't dry out. Or place your icing in a bowl
with a tight fitting lid. Otherwise, you could end up
with small, dried particles of icing that will be
very hard to dissolve and will also clog your tips. And it's a good idea to keep
your spatulas clean maybe in a glass of water
while you're working, and cover your filled icing
bags with a damp cloth as well. Today, I'm going to make two
consistencies of royal icing-- a medium consistency
for outlining and a thin consistency
for covering a cookie. Using these two icings will make
it so much easier for beginners to avoid overflowing. The icing that covers
the entire cookie needs to be thin so that it
floods the surface evenly to create a smooth finish. But using this icing alone is
hard because it's very fluid, and it could run down
the sides of the cookie. To prevent that, we
recommend piping and outline with a medium consistency
icing that creates a dam to hold in the thin icing. To make medium
consistency icing, I'm starting with a 1/2 a
cup of stiff royal icing. And I'm adding an 1/8
of a teaspoon of water. I'm going to use a small
flat silicone spatula to mix. I like using a silicone spatula
because it makes it easier to scrape the sides, but you
can use any flat utensil. I also like to use our
angled or a flat spatula. Now flat surfaces keep
air pockets from forming. So I definitely
recommend flat spatulas over spoons, which
have curves to them. Now I'm stirring very carefully. You can see I'm not moving
up and down with my spatula. I'm getting to all
the sides of the bowl using a figure eight motion. Now using a flat tool
and gentle mixing motion prevents air from
getting into your icing so that you don't
get air bubbles. Now you might be tempted to stir
quickly just to get it done, but that will definitely
create air bubbles. Because of weather
or temperature, sometimes you'll need to
add a tiny bit more water to get the right consistency. Now if you do, just add
a little bit at a time, and don't worry too much
about being perfect. Thinning icing is
not an exact science. Just focus on seeing and
feeling the right consistency. It should be more
spreadable than stiff-- kind of like marshmallow fluff. And as you can see,
medium consistency still has some body to it. It should have soft
to medium peaks when you pick it up
with your spatula. This makes it so much
easier to control when piping outlines, especially
if you have intricate shapes. I'll keep going with the
same bowl and thin this all the way down to thin
consistency or flood icing. Now this is what we will use
to cover the entire surface of the cookie. It needs to be thin enough so
that it flows on the surface and self levels so that it
dries to a smooth finish. But it needs to
be thick enough so that there's enough body to it. To make flood
consistency, you'll need to add a half
a teaspoon of water to every half a cup of
stiff icing to start. Now since I already added
the 1/8 a teaspoon of water to my medium icing, I'll
just add a little more water. Now just as we did with
our medium consistency, we are stirring very gently
with the flat tool, again, using a figure eight motion. I'm even more careful
here because thin icing is more prone to air bubbles. We want to avoid air
bubbles because they will rise to the surface
as the cookie dries, and they can create
tiny craters. Once again, you will
probably need more than this, but it's better to
start with less. Now gradually add
small drops at a time until you reach the
consistency of something like school glue,
maybe a little thicker. A clean medicine
dropper is a great tool to have to add water
slowly and carefully. To check if we're at the
right flooding consistency, we're going to use
the 10-second test. I'm going to take some
icing with my spatula and drop it back into the bowl. If it sinks after a full
count of 10, then you're icing is set. See that? The drop completely
self-leveled and disappeared. After you're done
thinning your icing, you will still have some air
bubbles, and that's natural. Decorators have all sorts
of ways to get rid of them. And in the decorating
room, we like to let the icing sit for
a little bit, anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour to
let the bubbles rise naturally. You can go longer, but we
don't recommend overnight because the icing will
start to separate. But no worries. If that happens, just gently
stir to bring it back. You can make it go
even faster by tapping the bowl on the
table several times to force the air bubbles up. Then you can gently stir the
top surface to release the air. This icing is now
ready for decorating. If you're pressed for time
and looking for a shortcut, just use our
ready-to-use royal icing. Now Wilton also carries a
ready-made cookie icing, but it's slightly different
from today's recipe. Now this type of cookie
icing won't dry as hard as our thinned royal
icing, but it's convenient to have on
hand for simple projects. Now thinned royal icing
is such a versatile medium for cookie decorating,
and there are a ton of design possibilities
beyond covering a cookie. Make sure to head over to
wilton.com to browse tons of cookie decorating ideas. We have lots of beginner
friendly projects for you to try. Now if you want to
print out this recipe, check out the link in
the description box. As always, make sure to
leave us a comment below if you have any questions. I will do my best to answer. And if you found
this helpful, please make sure to like this video
and subscribe to our channel, and check out our other
delicious recipes. Thanks for watching. [MUSIC PLAYING]
