Discolored Icing
Dec 30, 2005 | From the kitchen of Rose
ARIELLA QUESTION
Feedback: Hi.......
maybe you can help me. i have been making cookies and icing - powdered sugar, water and corn syrup - i have to heat the corn syrup a bit to get the icing to harden b/c there is a lot of damp in the air here. but sometimes - only sometimes - when the icing dries - the color dries and becomes kind of white (as opposed to whatever color the frosting is) - why is this and what can i do to correct it?
ROSE REPLY
i don't understand why you're using corn syrup in the icing. why not use a traditional royal icing with powdered sugar and egg white or meringue powder? i could see adding corn syrup if the air were dry to keep it from crusting as fast but you have the opposite problem of dampness in the air.
by the way, for really intense colors for decorating and then baking the cookies try mixing a little food color into egg yolk and painting it on. this is the ancient recipe for tempera painting and works wonderfully for cookies!
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JennyBee
08/10/2008 11:11 PM
I was using a simple icing of powdered sugar and water to decorate cookies, and the problem was that the sugar would start to crystallize in the icing. It would seem okay at first, but then overnight the crystals would appear. I tried adding corn syrup and that took absolutely for-ever to dry, and I think it still crystallized a bit. I finally gave up and went to royal icing, which dries quickly and doesn't crystallize. I do get kind of a glittery finish with darker colors sometimes. But I think that has to do with how long I beat it. Or how much water I thin it with. I'm not really sure.
I would love to get a nice satiny/gloss finish sometimes. But I don't know what might do that. The simple icing is glossy, but crystallizes. The royal icing is flat but doesn't show crystallization. Any ideas?
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Meena
08/07/2008 12:36 PM
I figured it out - I was using a cheaper quality powdered sugar. When I only use C&H Brand this is not a problem. I tested this theory and every time I used the generic brand powdered sugar I got the discoloration. I dont know if this will help you but it solved this problem for me!
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Meena
07/15/2008 04:11 PM
I'm having the same problem - I use a sugar, water, and corn syrup icing recipe because it tastes much better than royal icing, and it is what my customers are accustomed to now. But I also get a discoloration, on some of the cookies, but not all. I'd love to know how to prevent this. I thought it was the opposite problem than Lucia's post - I thought I left them out to dry too long. I also tried storing them in a cool, dry place (basement) versus the hot kitchen. However the problem persists. I use Wilton and Americolor Gels.
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Lucia
06/29/2008 08:50 PM
I made little bride and groom heart cookies and a few days after I had completed my cookies the white detail on the groom (it was a tux outline and buttons) began to discolor. I thought it might have been due to the fact that I didn't let them dry 100% before putting them in my cookie tin. So, I scraped off the discolored trim and reapplied it and this time I let them dry sufficiently before layering them with wax paper in between in an open basket until I was ready to wrap them. I then put them individually in a cellophane cookie bag and closed them with a ribbon, about 12 hours had passed. All of the cookies looked good but sure enough a day later the white trim discolored again and I'm not sure why. I had used the wilton gel black food coloring to make the grooms. Any thoughts?
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