A Little Inspiration!

Have you ever wondered about those beautifully decorated sugar cookies that look too good to eat...

Well... I have! How the heck do they make them?!?! Mostly I wondered about the secret icing recipe. How does it cover the cookie in a smooth, shiny layer?!

So, my interest peaked, I began my quest to find the perfect cookie icing, I came across this recipe. While delicious and shiny it just didn't make the cut in the decorating department. Perfect for a quick, simple, one colour kind of job. But not quite there.

Next I tried {insert well-known, widely available baking brand name here} color flow icing. I tried it and I tried it again. Much better for decorating than my first-attempt icing but I found that it didn't always pipe well - it wouldn't "stick" to the cookie, there were bubbles in my lines and it wouldn't always flow nicely from the bag. Who knows, maybe I was over mixing it or under mixing it or adding too much water or not enough water. What I did know for sure though was that it didn't taste great. And if something isn't absolutely delicious then it isn't right for me! So my search continued...

...and then I came across Bake at 350. I have to admit that I resisted royal icing on cookies forever. As far as I was concerned royal icing was used to "glue" gingerbread houses together and tasted really, really bad. But I saw what Bridget at was doing with it {see butterflies above} and I was intrigued. I cautiously decided to give it a whirl!

The very first time I tried her royal icing recipe I fell in love with cookie decorating... became obsessed really! The icing was perfect for piping, forgave me for not thinning it enough for flooding and tasted fantastic! I had to try to make every single cookie I saw on the website. Partially because I wanted to know if I could do it, partially because I wanted to be just as great as Bridget {who, by the way, is amazing!}. I also had Christmas on my side... the perfect excuse to start my cookie decorating supplies collection...hehe! 

My first attempts {Bake at 350 inspired}...

...and Olive inspired too!

The more cookies I decorate the more obsessed I get. I want to turn everything into a cookie! Thank you Bridget for inspiring me to try something new!!