Using Glaze to Decorate Sugar Cookies

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There are so many wonderful options and techniques when it comes to sugar cookie decorating! Today, my friend Cameo and I are giving you the dish on how to use glaze icing for your decorating! 

I've always been a fan of royal icing for my cookies but I know that many cookiers prefer to use glaze. My friend and fellow KC Cookier, Cameo from CR Confections, is one of them. In the video below we sit down to talk all things glaze. We chat about the benefits of using glaze and Cameo shows us how she uses it to decorate her sugar cookies! She is now offering a monthly membership to teach how to use glaze to decorate adorable cookies, so if you are interested, be sure to check out her site HERE.

Using Glaze Icing to Decorate Sugar Cookies
When I first started decorating cookies a few years ago, I had such a hard time using glaze. I loved the way it looked on other people's cookies, but mine was always too translucent. I could master getting it thick enough and using it on my cookies, but I could never get that opaque and bright color I wanted. I walked away from it for a long time and used royal icing, but now that Cameo has shared her tips and tricks, I think I could give it another try!

The Difference Between Royal Icing and Glaze Icing
The main difference between the two icings is that glaze doesn't contain meringue powder like royal icing does. It consists of powdered sugar, water, corn syrup, and (here's why Cameo's looks so good...) AmeriColor Bright White. That opaque look I was trying to achieve mostly comes from using the Bright White! Who knew?  I have always used AmeriColor Bright White in my royal icing because it brightens up the colors, making them more vibrant.  Here is another good tip for you:  If you are using silk screen stencils it helps to add bright white to your royal icing as well. It will give a crisp and clean look. Another difference is the amount of time it takes for each icing to set. Royal icing dries fairly quick, especially if you have a dehydrator, a small fan, or live in a dry climate (that is where the meringue powder does it's job). Glaze needs to set for a full 24 hours before it will be resistant to denting. However, if you are using a two part stencil, you do not have to wait 24 hours between the two layers. 2-3 hours is plenty to make sure your first layer has hardened enough to add your second. You would then leave the fully decorated cookie for 24 hours before you package it and also to make sure that it is impervious to hungry little fingers.

The Benefits of Using Glaze
In this video, Cameo and I talk a lot about the benefits of glaze over royal icing. Many of those benefits have to do with being able to easily fix little blunders. Glaze is far less finicky that royal icing! 
If you use royal icing, you know that if you bump a cookie while moving it, the icing will crack because it quickly forms a crust on the surface. With glaze, if you bump it or stick your finger in it, you can easily fix it with your boo boo stick and watch the glaze absorb the mark right back into itself! It's like it was never there! Another nice thing is that if you make a mistake while decorating, you can easily scrape the glaze off of your base layer and try again! It's like the oops never happened. You can add gel color to glaze just as you would with royal icing. You have more flavor options with glaze though because you are able to use flavoring oils as well as extracts. Flavoring oil causes royal icing to break down but that doesn't happen when you use it in glaze. Storing glaze is also super easy. Cameo makes hers two days before she will use it. That allows the bubbles that form during mixing to rise to the surface and escape. Then, while decorating, bubbles are no longer an issue! Since there is nothing in glaze that will spoil, it can stay right out on the counter. Cameo uses large Rubbermaid containers, covers them with press and seal, then puts on the lid. Walk away for 2 days and your are ready to decorate! 
 

If you love this video and are interested in learning how to design and use cookie stencils, I would love for you to join us in The Colorful Cookie Club where you'll find a website with over 350 video tutorials with more added all the time! You can learn design your own custom cookie stencils and cookie cutters! I also do a LIVE Q & A along with a tutorial every week in our member's only Facebook group where you can learn new techniques and ask your questions in real time. Our club is a fabulous group of supportive cookiers who are able to answer your questions and help you succeed! When you join the club you will also have access to TONS of free cookie stencil, cookie cutter, and t-shirt files that you can instantly download and use on your cookies. I enjoy helping people learn about cookie decorating and customizing their cookies with stencils and cutters is my favorite thing!  I learned so much about glaze in this one little chat with Cameo and I'm so excited to practice what I've learned. I hope you will give it a try too and let me know what you think! As one of our members of The Colorful Cookie Club says, "Every day is a school day with Nancy!"