Leggo my Logo'd cookie!

I usually make sugar cookies for church events. One is a shamrock for a St. Patrick's day treat to go along with a fish dinner and another is a heart as gift for the dads on father's day (at a brunch). At a Valentine's event which I co-chaired and cooked for, one of the guests stopped me on my way out of the kitchen and asked if I made sugar cookies for the event. Of course, I didn't. I'm guessing that he was probably one of the father's day cookie recipients.

I was asked to provide my "special sugar cookies" for a tea party hosted by the Catholic Daughters of the Americas (CDA), which I am a member. I thought about the cookie cutters I had and even considered making a custom cutter but I went back to the good ol' circle cutter. Luckily for me, the CDA logo is a circle that had a cross and crown.  Boy were these a hit at the tea party! They were all curious as to how I did it - so I'll share it with you...

I basically followed the frozen transfer method using royal icing but did not reverse the image.

1. I printed out a few "cross and crown" logos on a sheet of paper, placed parchment over it and traced the image with white royal icing. Once they fully dried, they peeled off real easily.
   
2. I flowed some purple icing on the cookie and placed the cross and crown logo on top of it while it was still wet.
   
3. I used the smallest round tip that I had and piped the details on the cross and crown.

I think I'm getting the hang of using royal icing the right way. I've been letting the icing sit overnight so that the bubbles come up. I've also let dark-colored icing sit for a day so that the colors can deepen. I've changed my recipe a few times and have finally figured out the right consistency. The rule is that if you run a knife through the icing and the icing goes flat between 5-10 seconds, you've got the right consistency. It works well for both outlining and flowing.

Sugar cookies are time-consuming but I literally take it one day at a time, from baking to decorating. I see why some people charge upwards of $3 per cookie, especially if they're detailed!

Here's a group shot. I ended up making 40 cookies. I will be making about 50 in April for another CDA event. I think that next time, I'll use wax paper instead of parchment. I faced the same problem of parchment wrinkling; some of my crosses did not sit flat on the cookie. If you know of a solution to my "wrinkling problem" let me know!



UPDATE: I figured it out. I need to use an acetate sheet. Now, to hunt one down...