I had been feeling slightly restless and unproductive the whole day. At one point I decided that I had had enough of it. I wanted to fight my apathy by just making something. Anything. So I decided to bake some cookies. Even better, I decided to make heart-shaped rainbow cookies. Sometimes all you need is a plan that involves good food and bright colours.
I am not going into the baking process of the cookies, because this post is more about the rainbow icing than the cookies themselves. I think any basic cookie recipe will do. I used a recipe I got from my friend Anne (recipe in Dutch). I will however explain the icing process in more detail, because in the past I used to make icing by adding water to powdered sugar. This resulted in flooded cookies. So I will share a way to put some boundaries to your icing. You will need to make royal icing to do so (doesn’t that sound fancy?).
Ingredients for royal icing:
1 egg white
125 gram of powdered sugar
0.5 tablespoon of lemon juice
Whisk the egg white, until it becomes a thick mass. Then add the powdered sugar and lemon juice and mix it together until it becomes a shiny white thick consistency that ‘sticks’ to your spoon or mixer. I would recommend only adding little bits of each ingredient together at a time though, so you can adjust the thickness of your icing according to your wishes.
I bet there are fancy tools for applying icing to your cookies, but I found that regular cling film does the trick pretty well. Just cut off a piece and apply the icing in the middle. You probably won’t need all of the icing, so just use whatever you think is a fair amount. You can store the rest of the icing in the fridge (covered). Then fold the outer corners of the plastic foil up so you have a ball of icing in plastic. You can now just pinch a hole in the plastic with any sharp object. You will be able to draw lines of icing by squeezing into the ball, for example to outline your cookies.
After outlining your cookies, you can draw lines that will later on separate the colors. I used 6 colors, so added 5 lines to each cookie. Let the icing dry after this step until it has hardened.
To make running icing you can simply add (very little) water to your royal icing until it flows. Or you could use powdered sugar and water. Divide the icing into different bowls and add food coloring. Then fill up the spaces between the lines with pretty, bright colors. You could ‘help’ your icing to get into the tiny, difficult spaces by using a toothpick.
When you filled up all the spaces between the lines with beautiful and happy colours, let the cookies dry sufficiently. The running icing can take a while to harden (I let them dry over night). Then, attack ☺
Also, this post triggered me to add the label ‘rainbow’ to my tag cloud, because rainbows do seem to be a reoccurring theme around here. Sometimes I wonder what this says about me. For example I have an entire label dedicated to ‘imaginary friends’, which you know, makes you think. Sometimes I imagine that one day in the future they will say that they ‘should have seen the signs’…
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44 Comments
Kimberly Bonham
July 16, 2013 at 20:00
Yummy! These are so cute and look so delish!!
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 21:42
They were delicious, really sweet, but really good :)
suzy
July 16, 2013 at 20:36
CUTE CUTE CUTE!
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 21:43
haha thanks :)
madeinminch
July 16, 2013 at 21:01
SUCH a lovely idea.
LOVE those cookies!
Jen@madeinminch
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 21:43
And so simple!
Marlen
July 16, 2013 at 21:07
this is THE most fun recipe i’ve seen all day! i was always curious how to actually make frosting, so this is perfect. and i loved your gif :)
xo marlen
Messages on a Napkin
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 21:44
Yeah somehow I have been a bit into GIF-making again these days ;)
Uvita Viruella
July 17, 2013 at 00:13
This is so cool!
I can’t wait to get some food-color and try to decorate some cookies!
Pretty cookies are the best cookies! ^-^
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 21:47
Food colouring has been the best decision for any creative baking I have been doing: I would highly recommend it ;)
Kyla
July 17, 2013 at 00:48
Oh my, these are so much fun! I want to try these out :)
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 21:49
You can! If I can, anybody can ;)
Jess Buckley
July 17, 2013 at 02:43
holy cow these are awesome! So pretty!
I wish I had the patience for this!
Just found your blog today, and I love it. So glad I did :) excuse me for the comment spam I’m about to post.
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:05
Haha welcome to my blog, I hope you enjoy browsing around for a bit!
Sara
July 17, 2013 at 03:29
Those are great, so creative! :)
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:06
Thank you :)
floating thru fields
July 17, 2013 at 03:44
these are awesome, a very productive project indeed :)
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:06
Yes it is interesting to me how these small ‘productions’ can change your feelings in a way
likerose
July 17, 2013 at 12:20
cool:)
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:07
thanks
Laura
July 17, 2013 at 12:39
I did the same thing yesterday – but with raspberry and white chocolate cookies. They didnt look half as pretty as these! But I totally get what you mean about feeling restless and needing to do something.
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:07
Really? That sounds so great and delicious!
Nerd Burger
July 17, 2013 at 12:39
So bright and colourful. I like the simple tutorial on the icing. So clever.
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:08
Yes when you get the basic idea you can make any variation. it is quite exciting really
Boye By Red
July 17, 2013 at 15:57
You are a genius!
Red
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:08
hahaha, well thanks ;)
jackie jade
July 17, 2013 at 16:37
these are so pretty and i’m sure tasty too! will have to try out. thanks for stopping by my blog :)
— jackie @ jade and oak
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:08
Yes they were really good, but then again, I might be biased
Kristin
July 17, 2013 at 20:42
Ooh, too cute! And they look easy, yet impressive, which is a plus for me and my inability to be neat with my frosting and decorating habits.
Magical Daydream
July 17, 2013 at 22:09
I can relate. I was messing around quite a bit, but am still happy with the result ;)
Crissy Candypow
July 18, 2013 at 04:32
Ooh these look so cute and delicious!
Magical Daydream
July 24, 2013 at 11:38
They were pretty sweet ;)
Sarah
July 18, 2013 at 13:19
These are adorable! I wanted to let you know that I nominated you for The Liebster Award: http://www.thelaughingmedusa.com/2013/07/16/the-liebster-award/. Keep on being such a super rad blogger babe! xx
Magical Daydream
July 24, 2013 at 11:38
Ohh thank you so much, I’m going to check it out :)
AmyNicole
July 19, 2013 at 02:47
Ahh… I love these!! So cute!!
Magical Daydream
July 24, 2013 at 11:39
Thanks :)
Blythe
July 19, 2013 at 08:09
Wonderful DIY! they look really cute and delicious.
Blue Roses
Magical Daydream
July 24, 2013 at 11:39
:)
Laura Beth @ Perched on a Whim
July 19, 2013 at 12:30
How pretty, Marielle. Thanks for breaking it down. Baking intimidates me on its own, and so decorating seems too involved in my mind. This diy seems to welcome even the most basic of bakers!
Magical Daydream
July 24, 2013 at 11:40
Haha I like decorating better than baking I think. But then I first need to bake in order to be able to decorate ;)
Megan Butcher
July 19, 2013 at 15:44
Ahh I love this! Totally doing this for a summer birthday gift, thanks! :)
<3 Megan
http://kiddotv.blogspot.com
Magical Daydream
July 24, 2013 at 11:40
Awesome! Would love to know how they turn out!
Franca
July 21, 2013 at 17:31
they look amazing!
Magical Daydream
July 24, 2013 at 11:40
Thank you :)