An evolution of cookie decorating

I guess I really started investing in making fancy baked goods with decorated sugar cookies.  It started off as just one project, and then I started learning more about it, and thought I'd be able to develop my skills at it.  I would say at this point, I'm probably at an intermediate level.  I wish I had pictures of the very first cookies I ever made, but I didn't know that it would be a "thing" back then.  But these below are some of my very first cookies:

They looked pretty cute for the occasion, but they weren't anything fancy or complicated.  

Since my humble beginnings, I've learned quite a bit about sugar-cookie decorating.  A lot of people ask me how I get the icing so smooth, and to be honest, it's much easier to just refer those people to this online tutorial to watch the video.  It makes more sense to watch a video than try to explain it in words.  

I use a super simple recipe to make the royal icing, which is what this smooth kind of icing is called.  It takes just three ingredients: 

3 ounces tempered egg whites (the egg whites you buy in the cartons next to the regular eggs are just fine)

4 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon of your favorite extract (I usually use almond extract, but lemon and vanilla are my other standbys)

Put the eggs in a clean, completely dry mixing bowl.  Using the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until they're stuff enough to hold a peak when you stop the mixer - about 4 to 5 minutes.  Change to the paddle attachment and add powdered sugar and extract. Beat at a high speed until the icing turns glossy (this usually takes around 10 minutes).  From there, add water teeny tiny amounts at a time until you get the consistency you want.  Divide up and add your colors.  

For outlining and detail work, you want the frosting to be thicker so it doesn't seep.  You may need to add a little more water if it's stiff, but only do it a drop or two at a time.  I always add my colors first, then make sure the consistency is right for outlining and add about half of the color to a piping bag fitted with a 1 (for very fine details) or 2 sized piping tip.  Then I add more water, a drop or two at a time, until it reaches the "flooding" consistency.  I fit a piping bag with a size 3 piping tip and then add the frosting to that.  One tip is to stand your piping bags in a cup or bowl so that you don't get colored icing all over your counter or table.  (I'm sure you can guess how I may have learned that trick!)

Watch the online tutorial on the Wilton web site to see how to outline your cookies and fill them in with the flood icing.  

Once you have the base color down, let that dry, and then you can go back and add other details.  I don't usually wait overnight to add details, but if you are adding a darker color on top of a lighter color (black on anything, for example), the darker colors have a tendency to seep into the lighter colors if the lighter color isn't completely dry yet.  So you'll want to give the lighter colors a longer time to dry if you're adding darker details.  

And here are a couple of my most recent cookie projects.  One was for a baby shower this past fall, and the other are little Christmas light cookies from the past holidays.  As you can see, I'm still not great at getting an even surface, but as I've gotten more experience, my cookies do turn out a lot closer to what I envision when I start them!  :)