After the cookies have cooled, you can decorate them with Simple Fondant Glaze. It's a poured cookie icing that can be tinted and flavored, and dries to a hard surface. The cookies can then be stacked, packaged and wrapped without marring their finish.
Fondant is a thick, creamy white sugar mass used in different forms for decorating cookies and cakes with; it can be rolled and draped over a cake, poured as a glaze or sculpted with. Fondant is also the basis of many candies — it is the center of a piece of a chocolate buttercream candy or pecan logs. It can also be used as a thick creamy, sugary filling that gushes out of a chocolate-covered cherry when bitten into. Fondant originates from the word “fondre” which means to melt named so because it melts in your mouth when eaten.
FROSTING, ICING, ETC RECIPE HELP
Barbara, Premium Member, Says: “I tried the poured fondant last night and was very pleased with the result – it was easy to make, the colors were bright and it was delicious. I stored a few in a plastic bag overnight to see how they held up and they were fine.”
INGREDIENTS
5 cups powdered sugar, sifted plus more if needed; measure and then sift. NOTE: 1 pound box of sugar = 4 cups.
1/2 cup water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure almond, orange or lemon extract (vanilla extract can be used, but use clear vanilla extract, purchased in cookware stores, so it won’t tint the glaze)
food coloring, any color
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Place cookies to be glazed, 2-inches apart on a wire cake rack set over a pan lined with wax paper to catch any glaze drips. Set aside.
2. Prepare the glaze: In a medium size saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup. Warm until tepid (100 degrees F or body temperature) while stirring continually, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Add more water or sugar to correct; the mixture should pour and be the consistency between corn syrup and maple syrup. If too thick, it won’t pour over the cookies smoothly. Remove from heat.
Add the extract and stir. Add food color in small amounts, one drop at a time, until desired shade is reached. Make sure you thoroughly blend in the color otherwise the glaze will be streaked.
3. With a spoon or ladle, pour about 2 teaspoons of icing in the middle of the cookie. Immediately cover icing. Quickly, with the back of a small spoon, a small offset metal spatula or a table knife, spread the glaze to the edges and let drip over the sides. Repeat with remaining cookies. You may have to warm the icing to tepid from time to time so it pours or adjust its consistency with more powdered’ sugar or water, one teaspoon or a few drops at a time.
Or you can put the glaze into squirt bottles and use them to 'fill' in areas previously outlined. Also, you can dip a cookie in one color, and while it is still wet on the cookie rack, apply a different colored glaze with a squirt bottle in a decorative fashion.
Let glaze set for about 1 to 2 hours until the surface is solid and not sticky when touched lightly with a fingertip. The cookies can be stacked, packaged and wrapped without marring their finish.
STORAGE
Icing does not need refrigeration; store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place where it keeps for about a week. Cover icing with a damp kitchen towel (not a paper towel because it dries too quickly) and then with plastic wrap. Secure with a rubber band. Stir before using.
If any of the fondant glaze has crusted (gets a thin crust of hardened sugar) during storage, it cannot be used.
If too stiff after storing, rebeat with an electric mixer at low speed first. I've noticed that mixing thin icing for several minutes after storing tends to thicken it up, so add more water, if necessary, a drop at a time, to thin it.
COOKIE STORAGE
Store glazed cookies in between layers of waxed paper in an airtight container where they will keep for about four days. Keep away from humidity otherwise the glaze will become sticky. They can be frozen, wrapped the same, for about a month.
