These adorable elf cookies were made by Coriannes Custom Cookies

Every once in a while I love to feature places or artists that impress me.
I always enjoy following people who share their tricks and especially their recipes.
I have been following Coriannes Custom Cookies for a while,
she is quite the artist and I am constantly learning new things about royal icing sugar cookies by watching her.
This is her royal icing recipe and some tips that she has for working with royal icing.
Below is a video tutorial of her work that you can use to see how to decorate these cookies.

“I love this recipe because of the two added ingredients you don’t usually find in other recipes.
While the cream of tartar acts as a stabilizer,
the light corn syrup gives the icing a nice shine and keeps it soft to the bite but still hard enough to add details to or stack.
You can triple this recipe in the standard 5 quart stand mixer if making large batches.” -Corianne

Ingredients

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• 5 tablespoons meringue powder
• ½ cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon clear vanilla
• 1 teaspoon flavoring
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3 ½ cups confectioners sugar
• 1-2 tablespoon light corn syrup

Instructions

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Put all of the ingredients in a mixer and beat until stiff peaks form.
Use this consistency to outline your designs, with a piping bag and small tip, and then slowly add a little water
to this recipe to create a good flooding consistency to fill the center of your cookies.
Below are tips, and a video of Coriannes work that you can use for working with royal icing.

Top tips from Working with Royal Icing from Corianne

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1. I recommend that beginners use two consistencies for decorating; piping and flooding.
   Add small amounts of water at a time to your icing to achieve the consistencies that work for you.
   If you need to thicken it back up, add small amounts of powdered sugar to get back to your desired consistency.
2. Piping consistency should be like that of honey.
   When you lift your spoon from the bowl, it should be flexible but not running off of your spatula.
   This is used to make your borders and for other detail work.
   
   Flood consistency is still thick but has just enough water mixed in for it to easily run off of your spatula.
   Be careful to not make it too runny or it many not dry properly.
3. When coloring icing, there are certain colors like red,
   black and blue that should be colored in advance (the night before decorating if possible) in order to deepen.
4. Keep your unused icing to repurpose when possible.
   The shelf life for royal icing is usually 2 weeks before it loses its structure beyond the point of just mixing back together.
5. To repurpose icing, simply mix your old icing into your new one.
   It will also weigh down your new icing, reducing bubbles and making it nicer to work with.

Tool recommendations

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For decorating you can use either bags or bottles, it’s all about personal preference.
You’ll want a variety of decorating tips, mainly tips 1 to 3 and any other specialty ones you may require for your designs.

Use a scribe to pop any air bubbles in your icing as well as fixing small mistakes and creating wet on wet designs.