Isn't that just ducky?
I was out running errands with the kids a week or so ago and they both fell asleep in the car. That being such a rare phenomenon, I didn't want to cut it short. So I drove to the Lake to play with my camera.
The ducks were happy to be my models. It was so much fun watching them. Then I noticed something. It gave new meaning to the words "odd duck."
It looks like someone was fed up with life on the farm and decided to try and make it in the big world. Isn't that a children's book waiting to happen?
Speaking of ducks, we had a baby shower yesterday for my brother's girlfriend. It was lots of fun and the occasion called for ducks of another kind.
Lots and lots of ducks.
I love making cookies, and I've spent a lot of time searching for just the right recipe for icing. I absolutely love the way Royal Icing looks, but it never really impressed my taste buds. I haven't been able to find an icing recipe that would allow the icing to dry hard enough to stack, yet still taste like icing and wouldn't dry out the cookie like royal icing tends to.
So I invented my own. But what should I call it? "Democracy Icing"? Because everyone voted, decided to overthrow the Royalty and decided we want looks and flavor? Nah, maybe something a little simpler:
Better than Royal Icing
2 lb Fondant Sugar (in loose sugar form)
9 Tablespoons Meringue Powder or Just Whites
1.5 teaspoons Cream of Tarter
2 Tablespoons Vanilla
Water
Whisk together sugar, meringue powder, and cream of tarter. Using a mixer, add vanilla and just enough water to get a thick icing consistency - 1 Tablespoon at a time. Beat until mixture is barely grainy. I couldn't get it completely smooth at this stage,but by the time it was on the cookie the grains weren't there. Using more water (again one tablespoon at a time) thin until a drizzled ribbon sits on top of the icing for only 5 seconds. Then it should blend in and disappear. This is the consistency I use for outlining. I thin it even more for flooding (filling in outline). Allow outlines to dry for about an hour before flooding. Allow icing to completely dry (2 hours?) before adding details on top.
You can load your icing into a bag with a tip, but I prefer to use Wilton's candy decorating squeeze bottles. Their holes aren't too big or too small and it makes for a much neater project. I use them all the time with the kids too. They have a blast because they can "draw" with the frosting and don't have to try and master a pastry bag.
I got the rubber duckie cookie cutter at Williams-Sonoma, along with butterfly and dragonfly cutters that will make their debut later this week for Iris' birthday. (It looks like they are just offering the cookie cutters I got in the store. I can't find them on the web-site.)
