Tip for Tuesday: How To Freeze Decorated Sugar Cookies

Sometimes... okay most of the time... my real life and my life of cake decorating are in competition with one another. I don't always have time to get everything done that I'd like when I'd like. I'm sure no one else ever feels this way, right?! (sarcasm)

I had heard that you could freeze decorated sugar cookies, and that they would survive without the colors bleeding. I was skeptical. But I thought I could give it a try, and give it a really good test by making some more of these Baseball Cookies I showed you last summer for my sons' team snacks.

So, I decorated some Chocolate Sugar Cookies and some Vanilla Sugar Cookies. I used dark red icing for the lines/laces on the baseballs on top of a pure white base. If this stuff bleeds, there will be no mistaking. (But 5- and 6-year-olds still won't care.)

Tip for Tuesday- Cleaning Icing Tips

Big decorating projects leave a big mess.
Cleaning out the icing tips can be such a pain, but I've recently learned a relatively easy trick to get the tips really clean. The bonus is that if you're like me, and use the same tips for both buttercream and royal icing, this method cleans the tips well enough that you don't have to worry about grease getting into your royal icing.

I start by using a toothpick to get as much of the icing out of the tip as possible.

Wash the tips in a sink of soapy water, but you don't have to worry too much about getting them 100% clean.

Dump the tips (and couplers) into a pot of water. I often also add a splash of vinegar just for good measure.

Boil the tips for about 5 minutes.

Drain and rinse them with fresh water. Cool and dry the tips before putting them away.

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More Tips for Tuesday
The Icing Bag Bullet (also makes cleaning easier)

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Tip for Tuesday - Vinegar

I know it's been a while since I've offered a "Tip for Tuesday." Sorry about that.

This one, it's kind of like my Ode to Parchment Paper... it's all of the reasons why you should keep some white vinegar around... and actually use it.

I used to only use vinegar for cleaning. But then I started using it to make my own "soured milk," instead of keeping buttermilk or buttermilk powder around.

Using soured milk makes most of my cakes and cupcakes more fluffy, I think, so you'll find buttermilk as an ingredient for most of those, but you can always substitute soured milk: 1 cup milk + 1 Tbsp. white vinegar.

Tip for Tuesday: Soured Milk

I like to use buttermilk in as many recipes as I can. It helps makes things a little more fluffy, I think. And I like fluffy.

But I don't always have buttermilk at home, and I don't really want to stock it all of the time. (The fact that my 5-year-olds already take down two gallons of milk a week has me terrified for the amount of dairy this home will need to contain when they're 12.)

So, I used "soured milk." There are lots of ways to do this, but I prefer simply 1 Tbsp. white vinegar to 1 cup milk (usually 2%). You could also use lemon juice (same proportion), or you could use 2 tsp. of cream of tartar with a cup of milk.

There's also buttermilk powder, which I did use for a while. I tried just mixing it in with my powdered ingredients-- but it didn't seem to do as much. Then, I would reconstitute it to milk, but you know, I found that soured milk worked better and was easier to keep on hand.

That's today's Tip for Tuesday: soured milk instead of regular milk or buttermilk in your baked goods.

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Tip for Tuesday - Cold Cookie Dough

If you've ever used my Vanilla Sugar Cookie Recipe, you know that it calls for the dough to be rolled, then refrigerated for 30 minutes to an hour before you cut out the cookies.

Sometimes, I like to fudge that. When I'm busy. When I'm impatient. When I just don't feel like following the rules. But I've learned why you actually do want to let the cookie dough get cold before you cut out the cookies.

Tip for Tuesday - Don't throw that away!

If you've read much of this blog, you know that I'm a big fan of saving things, reusing things, repurposing things, etc. The same is true of my Candy Melts.

When I make cake pops, I almost never guess the right amount of Candy Melts for the number of pops that I'm making. That usually means I have a lot leftover.

So, when I'm finished dipping my pops, I simply spread the extra candy onto a piece of parchment paper.

When it's set, I break it into small pieces to reuse next time I make pops. Store it in a zipper bag, and melt them along with your new melts next time you make cake pops.

I recommend only reheating the melts once or twice. If you reheat them more than that they tend to start to get clumpy.
Doing this also helps me from my least-favorite cake pop cleanup chore-- dealing with Candy Melts that have hardened into the bottom of the mug. Ugh!

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Other Tip for Tuesday posts
Cake Pop ideas and tricks

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Tip for Tuesday - NEVER Grease AND Flour

Do you want your icing to stay crumb-free? Then never grease AND flour your cake pan.
WHAT?! Every recipe says to grease and flour your pans. Beki, you're crazy, why would I not grease and flour my cake pans??

Well, it's quite simple, really. It's all about the crumbs. If you think about it, grease + flour = crust. So, when you grease AND flour your pan, you are creating a crust of would-be crumbs to spread right in to your icing.

Here's what I do instead:

Tip for Tuesday - Ice Pack for Cake Pops

Making cake pops is never exactly easy. But making cake pops on a hot, humid summer day can be downright miserable. These baby boy cake pops I made for a shower last summer show it. See how they're sweating??

My kitchen gets hot. It works out well in the winter when its 25-below outside. But in the summer, even with the a/c cranking... it's a real pain! So, I started using an ice pack for my cake pops last summer. (See it there? Tucked under the cake ball plate?)

Slip an ice pack underneath the plate or pan of cake balls, before you dip them in the candy. It helps keep the cake balls a little cooler, and a little less likely to fall off of the stick. You still want to work with just 5-10 cake balls at a time, but the ice pack help keep those few cooler as well.

An Ice Pack for your cake pops... today's Tip for Tuesday.

Click the Links Below to See:
Twin Boys Baby Shower Cake Pops
How to Make Cake Pops
Other Tip for Tuesday posts

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Tip for Tuesday - Crumb Cup

What's so special about this glass? It keeps crumbs out of my cakes.

That's right! Want to keep your cake from picking up crumbs? Just keep a "crumb cup" nearby. I prefer pint glasses because they're heavy-bottomed, so they don't fall over when you load a bunch of icing on the side, or when you stick the spatula inside of it.

When you find a crumb in your icing, or on your spatula, just wipe it into the crumb cup. Why not wipe it on to the side of your icing bowl? Because you forget. You forget that that blob was the crummy blob, and that blob was the non-crummy blob.(And everyone has a crummy blob now and again!)

The Crumb Cup-- today's Tip for Tuesday.

Click the Links Below to See:
How to Ice a Cake
Basic Cake Decorating Ideas, Tips & Tricks

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The Icing Bag "Bullet"

Revolutionize your icing bag clean-up with icing bag "bullets." I only recently started using these... after more than a decade of decorating, and I am In Love!

What You Need
Icing (any kind)
Piping bag (disposable or reusable)
Plastic wrap
Scissors
Coupler