This semester, I joined forces with another Design Lab intern, Carol, to host a cookie decorating event for Community Night. We gathered all of our supplies and pre-made a plain white frosting to be colored by our attendees, themselves.
The idea for this Community Night came from the stressful time midterms and the quickly-approaching. We wanted to host something food-related (to encourage higher attendance), creative (to exercise a different side of the brain for our STEM-heavy students), and fun (to remind our staff to take time away from work or school and do something highly rewarding). I also enjoy watching food videos posted on my feeds, and cookie decorating with royal icing is one of the most satisfying types of food videos.
Thus, a Community Night idea was born. Once everyone had their own pre-made plastic baggie of plain white frosting and a sugar cookie (courtesy of Carol), we each dyed our frosting in a different color in order to maximize our color palette. We then cut one corner of the bag to achieve a piping-bag-like tip. Then the fun began! We made stain-glass-inspired cookies, bird-themed cookies, and ombre cookies (as seen in the photo).
It was great to see everyone get messy and creative with their cookies, and it was even better that we got to eat them as we worked! I hope everyone left our Community Night a bit more relaxed ...or at least with a slight sugar high from all those sweets!
For those curious, the ingredients in the adaptive royal frosting recipe we used were:
- 8 teaspoons - milk
- ½ teaspoon - vanilla extract
- 4 teaspoons - light corn syrup
- 2 cups - powdered sugar
- (optional) gel food coloring
The milk, vanilla extract, and light corn syrup were whisked together before adding the powdered sugar gradually by the half cup. Be sure to not add too much food coloring, or if you do, just add some more powdered sugar so that the icing isn’t too runny.
Photo by the author.