Puffy Icing & RIT's

Remember the good old days of puffy stickers?  They were the coolest thing ever, and we girls used to collect them - we even had sticker albums full of them!  Now there is even puffy paint, puffy pens... It just looks cool!  I don't collect stickers anymore, but I do make cookies that might, somehow remind me of them... Today I'm going to show you a quick way to get the same effect.  It is a great technique for lots of things, like cupcakes, ice cream, and especially pumpkins.  (I might add, that I used to collect scratch'n'sniff stickers, too, but you don't need to scratch cookies to smell their yumminess!)

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Also, I'll do a quick tutorial on how I make Royal Icing Transfers (RIT's).  This is an icing image (in this case, letters) that is made ahead of time.  You ice the image on a sheet, let it dry, remove it from the sheet it dried on, and drop it on wet icing. 

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To make these letter RIT's, first I put my cutter up to my computer screen with the word I want to create, and size it so that it will fit on the cookie.  Then, I copy & paste it as many times as I will need to ice it, print it out, and slide it in a laminating pouch.  I like the pouches because I don't have to tape anything down - the printed sheet doesn't move once it's in there.  (I got these 4X6 pouches at Target - 5 for $3.99.  You can also get larger sizes, but they are pricey. They are reusable, though - simply wipe them down with a dry cloth when you're done.) *** Update*** I now use page protectors for my transfers - I found heavy duty ones at Costco that were too good to pass up - $11.50 for 250 & they work great!***

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Anyhoo, wipe some Crisco over the area you will be icing on - not too little & not too much... (too little and your RIT's may stick, and too much will make them difficult to remove - it makes kind of a suction.).  You don't really want to see any white Crisco - that would be too much : )  Next, pipe over the letters.  A coupler is handy here - I wasn't sure what size tip I needed, and wound up using the third one I tried... the A's just kept closing up on me : )  Practice, practice, practice!  And always make extra, because some are bound to break, no matter how careful you are.  But these were quick, so I didn't mind, and if they don't break, you can save the extras.  (And this very special cookie is for my cutie-pie nephew, and I'm sure to use his name in icing again at some point!)  The next step is very important...  LEAVE THEM ALONE TO DRY FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN!  I can sometimes get away with 6 hours, sometimes 12, but I prefer to leave them for 24 hours if I have the time, especially with fragile things like letters.  They won't get any harder than they are once they are dried, so not to worry.  You can store these in a sealed container for like, forever!  (Well, I wouldn't really know that, I'm not that old!)

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Once they are dry (*see a tip I added in below the next pic), carefully take tweezers - I prefer the offset kind (I don't need to tell you that they must never have been used for, well, actual tweezing...) and carefully remove the transfers.  I like to slide them over a little at the strongest point to make sure they will come off first.  If you are using parchment, slide it slowly off the edge of a corner (table, book etc.) bringing the paper down at a 90 degree angle (holding both ends of the paper) & the transfers should pop off.  I have broken too many letters using parchment, so that's another reason I use the laminating pouches.  Anyway, you can then drop them on a dry cookie and see how you would like them placed - take a pic if it will help you remember where to place them once your icing is on. 

* OK, I am adding a tip on removing the transfers. Because I just had a bunch of cookies to do, and found out last minute that they needed to be done a day earlier... and I wouldn't have time for the base coat to dry before adding detail (black on white - I did NOT want to chance bleed here)... so late night RIT's to the rescue! I tried not to use that much Crisco because they were thin shapes - very fragile & delicate, but alas, I didn't use enough! And the Crisco kinda "dried" on the sheets. Which made the first 4 I tried to take off a broken mess. Soooo I took my heat gun (really an embossing gun, which is really just like a hair dryer on low) and blew it on the sheets, heating & "melting" the Crisco (yet not close enough to scorch the RIT's) and the darned RIT's slid right off! I was ELATED because I no longer had a spare moment to spend on these cookies!  The RIT's didn't take that long to do and when it came time to decorate those cookies, well, let's just say I'm soooo glad it worked out and I finished in time! Hope that helps if you ever get "stuck" (hehehe!)

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Now, it's time to make that puffy sticker icing look.  It is done by icing in sections, and allowing them to dry for a bit before adding the section next to it.  Here, I did the first 3 since they weren't touching, and then waited about 10 minutes in between sections - glazers will want to wait longer than that.  While the icing is still wet, you can carefully drop your RIT's on - you can move them around a little bit with a toothpick, and then lightly press down the sides so they are totally touching wet icing.  If any part of the RIT is not touching, when the cookie is dry, the transfer may break off at that point. 

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Next, the icing on the cupcake.  Same way, one section at a time.  I also dropped on some nonpareils while each section was wet.  Be sure not to drop any on the bottom section unless it is good and dry.  Again, I waited about 10 minutes in between sections. 

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All done!  And I didn't have to go back and add any details, which is always a nice plus : )  When you have lots to do, they go quickly.  If you have, say, a dozen, by the time the last is done, you can start on the next section of your first one.

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Here's another one I did - I like how it came out, but learn from my mistake here:  I piped the white first, and the blue second, which left the border a little chunky-looking.  I recommend that you do the bottom first, and then with your first adjoining top section, slightly overlap the bottom making it nice & smooth like my yellow cupcake : )

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That's it for today, but check back soon - a GIVEAWAY is coming... with some stuff that has been donated by yours truly, and 3 of my most favorite vendors...!  I'll leave you guessing, for now...

Happy Baking!