Whether you are a beginner decorator or call yourself a ‘seasoned cookie artist’ you gotta start off with the right tools in order to achieve the best results.

Over the past 10 years, I have tested lots of different tools, so now you don’t have to! Below I have complied a list of some of my favs. I hope this helps make your cookie decorating journey easier and more fun.

First, we will start off with the necessities. The things you can’t really do without to ice and flood a cookie successfully.

Quality Piping Bags
Toothpick or Scribe Tool
Meringue Powder

Quality Piping Bags

Now, there are tons of options out there when it comes to piping bags. BUT my suggestion would be to opt for bags that you gotta spend a little more coin on.🪙 - Trust me on this. The last thing you want is to fill your icing bag, cut it, go to ice your cookie, and then the bag BURSTS in your hands because you applied pressure to it. Some bags are just made cheaply (hence the price) but they aren’t worth the mess or hassle of dealing with.

My favorite piping bags are from Borderlands Bakery. They are made with cookiers and bakers in mind! You don’t have to worry about applying to much pressure - these bags are made with high quality materials that are suitable for royal icing, buttercream, macaron filling, and more. They are also soft to the the touch and come in two sizes - Small & Medium

They also have a very tight seam (no flaps), which can become very important when you are outlining & flooding your cookies. The tight seam helps give you precision while decorating and also helps with being able to apply more pressure like I talked about above.

The price for these are also reasonable as both sizes come in packs of 100.

The small bags are priced at $6.99 and the medium bags at $8.29.

Next up — Toothpick or Scribe Tools

Now you can be as cheap or fancy with this.

A toothpick will definitely get the job done for you and is probably the best option when starting out as it’s the least cost effective. You can also get a sturdy ‘toothpick scribe’ off of Amazon. - A bit easier to hold and use while popping air bubbles and closing gaps. The actual stick is bit thicker than a toothpick as its made out of bamboo. They also are inexpensive at $8.15 for a 200 pack.

To have something that dresses up the whole decorating game, you can invest in a fancy cookie scribe. They are many options out there. From cutter shops, to Etsy, even Amazon! They are more expensive, but the upside of that is you can use them over and over again. The fancy ones are made out of stainless steel, and sometimes have fancy beads or decorations on top of them that usually have a theme, like spring, Christmas, etc.

Lastly, let’s talk about :

Meringue Powder

If you don’t know what meringue powder is, let me tell ya! It is an ingredient used in Royal Icing that helps give the icing that fluffy, meringue taste.

Meringue powder is primarily made from dried, pasteurized egg whites, but it also contains ingredients like sugar, cornstarch, and stabilizers (such as cream of tartar or citric acid). Meringue powder is a shelf stable alternative to raw egg whites as it eliminates the risk of salmonella.

When choosing which brand of Meringue Powder, ask yourself how much do I want to spend and how much time do I want to put into making royal icing? The two brands that I will mention below are favorites among the cookier community, so whichever you decide, know that they are both great options.

Genie’s Meringue Powder has been on the market for years and is a great option. It has a great taste, fluffs up perfectly, and crusts beautifully. Now if you want a softer bite, you can add corn syrup to your icing when mixing it up. People often also add white food coloring as a way to combat color bleed (when darker icing colors bleed underneath on a cookie design). These are two extra steps to take into consideration if you are someone who is looking for that soft bite and no color bleed issues.

Royal Batch Meringue Powder is newer to the market, but also has a great taste. It is a bit more fluffier than Genie’s and also includes vanilla, corn syrup, and the white food coloring already in the meringue powder. This means all you have to add together is the powdered sugar, meringue powder, and water. So if you are looking for a faster option, Royal Batch is the best choice.

Keep in mind, that Royal Batch does crust quickly, so for beginners this may be something to consider as when outlining and flooding, you’ll have to move faster, which can be a bit hard when first starting out.

Price-wise, Royal Batch costs more at a little over $6 at $32 for a 1 pound bag, where Genie’s is $25.95 for a 1 pound bag.

Hopefully, this blog was helpful and will help save you some time when it comes to cookie decorating.

If you are local to Chester County and are interested in taking an in person beginner’s decorating class, I teach classes! Check out my upcoming classes here - Sugar Cookie Classes

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