My friend Jennifer asked me to make decorated sugar cookies for her cousin's wedding. They matched the color/theme of the wedding. I made some shaped like a ring and others with their initials, and they were bagged up as favors.
I ran into a crazy thing I had never had happen before! The cookies looked perfect when I finished decorating them, but by the next day, they looked blotchy and stained (see below). I was horrified! I think it was the butter in the cookies leaching through into the royal icing. I'm not really sure why it happened that day, since I have never had it happen before. The main theory seemed to be humidity. Several people suggested a dehumidifier (not sure where to get that on short notice) combined with air conditioning (which I do have); others said the cookies might have bled less if they were baked a little longer, or you could try tinting your white icing white, making the cookies thicker or the royal icing thicker, or doing a base of frosting under the actual frosting. Unfortunately for me, I had to find a quick fix for cookies that were already baked and decorated... and I did! After substantial internet scouring, I came across the idea to put the cookies on baking sheets in the oven with just the oven light on. Phew! It did darken the icing just a bit so it was more ecru off white than pure white, but it worked wonders and decreased the spots significantly.
I put together bags with one of each cookie and tied them with pretty white ribbons, and they were ready to go.
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