Drop In & Decorate Scout Event a Success!

I posted a couple of weeks or so ago about Drop In & Decorate, a non-profit organization that helps people plan and organize a cookie-decorating party for a group and then donate the cookies to a charitable organization. Last week, our Girl Scout troop (Juniors) had a blast taking part.

Before our troop meeting, I baked a slew of sugar cookie cut-outs, made white icing (see recipe below), made buttercream frosting, and bought a few other decorating items (like tubes of "writing" icing). I already have enough sprinkles to stock a bakery. The day of our meeting, I tinted some of the buttercream yellow, green, and blue. I prefer to use the Wilton gel colors because you only need to use a tiny bit and the colors are quite vivid.

Since I did not want a cookie-decorating-free-for-all, I divided our troop into two groups. Another leader had printed out photos of nicely decorated cookies, and we also checked out the Drop In & Decorate webpage of decorated cookies. I stressed the idea that they should take their time to decorate a cookie that people would actually want to eat -- unlike the ones kids tend to make for themselves to eat. Gag!

Of course, after they had decorated their cookies for donation, they each got to decorate one to eat right then. I told them to have at it, and they took me at my word. You would have had to pay me to eat any of those cookies!

Let me tell you, it was fantastic. The girls put a lot of thought into their cookies. I think it really helped that they knew we were donating these cookies to a local homeless shelter for women and children. The girls wanted the cookies to be special. And they were.

I wanted to pass along the recipe I found for the icing because it was so easy and hardened nicely into a shiny white glaze. Most recipes I saw used either egg whites or meringue powder to make a stiff royal icing. That wasn't what I wanted; but this recipe is perfect.

Sugar Cookie Icing

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

In a small bowl, stir together confectioner's sugar and milk. Add more milk in small amounts if needed until it's smooth. Beating with a fork, add corn syrup and extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If it's too thick, add a bit more corn syrup. Divide into separate bowls, if desired, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity.