Hey Besties! If you’ve been here before, you may know I’m a sucker for marble dipped cookies. I think they are so stunning and love that every cookie is one-of-a-kind! Couple the beauty with how simple and easy these are to make, and it’s no wonder they are a favorite. I’ve said it a million times, but you don’t need years of cookie decorating experience to make impactful cookies! And while some may say these cookies don’t require a lot of skill., does that really matter? Not to me! If I can create stunning cookies that taste even better than they look, I’m here for it! So today you’ll be able to see exactly how to dip cookies in royal icing to make beautiful designs. I’ll also share all of my best cookie dipping tips that can make it easier and give you the best results! Let’s dip in!
Recipes
As always, we need to start with a delicious canvas! It doesn’t matter how pretty your cookies are if they aren’t delish! For this set, we used our caramel cutout cookie recipe. Not to be confused with our salted caramel recipe! Yes, we have both and they are both crazy good. Our caramel recipe is more subtle and sweet whereas the salted caramel one is more savory. Take your pick, you can’t lose. You’re also free to pick any flavor you’d like from the full collection HERE! They are all no-chill and no-spread, so they are quick, easy and hold all your favorite shapes!
And then there’s the icing! If you need a fantastic royal icing recipe, THIS walks you through exactly how we make ours every day. We get perfect puff, no craters, color bleed or other issues that commonly plague cookiers. Just beautiful results every time!
Let’s Dip!
Alright, we’re all here for the dipping, right? I mean, how could anyone say these are not stunning?! I also love that since you use a thinner icing consistency for dipping, it translates to a thinner icing coat on your cookie, which many love. The cookie to icing ratio is lovely with this thinner icing layer.
And while I made a decorating video for you to see exactly how these were made, I want to preface that with these tips on how to dip cookies in royal icing for quick success!
Royal Icing Dipping Tips!
- A 5-second consistency is perfection for dipping. What does that mean? It means that if you have a bowl of royal icing and you cut a knife through the icing, it will take 5 seconds to return to flat and smooth. If your icing takes longer than that, add more water until you have it thinned to a 5-second consistency. I always use a spray bottle of water for better control.
- For dipping, it’s all about the icing prep to eliminate air bubbles. Once you have your icing colored and thinned to the 5-second consistency, you don’t want to stir your icing any longer. Let them sit for a few minutes for bubbles to rise. I always let my icing sit for a few minutes, let bubbles rise and pop them by running my spatula over the surface.
- After popping initial bubbles, tap/bang your containers on your counter (put a towel underneath) to help bring any hidden bubbles to the surface. Do a few rounds of this, running your spatula over the surface gently. Each time, you should see less and less air bubbles.
- Once you’re confident you’ve eliminated the air bubbles, you’re ready to dip! Use a bowl/container that gives you a large surface area, If your surface area is too tight, you’ll experience suction when dipping your cookies which can affect your results. You don’t need a huge surface area, but at least a few inches larger around than the cookies you’re dipping.
- Optional Bestie tip: If you still feel there are bubbles present, use one sacrificial cookie to dip, wipe off, and repeat a few times. Any leftover bubbles will be drawn to that cookie like a magnet. After you dip that one cookie a few times, you’ll be good to go!
- Have a scribe nearby in case you need to pop any bubbles, but by this point, they should be rare.
- Wear gloves if you don’t want messy fingertips!
- All of our cookies are 1/4″ thick and dip just fine!
- We dip ALL shapes of cookies successfully. But I will say, very large cookies can be a bit trickier since any suction or weight of the icing can make it easier for the cookie to collapse.
- Dip your cookie, I kind of rock it to get a good coating, lift up, shake off excess and FLIP for the big reveal! That is the best part!
- Now simply move to your cooling rack! All of our cookies go into our dehydrator for the perfect shine, so once I’ve dipped a full tray, they go into the dehydrator!
I hope this list of tips is helpful for you! These tips apply if you’re dipping just one solid color or marbling like we are today. This is the same technique we use to dip for solid white bases like these!
I do want to add that dipping cookies and achieving perfect results is a technique that may take practice to master. Just like learning to flood cookies with a decorating bag, it takes practice to perfect. If you dip cookies once and they aren’t perfect, don’t give up, it will get easier and better every time. Mastering any technique in cookie decorating takes more than one try. But dipping cookies is a method many love, to create stunning cookies without the decorating bag.
Cookie Dipping Video
And here we are, let’s see it all in action! You’ve got your cookies, icing, armed with all your tips and we’re ready to dip! You can find the video HERE and I hope it’s helpful for you! I adore how these turned out and I hope these inspire you to make your own!
Hey! Before you go! Make sure you’ve subscribed to receive my weekly newsletter! Every Friday you’ll get all of the latest conveniently in your inbox! Never miss out on a new recipe, tutorial, technique, product recommendation and free printables! Happy Baking, Besties!