Fondant Adds Elegance
To Homemade Cookies

Fondant is a sweet, thick, opaque sugarpaste that is soft, pliable, easily colored, and extremely versatile. It is air sensitive and will quickly dry out if not kept in an airtight container or plastic bags with zipper closings.

fondant

Never refrigerate or freeze this edible decorating material. The ready-made version does have a long shelf life, usually about 6 months.



Also known as rolled or icing fondant, it is less sticky and more manageable in the presence of a little cornstarch.

Just like anything else in baking homemade cookies, coloring this sugarpaste is a fun and creative activity. Use either colored gel paste or liquid food coloring. The former is very concentrated and should only be used in tiny drops. Remember that it’s always easier to add color than to take it away.



Start with a small amount and warm it in your hands to make it more pliable. Then add two small drops of colored gel paste, and knead until the color is evenly incorporated. To blend colors,

  • Add small drops of two different colors to a piece of sugarpaste, and knead until you have the desired color, or

  • Knead together two pieces of different colored paste. It would work better if these pieces are of equal weight.

Creating a pattern of dots on fondant
Creating a pattern of lines on fondant

To create patterns such as dots or lines on your sugarpaste canvas,



  • Roll out a blue piece until it is a bit thicker than you want.
  • Place pea-sized balls of orange fondant on it.
  • Roll over these dots to incorparate them into the blue piece.

You can also create lines by placing thin ropes of one colored fondant on a main piece and roll over them.

For many other wonderful and irresistible ideas on decorating your homemade cookies using fondant, please visit your local public library and check out my reference. It is a book called The Flour Pot – Cookie Book – Creating Edible Works of Art written by a mother and daughter team, Margie and Abbey Greenberg.



You can purchase a ready-made version in several sizes, from packets of 1.5 lbs. each to buckets of 15 lbs. each. The following recipe is for those of you who prefer making your own decorating sugarpaste. It is in The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating published in the U.S. and Canada in 2004 by Whitecap Books.

Ingredients

Gelatine 5 tsp
Liquid glucose 4 oz
Glycerine 1 Tbsp
Powder or icing sugar 2 lb

Directions