Lukier królewski - z czego to się robi i jak?

Ostatnio kilka osób zachwycało się moimi ciasteczkami i pytało co i jak robić.

Moje prace różnią się od amerykańskich mistrzyń na wiele sposobów, ale chyba najbardziej istotny z nich to białko. Amerykanki używają do lukru "meringue powder", który uważam za kompletnie nie wart swojej ceny. Puszka za 25zł wystarczy na jakieś pół kilograma lukru, a zawiera w sobie prawie wyłącznie cukier puder. "Meringue powder"zapewne ma jedną dużą zaletę - ułatwia standaryzację wielkości porcji. Z białkami jest to trudniejsze, ale da się.

Na kilogram ciastek zużywam około pół kilograma lukru; raczej więcej niż mniej, szczególnie jeśli ciastka są całkiem zalane i/lub mają więcej warstw lukru.

Ogólny przepis:
80g płynnego białka (około 2 szt.)
500g cukru pudru (w przybliżeniu. Jeżeli mielimy kryształ w młynku, trzeba go koniecznie przesiać, żeby potem kryształki nie zatykały tylek)
łyżeczka soku z cytryny

Białko rozkłócić, nasypać dwie-trzy czubate łyżki cukru, rozmiksować, dolać sok z cytryny (służy głównie do smaku, można użyć czegoś innego, np. ekstraktu migdałowego) i dalej miksować powoli dodając cukier aż dotrzemy do 10-sekundowego lukru. Generalnie lukier bardzo długo jest płynny, a potem dosyć szybko gęstnieje. Żeby z 10-sekundowego zrobić 20-sekundowy najczęściej wystarczy dodatkowa łyżka cukru na te pół kilograma, dlatego najlepiej zatrzymać się na 10 sekundach. Żeby lukier zagęścić - dodać cukru. Żeby rozrzedzić - dodać soku z cytryny lub wody. Oba dodatki w bardzo małych ilościach, bo te zmiany konsystencji są naprawdę szybkie.

Ale co to do licha za sekundy? większość czytających zapyta. Kiedyś napiszę polski przewodnik, tymczasem linkuję przykładowy film po angielsku: https://youtu.be/eSI3WEMt-qU?t=31s
10-sekundowy fajny jest do zalewania powierzchni - sam się szybko wyrówna, a nie tworzy zbytnio pęcherzyków powietrza.
15-sekundowy to lukier uniwersalny - i do kresek (o ile nie muszą być całkiem ostre) i do zalewania i do wet-on-wet.
20-sekundowy najlepiej sprawdza się do rysowania brzegów, ale można go też używać do zalewania. Trzeba tylko dopomóc wyrównaniu lukru, np. potrząsając ciastkiem.
30-sekundowy nadaje się do wyraźnych kresek, ale do detali w rodzaju listków najlepiej zagęścić go powyżej 60s - mówi się wtedy po prostu o sztywnym lukrze (stiff royal icing).

Kolorowanie lukru (też kiedyś napiszę więcej): w Polsce dostępne są trzy rodzaje barwników: w płynie (te rozcieńczają lukier), w żelu (minimalnie rozcieńczają) i w proszku (nie zmieniają konsystencji lub minimalnie zagęszczają). Americolor w postaci czegoś pomiędzy płynem a żelem z filmu Hanieli nie jest dostępny, ale niedawno Wilton wypuścił swoją wersję takiego produktu, więc można mieć nadzieję, że i u nas się pojawi. Do intensywnych kolorów nie ma to jak proszek, przy czym po rozmieszaniu z lukrem trzeba go zostawić na godzinkę (przykryty folią, aby nie wysechł na wierzchu!), aby kolor się rozwinął.

A co z salmonellą? tutaj piekę dwie pieczenie przy jednym ogniu. Świeżo polukrowane ciastka wkładam na pięć minut do piekarnika ustawionego na 70-100 stopni (żadna bakteria groźna dla ludzi nie wytrzyma powyżej 63 stopni). Nie używam wyższej temperatury, bo nie chcę ich piec, a jedynie wysuszyć. Szybkie suszenie jest istotne przy intensywnych kolorach i przy wet-on-wet. Chodzi o to, że barwniki się rozpełzają w mokrym lukrze. Szybkie suszenie odbiera czas potrzebny na taki dryf. Tu na przykład mamy biedronkę suszoną na blacie stołu (czyli generalnie - przez noc) i obok pszczółkę, suszoną w piekarniku. Chyba nie trzeba dokładniej komentować.

A inne szczegóły pracy z lukrem królewskim przy innej okazji.

Some umbrellas

I wanted to use also at least one cookie cutter from my set of 101. I do use some of them a lot, but most were never used simply because they are badly designed. When I saw the umbrella cookie cutter, I thought it was such a nice, robust shape, that I certainly used it. But no. I have never made umbrella cookies. This mistake had to be corrected.

Is this a reindeer?

As soon as I read the challenge post, I knew what I would do. Of course I have meny cookie cutters thet have never been used, after all a few years back I got this 101 cookie cutters set.

But I also have a nice set of christmas cookie cutters, which were difficult to interpret. OK, I immediately got the santa, the gingerbread man and woman and some of the others, but I needed a year to figure out the sock and the present cookie cutter. In my part of the world there are no socks on chimneys. But Santa comes by more than once ;)

Anyway, after a year I figured out all of them but one. I suspected it was a reindeer, but it was a strange kind of reindeer. Like the person who designed it had never seen a reindeer, even in a picture. So I didn't know what to do with it and never used it. Now I decided to find some purpose for it.

I had a few ideas, but I loved best the final look of the slings. Just look at them, this cookie cutter was made for a sling, right?

Some other ideas included incense sticks:

And high-heeled shoes, thouh if I want to make them again I'll have to bend the cookie a bit:

Hazel catkins:

And finally, after some unbending, a reindeer:

The Solar System

I don't paint. I am learning to draw, but even that comes very slowly. If you tell me to paint something, I might do an acceptable job, but I dread having to invent also the topic.

So I cheated.

Once upon a time I was looking for a job at a kindergarten. As a prop for my show lesson I pepared watercolour planets. That was not very difficult. I had a wikipedia picture to copy and the planets were mostly straight lines and dots, nothing fancy. It was (almost) a pleasure to paint.

So I did it again, but not on cardstock; this time on cookies.

There is the Sun, a mixture of yellow and orange:

 There is Venus - very pale, which took me by surprise. Just believe me it is not white. In reality it is very pretty, but my camera and my camera skills are not so pretty:

There is Jupiter, of which I am particularly proud:

There is Saturn, using a pumpkin cookie cutter, because I only have serrated ovals:

Well, there is the whole Solar System:

Yes, no Pluto. About 2006 scientist decided, that Pluto is not a planet. If it was, then Moon would also have to be a planet. And that would be pure madness.

Sun will be eaten by caterpillars and then there will be no more summer!

I am lazy.

I had a nice idea for this challenge almost right away. I still have a list of things I want to try during this year of cookie-making. Today I even had an idea for December. I don't know what the challenge will be, but I know that in December I want to make my first cookies to be given away at my friends' cafe, which will be two years old. The owners don't know yet of my plan, but I still have time both to tell them and to produce cookies for them.

Anyway, back to me being lazy. I made cookies. A lot of cookies - bananas, watermelons, flowers, caterpillars, leaves... But then I procrastinated on actually decorating them, so by the time I got to making RI, they were mostly gone.

Lesson learned - better use regular size sugar (or even "gruba rafinada") than the fine kind. The suns and caterpillars mostly look like the surface was rough, but not sparkly. Possibly this is for the better, but it is not exactly the look I planned.

So beware of caterpillars! They will eat our sun and then there will be no more summer!

I need better planning

Again, I am writing last minute.

I did make cookies. I took the first photo, the one with the necklace and recreated it in cookies. A practice in precision piping (the yellow swirls). But. Again - but. Before I made photos, I took them to my son's kindergarten party. I really need to focus more on planning.

I wanted to prepare those cookies once more, but. Another but. My son got a stomach bug. Today was the first thay of this week that he ate anything and not vomited it. Or that he wanted to eat at all. One evening we even went to ER, because he vomited so heavily, that I estimated he did not even take any fluids for a whole day and night. Not a good topic for a cookie contest post.

And to add insult to injury, the evening we spent at the ER was my birthday. I am exhausted and in huuuge need of comfort food. So here is my take on comfort food (chocolate chip cupcakes with whipped cream) and, at the same time, my second idea for Lilaloa's challenge. Yes, that whipped cream is grey. My very first coloured food was in fact grey whipped cream. A friend of mine said that it looks like plaster, but since I made it, he will try it (because all things food that I make are great). Here it gives a steampunky look. and the  open star tip made it look almost like spiderwebs. The blue flowers were actually made from leftover royal icing after the "inspired" batch of cookies and nicely disturb otherwise boring decoration. Not my best, but good enough given my level of energy.

But you know what? My old camera, the one I hate, apparently can do customized white balance! The photo was taken in the evening, with a bit of sun from left and a bit of lamplight from right and it still is better than most my photos!

Bugs for mothers' day

My parents are fixing their garden and they asked us to come on Saturday and help. The thing is, in my funny country Mother's day is immobile, always on 26th May, so I couldn't go bare-handed. And I remembered that on Friday morning.

My point is - I had little time to plan, little time to make and even less to take photos, because what was left on Saturday, today went to my MIL. To make up for the poor quality of photos, here you are the prettiest cookie decorator in the world, right in the middle of decorating and eating. Finally mommy is not angry about eating pens!

Recently I got a couple of fun tools: a rolling pin with adjustable rings (you can't buy just the rings in Poland), serrated round and oval cookie cutters, and wedding and bugs Wilton's cookie cutters. Did you know those are NOT stainless steel? I know now...

For the mothers I wanted to make some bugs, but last moment decided against spiders. Kids love spiders, my mother hates them even more than I do. So here we are, dragonflies, bees, ladybugs with too many dots, some leaves and my son's new favourite: caterpillars. There were also butterflies, but those didn't work well.