Baking is one of my favorite hobby and I do this twice a week or much often if I have time. I often bake sugar cookies for my nephews and decorate them with colorful icings. I'm able to show the artistic part of me with the designs I make on those sugar cookies. Well at first, it was very hard to do but as you do it often you get to master the skills of designing cookies.

I always prepare for special occassions like halloween and christmas where we get a lot of visitors at home. I try to make as much sugar cookies as I can and decorate them with royal icing. Cookies with colorful designs attract a lot of attention. What makes them look so delicious lies on those colorful icings as it gives them an embossed look, a 2-dimensional or sometimes even 3-dimensional effect that makes them enticing.

I'll share with you my recipe on how to make the perfect royal icing that you can put on your sugar or shortbread cookies so get your pens and papers ready...

You'll need the following:

1 cup Egg Whites
5 cups Sifted Powdered Sugar (Confectioner's Sugar)
1 tsp. Lemon Juice and

*Food color (Make sure to have the colors that you need)

And here's how you do it:

1. In an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.
2. Slowly add the sifted powdered sugar to the egg whites on medium speed. Scrape down bowl as needed. Add lemon juice. (Tip: For thicker royal icing, add more powder sugar. It should be able to hold its shape when piped, similar in consistency to thick toothpaste.)
3. Beat on medium-high speed for 5-8 minutes until mixture thickens, and becomes stiff. (You'll know when it's stiff when you hold it upside down and it doesn't fall). Scrape down bowl, and cover with plastic to avoid a skin from forming when not using.
4. Add food coloring to your royal icings, and have your colors ready to go before you start decorating. (Tip: When adding a color to your icing use a toothpick and get a small amount of color then mix it to your icing. Repeat this as often as needed or until you've achieved your desired hue. If you want a darker color then, add a drop of  food color to your icing.)
5. Keep un-used royal icing in refrigerator for up to 5 days covered in an airtight container.
   (Tip: Bring to room temperature before using again).

If you follow these steps and the tips carefully, you'll achieve the perfect consistency and color of your icing.

So now that I've taught you how to make a royal icing will my hub stop there? Of course not! If I do, then, we'll be missing the fun part. The best way to enjoy your royal icing aside from eating it is to make a design for your sugar cookies. If you don't have sugar cookies, you can either bake or just buy it in stores near you then think of a design that you can do for your cookie.

The design follows the shape of the cookie so if you'll bake your own sugar cookie, you'll have the advantage of achieveing the design that you like. If it's a store bought sugar cookie it wouldn't be a problem since there's a lot of wonderful designs that you can do with it too.

Take a look at these beautiful designs on sugar cookies...

This is the fun part - designing cookies! I would recomend that you visit Let's Bake cookies.com because they'll teach you the basic steps in baking and designing cookies. You'll also get a lot of wonderful ideas with its great resources in everything about baking and designing.

I'm happy to share everything I know to help you get started, to know the basics and to feel the joy of baking and designing as this is what I love to do most.

Think like a painter and use your colorful royal icings as your paint and your sugar cookies as your canvas. Enjoy! Show your creativity and art!