Reply to "Royal Icing or Buttercream?"

Colors won't bleed in buttercream (or, at least, I've never seen that), but it's usually perishable (if made with butter), so you'd have to handle the cookies differently. It also doesn't set as firm, so packaging becomes more challenging. And I imagine getting a smooth topcoat would be harder, since it's a spreading, not a flooding, consistency. But it tastes good!