Fine Cracks in Icing

Hi, sugarbaker, Congrats on making your first post. I look forward to many more to come!

Hi again, @lemon! Two things:

(1) To address your first question, do you move your cookies as the icing is drying? This can sometimes disrupt the icing that has begun to set on the surface, leaving cracks in it. I don't ever move mine when the icing is wet unless the cookies are fully supported by a heavy-duty cookie sheet or other inflexible surface. If the surface bends, this can also disrupt the icing. Send a picture of your trouble if you can, because if this is not the issue, a picture may help others troubleshoot for you.

(2) I moved your second question about a nice icing recipe to another forum topic, as it is a distinct question. It's best only to ask ONE question per topic so that topics can be easily searched and found later. Here's the link to that new topic: http://cookieconnection.juliau...ng-recipe-with-shine

Thanks!

I dip my cookies and put them on a rack until they are dry so I think it is something else.  Thank you for your help.

Oh, you dip your cookies - I think that is probably the issue! My guess is that as any wet icing continues to flow drip off the cookie sides, some of the drier icing on top gets "pulled", if you will, and tiny cracks open up. I've seen this happen on certain curved shapes that I create. (Cracking is worse on some shapes than others.) Usually by the time the icing dries, the cracks are hardly noticeable and easily obscured with other decorations, so I don't worry about them too much.

I bet if you piped the same icing on top and let the cookies dry without moving them, you wouldn't see cracks. Have you tried this?

I'll try that and you are correct.  They are very fine and no one has ever mentioned them.  They just bother me.