I made sugar diamonds yesterday with sugar/corn syrup, heated to 290 degrees, they turned out great. Plopped them on a wet royal-iced cookie. Looked fine. Got up this morning and there are little puddles of goo around the stones, like the candy liquefied! Will it harden back up?? Or do I need to start over?? Oh Lord, 2 dozen due tomorrow, ughhhh HELP!!!
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So sorry this happened to you. Sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts moisture from the environment and then gets soft, cloudy, or dissolves. It's extremely humidity-sensitive. Because you placed the sugar on wet icing, it dissolved, but the same thing could happen in a humid environment, just more slowly. And they will not set back up. This is why many decorators prefer to work with isomalt - it's a modified form of sugar that is less susceptible to humidity. I'd remake the gems with isomalt and then only put them on the icing after it's completely dry.
Sigh. Thanks, Julia, at least that gives me time to re-group instead of hoping they re-harden. There is no local source for isomalt and I don't have time to order it, so if y'all have any ideas how I can get "diamonds" on my denim pocket cookies overnight, I'd appreciate any and all help!
You can try the real sugar approach again, but I definitely wouldn't put them on wet icing. And I'd contain them as soon as everything was completely dry. Or order isomalt sugar gems online. Best of luck!
Could I pour royal icing in the little plastic jewel mold to make the faceted stone shape? Do you think it would come out of the mold intact? It's a plastic candy mold, not silicone...I could at least luster dust those...
BTW, I am very impressed that you personally answer questions when people need help. That is very kind!!
Janet Ferguson posted:Could I pour royal icing in the little plastic jewel mold to make the faceted stone shape? Do you think it would come out of the mold intact? It's a plastic candy mold, not silicone...I could at least luster dust those...
You could, but icing in deep-ish silicone or plastic molds takes a while to dry - probably longer than overnight. (I did some small 1-inch "plates" recently, and they took several days.) And, remember, that if the mold has facets, the underside of the icing will be the up-side and it will be rougher/somewhat pitted and not shiny, as the underside of royal icing transfers are. Maybe you could just pipe small royal icing transfers and then spray or paint the tops with luster spray, or paint with a bit of corn syrup (which will likely dry to just tacky)?
Janet Ferguson posted:BTW, I am very impressed that you personally answer questions when people need help. That is very kind!!
I figure if people have taken the time to ask a question, and the question is urgent, I should try my best! 
(I also do a quick review of what's new on the site every morning and do any necessary "clean-up", so you caught me at the right time!)
This may be a naive question, but since the sugar jewels and perhaps isomalt jewels melt in contact with water and/or humidity, will they not melt when applied with wet icing or is there a different way to apply them? Keeping them intact until applied makes a lot of sense. However, would they hold up in the mail?
Ive seen cookies with clear "dew drops" but I haven't read how it's achieved.
Sorry this happened to you Janet.
Pip
A couple of things from my experience. My candy appliqués to cookies do stay intact if attached to the actual cookie rather than the icing. In my recent "Candy Cookies" where I poured a hot sugar design, let it set and then placed it over wet royal icing worked out very well without melting. I will say this, however, the candy must gather up some of the icing's water content as the cookie stays a bit chewy underneath the candy - which I love about this technique.
With regard to mailing cookies with candy applied...I JUST tried this from New York to Florida with success but the candy was attached to the bare part of the cookie and not on the icing. I don't think I could mail the cookies where I applied the hardened candy to the wet royal icing. Here is a picture of one of the cookies I mailed without it breaking.
pip posted:This may be a naive question, but since the sugar jewels and perhaps isomalt jewels melt in contact with water and/or humidity, will they not melt when applied with wet icing or is there a different way to apply them? Keeping them intact until applied makes a lot of sense. However, would they hold up in the mail?
Ive seen cookies with clear "dew drops" but I haven't read how it's achieved.
Sorry this happened to you Janet.
Pip
If you apply with thick royal icing; the icing dries too fast to dissolve the candy. But you can see the icing through the candy. Piping gel and clear edible glue work as well, and are less visible.
