10/14/2008

Eyeballs, Eyeballs Everywhere!

How about an hour of work for a month full of fun food? These easy hard icing eyeballs take about an hour or less and you'll have decorations for the rest of Halloween (they'll last for months in an airtight container). Actually, they'd be cute anytime you need something fun on your food! For some reason, it cracks my kids up to see "eyeballs" on their food. Eyeballs, Eyeballs Everywhere
Ingredients:
Royal Icing (recipes below)
Black Food Coloring (or cocoa powder)
Wax Paper
Circular cake decorating frosting tip or Ziploc Freezer Bag
Directions: Tape wax paper to counter or table. Using black food coloring, tint 1/4 of your icing black (if you don't have black food coloring, you can use cocoa powder to make a dark brown--add a little water if your icing gets too thick). Using a cake decorating bag with a circular tip (or simply use a freezer ziploc bag and cut off a tiny bit of one corner if you don't have cake decorating supplies). Using white first, squeeze out a counter full of dots:
Add a small amount of black for the pupil (you can still do this while the white is wet):

Let dry overnight, peel off (the kids love this part!) and store in an airtight container, they will last for months. Pull a few out anytime you want to jazz up your food!

ROYAL ICING (Egg White Recipe)
Ingredients:
3 egg whites, room temperature
1 lb. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
Combine ingredients, beat at high speed for 7-10 minutes.

ROYAL ICING (Meringue Powder recipe)
Ingredients:
3 tbsp. meringue powder (you can get this in the wedding/cake supplies at Wal-Mart)
1 lb. confectioners' sugar
6 tbsp. warm water (in humidity use less water)
Beat all ingredients until icing forms peaks at low speed. Yield approximately 3 cups.

Notes: Please keep icing covered with a damp cloth or paper towel while not in use, otherwise it will harden. To attach eyeballs to food, moisten the back of the eyeball with a little water and it will stick to most anything.

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