halloween cookies and icing

[pastrycake]

Hey fellow bakers,
I am only a novice baker wanting to bake cookies for friends. Pumpkin or skull shape cookies. I am in need of an easy to use and tasty icing or frosting recipe for the cookies. I have a Wilton royal icing but don't like the taste. I really don't want a runny recipe since it takes too long to decorate. Any tips would be great. I guess it would work for christmas cookies as well!

Last X-mas, I used a recipe which was basically powder sugar, meringue powder, and water. It was runny and took forever to decorate a single cookie. I tried to let my daughter help but it was a mess and took forever to dry. Any suggestions would be great

[Erik]

I'd use the same stuff you used for christmas last year, but add more powdered sugar to it to make it stiffer.

[jessiquina]

2T soft butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar.
lil splash of vanilla.
enough milk to bring it together (around a 1/4 cup) .

mix it all together adding milk to the desired consistancy.

[Harpua]

Yes, in addition to Jessiquina, some helpful hints:

Just start with a fat. Butter tastes good, and shortening keeps it white and makes a bright frosting if you add coloring. You can use a combination, or one or the other. Shortening would be a bit stiffer. Cream cheese is a good one too, but it's a bit more perishable.

Just use a bit of the fat, mix in powdered sugar first until you like the consistency, and adjust with milk or lemon/orange juice, which may be nice for the pumpkin cookies (won't color it, just flavors it).