Hi! Basically the title. I have some cookies that have been out for about 8 hours and they aren’t dry yet. Nothing crazy, but, when should they be dry? I know there’s a lot of icing here. They were made with pasteurized egg whites so idk.
1- how long can I leave them out given they’re made with (pasteurized) egg whites?
2- how long “should” it take?
3- will the cookies go stale while they sit out?
Thank you!!!!
by wednesdayblueberry
7 Comments
some people suggest waiting like a full overnight or day to have them completely dry.
I do suggest putting them in an airtight container so that they don’t get stale.
They look so damn pretty. Idk anything abt baking
Those are gorgeous! I’m no expert, but I like mine to sit out at least six hours before they get stacked in a container. They often end up out overnight.
1. You can leave them out until they are dry. Egg whites don’t really spoil, so it doesn’t matter how long you leave it out. I’ve kept royal icing a container for months, then remixed it in my mixer and used it and there’s no health concerns though the icing does tend to be runnier. If it’s something you’re worried about you can use a heat tool or blow dryer to speed the drying process.
2. My royal icing generally takes about an hour to set to where they are “stackable” but I generally give them 2-3 hours or overnight before stacking them in an airtight container. I put wax or parchment paper between layers of cookies when storing them.
3. Yes, the cookies will eventually go stale; how long it takes depends on the cookies. If they’re left out it will take them maybe a week to a week and a half to go stale. If they are in an airtight container then they last a lot longer.
I leave mine out overnight. Always. Then I put them in an airtight container until I am ready to package them. Mine last at least a full week in the container with zero freshness issues. I’ve had some last two.
Some merengue powders don’t set as well as others. I have gone as far as leaving them in a closed oven for 36 hours with the oven light on. That was beginning to flirt with stale but once transferred to an airtight container they softened pretty nicely again.
I leave them in my oven with the door closed (and a sign on the oven to NOT turn it on!). I’m no professional – my first batch of cookies took almost two days to dry because I used cheap food coloring (requiring more coloring), which slowed down the drying time. I thought they would never harden, but they did eventually.