Everybody has their own way of decorating cookies. But one of the most commonly asked questions in all of my cookie decorating classes is should I outline my cookies?

Honestly, it really depends on you and how confident you are in your consistencies. There are some people who do not outline the cookies such as Borderlands. however I do.

Pros to Outlining

You don't have to worry about icing falling off your cookie

• This is one of the major problems if you don't outline or don't have a thick enough outline and I suffer from it constantly when I'm doing big orders.

You get cleaner, sharper lines especially when it comes to scalloped or cookies requiring more precision

• You CAN flood a scalloped cookie without outlines but you may end up with a wavy edge instead of a clearly defined scalloped one.

Your icing settles flatly without having to wiggle and jiggle it with a scribe or the piping bag

As you get better at outlining and flooding cookies, you don't even notice the outlines are there unless you're having a staring contest with the edge of your cookie

Cons to Outlining

It can be time consuming

• If you have a 100 cookie or even a 50 cookie order, it can be very time consuming going through and outlining each and every one of them and your hand will start to cramp after a while.

• I take this as an opportunity to practice cookie decorating with my left hand lol

You have to mix 2 different consistencies

• For outlining you need piping consistency (soft peaks)

• For flooding you need flood consistency (honey)

• Some people hate using 2 and opt for a 20 sec consistency for everything. I have done this in the past

Pros to No Outlines

It's faster

• You do not have to outline anything though as you add your details you may choose to outline those items

You only need 1 consistency

• If you hate mixing icing then this is good for you

If you like using cute scribe tools, then stock up because no outlines means the icing need