First on the First - Royal Icing

OK, first I have a confession.  Royal Icing is not a first for me.  I've done cookies, I've done some wet-on-wet techniques, and I've made the occasional gingerbread house.  After all, is it likely that someone with this in their house is unfamiliar with icing of any kind?

So I went back to my favorite recipe for Royal Icing, which is this one by Callye of Sweet Sugar Belle.  I'll give you a couple of notes from my own experience.  First, while I trust Callye regarding the using of flavoring with oils in them, I have had success with McCormick's lemon extract, if you want to go that way.  Second - go with the larger batch.  :-)  You'll want to practice.  However, the large batch does strain even Geraldine, my 5 qt. KitchenAid mixer, to her capacity.

The process of whipping the icing also pushes her to her limits - she tends to want to overheat.  I love her, but she's 15 years old now and I baby her.  One batch of icing per day is kind of my limit.

So, since I've played with Royal Icing in the past, I decided I'd try a technique I haven't done much with:  Figure piping.
First I set up my piping bags.  For these, I used a very clever tip from Sweet Sugar Belle again.  Wrapping the icing in plastic wrap allows the reuse of "disposable" piping bags.  And couplers allow you to swap out tips on a single color of icing.

Then I got down to work.

In the back you can see the (somewhat mishapen) eggs that I started.  Possibly thinning the icing would have made them smoother.  Or it might have caused the icing to run and flatten.  I opted not to do so in order to go on and pipe the chicks.  For the eggs and the bodies I used a #12 tip.

The wings, feet, beaks, and pupils were piped with a #2 tip, the whites of the eyes with a #3.
I did experiment with different features on these chicks.  Some I opted not to pipe head tufts on.  And some I tried a different beak style for.

Look for these little guys to turn back up in a little while - they need to dry a few days first.  :-)