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Tipless Bags vs. Tips

Welcome to the debate. There is no right or wrong answer here, both have their own pros and cons. I learned to decorate with tips and slowly transitioned to tipless bags over time using only specialty tips (some of which are featured in later chapters). Here is my take on each of them.

Tips

Using tips is really helpful when you’re a beginner. It gives you consistent piping lines and even amounts of flooding icing coming out. You don’t have to worry about cutting the correct hole size, and you can freely change the tips if you’re using a coupler (no shame in looking up the definition). If you’re willing to purchase tips, I would recommend a full set so you have a variety of specialty tips that are fun to play with. When using tips, I prefer using a size 2 to pipe and a size 10 for all your flooding; you may develop a different preference, but it is a good place to start. The amount of added washing was really what drove me to transition away from them.

Tipless

Moving on to tipless bags, which is what you will see featured in all the photos, they are bags specially designed to be used without tips by snipping off the ends to create your desired thickness. I love them so much I designed my own; they are super thin and disprove any of those rumors you might have heard about tipless bags! It can be frustrating when you cut the wrong size hole and have to re-bag the icing, but to me, it’s worth the disposal aspect of the bags. I can’t stress enough that this is all personal preference. You can create equally beautiful cookies with and without tips! Some of my baking idols use tips, but you do you!

Notes

•All your colors are mixed, now what? Any leftover royal icing in your mixing bowl should be transferred to an airtight container; it will stay fresh at room temperature for about two weeks. Icing separation is totally natural and unavoidable, so make sure to give the royal icing a good stir before using again. You may notice separation within your piping bags as early as an hour after preparing. Massage the bags until the icing in each bag is one uniform color before you decorate.