Royal Icing Recipe | Cookies and Cups


This Royal icing recipe is straightforward to make use of and best for defining and flooding sugar cookies. Make a laugh and easy, superbly embellished cookies for any vacation or instance!

Overhead view of assorted round sugar cookies decorated with royal icing in different colors.

Why You’ll Love This Royal Icing Recipe

This simple Royal icing recipe is made with meringue powder and units like a dream. You’re most effective 3 components clear of stunning embellished cookies for any instance! It’s best for defining and flooding cookies and piping main points. Listed below are extra causes to like it:

  • Flexible. Royal icing is a vintage form of frosting that hardens because it units. This makes it best for adorning cookies in a lot of other ways, from outlining to filling and detailing. One recipe, unending probabilities!
  • Simple. Sure, you’ll be able to make bakery-worthy royal icing proper for your personal kitchen! All it takes is a bowl and mixer. You’ll be in search of excuses to bake a batch of cookies for adorning (as though you wish to have one).
  • 3 components. You most effective want 3 components to make selfmade royal icing: powdered sugar, egg whites (or on this case, meringue powder), and your collection of flavorings. That’s it!
Royal icing ingredients with text labels overlaying each ingredient.

What You’ll Want

Home made royal icing wishes most effective 3 components. Take a look at some fast notes under and scroll right down to the recipe card for a printable components checklist.

  • Meringue Powder – Meringue powder blended with water is an egg white replace. It’s what makes royal icing harden to a candy-like texture.
  • Powdered Sugar – Often known as confectioner’s sugar, sifted ahead of you get started. 
  • Vanilla Extract – Actual vanilla extract, or you’ll be able to trade up the flavors the use of any flavoring extract you’d like.

The best way to Make Royal Icing

Practice those brief steps to whip up a large batch of selfmade royal icing. Don’t fail to remember to scroll to the recipe card for printable directions.

  • Whip the meringue. First, you’ll beat the meringue powder with water till it’s mild and foamy.
  • Mix. Slowly combine in powdered sugar, adopted via the vanilla extract. Regularly building up the blending pace to top, whipping till stiff, shiny peaks begin to shape.
  • Divide and colour the icing. Divide the completed icing into separate bowls, and upload your required colours. Stir the colour in via hand to keep away from air bubbles. In a while, upload the royal icing to piping luggage or you’ll be able to skinny out the icing for flooding, see under.

The best way to Skinny Out Royal Icing

As is, your royal icing is the very best consistency for piping outlines, textures, and main points. When you’ll be the use of one of the icing to flood cookies (create a clean floor), you’ll wish to divide the icing and skinny it out to a flooding consistency. To skinny out royal icing for flooding, stir in more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, till the consistency resembles corn syrup (see picture).

A rubber spatula drizzles purple royal icing into a bowl, showing the icing consistency needed for flooding.
Royal icing thinned out to a consistency for flooding cookies.

Recipe Pointers

When you’ve by no means made icing at house ahead of, listed below are my pointers for purchasing it best each time:

  • Get shiny white icing. When you’re after a natural white royal icing, just remember to use transparent vanilla, or fail to remember the extract altogether.
  • Thicken royal icing that’s too skinny. When you upload an excessive amount of water, or in the event you understand that your royal icing is at the runny aspect, upload a bit powdered sugar till you succeed in your required consistency.
  • Use gel meals colours. Gel meals coloring makes the brightest, maximum colourful colours, and a bit is going far. You’ll in finding gel meals colours in baking and craft shops, or on-line. Liquid meals coloring (like the sort you in finding in maximum grocery shops) has a tendency to water down frosting.
  • Royal icing choice. When you’d like to skip royal icing for some other sort, check out the straightforward vanilla icing that I exploit for my iced oatmeal cookies. It’s made with most effective powdered sugar, water, and vanilla, with out meringue.
Overhead view of assorted piping bags filled with pink, white, and yellow royal icing on a grey countertop, next to round sugar cookies on a baking sheet.

Adorning Cookies With Royal Icing

The easiest way to make use of royal icing is to pipe it with a pastry bag. Royal icing has heaps of various makes use of relying at the consistency, from developing gorgeous designs in your favourite reduce out sugar cookies to gluing in combination a gingerbread space on the vacations. Whether or not you employ your royal icing for piping, outlining, or flooding, the method is similar! See under for a very easy educational on tips on how to flood a cookie for adorning.

Close up of a round sugar cookie decorated with royal icing in a snowflake design, next to more decorated cookies.

Flooding a Cookie

Beneath, I’ll display you tips on how to flood a cookie the use of royal icing and my favourite sugar cookies recipe. You’ll additionally use this icing on chocolate sugar cookies or brown sugar cut-out cookies. Although you’re new to adorning cookies, you’re going to be amazed at how simple it’s!

  • Fill the piping luggage. Start via deciding which colours you’ll use to brighten your cookies. Colour the royal icing and fill your piping luggage, some with define icing and a few with flooding icing. I in finding it is helping to position the empty piping bag into a pitcher and fold the highest down over the edges of the glass to open up the bag.
  • Define the cookie. Use define icing to pipe a skinny define across the outdoor fringe of the cookie. Squeeze the highest of the piping bag firmly and use your different hand to lead the icing tip within the path you need it to head.
  • Fill the description. After you’ve defined a couple of of your cookies, it’s time to fill or “flood” them. To flood the cookie, use your thinner flooding icing to scrupulously flood the defined form.
  • Easy out the icing. Gently faucet and jiggle the cookie to unfold the icing out. Then, use a toothpick to pop any air bubbles and produce the icing proper up in opposition to the sides of the description.
  • Let the cookies dry. Let the embellished cookies dry down for a couple of hours, or in a single day, ahead of including extra icing main points. 

What Dimension Piping Pointers Must I Use?

I like to recommend a small #1 or #2 piping tip for flooding and outlining cookies with icing. Those elementary piping pointers also are nice for including finer main points in a while, just like the strains and dots you notice within the footage.

Overhead view of assorted round sugar cookies decorated with royal icing in different colors.

Continuously Requested Questions

What’s the distinction between royal icing and common icing?

The principle distinction between royal icing and buttercream frosting is the feel. Conventional frosting is comfortable and creamy due to components like butter, whilst royal icing makes use of egg whites and dries down arduous and candy-like.

How lengthy does it take for royal icing to dry?

Usually, royal icing takes anyplace between 6-8 hours to dry completely. After this time, it’s secure to transport and stack your cookies with out denting or messing up the outside of the icing. You’ll understand a skinny crust begin to shape after about half-hour.

Why isn’t my royal icing hardening?

Undermixing may end up in vulnerable, volatile royal icing. The similar will also be stated for overmixing, which creates an excessive amount of quantity within the meringue. The ensuing icing can be comfortable/brittle and won’t set totally.

Is milk or water higher for royal icing?

I’ve all the time used water in my royal icing recipe. That being stated, I’ve heard that milk or cream additionally works neatly. Be at liberty to make use of whichever you like.

Why does royal icing flip yellow?

That is brought about via “butter bleed”. In case your kitchen is just too heat, the butter from the sugar cookie melts and seeps into the royal icing, developing yellow-ish blotches. Whilst your cookies will nonetheless style scrumptious, there’s now not a lot that you’ll be able to do to mend it. See the following phase for detailed garage pointers.

Close up of a round sugar cookie decorated with stripes of royal icing, next to more decorated cookies.

The best way to Retailer

  • Retailer the royal icing. Royal icing constituted of meringue powder will also be stored at room temperature for 1-2 weeks. Retailer any leftover icing in an hermetic container, with grasp wrap pressed at once in opposition to the outside of the icing to stop crusting.
  • Storing embellished cookies. After you’ve frosted your cookies, make sure you let the icing harden totally. Retailer the embellished cookies hermetic in a groovy and dry location, both at the counter or within the pantry. 

Can I Freeze Royal Icing?

Sure! You’ll freeze royal icing for as much as 2 months. When you’ve got a large number of icing left over, freeze any colours one after the other in an hermetic container or freezer bag. Thaw the icing within the refrigerator after which carry it to room temperature ahead of you employ it.

You’ll additionally freeze sugar cookies embellished with icing for as much as 3 months. I like to recommend storing the cookies in an hermetic container with parchment paper between the layers. Defrost the cookies at room temperature or within the refrigerator.

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Description

This simple Royal icing recipe made with meringue powder is best for defining and flooding cookies! Make a laugh and easy, superbly embellished cookies for any vacation or instance.


  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons meringue powder
  • 1 pound field of powdered sugar (roughly 4 cups), sifted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or any taste you like)

  1. With paddle attachment combine the water and meringue powder on low till blended then on top about 1 minute till foamy.
  2. Upload the powdered sugar on low pace a bit at a time, upload extract after which combine on medium to mix in combination. Now combine on top for 4-5 mins till stiff, shiny peaks shape.
  3. I separate and colour the icing at this level.
  4. With the icing as is, it’s best for defining cookies and including gildings.
  5. In case you are making plans on flooding your cookies, upload water, 1 teaspoon at a time,till you get the consistency of corn syrup.
  6. When you upload an excessive amount of water, sift in additional powdered sugar.

Notes

  • If you need a natural white frosting, use transparent vanilla or fail to remember extract.
  • Retailer in an hermetic container with a layer of grasp wrap pressed at once in opposition to the outside of the icing, to stop a crust from forming.

Vitamin

  • Serving Dimension:
  • Energy: 177
  • Sugar: 23.6 g
  • Sodium: 70.2 mg
  • Fats: 3.7 g
  • Carbohydrates: 35.2 g
  • Protein: 1.1 g
  • Ldl cholesterol: 15.1 mg

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