Royal Icing Recipe

So... I figured it was about time that I actually did a tutorial on sugar cookies. I figured the best, and easiest way to start would be with royal icing. There are a lot of different icing recipes out there and I've tried quite a few. Most people LOVE the soft icing that you might find on a Tollhouse cookie, but for decorating and shipping, that frosting just doesn't work. If you don't use the right kind of frosting on your sugar cookie then you won't be able to get detailed cookies, the colors will bleed, and all your work will have been for nothing because if they are touched then the frosting smushes. I have literally dropped a cookie on the counter that had dried royal icing on it and it remained perfectly intact.

Now.. that does NOT mean that royal icing is as hard as cement. Your cookies can break and, yes, they do have a crunch... but they still taste YUMMY.

Ok.. so here goes.

The royal icing recipe is...

2lb bag of powdered sugar
1/3 cup +  Tbsp meringue powder
3/4 cup water
2 tsp flavoring extract (I do 1 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp almond)

So here's how you do it!

First mix your powdered sugar and meringue powder

Word of caution.... keep your mixer on low speed or you will have powdered sugar everywhere.... learned that the hard way



Add your flavoring to your water and slowly add to mixer

And then magic happens! I like to keep it on medium speed for a minute then crank it to high. It takes about 5 minutes for the icing to get as stiff as you need it to be. By the time you're done you should be able to pull out your whisk and the frosting should be stiff enough to not bend.

At this point the frosting has NOT been mixed enough. See how the peak bends over on itself?



This is what it should look like... stiff enough to keep it's shape, even if you tip it to the side or upside down!

See? Still the same shape, it doesn't bend.

In the picture the frosting looks deceptively yellow, it is actually very white. If you want PURE white, do not use colored flavoring and you can even add white food coloring. Personally, I usually just use it as is if I want white frosting. How to color your icing and get the right consistency for piping and flooding is a whole new post and will have to wait until I actually remember to document it as I'm making royal icing.