Sunday, March 29, 2009

Royal Icing

Royal icing is so much fun, so easy, and a blast to experiment with. It creates a flawless, smooth frosting that is perfect for holiday cookies. The icing doesn't taste as good as regular frosting so I would recommend using a sweeter sugar cookie recipe to compensate. Here's some of the cookies I made with my daughter and her friend.





5 c confectioner's sugar
3 egg whites (may be substituted with meringue powder if you can't have raw eggs)
In a large bowl, mix egg whites until foamy. Add confectioner's sugar till completely combined. Slowly add water and mix until a ribbon-like consistency is formed. For a thicker consistency just add more sugar. A thicker consistency is used for outlining or adding detail. Thinner consistency is needed for flooding the icing on the cookie. Place icing in a ziploc bag with the corner barely snipped.
To frost:
Outline cookie with icing. Partially fill in then spread with toothpick to flood icing. The icing will harden quickly, creating a smooth surface. To create a tie-dye effect, after flooding the icing (before it dries) make horizontal stripes with a different color. Starting at the top, drag a toothpick through the icing. Make plenty of cookies so you can experiment until you get the hang of it. To make hearts, make polka dots then drag a toothpick through it.

2 comments:

  1. Your cookies look perfect! They totally put the ones I decorated last Easter (using sandwich bags to pipe frosting) to shame. Ha ha!

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  2. Wowzers, O! These look awesome!! I'm excited to try it out. :)

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