This is the royal icing recipe I come back to every single time I'm decorating cookies. It dries to that perfect matte, slightly-hard finish for flooding and piping, and it's simple enough to whip up while the cookies are still cooling.
Original Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 oz pasteurized egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
Directions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat until frothy.
- Add the confectioners' sugar gradually, mixing on low speed until incorporated and the mixture is shiny.
- Turn the speed up to high and beat until the icing forms stiff, glossy peaks, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add food coloring if desired.
- For immediate use, transfer the icing to a pastry bag or heavy-duty storage bag and pipe as desired.
My Modifications
My favorite tweak: swap the vanilla extract for lemon extract, or split the difference and use half vanilla, half lemon. The lemon adds a bit of brightness that pairs really well with sugar cookies and doesn't compete with whatever flavor the cookie itself is.
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