Recipes for "royal icing"

Gather all ingredients.

Beat egg whites in a large glass, metal, or ceramic bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until foamy.

Gradually add sugar and lemon extract; continue to beat on high speed until thickened.

Use to pipe or decorate cookies.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a bowl and a whisk), add the egg whites and vanilla extract. Mix together on medium speed until it starts to get frothy, about 15 to 20 seconds.

Sift 1 cup of the powdered sugar over the egg whites. Do not skip sifting as powdered sugar tends to clump up! Mix on medium speed until the sugar is absorbed. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl to get all the powdered sugar into the liquid.

Repeat 3 more times, sifting in 1 cup of the powdered sugar at a time, and scraping down the sides to make sure all the powdered sugar is incorporated into the icing.

Lift the whisk up and check to see how long it takes for the icing thread to disappear in the surface of the icing. You want about 8 to 10 seconds for the piping consistency. If it’s not thick enough, sift 1 tablespoon of powdered sugar into the icing and mix together, repeating until you get that thickness.

If using different colors of icing, divide the icing into bowls and then add separate food colorings to each bowl. Check thickness and mix in more sifted powdered sugar if necessary for piping, or thin as necessary with water for flooding.

For flooding, spoon some icing up and then allow it to drizzle down onto the icing in the bowl. The drizzle should stay on top and then melt back into the surface after 2 or 3 seconds. If it immediately disappears your icing is too thin, and you should sift in more powdered sugar.

Transfer the piping frosting to a piping bag with a #3 tip or smaller. Pipe outlines or decorations onto your cookies. Use the flooding icing to fill in the spaces, if desired.

Let the icing dry completely before storing, at least 2 hours with a gentle fan blowing over the cookies, or overnight. Store cookies between parchment in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Did you love this recipe? Let us know with a rating and review!

Stir together warm water, corn syrup, and almond extract in a small bowl until corn syrup and extract have dissolved.

Place confectioners' sugar into a large bowl and pour in corn syrup mixture. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until royal icing is smooth. Store in a lidded container for up to a week; stir thoroughly before using.

Gather all ingredients.

Sift together confectioners' sugar and cream of tartar in a large bowl.

Beat in egg whites with an electric mixer until mixture is thick enough to hold its shape, about 5 minutes.

Cream 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add white sugar and lemon zest and mix well. Mix in eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Mix in 1/2 of the flour until combined. Mix in remaining flour until dough comes together.

Shape dough with your hands into a thick rectangle. Press flat and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Dust a work surface with flour and roll out dough into a thin circle. Cut out heart shapes and arrange cut-out cookies on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove hearts from baking sheets carefully and transfer to wire racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

Beat egg whites in a bowl until frothy. Beat in confectioners' sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until stiff peaks form. Add lemon juice to thin out the mixture. Add more lemon juice for runnier icing. Divide icing into small bowls and color with red food coloring in different shades of red or pink, keeping a portion of the icing white. Cover with a damp kitchen towel at all times so it won't dry out.

Decorate as you like using different techniques. For the flood technique, use runny royal icing in a piping bag with a small round #2 tip and pipe a line around the edge of the cookies. Fill in the center, evenly distributing the icing with a scriber tool.

For hearts, add dots of a different color onto the wet icing and drag the scriber tool downwards through the dots. For lips, add an oval shape onto the wet icing and shape the oval into lips with the scriber tool.

For feathers or patterns, pipe a line around the edge, then add stripes in different colors. Drag the scriber tool down through the stripes. For a marbled effect, pipe lines of different colors across a base layer, then drag the scriber tool up and down through the lines. Allow the icing to set completely.

Beat sugar and egg whites in a large bowl using an electric mixer on low speed until evenly combined and shiny, about 3 minutes.

Add water gradually, beating on medium-high speed until icing is smooth and reaches desired consistency, about 5 minutes.