The Fluffiest Royal Icing

Name: The Fluffiest Royal Icing
Total time: 10 min
Yield: About 5 cups, enough for about 5 dozen small cookies
Ingredients: 1/3 cup/47 grams meringue powder; 2/3 cup/158 milliliters warm water; 7 1/2 cups/937 grams confectioners’ sugar; 1 tablespoon/15 milliliters vanilla extract, or other flavoring, like coconut or almond extracts

Recipe from Georganne Bell

Adapted by Kim Severson

The Fluffiest Royal Icing — Ryan Liebe for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Liza Jernow.

Total Time: 10 minutes
Rating: 4(159)
Comments: Read comments

Royal icing is the classic sweet glue that holds together gingerbread houses and provides a glossy medium for elaborate cookie decorations. Many recipes call for egg whites or cream of tartar or both, but meringue powder (available online or at specialty food stores) offers gloss, stability and creaminess without the use of raw eggs or other ingredients. This recipe was developed by Georganne Bell, a professional cookie-decorating teacher in Salt Lake City who doesn’t like traditional vanilla sugar cookies. The icing takes coloring easily, and pipes nicely from an icing bag or even a plastic bag with a corner snipped off. —Kim Severson

Featured in: Meet the Cookiers, Home Bakers With a Bond Stronger Than Royal Icing

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Ingredients

Yield:About 5 cups, enough for about 5 dozen small cookies

⅓cup/47 grams meringue powder
⅔cup/158 milliliters warm water
7½cups/937 grams confectioners’ sugar
1tablespoon/15 milliliters vanilla extract, or other flavoring, like coconut or almond extracts

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Place meringue powder and water in the bowl of a standing mixer and swirl them together. Using the whisk attachment, mix on high for 3 minutes until the mixture is frothy. Scrape down the sides.
Step 2
Add confectioners’ sugar and mix for 2 minutes, being careful to start slowly and then gradually increase speed to high so the sugar doesn’t fly all over the kitchen, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Add vanilla or other flavoring (and gel food coloring if desired), and mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Transfer to an airtight container until ready to use. The icing will keep, refrigerated, for about 2 weeks.

Ratings

4 out of 5

159 user ratings

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Comments

cyrus6 years ago

store in glass container with cling wrap directly on icing. If leaving out, keep moist paper towel on top. Keep all decorating tips in a damp cloth when using or icing will dry hard in your decorating tips https://www.confectionarychalet.com/royal-icing-information/ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/dining/cookie-decorating-royal-icing.html https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/12/decorating-cookies-with-royal-icing-tutorial.html

Dan Behles6 years ago

I buy it online from Amazon, but I also find it in craft stores like Michael's

Texan6 years ago

Sur La Table has it.

sue t2 years ago

I added lemon extract and it was perfection.

Tammy6 years ago

Fantastic recipe. I have never made royal icing before and this was wonderfully easy to work with. It didn't dry out quickly at all. I made a half recipe, which was plenty for 3 colors and 3 dozen cookies. Used some w/ vanilla and some w/ coconut flavoring. 5 stars

aerdna6 years ago

The icing seems very thick. I assume I can thin it before I use it? Is it best to thin with water or milk?

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