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How to make royal icing offers tips, tricks and advice on how to make royal icing for your gingerbread house or other holiday treats.
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Introduction
- Royal Icing is quite literally the glue that holds many a Christmas creation together. A fast-drying icing made of egg whites and powdered sugar, royal icing is most commonly used for decorating sugar cookies and as the mortar in gingerbread houses.
How to Make Daisies in Royal Icing
This video demonstrates how to make daisies out of royal icing. The royal icing is piped onto a decorating nail using a pastry bag and writing tip, which has been coated with a small piece of waxed paper. The lines on the nail are visible through the waxed paper, so can be easy outlined with the royal icing.
How to Make Royal Icing
The type of icing typically used in decorating Christmas cookies is called "royal icing." A thick version of the icing can be used to create outlines or piping around your cookie. A thinner version can be used to coat your entire cookie with a layer of icing that will harden into crunchy finish.
- This recipe will yield approximately 2 1/2 cups of royal icing.
Ingredients You'll Need
- 3 egg whites
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 4 cups of confectioner's sugar
- Food coloring (optional)
Equipment You'll Need
- 1 mixer
- 1 pastry bag
- Pastry bag tips
How to Make Royal Icing With Egg Whites
- In the bowl of a mixer, combine 3 egg whites and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until frothy.
- Gradually add 4 cups of confectioner's sugar and lemon juice to the mix until incorporated.
- Beat the mixture until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Approximately 5 to 7 minutes on high speed.
- Add food coloring if desired.
- Transfer to a pastry bag, filling to 1/3 full. Use standard tips #2 or #3, and decorate!
- Thick icing is good for creating a pipe or outline to be filled in with thinner icing.
- Thin icing is good for filling in an outlined shape or laying a base coat over the entire cookie. Icing can be thinned by adding water.
Alternate Royal Icing Recipe
- Using uncooked, unpasteurized eggs is considered unsafe by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As an alternative, you can make royal icing with meringue powder, which is essentially dried egg with sugar and gum added.
This recipe will yield approximately 3 cups of royal icing.Ingredients You'll Need
- 3 tablespoons of meringue powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 4 cups of confectioners' sugar
- 1/2 cup of warm water
Equipment You'll Need
- Mixer
- Pastry bag or plastic bag
How to Make Royal Icing With Meringue Powder
- In the bowl of the mixer, whip together the sugar and meringue powder.
- Add the vanilla extract and lemon juice.
- Add the water. Beat for approximately 5 minutes or until stiff peaks begin to form.
- Transfer to pastry bag.
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