I LOVE royal icing. It’s a really versatile material for making 2D and 3D designs on cookies. It’s fluid for decorating, but dries hard, so you can stack and package your cookies. The only problem is that it can dry TOO hard. The first time I made it, I was very surprised two days later when I almost broke a tooth on a cookie!
To resolve this, I did a couple of things. I switched from whatever nameless brand meringue powder I first bought, and I started using Chefmaster brand. It really does have a better taste, and texture, in my opinion. Some brands just smell like chemicals, and I am not a fan of that. I am a super taster, so I feel like I’m extra sensitive to those little changes.
Next, I did some research on softer royal icing recipes. There are some popular ones out there that have a lot of work involved. My recipe is easy, all in one, and sets up hard enough to stack, but with that crowd pleasing softer bite.
I have to make a bit of a confession here; I’m really bad at following my own recipes. A lot of the time, I follow the general direction of the recipe, but I just kind of “know” when something is “right.” It sounds crazy, I know. But hear me out. I’ve been making my sugar cookie and icing recipes weekly for over 2 years. I think I could make them both without measuring cups, and with my eyes closed… while drunk.
So, my point is, that this recipe has a little bit of “give.” Meaning, if it’s not soft enough for you, you can add more of the special ingredients (more on that in a moment), or if it’s too soft, you can exclude some. It’s all about finding the right balance that you like.
The special ingredients we are adding to the royal icing that give it the softer bite is corn syrup and glycerin (food grade, obvi.). I know, I know… corn syrup, yuck, right? Look at the back of like 90% of the processed food in your cupboard, and you betcha they have corn syrup in them. While that isn’t the best defense of this ingredient, I reason it this way: I don’t eat a ton of processed food, so when I’m going to have a dessert I might as well go all the way. Have all the real sugar, all the real fat, all the gluten, and yep all the “junk.” As long as I’m not adding corn syrup to all of my meals, I feel okay with a sugar cookie containing it every once in a while. But, you do what feels right for you and your family.
Just wait until I share my french buttercream recipe… with ALL the fat! 🙂
I also use clear vanilla for this recipe- which means it is artificial (NOT imitation!). You can do your own research on artificial extracts, but they aren’t as harmful as you would probably think. Anyhow, I use clear vanilla because, well, it’s clear. I like my icing pure white in case I need white icing for a design, and it’s a better base for adding food coloring. When I use real vanilla extract in my recipe, the icing has a soft cream color to it. If you’re okay with that, then by all means, real vanilla is fine to use for this recipe. I use real vanilla in my cookies, but prefer the clear for my icing. And this might surprise you, but the clear has a stronger vanilla flavor. ::shrug::
I do not add white food coloring to my icing. A lot of cookiers do this in the hopes of preventing color bleed on their cookies. In my experience, color bleed (when one icing bleeds into another) comes from having too much gel color in your icing. It just doesn’t make sense to me to add white food gel, and then add another color. It’s just more gel. It’s not like acrylic paint. If you add too much colorant, of any color including white, it’s going to make the icing unstable, and it will bleed. But, that’s just my experience, and again, you can do some tests for yourself.
The last thing I want to mention about this recipe is that it does behave differently than traditional royal icing. If you’ve ever used regular, straight royal icing (meringue powder, powdered sugar, water, and vanilla) you know that it has a very stable quality to it. It can be firm and/or fluid, and if you’re piping with a “toothpaste consistency” (we’ll talk consistencies in another post!) it “pulls” very straight. It’s hard to explain what I mean, but just know that my recipe will behave differently. It has a more mallow-y or elastic feel to it. Just know that if you are trying this icing for the first time, maybe don’t use it for a really important cookie set without practicing first. It will behave differently, and does take some getting used to!
Now to the recipe! You will need:
- 5ish (I know, bear with me) Tbsp Chefmaster brand meringue powder (I buy mine at the cake shop in my town, but you can also buy some here.
- 1 1/2 tsp food grade glycerin
- 2 tbsps corn syrup, find the brand I use here.
- 1- 1 1/2 cups cool water (you probably won’t need all of this!)
- 2 lbs powdered sugar (I just buy the 2 lb bags so I don’t have to measure it!)
- 1 1/2 tsp clear vanilla, if you can’t find it in the store, get it here.
- Stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or hand mixer (just something electronic because, unfortunately, this can’t be whipped by hand)
- A good, strong, flexible rubber spatula
To start, loosely scoop 5 Tbsps of meringue powder into your mixer. I state 5 ish in the recipe, because I don’t level them off. I know, I know, but if you DO level them off, your icing will still turn out great, I promise. But feel free to run it loosey goosey like me.
Add about a half of a cup of the water. Turn on your mixer, with the whisk attachment to a medium low speed. As the meringue powder and water combine, you will need to scrape the sides of your bowl. Stop the mixer, scrape, then turn it back on to a medium speed.
Keep mixing until the mixture becomes foamy. Increase the speed to medium/high until you achieve soft peaks. Note that the more you whip this mixture now, it will affect how loose or firm your icing is later. I go to a solid soft peak. So it stands, but not very firm. If you lift the whisk and it makes a peak that immediately falls back into the mixture, your icing will not get to a firm stage, so you’ll need to mix a bit longer. Just don’t mix until you get a true firm peak.
Once you’ve reached your solid soft peaks, turn off the mixer, and add half of the bag of powdered sugar. I don’t sift mine. I do not notice a difference between sifting and not sifting, so I skip it. Start the mixer slow. If you’re scared of a sugar cloud, you can use a tea towel to loosely cover the top of your mixer during this stage. Once the sugar has started to combine, raise the speed of your mixer to medium high. Mix until all the clumps of powdered sugar have broken up and you have a smooth texture. This should take a minute or two.
Turn off the mixer and add the rest of the powdered sugar. Again, cover with your tea towel, and start the mixer on low. This time, the mixture will thicken up very quickly. It will probably be too thick to continue before the sugar incorporates all the way. Stop the mixer. Add the 2 tbsps of corn syrup. Please note that these are measured “loosely.” This means that I don’t scrape the scoop each time I measure a tbsp. So, the actual amount might be a little less than 2 tbsps or a little more. Again, I don’t think it’s that critical for this to be perfectly exact.
Turn the mixer back on at medium/high until the sugar and corn syrup mix in completely. You will have a firm mixture with stiff peaks. Stop the mixer and add the 1 1/2 tsps glycerin (measured loosely). Mix for about 30 seconds on medium high speed. Add the vanilla, and again mix until combined. You might have to add a few tbsps of water.
A note about royal icing. It’s meant to be made at a stiff texture that you then thin out to the correct consistencies for whatever design you’re working on. I don’t mix mine to that extra stiff consistency unless I know that I have to pipe flowers or leaves, etc. I have a bad wrist, and I don’t like to do a lot of mixing by hand, so I start with a softer icing. From the start of adding the corn syrup, through to the end product, you might have to add little bits of water so that it can mix smoothly. Add it slowly, maybe a tablespoon at a time. If you’re unsure of when to add water, if your mixer is having a hard time mixing, add a little water.
The picture above is how mine usually looks when it’s done. The picture makes it look softer than it is, though. It still holds a peak, but my spatula doesn’t get stuck while mixing. The picture below might be a better example. Those lines and peaks will not smooth out on their own, because the icing is stiff. Also, that is a double batch, so if you follow this recipe, it will yield about half of that; it makes about 4 cups.
At this point, you will want to store the icing in an airtight container. You can thin it out with water for decorating, or add colors. I suggest using gel colors (I use chefmaster brand). Left on the counter, it’s good for a few weeks. If left at room temp, it will separate a little, and will need to be stirred or mixed if it has sat for a few days. I like to store mine in the fridge when not decorating and overnight, but it doesn’t have to be refrigerated. The fridge just keeps it from separating. It can be frozen as well!
I wish you good luck with this recipe and please comment if you have any questions. Let me know if you try it and what you think!
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Happy baking, friends!
Savannah
