My Annual Holiday Baking Extravaganza Part Five (a series...with recipes!)

In Which We Discover The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Royal Icing

I have…well, had…a container of “mistake cookies” on the counter as proof that using royal icing takes some practice. My family will tell you that there is nothing wrong with a bin full of mistake baked goods (“mistake cakes” are also a thing here), and mostly they are right - they are all edible, tasty even, but just don’t meet my design and appearance standards.

So my first attempts at royal icing landed firmly in the mistake bin, and were consumed quickly. I just want to get that out there in case you decide to try to pipe some cookies the day before you need to take them to some gathering. JUST DON’T. Make a batch just to practice on (there also exists in the world, ceramic practice cookies, if that suits you better. Not sure it will help you with dealing with things like Santa’s beard though). And obviously - I am not a professional, so google some videos, find other sources, etc.

There are a ton of royal icing recipes out there, and they are all just a little bit different. The easiest ones call for meringue powder, which, depending on where you live, might be easiest to find online. It’s spendy, ($19/lb) but also will get you many batches of icing. I ordered meringue powder from Truly Mad Plastics (site recommended by our local commercial cookie baker, Krazy Kookie Mama), which also has all kinds of baking supplies and does custom cookie/fondant cutters.

And I ended up using the recipe on the back of the meringue powder bag - I got the best results with it, for producing piping-consistency right away with no need to add more sugar to thicken it up (that said, it can get runny after it sits for a day or two, so you may need to add more powdered sugar at that point).

Because I hate those cooking blogs that make you wade through 6 pages of narrative before they finally get to the recipe, here is the recipe! And more narrative after if you want to read it.

TMP Royal Icing Recipe

• 1/4 cup meringue powder

• 1/2 cup water

• 1 tsp vanilla (optional - or use other flavoring)

• 1 lb powdered sugar, sifted

In medium/large bowl, beat meringue powder, water and vanilla until peaks form. Beat in powdered sugar. Your mixture should be thick and somewhat fluffy. For piping, the icing should hold its shape a bit; for flooding you want it thick but to smooth out after a few seconds (there are LOTS of probably better descriptions for consistency online!).

I like the flavor of my cookies, so did not feel the need to jazz up the icing with any flavoring other than vanilla. But you can add whatever flavoring you want.

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So the good - the icing is tasty and complements the cookie. You can do cool stuff! It sets up hard so you can stack cookies; you can freeze them iced if you want. You can use tips (about a $1 each at places like Michael’s) and if you are doing some precision piping, you might want to go that route (I used a #2 and a #3 mostly). Otherwise, it’s easiest to snip a tiny bit off the end of the bag (very tiny! practice this!).

The bad and the ugly overlap - this is messy as hell. And some bits - like snowman hats! - are difficult. Or at least, it is for me, even after icing something like 14 dozen cookies. It’s also wasteful - lots of plastic piping bags, lots of unused frosting. I tried piping using plastic bottles and it just did not work as well. And since it’s hard to gauge how much icing you’ll need in which color, you just can’t avoid tossing some away. Or eating it! Ha, ha, no, did I just say that? Maybe don’t eat it. Or don’t eat all of it.

So what special stuff do you need?

• Meringue powder

• Piping bags

• Piping tips (optional)

• Food coloring gels (important! Do NOT use the liquid food coloring, you will not get the color you want. Santa’s hat will be pink. Not that there is anything wrong with that.)

• Fine tip brushes (for painting faces, etc)

• Vodka (for drinks!)(oops, no, actually it’s for diluting the coloring gels for painting - evaporates fast so doesn’t make your icing mushy)(also, drinks)

To give you an idea of how I did what:

You can be better than me and make up all your piping and flooding colors and bags before starting. I did not do this because I wasn’t sure how much I would need to do what. Err on the side of making too much of a color - flooding in particular takes more icing than you might think. Doing a TON of cookies? Make a batch of piping and another one for flooding, then color in smaller amounts as needed.

Pre-piping note on the stamped cookies: I used “luster dust” - about 1/8 tsp mixed with about 1/2 tsp vodka - to paint onto the cookie before piping. When shopping, read carefully - many are not “food grade.” Here is a better photo:

Piping: I used a #2 tip for most of these, mostly because I wanted to leave some cookies a bit plain for variety and for folks who don’t like a lot of icing (ahem, that would be…me). The tip gives the line a little more precision, which I like when there is no other decoration. Note on the stamped cookies - these are a pain in the ass, but they look cool and are easy to decorate, just follow the lines!

While the piping was still a little soft, I added any sprinkles so they would stick. The red balls on the trees in particular have to be done before the icing sets too much - just ask my cats how many of those they got to chase around the floor because they rolled off.

Flooding: If your icing is a good piping consistency, you will only need to add a tiny bit of water to get a good flooding consistency. Like, try 1/4 teaspoon at a time, depending on the amount of icing. Icing should smooth out after a few seconds. To apply, you can use a larger tip (#3 or maybe #5) or, just snip a bit off the end of the bag. It’s easiest to gauge how big a snip if you do it AFTER you fill the bag with icing. Ask me how I know this.

Like with the piping, you need to add your sprinkles before everything sets so they stick. The red balls (damn things) WILL roll off the snowman belly if you wait too long. They will also bleed into the icing if it’s too wet. You’ll figure it out.

The icing needs to be totally set before you paint any details, if you’re going to do that. I mean, a blob of black icing works just fine for snowman eyes, orange for the nose, etc - but honestly, I was kinda done making tiny batches of colored icing, and this seemed easier. One drop of color gel and a drop of vodka will get you a nice opaque color for painting.

Have fun, and enjoy the holidays! I am off to make some more mistakes! Hopefully, just with the cookies in my life.