royal icing

Christmas 2005, I came home to a wonderful surprise—my mom had learned how to make royal icing! The possibilities for sugar cookies were limitless. While we made our fair share of Christmas sugar cookies, complete with intricate designs, I was most excited to make my Valentine’s Day sugar cookies and pipe patterns on the hearts. Polka dots, stripes, plaid, swirls. You name it, we could pipe it.

Flash forward a few years. I forgot to bring meringue powder to China. Thankfully, the same family friend who taught my mom how to make royal icing mailed some to me in a package. The recipe below makes a lot of icing. If you only have a few dozen cookies, or don’t need many colors, consider halving the recipe.

(While you can make royal icing with raw egg whites, I prefer meringue powder for convenience and safety.)

ROYAL ICING

1 lb powdered sugar, sifted
3 Tbsp meringue powder
½ cup warm water
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
Gel food coloring

COMBINE dry ingredients. Add water and extract.

BEAT for 7-10 minutes.

DIVIDE into bowls for colors. Add gel food coloring to each bowl. Icing will be very stiff. Dilute with a few drops of water until thin enough to pipe comfortably. To flood cookies with icing, dilute further.