Recipe of the day: How to make your own royal icing for homemade cookies
Picture: iStock
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Made from confectioners’ sugar, egg whites and flavouring, royal icing is used to decorate cookies and cakes.
While buttercream frosting is creamy and soft, royal icing hardens which is exactly what you want when decorating your child’s birthday cookies with those beautiful butterflies and flowers.
Royal icing takes between six and eight hours to dry, so if you are baking cookies for a birthday party or school bake sale, make sure you decorate them in advance so there is enough time for the icing to dry before you transport the cookies.
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A handy tip is to keep your icing covered with a wet cloth while you decorate your cookies as the icing will start to dry while you are still busy decorating, especially if you are taking too long with your decorations.
1 large egg white, or equivalent amount of dried egg whites
½ teaspoon water
Method:
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, egg white and water. Mix the ingredients together with a wooden spoon, until the icing is thickened and smooth, about 2 minutes.
The icing will keep up to 2 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Before using, beat it with a fork. Stir in very small amounts of water if it seems too thick.
Royal icing can be thinned simply by adding water (or lemon juice) or thickened by adding confectioners’ sugar. Add liquid or confectioners’ sugar in small increments, such as 1/2 teaspoon at a time, and mix thoroughly before deciding whether to add more. Use thinner, spreadable royal icing for “flooding” cookies for background work, and thicker royal icing for “piping” lines and making rosettes.
To make your royal icing colourful, a few drops of food colouring will saturate your royal icing with any colour of the rainbow. Just remember that a little colouring goes a long way— if the colour isn’t as dark or saturated as you want, keep in mind that it will darken as the icing dries.
