Must have Royal Icing Recipe!

These are a few of the cookies I slaved over this Christmas, they were more delicious then they were cute ( if you can believe that ). 

For the cookies I use a simple shortbread cookie recipe, something that will hold its shape in the oven is KEY. 

Once your dough is made you want to refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until your dough is firm. You want your dough cold so that your cookies don't spread during the baking process.

 I will stop talking about cookies now I just wanted to give a few pointers on the basics because ya know, whats royal icing with out a bomb cookie to go on?! NAM SAYIN?! ✊

Now to the star of the show - ROYAL ICING! 

Ive had some BAD royals, and by had I mean made... I have made some BAD royal icings. 

No shame in my baking game, I am self taught! Thats how I learn 😊

But this recipe was sent from the Royal Gods, countless youtube videos, google searches, texting friends who have a professional background in pastry. Nothing worked for me - but this. 

It is so simple, everyone goes in the pot and the mixer goes on. 

If its too thick add a touch of water 

If its too thin sift in some powdered sugar 

AND ( moms you'll appreciate this ) IT HOLDS UP IN THE FREEZER! 

So you can make a batch once and everything that you have left over goes into a ziplock bag in the freezer! 

Decorating with Royal Icing can be as easy or hard as you make it. 

That being said here are a few tips to make your life a lot easier and your kitchen a lot cleaner; 

Get a few of these 

You'll have more control with a bottle vs a piping bag. 

Once your Royal Icing is made its going to be thick; like WAY too thick for you to do anything decorative with. Unless you are going for a spackle look... Then leave it... it is perfect! 

You want to water it down, a little bit goes a long way so start with about a tablespoon. 

You are looking for a toothpaste consistency - thinner then what you started with but not too runny. 

This tooth paste consistency is what we are going to use for our outline. 

Color your icing at this point and put it into your piping bottle / bag. 

NOW; With the icing left in the bowl we are going to thin it out a little more to get our " flood " consistency. This consistency is going to look like shampoo. If you take it on your spoon and let it fall back into the bowl it should spread out within seconds with no ripples or lines left behind. This is what you are filling all of the empty space on your cookie with. 

If you want to get fancy with it - make a few colors pipe them all in at once and run a tooth pick through it! 

Working with Royal is all about layers, and by layers I mean patience! 

Do your outline and WAIT - it will form a thin "crust" and start to firm up. 

If you want a seamless look forget everything I just said - Do your outline and flood your cookie immediately after. 

Once your cookies are flooded if you are doing anything detailed on the cookie you have to wait until it is dry to pipe anything ontop. If you rush this step your cookies will still be delicious but not as pretty if you had just stepped back and made a drink. 

Patience = Layers

Patience + Drinks 

 =

 Cute Delicious cookies 

Im no mathematician but... if the equation starts and ends in drinks / cute / and delicious cookies I am all over it! 

Below is the recipe I have been blabbing about - I hope you all love it as much as I do!  

Royal Icing Recipe :
2LB Powdered Sugar
1/2 Tsp Cream Of Tartar
5 Egg Whites
1Tsp Flavoring
Food Coloring

Sift your powdered sugar before putting into your egg whites to ensure you'll have a smooth finished product.

Thank you SO very much for reading, If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask :)