Favorite Cookie Icing / Frosting

This is the recipe for my favorite royal icing. I love it because it doesn't dry rock hard but is still stiff enough for detailed decorating, stacking, and packaging. Plus it's yummy!

Royal Icing (That Won’t Dry Rock Hard)
 

Ingredients
5 tablespoons meringue powder
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 cup warm water
2 pounds powdered sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon glycerin
12 drops white gel food coloring
1 teaspoon oil-free clear vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon oil-free clear almond extract
1/4 teaspoon oil-free clear butter flavoring

Directions
Use a whisk to mix together the water, meringue powder, and cream of tartar for about 30 seconds, making sure there are no lumps.
In a separate bowl, sift the powdered sugar.
Add the water mixture to the sugar and mix for one minute.
Add the corn syrup, glycerine, food coloring and flavoring.
Beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks, approximately 6 to 8 minutes, pausing to scrape down the edges of the bowl if needed.

I use this recipe here that was posted by bunnywoman on the Wilton.com discussion boards:

ALICE'S MODIFIED ROYAL

1 pound sifted powdered sugar
3 Tbsp. meringue powder
5-6 Tbsp. water
1/2 cup of butter ( ¼ cup if flooding)

Add all ingredients in your mixer bowl and mix until nice and smooth.

You can stack cookies when dry, but they will not dry rock hard like royal icing.

BUNNY's NOTES:
I add 1 tsp. vanilla to this to give it a nice flavor. Adding Lorann flavors works well in this recipe too. These take about 24 hours to dry completely. Adjust drying time to the humidity in your area. There is no wrong way to mix this up. I just dump it all in my bowl and mix it with my handheld KA mixer. I also found out that if I use about a 1/4 cup of butter it is more stable for decorating.

*****Please be aware that when adding water to this the butter wants to separate somewhat. Just keep mixing.****
 

I love glace! I like that I don't need to go to a specialty store for any of the ingredients. It's a comfort to know if I'm decorating some last minute cookies on a Sunday night and run short of icing, I can just run down to the grocery store and get the ingredients. My favorite recipe:

3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3 tablespoons milk or water (I use skim milk)

3 tablespoons corn syrup

2 tsp. extract

Optional: 15-20 drops brite white food color

You want the icing to be the consistency of honey, or white school glue. To thin, add more corn syrup. To thicken, add more powdered sugar.

I can vouch for Gemini's recipe - tastes good (love it with lemon extract) and dries quickly.  

Does the glaze get rock hard??

I use royal and think the key is to whip for a full ten minutes. It dries hard enough to get fine details, but you can still bite into it. I think MP or the egg white is misunderstood. You really should turn it into a light merinque and it is what holds the air in your icing.

My recipe is modified for where I live.  A lot of moisture or humidity will wreak havoc on your royal.(use a fan if needed)

5 oz luke warm water.

6Tbs MP

3 to 4 tsp flavor. I use emulsion and think it's stronger.

1 tsp cream of tarter.

2 pound bag powdered sugar and 1 cup

I combine MP, warm water and COT, flavor and whisk till frothy. If you let it sit for a few minutes, you reduce your risk of clogs in your fine tips. I use the warm water to help the MP dissolve. Add your bag of PS and one cup. This is where it can get tricky. I like a thicker, fluffier royal and that extra cup helps. It's not always ready to use right out of the mixer and may need to be thinned for piping, but making it this was helps it to stay set up for days and I would rather thin what I need than add more sugar later and risk lumps. I set my timer and mix for 10 minutes. It will end up about 5 times it's original size and be nice and arated so it doesn't dry too hard.

Freeze any left overs.

"my recipe" was inspired by Sweetopia and tweaked for my area. You may find you have to do the same. One more tip. Using a fan will help your icing set up and dry with a bit of a sheen to it. It has been a miracle worker for all our moisture.

Hope this helps.

Jacinda
 

Glaze dries soft, but can also take longer to dry and is hard to do detail work with. A lot of people use glaze as a base and do detail work in royal. Glaze dries a different texture and color so I prefer royal.

Glace dries firm to the touch, but soft underneath. I can usually bag or stack about 24 hours after I've finished decorating, or overnight if I need to push it. Doing detail work in glace isn't too much of a problem, as long as you don't want a 3D look (like BC flowers). Glace needs to be fairly thin, so you can't get a nice thickened depth like you can with royal. All my outlines are done with a #1s tip, using thickened glace (about the consistency of peanut butter). Again, I like that all the ingredients are easy to find at grocery stores. Also, you can make smaller or larger batches of the icing simply by keeping the proportions of the ingredients the same (1 T. corn syrup and milk/water to every 1 cup of powdered sugar).

I think Gemini's recipe is what you're looking for.  Like her, I appreciate the fact its ingredients are pantry basics, and I really like the flavor and texture.  The recipe is perfection for its simplicity.  

A few years ago, GeminiRJ shared that recipe and I've used nothing else since.  My customers love it -- they often comment about how they've had other decorated cookies with "crunchy" icing, but that mine is nice and creamy.

I use Rolled Buttercream with Royal Icing accents.  Love it!

I tried Gemini's recipe and it is really tasty on sugar cookies. I did have a hard time getting the consistency right, though. I think I need to practice more.

I have purchased cookies before that had Royal Icing and was VERY turned off because the icing was ROCK HARD and I did not care much for the taste...is it meringue powder that causes the super hard finish? I would like to try a few more recipes but I don't want to waste my time or money for it to come out like super hard ceramic-type frosting.

Any ideas of what to stay away from? 

Thanks!!