Favorite Cookie Icing / Frosting

Baking By Roxy073087 Updated 18 Feb 2016 , 10:36pm by MBalaska

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Roxy073087 Posted 3 Mar 2013 , 9:03am
post #1 of 42

I wanted to start a new thread to dedicate to all our favorite cookie frostings, icings, glazes, ect.

 

Personally I love to bake and decorate, and must say have dabbled in quite a few different icing recipes.  From RI with egg whites, RI with merengue powder, piped buttercream, a royal glaze, and so on and so on, I've used glycerin, and corn syrup, but have yet to find my perfect icing. I don't quite have an issue with using the different types, dried consistency is my issue, as well as most of you I'm sure. I hate how hard RI can be, and then some royal glazes are just down right gritty. I'm wondering if anyone has tried a cooked recipe to remove the grittiness obviously it would have to stand in order to set up,

 

my perfect icing would be strong enough to stack, have a flavorful taste, to be smooth and creamy when bitten in to, and not hard, maybe together we can come up with something great!!!!

 

idk just thought it would be nice to have a new thread to discuss all the frostings, why we like them, why you don't,  tips tricks all in one place. Any ideas or feedback would be great!! :-) happy baking

41 replies
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sugarkissed_net Posted 5 Mar 2013 , 3:33am
post #2 of 42

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.

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Roxy073087 Posted 5 Mar 2013 , 8:53am
post #3 of 42

Thanks! That sounds wonderful! I've used RI with the merengue powder, but never thought to add both corn syrup and glycerin! What a great idea, I can wait to try it.

 

Ashleigh

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Mickeebabe Posted 19 Apr 2013 , 12:22am
post #4 of 42

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.****
 

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GeminiRJ Posted 22 Apr 2013 , 6:00pm
post #5 of 42

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.

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Neophyte Posted 22 Apr 2013 , 7:12pm
post #6 of 42

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

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Annie70 Posted 22 Apr 2013 , 9:57pm
post #7 of 42

Does the glaze get rock hard??

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Alissweettooth Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 1:38pm
post #8 of 42

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
 

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Alissweettooth Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 1:41pm
post #9 of 42

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.

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GeminiRJ Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 5:35pm
post #10 of 42

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).

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Neophyte Posted 23 Apr 2013 , 6:26pm
post #11 of 42

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.  

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JGMB Posted 25 Apr 2013 , 11:48pm
post #12 of 42

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.

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Roxy073087 Posted 4 May 2013 , 7:25am
post #13 of 42

AThanks for all the great recipes! I'm going to work on some cookies this weekend just in time to try and find a favorite for Mother's Day! :-) I'm hoping to upload photos of all the different icings so we can see how they hold up, as a base, and for decorating! Fingers crossed for my new favorite! :-)

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jdelectables Posted 19 May 2013 , 3:50pm
post #14 of 42

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

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BlueMerleGirl Posted 19 May 2013 , 4:57pm
post #15 of 42

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!!

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mbranko24 Posted 4 Jun 2013 , 7:38pm
post #16 of 42

I found a great royal Icing Glaze from a baker on CookiersR Us. I'll have to cut and paste it another day as i am at work now, but it is truly a greeat recipe.Kind of a hybrid between Ri and glaze, I used it last night to make 200 mini dog bone cookies and they dried great and taste wonderful. It was also very humid here.

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Roxy073087 Posted 7 Jul 2013 , 3:24pm
post #17 of 42

ASo I tried Geminis recipie and it's fantastic, only thing I did was I changed the flavoring, in stead of extracts, I used flavoring syrup like davinci and torani. it does dry to stack, and bag, but I don't quite find it pipable. But to cover cookies it's exactly what I was looking for, thanks so much, I'll post pictures of the finished product, I used it on cookies for a trial run for my wedding favors, sorry to say finished product is about 2 weeks away, maybe a week and a half :-) happy baking! I'm still going to try the other recipes as well though.

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BiteMeCreations Posted 5 Aug 2013 , 9:31pm
post #18 of 42

AWow! What a wealth of info, i am just about to dip my feet into cookie country and SO glad i came here first. Scrap the RI recipe i was given, i cant wait to try these, thanks ladies!! :)

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colmcb Posted 6 Aug 2013 , 11:05am
post #19 of 42

Thank you all so much for sharing. I've recently started decorating cookies and although I personally like RI, I agree that it's so hard when dry. I can't wait to try these. I'm a little nervous about trying to pipe with the glaze as I still have trouble piping the stiff RI! :-)

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Roxy073087 Posted 10 Aug 2013 , 5:40pm
post #20 of 42

A[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3075368/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3075369/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3075370/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

[IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3075371/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

Soo wedding cake cookie favors, and again I used Geminis recipie, this recipie is great for flooding... Not detail work (IMO) I will try some of the other recipes, which I've been meaning to for some time, but everything I do I can't quite experiment lol as you can see covers very nice, and it was done with spatulas forget the piping bags and tips for this step at least... after I've tried so many things, and I have to say none were bad, they all looked pretty but not my thing to eat, this recipie changed all of that... It's delicious especially when using the flavor syrups...

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Roxy073087 Posted 10 Aug 2013 , 5:47pm
post #21 of 42

A

Original message sent by colmcb

Thank you all so much for sharing. I've recently started decorating cookies and although I personally like RI, I agree that it's so hard when dry. I can't wait to try these. I'm a little nervous about trying to pipe with the glaze as I still have trouble piping the stiff RI! :-)

Personally I find the RI much easier to pipe with, but that's because for piping its all about control, pressure and angles, with glaze or glacé or basically any form of icing that's more on the loose side just runs or spreads, so for piping detail work I like to stick with royal, and in the beginning before doing any detail work on my baked goods, I would do it a few times on a plate or like a water bottle to learn the angles I wanted good luck!! I hope you enjoy it as much as most of us do!! :-)

Happy Baking! Ashleigh

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mbranko24 Posted 10 Aug 2013 , 6:13pm
post #22 of 42

AWhere can I find Gemini's recipe?

Thanks!

Erin

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mbranko24 Posted 10 Aug 2013 , 6:13pm
post #23 of 42

AOMG. Duh it's right there!!!' Sorry! :)

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MBalaska Posted 10 Aug 2013 , 7:39pm
post #24 of 42

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeminiRJ  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.

 Great cut-out cooking icing, been using it for years, doesn't make fine details (like comparing a crayon to a pencil) but the taste is so good that everyone enjoys it so much they don't care that it's not a meticiously decorated cookie.

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MBalaska Posted 10 Aug 2013 , 7:43pm
post #25 of 42

Quote:

Originally Posted by colmcb 

........ I'm a little nervous about trying to pipe with the glaze as I still have trouble piping the stiff RI! :-)

when you're piping, use a smaller tip than you want the line to be, or the dot to be.  This stuff spreads out, kinda like pancake syrup.

and it won't wear your hand out at all.  I gave up using icing bags, and went to small plastic bottles with the screw on lid that holds tips.  Then lay the bottle on it's  side to keep the icing closer to the tip and cut down on bubbles in the icing when your not decorating.

Really it taste so good, is simple to make, inexpensive, you'll be glad you tried it.  Good luck.

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GeminiRJ Posted 11 Aug 2013 , 7:12pm
post #26 of 42

While it may take some practice, I have found it fairly easy to get the glace icing to the right consistency for piping details. I've had no luck posting my more recent photos to CC, but there are plenty of examples in my album. Or you can always check my Flickr photos. If you have any questions about using glace, don't hesitate to ask! If you're looking for some yummy extracts to add to your icing, I recommend Spices, Etc.

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MBalaska Posted 11 Aug 2013 , 7:53pm
post #27 of 42

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeminiRJ 

While it may take some practice, I have found it fairly easy to get the glace icing to the right consistency for piping details...... but there are plenty of examples in my album......

GeminiRJ your Star Wars cake with the detailed yoda/darth cookies on the side really is eye-catching. 

A nice combination of cake & cookies. An interesting way to add Decorations to the cake that are sure to be eaten and enjoyed.  Thanks for that idea.

 

I usually mix this icing by hand, but I could try getting the piping consistency by adding the powd. sugar and using my KA hand mixer. I may not be able to get completely down to a pencil level of detailing, but I might be able to go from crayon to felt tipped pen.

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GeminiRJ Posted 12 Aug 2013 , 12:25pm
post #28 of 42

I'm so glad you liked the Star Wars cookies as cake decorations. They're some of my favorites, too. Since I don't work in fondant, it's a great way to get some really interesting designs onto a cake.

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MBalaska Posted 15 Aug 2013 , 8:15am
post #29 of 42

Putting a little glycerin in the royal icing to soften it a bit, I hope it works.  My poor outlining skills, and the fast immediate drying of the RI, have given me some pretty funky outlines.  All works well with the 'glace' icing, no problems there, love it.

 

But when I do try to do something dressier, I run into the crispy crunchy RI messy lines. The outlines either break off, or get jagged when I try to straighten them out.  tried all the tricks (damp paint brush, yellow stick, toothpick,  Uggggg.    Even if I outline and fill in immediately for a smooth top, it's a problem.  Stencil work on RI is easy in comparison.  I really need this softer RI to work. 

 

I'd even be happy with a bag of softened RI to outline, and then grab a bag of normal RI to fill in.  Fingers Crossed. Is it completely insane to spend 10 to 15 minutes on a cookie? nah not really.

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carleen2140 Posted 16 Aug 2013 , 7:24pm
post #30 of 42

I love glace icing too, but I find I get more pin holes in it then RI.  I toothpick it to death as I see them .  My cookies look fine when I go to bed,and overnight they dry and are full of pinholes.  I am beginning to wonder it's how you beat it. I use a wisk to combine my icing. Should I be using my KA?  Also would glycerin put a shine on cooies?

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