Not So Royal Icing

Hi Friends…  Today I’m sharing with you my Not So Royal Icing recipe.  I’m not a huge fan of royal icing.  I think it’s the meringue powder.  But I’ve had some amazing cookies made with royal icing so I would imagine there’s a way to make it taste good.  I just haven’t spent the time to explore the different recipes and haven’t felt a pressing need to because my Not So Royal Icing really works great for all my decorating needs.  

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This icing is really a glaze that hardens…and most importantly, it tastes delicious.  I do all my decorating with it, like these little Valentine gnomes that were so fun to make.  I’ll be sharing the how-to as soon as I can get it written!

The Not So Royal Icing recipe is so easy to make.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 lbs of Powdered Sugar
• 1/2 cup Light Corn Syrup
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tsp Butter Vanilla Emulsion
• 1 tbsp White Food Coloring

Here’s what you’ll do:

• Sift the powdered sugar and put it in a standing mixer bowl
• Add the corn syrup and water, and mix
• Add the Butter Vanilla emulsion and white food coloring
• Mix until smooth and then for another 3 minutes
• It’s ready to go!  I usually put it in a large Ziploc container with a lid until I’m ready to use it.  I also freeze any leftovers in this same container.

I’ve played with variations of this recipe for different flavor profiles.  My sugar cookie recipe, found here, is the perfect recipe to allow different flavors of icing to shine through.

My absolute favorite variation so far is lemon flavored icing.  It’s so good! 

Lemon Flavored…

If you want to try the lemon flavored icing, just make a couple of modifications:

• Substitute the 1/2 cup water with fresh lemon juice. 
  • I do recommend straining the lemon juice first to get the pulp out.  You don’t want that getting caught up in your icing bag and making it more difficult to decorate your cookies.
• Substitute the Butter Vanilla emulsion with Lemon Emulsion.

That’s all there is to it.  You’ll have that perfect combination of tangy and sweet.

My must have tools…

I’m a little in love with my KitchenAid mixer.  Mine is this model in a beautiful yellow.  It’s a splurge but no regrets!

As I mentioned, these Ziploc containers are the perfect size for my icing.  I let it rest in these to get the bubbles out, scoop out what I need to color, and save the rest in the freezer right in these containers.

I like most emulsions better than extracts.  The exception to that is maple so far.  Not a fan of the emulsion.  But the Butter Vanilla makes my sugar cookie recipe and this icing taste so good!  My go-to brand is LorAnn.

And the lemon emulsion if you’re wanting that lemon flavor…also from LorAnn.

I just bought this new sifter and really like it.  Works great for sifting the powdered sugar.

 

I hope you enjoy this recipe and as we approach 2024, I hope the new year is everything you dream of.

Happy tinkering,

Susan