This easy step-by-step tutorial contains helpful tips to guide you through decorating cookies with royal icing for beginners! Use this royal icing recipe for outlining and flooding cookies for any celebration or holiday.
Table of Contents
Royal Icing for Cookies
When it comes to decorating baked goods with frosting, I’ve shown how to frost the perfect cupcake and pipe on sugar cookie icing. I just recently experimented with a royal icing recipe and am sharing all my tips and tricks that I learned along the way.
With the holidays around the corner, I thought I would do a little royal icing 101 “class” for beginners. I have always seen those gorgeous iced sugar cookies in bakeries and wanted to make Christmas sugar cookies that looked like them as they are perfect for special occasions and everyone goes crazy over them.
While I am certainly no professional, I’m here to tell you that it’s easier than it looks. Learning how to make royal icing is simple and requires only 3 ingredients. Once you test using royal icing on cookies, you’ll get the hang of it in no time.
Ingredients
- Powdered sugar: Also known as confectioners sugar. If you’d prefer, you may sift it as well.
- Liquid: For this frosting, you can use fresh lemon juice (which I prefer) or water. The lemon juice will help break up the sweetness from the powdered sugar and adds a great flavor.
- Meringue powder: To make it easy you can add in meringue powder, however if you don’t have any you can replace with 2 egg whites. Meringue powder is what makes this different than a powdered sugar icing recipe.
How to Make Royal Icing
In a large bowl, beat powdered sugar, warm water and meringue powder until it forms peaks. This takes about 7-10 minutes on low with a standing mixer or about 10-12 minutes on high with a handheld mixer. The consistency should be fairly thick.
Outlining vs. Flooding your Cookies
Getting the royal icing recipe to the right consistency is the hardest part. It just takes time! My advice would be to buy some store bought sugar cookies and practice on those first.
As your confidence increases, make a batch of my favorite sugar cookies and go to town this holiday!
- Outline icing: This is the key to creating perfect royal icing cookies! You’ll first “outline” the cookies with the stiffer icing (it should not pour easily off the spoon). When you pipe it onto a cookie it will not spread.
- Flood icing: This has a thicker liquid texture similar to honey and should run off the spoon. The outline helps to create a border, so that the flood icing doesn’t run off the sides of the cookies.
How to Decorate Cookies with Royal Icing
Follow this royal icing tutorial for perfect cookies every time!
- Add food coloring. Once you’ve made the icing, transfer the mixture to bowls and add food coloring if desired. Then transfer the icing into a frosting bag.
- Outline the cookie. Next outline your cookie with a stiffer frosting and a fine frosting tip (I used a #2 tip). This border basically creates a dam to make sure the “flood” icing doesn’t go off the sides of the cookies.
- Add the flood icing. Mix in 1 teaspoon of water or lemon juice to your icing to make the flood icing. The consistency will be a thick liquid like honey. Then using a frosting bottle, spread the frosting inside the “outlined” cookie.
- Spread and smooth the icing. Use a small knife or toothpick to spread the frosting. You can also use the toothpick to pop any bubbles.
To add more designs on top: I haven’t played around with adding too many designs, but once the frosting is somewhat dry, you can use the stiffer frosting (in step #1) to pipe a design on top of your cookies.
How to Dry Royal Icing
It’s important to allow cookies to dry over night before packaging or adding more designs. Your cookies will not dry out as the icing acts a barrier to the air. It can also help to dry the cookies in front of a fan to keep the icing shiny.
I would not put your cookies with royal icing to dry in the fridge or freezer. The humidity and temperature change is not great for the icing.
Helpful Cookie Decorating Tools
If this is your first time making royal icing, I’d recommend picking up the helpful materials below. Most of these tools you can find at your local craft store too. Make sure to bring your coupons!
- Frosting bags
- Elastic bands
- Decorating tips
- Coupler
- Icing bottles
- Food gel coloring
- Small glass of water to hold the frosting bags in
- Damp paper towels
- Toothpicks
Storage Tips
This royal icing recipe will keep for up to 1 month. Simply cover the mixture with clear saran wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to use. Let sit out at room temperature until the consistency is smooth and ready to use.
Looking for recipes for how to use royal icing? Try Halloween sugar cookies, brown sugar cookies or lemon sugar cookies.
More Frosting Recipes
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Royal Icing Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 4 cups powdered sugar (more if needed)
- 4 to 5 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice or water (more if needed)
- 3 Tablespoons meringue powder
Instructions
- Make royal icing recipe. Add 4 cups powdered sugar, 4-5 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (or water) and 3 Tablespoons meringue powder in a large bowl. Beat on low for 1 minute and then scrape down the sides. Then beat on medium speed until icing forms a peak and is glossy. It will take about 5 to 7 minutes at low speed with a stand mixer and 10-12 minutes at high speed with a handheld mixer. It should be fairly thick (and not fall off the paddle). If it's too thick add a little more lemon juice, if it runs off then you'll want to add a little more powdered sugar.
- Tint royal icing. Once you've made the frosting, transfer to bowls for adding colors and then transfer into your frosting bag.
- Outline cookies. Next outline your cookie with a stiffer frosting and a fine frosting tip (I used a #2 tip). This border creates a dam to make sure the "flood" icing doesn't go off the sides of the cookies.
- Make flood icing. Mix in 1 teaspoon of water or fresh lemon juice to your frosting to make the flood icing. The consistency will be a thick liquid like honey. Then using an icing bottle, spread the frosting inside the "outlined" cookie.
- Spread royal icing. Use a small knife or toothpick to spread the frosting. You can also use the tooth pick to pop any bubbles.
- Dry cookies. Allow cookies to on the counter until icing has hardened.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
This is the PERFECT icing for decorating sugar cookies!
This turned out great. Thanks for sharing!
Love this recipe! So simple! Thank you! :)
Is it possible to make the icing without meringue powder. I make cookies for my son and his friends, one of them has an egg allergy.
Hello! All of the substitutes I’ve seen still contain egg…so unfortunately I do not know of any non egg substitutes. Sorry!
Can I add flavoring to this frosting?
You could – but not too much; the favoring can offset the balance of how the frosting behaves. :)
I am about to embark on my first attempt at decorating cookies with royal icing and have a couple questions before I begin. After mixing the icing, getting it to the correct consistency, does adding the coloring then ruin that consistency? I am wondering if I will need to make icing thicker than it is supposed to be so that when I add the coloring, it will then be perfect, or does it not make that much of a difference.
Also, do you have to worry about working quickly, before the icing starts to harden, or is there some time to be a bit of a perfectionist, lol ?
If I am going to make a couple dozen cookies, using about three different colors on each, will one (1-pound) batch of icing be enough, or will I need to make two batches ?
And last… I understand that you need to cover and refrigerate icing to keep it from hardening, but when I am ready to use it, does it need to be brought to room temp first?
Thanks so much for your wonderful blog. I am glad I found it.
can you use egg whites instead of meringue poweder?
I’ve heard that it works really well, I haven’t tried it myself though! From all the other sources I’ve looked at, it says that it is the perfect substitution, so I say give it a try! :)
I’ve always fancied myself a decorated cookie sort of girl, but have never actually become one. I think it’s time I learn! Thanks for the tutorial!
I made baseball cookies once with Royal Icing… it was fun and actually pretty easy. Not sure I’d attempt anything too complicated, but those pie slice cookies look adorable and easy enough!
So fun – I’m definitely trying this. I tried to download the ADORABLE Christmas tag and all I could do was pin in on pinterest. Is it still available as a free printable. It is just too cute!
I have always wanted to be able to make those fun cookies with smooth frosting! I for sure am going to give this a try! Thanks so much for sharing it!
It is so fun to do once you get the hang of it, I love how pretty they turn out! :) Have fun with it!
Thanks so much…I can’t wait to try this!
You will love it, there are so many possibilities with royal icing! :)
I’m totally laughing because this is how I spent ALL DAY yesterday. Finished the baking around lunch & by the time the icing was done & I finished photographing them- it was time for dinner & my hubs was rolling in. Very time consuming to make them pretty but so worth it.
Hahaha sounds just like when I made them the first time! I like splitting the baking and frosting into two days, it’s way less time consuming! :)
What a great tutorial. I am excited to try it out!!
xoxox
They are so fun to make! Make a day out of it. :)
I’ve always been afraid to try the royal icing, but you make it look so easy. Will muster up the courage to give it a try. :D
I was afraid too, but you would be a pro Kristyn! Now to try and add designs… :O
DO IT! I insist!
I’m not much of a baker and have always wondered how to create those gorgeous smooth iced cookies – now I know! Thanks for the tutorial – definitely pinning it:)
Same with me, I always saw those gorgeous cookies and wondered how they do it! It really is so much simpler than I thought! :)
I haven’t made royal icing since culinary school. This is a good refresher for me and perfect for the upcoming holidays. Pinned and I can’t wait to make royal icing for Christmas Cookies!!
I can’t wait to try the royal icing for Christmas cookies too! So many possibilities! :)
I love this tutorial… Making this for sure!
Thanks Desiree! Have fun with the royal icing! :)