I have made this icing 100+ times and it is foolproof (have a small cookie business). Don't add all water at once as it may make icing too thin for outlines. Always use paste food coloring, too. If you need an icing that is sugary sweet and dries HARD, this is it! Caution: if your bowl or beaters have even a trace of grease on them , this will not set properly. For planning purposes, it generally takes a good 6-8 hours for my cookies to dry sufficiently so that they can be wrapped. In addition, if you do not have a pastry bag & tip...a ziploc-type bag works well. However, it works better if you reinforce the corner of the bag with some scotch tape before you snip the corner off. Just snip off a little bit if you want a fine outline.
This was really great. Easy to make. Used for our cookies. It hardened very well but not so hard that you couldn't bite into it without chipping a tooth. Didn't harden up too quickly either but I did keep it covered with a wet cloth just in case. I added different food colorings in it for our cookies.
NOTE: The Meringue Powder is found in the Wilton's baking section at Michael's Craft Store or in the craft area at Walmart.
I love this icing for decorative piping on my gingerbread and sugar cookies. Add some vanilla - I used regular (not clear) and my icing was perfectly white. I separate the batch in two - use the icing as is to pipe the borders. Then I add some water to the 2nd batch to loosen it up enough to flow and cover surface of the cookie (usually about 2-3 additional TBS of water). You want a consistency like thick cake batter. Decorate quickly with sprinkles, sugars, etc and let dry. Really pretty cookies. Icing is easily tinted too. I took one star off because the instructions are a bit vague. Sift together meringue powder and confect. sugar. Start with half the mixture and half the water. Whip on low to incorporate - adding the rest of the dry and water gradually. Then whip on medium to med-high til shiny and glossy and peaks form. Bowl may need to be scraped down once or twice. Good solid recipe!
Excellent!! Used to decorate my gingerbread cookies, worked well and dried fast so I could get them put away. Tip; use ziploc freezer bags with a decorator tip fastened in a corner. This allows you to work off and on without worrying about the frosting drying out on you.
The way I made this icing I'd give it 5 stars - the way it was written I can only give it a 4. The thing I was MOST disappointed about was the fact that the actual directions are so vague. I have never made royal icing before and I just dumped all the ingredients in a bowl on my first try. The meringue powder clumped up and the icing was horrible to use because clumps of solidified powder kept getting stuck in my tips. I tried it again today and sifted all dry ingredients first into the bowl. Then I measured water into a measuring cup and added 1 tsp. of almond extract - it needed the flavor. I added just a small bit of liquid and started mixing right away and slowly added the rest. It worked out perfectly this time. I just wish more detail had been added to directions for us newbies. The ingredients and amounts themselves were great, with the exception of needing some flavor, but the extract took care of it. Now that I figured it out I will continue to use this recipe. It dries fast - but not so fast that I couldn't add spinkles, etc. Thanks for a great basic recipe...
I used it for 100 gingerbread houses at school (I'm a teacher) and it worked like a charm. So much easier than using egg whites!! I bought the meringue powder in bulk.
This is the BEST icing recipe ever. I didn't use it for gingerbread houses though; I wanted an icing that dried hard and shiny so I could stack multiple cookies together. This stuff tastes great and dries quick. Works great with food coloring. I put the icing in piping bags (or ziploc bags) and cut a little snip off at the end. Icing holds its form well so you can do intricate designs. I don't have a hand mixer so I found I needed to add a dash more water to get it mixed properly. Definitely would reccomend this recipe. Hope this helps!
I loved feeling totally confident with people eating the icing (egg white powder is the only way to go in this instance). I really think my grandmother should consider this to hold her dentures in... my house was solid even as people pried the candies off.
This icing turned out great...I use different flavorings and always tastes great!
I know so many bakers seem to really like this icing and I do like the taste and how it is hard on the outside but soft in the middle but I had a hard time using them to ice cookies. I had to heat it up in the microwave in order to get it loose enought to get a smooth finish. Unfortunately it would cool very very quickly so I kept having to reheat it in small batches. Plus the recipe only makes a small amount so I would definatley reccommend doubling it. I don't think I will use this again.
