When I first started out decorating sugar cookies back in 2012, I decorated my cookies with glaze. This was basically powdered sugar, water, and food coloring. When the cookies dried, the glaze appeared dull, grainy, flat, and in some instances, almost see through.
After doing some research, I came across a basic royal icing recipe by The Cookie Countess. Her recipe could only be found on YouTube and I would run and pause the video so I could follow along the 500 times that I made it. It was posted in 2015 and the quality is terrible, but it was a life saver at the time. This recipe made a big difference in texture and look once the cookie was dried. There was more fluff and bite to the icing, making it more desirable to eat. Her icing recipe included meringue powder and light corn syrup in addition to powdered sugar and water. She also, however, used butter extract, which she swore by, but I always felt skeptical about it as smelling the extract always reminded me of popcorn!
Now, for it being my first time trying royal icing, I ran to Micheals and purchased a mindlessly expensive container of Wilton meringue powder from the baking aisle as that was the only place I knew sold the stuff. I recommend getting this meringue powder if you're starting out. It's pricey, but it's a small quantity so you won't be stuck with a 1 pound bulk bag! I also decided to invest in a proper set of gel paste food coloring - this is important as I learned that with gel food coloring, a little goes a long way, thus you are less likely to alter the consistency and taste of your icing when you use less color. I went with the "Student Kit" as it had a good variety of colors as a starter pack.
The Cookie Countess recipe was great, but I kept seeing pictures of other cookiers getting this "puff" on their icing. Meaning, their icing had height and looked delectable! I knew then that I had to try a new recipe because through many experimentations, I was unable to achieve this PUFF!
I came across Frosted by Megan on Instagram and purchased her Royal Icing Recipe and haven't looked back since! With her recipe, I can obtain the PUFF everyone has been talking about. The icing has body and a great taste and has since been a keeper.
After decorating for years, I now use Genie's Dream meringue powder to make my royal icing. I find it to be cost efficient, yet still have great quality to it. Meringue powder is what really gets icing on cookies to shine, crust, but have a soft bite to it under its hard top layer.
So what is royal icing, anyway? It's meringue powder, powdered sugar, and water! Now, royal icing can be extremely finicky as there are many factors that come to play when making a successful batch. I always pray to the Royal Icing Gods before starting my Kitchen Aid mixer. More on the finicky ways of royal icing in my next blog post! Drop a comment below and I'll be happy to answer any royal icing questions you may have!
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