Gingerbread Cookie Icing
A royal icing made with meringue powder, mixed to two consistencies from one batch: stiff for piping outlines and thinned for flooding. It dries hard enough to stack and ship decorated cookies.
- Prep20 min
- Total8 h 20 min
- Serves24
AI-generated illustration
Contains:egg
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk the powdered sugar and meringue powder together in a mixer bowl until no lumps remain. Sifted sugar is the difference between icing that pipes cleanly and icing that clogs the tip.
- Add 4 tablespoons of the warm water, the vanilla extract, and the lemon juice, beat on low 1 minute to bring it together, then on medium 4 to 5 minutes, until the icing turns bright white, thickens, and holds a peak that stands straight up.
- Set aside about a third of the icing at this stiff consistency for outlines and detail, keeping it under a damp cloth so it does not crust over.
- Thin the rest with the remaining 1 tablespoon warm water added a few drops at a time, until a ribbon drizzled across the surface sinks back in and disappears in about 10 seconds. That is flooding consistency.
- Pipe outlines onto cooled gingerbread cookies with the stiff icing, let them set 15 minutes, then flood the centers with the thinned icing and push it into the corners with a toothpick.
- Leave the cookies uncovered at least 8 hours, preferably overnight, before stacking. The surface hardens long before the icing beneath it does.
Notes
- Meringue powder replaces raw egg white here, so the icing is safe for children and anyone pregnant.
- Any grease at all, including a trace of butter on the bowl, will stop royal icing from stiffening.
