Emergency Royal Icing (No Meringue Powder)

Need to decorate cookies ASAP but don’t have meringue powder? This easy and quick royal icing recipe will come to your rescue. Made with egg whites from a carton along with powdered sugar, this royal icing is made in about 5 minutes. It dries hard, can be turned into any color, and is perfect to flood or outline these quick cut out sugar cookies. No need to run to a specialty store, you can easily make these cookies in no time!

How many times have you wanted to decorate cookies only to realize you don’t have the right ingredients and it’s too late to go to the store? SO many times right?! This is exactly why I created this recipe. It’s for you if you have ever wondered what the heck meringue powder is or where to find it at 9 pm in mid November. Hint- you don’t need to!

Meringue powder is just a fancy term for dried, powdered egg whites and is typically what is used in royal icing recipes. It’s what helps to dry the icing quickly to make it hard and able to stack. This is not the same as my easy cookie icing recipe which doesn’t require a mixer but takes a lot longer to dry.

It’s not something that is sold in regular grocery stores so you need to either have the foresight to buy it online ahead of time, or take a trip to a specialty store. Not so great when it’s 8 pm and your kid needs 50 cookies by tomorrow morning.

As a trained pastry chef, yes, I have meringue powder in my own pantry. But, I know that’s not the case for most people. So I came up with a recipe to substitute the meringue powder so you don’t need to buy a whole jar, OR buy grocery store sugar cookies and pretend you made them LOL.

This is the recipe I use all season long, especially on top of my quick cut out sugar cookies that require ZERO chill time! We are winning all around here friends!

Let me show you how to make it.

Easiest way to make Royal Icing

Instead of using meringue powder which many recipes call for, this recipe uses egg whites. And not just any egg whites- egg whites from a carton (!!) because we are making it as easy as possible.

Carton egg whites are pasteurized so theres no risk involved!

Whip them up with powdered sugar and a couple other easy pantry staples and tada, you have your own royal icing! All you need to know how is to troubleshoot the consistency of the icing and you are good to go!

Here’s a list of ingredients you need:

• Carton egg whites
• Powdered sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Cream of Tartar
• Water

My rule of thumb goes that for every pound of sugar you need 3 egg whites.

2 tablespoons of carton egg whites = 1 large egg white.

Royal icing versus Cookie icing

Ok, these are not the same thing.

Royal icing is made with a version of egg whites whether they are dried into a powder, or used in liquid form. You have to use egg whites in the icing recipe to call it royal icing. It dries in about 1- 2 hours, has that puffy professional look, and is used to pipe really detailed designs.

You know how when you bake a meringue it gets all hard? This is exactly what the eggs do to the icing when it dries.

Cookie icing is different because there is no egg used in the recipe and instead it’s substituted with corn syrup (or it’s even left out). This helps the icing dry and makes it all shiny but it doesnt dry as fast as royal icing- it takes about 24 hours, and can be harder to pipe intricate designs.

You dont want to use cookie icing if you want to stack and pack decorated cookies in less than 24 hours.

How to make it

First make sure your mixing bowl is completely grease and fat free. If theres even a speck of it in the bowl, the egg whites wont whip. Just another reason why I love using egg whites from a carton- theres no need to separate eggs and risk getting yolk inside.

Next add the egg whites to the bowl with the whip attachment and whip on med speed for 2 minutes. When you start to see it foaming up, increase to high speed and slowly pour the sugar in.

You dont want to add the sugar in right away because it will weigh down the whites. You want them to be foamy first, then add it slowly so the egg whites can “hold” all the sugar.

When all the sugar is added, pour in the vanilla extract slowly, then add the cream of tartar. Whip on high speed until thick and glossy, about 1 minute more.

Stop here and lift the mixer to check the consistency! You’ll either add water or leave it out depending on what you need.

Consistency for flooding versus outlining

Lift the bowl off the mixer and drag a knife through the icing- if the icing comes back together completely (without any evidence of the line) in about 15-20 seconds thats perfect for outlining and piping your cookies. I usually find the icing is the perfect consistency at this point for exactly that.

You can also definitely use this consistency of icing for flooding too (I do it all the time when I dont want to make 2 consistencies) but it isnt as fast as it could be if you thin it out just a little bit.

To make flooding icing, I will pour some of the icing into a separate bowl and add 1 tsp of water at a time to thin it out for a flooding consistency.

Flooding is going to be faster at about 8-10 seconds when a knife is dragged through it.

If you put too much water or the icing is too loose, add 1/3 cup powdered sugar at a time and whip it to bring it back to a thicker consistency.

Coloring and decorating tips

Here’s a list of things I use for coloring and using icing to decorate cookies:

• Gel food coloring- Gel is the best to color your icing because a little goes a long way. It also wont water down your icing that you just got to the perfect consistency. This set is totally worth it!
• Piping bags– I use these mostly for the outlining because its easier to be more precise with these then a bottle.
• Couplers- these help you change the tip size on the piping bags, they are genius!
• Piping tips- For outlining you want a small round tip like Wilton #3. For flooding a Wilton #5 is great! The smaller the number, the smaller the hole is on the tip.
• Squeeze bottle with piping tip attached– these are best for flooding, they make it super easy!
• Small mixing bowls- for mixing different colors
• Mini spatulas- for easy mixing!
• Toothpicks- this helps spread the flooding icing and also pops any air bubbles that may come up.

Tips on coloring

I always start with the lightest color and then transfer it into the piping bag or bottle that I am using. If you do it this way then you don’t have to wash the bowl out so well because the next color you are mixing will be darker and wont have a big effect on the end color.

This helps to cut down on dirty dishes!

For outlining- You need less of this than flood icing, because you are only using it to outline the cookies. A good tip is to color this first, then separate what you need and put a smaller amount into a piping bag. Thin out the rest of that color and use it for flooding.

Storage

If you are using it within the next 3-4 days you can leave the icing at room temperature. In pastry school we learned to dampen a paper towel and put it on top of the bowl before putting the lid on. This helps keep the moisture in the icing and prevents it from drying out. You don’t want the paper towel to touch the icing.

You can make the icing 2-3 weeks ahead and keep it in the fridge in a bowl with a damp paper towel under a closed lid.

Icing separation

The icing can and will separate into what looks like liquid on the bottom of the bowl- thats ok! Whip it up with a whisk or put it in the mixer and whip for 2 minutes until its mixed through.

Yield

This recipe makes around 3 cups of icing which can decorate about 40-50 cookies depending on how intricate the designs are. The icing dries hard in about 2 hours, is sweet and crunch but not too hard to bite into!

Cookie Recipe

This icing was piped and decorated on top of these no chill cut out sugar cookies.

I love when you share my recipes!!