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!
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites, from a carton (2 tbsp= 1 egg white)
- 1 lb powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- water, as needed
Equipment
- Piping bags
- Piping Tips
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, add the 3 egg whites (or 6 tbsp egg whites) from a carton. Whip on low-medium speed for 2 minutes until slightly foamy.
- When the egg whites start to foam up, switch to med-high speed and slowly start pouring in the powdered sugar. This can take up to 90 seconds. Don't go to fast or the whites could collapse.
- When all the sugar is mixed in, add the 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp cream of tartar and mix.
- Bring the mixture up to high speed for 1-2 minutes until peaks start to form and the mixture is very glossy.
Consistency
- At this point the consistency is great for outlining. Separate what you need to outline the cookies. You can also use this to flood but it will just be a slower flood. See noted below for further details.
- To make the icing thinner for a faster flood consistency, add 1 tsp water until you get to the desired consistency.
Notes
If you drag a knife through the icing and it comes back together without any evidence of a line left within 15-20 seconds its perfect for outlining.
To thin, add 1 tsp water at a time and mix. If you drag the knife through again and it comes back together within 8-10 seconds its great for flooding.
Use this icing on top of no chill sugar cookies!
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!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.Serving: 1serving, Calories: 46kcal, Carbohydrates: 11g, Protein: 0.2g, Fat: 0.004g, Sodium: 4mg, Potassium: 10mg, Sugar: 11g, Calcium: 0.3mg, Iron: 0.01mg
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