Royalty

Have you ever tried Royal Icing?? Its a ROYAL pain!! It's so picky and touchy and you have to do everything JUST right. I tried it for Emmah's birthday with some success...as in it looked okay, but you couldn't touch the frosting, it was weird tasting, and had a fluffy/over mixed look to it.

Well as you saw in my sugar cookie post I have a new best friend...Callye from Sweet Sugarbelle! Not only did she tell me how to make some SUPER delicious sugar cookies, but she also shares how to make Royal Icing!! The best part of her sharing...is her explanation!
The basic royal icing recipe stays the same, but its how you put the parts together that can really make the difference.

Here is her recipe for Royal Icing:
Ingredients:

2lbs confectioner’s sugar

1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp meringue powder

about 3/4 c. warm water

1-3 Tbsp. oil-free extract or flavoring

Instructions

1. Add the dry ingredients first. Use your mixer’s whisk attachment to incorporate the sugar and meringue powder.
2. Add the extract to the water and slowly add it to the dry ingredients while mixing. At first the icing will be very liquid-like.
3. Continue to mix it at medium-high speed until it is fluffy and stiff peaks form, about 7-10 minutes. Mixing times are approximate, keep your eye it icing and stop mixing as soon as it becomes stiff. Over mixing and oil-containing extracts can keep the icing from setting up, so keep this in mind as you work.

Be sure to head to her site and follow through the post as you make your frosting. I found that her descriptions as to what my icing should be looking like were perfect and easy to relate to.

I first got my ingredients together and started mixing:

Next I continued mixing until I got it got firm (As she says she makes it firm and then works backwards

Then I follow her lead again by measuring out some icing, adding the color, and then separating to make the piping icing and flooding icing. I used icing color, it tends to be more true then food coloring. (Want a certain color?? Callye has a color chart for you to use to get the perfect color!)

I personally used a ziplock for the piping...I know real "high tech" but it's what I had and it worked out great! {She does show you on her blog how to do it with a piping bag.}

{Your piping icing should be the consistency of toothpaste or soft scrub cleaner}

Once I had the color, I got to piping. In a nice smooth motion go around the outside of your shape. You will want to let this harden before moving on to the flooding.

Next you "flood" your cookies. This sounds exactly like what you are doing. With your thinned out frosting you basically "flood" the remaining cooking with the frosting. {The flooding frosting should be the consistency of shower gel.}

Let your cookies sit out...mine took a couple of hours to completely harden. You can then store your cookies for your event. Making these a few days ahead of time is perfectly acceptable. The cookies can easily be frozen and the frosting can be stored in your refrigerator or at room temperature for up to a month.