Bless you dear royal icing.  Another one of those basic recipes you must have in your recipe book.  This specific icing tastes yum, holds up well and is perfect for any task you may assign to it.  Think of it as that perfect lip gloss that you can always throw on in a pinch when you see the very last person you want to run into marching down the street heading directly for you.  It’s always there when you need it.

*Although royal icing is traditionally prepared with fresh egg whites, you can use meringue powder  in order to reduce the risk of salmonella that raw egg whites potentially present.  By the time I reach the icing stage, I’ve typically consumed my fair share of raw dough and thus, “should” really move forward with items that do not continue to escalate my risk to illness, right?!  It’s the “responsible” thing for me to do, I think.

Royal Icing
adapted from bakeat350.blogspot.com

Ingredients.

4 TBSP meringue powder
scant 1/2 c. water
1 lb. powdered sugar
3/4 tsp light corn syrup (to keep it glossy’ish)
few drops clear extract (optional.  If you are just using this to write, or outline, it is not necessary)

Directions.

1. Combine the meringue powder and water.
2. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy.
   Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. (Do NOT skip the sifting!)
3. Add in the corn syrup and extract if desired.  ( I think the corn syrup helps keep the icing shiny.)
   Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form.  (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.
   Cover with plastic wrap touching the icing or divide and color using gel paste food colorings.
   This “stiff” icing is perfect for outlining cookies, writing on cookies and/or cupcake toppers and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming.
4. To flood cookies,  add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called “flooding.”