Ye ask and Ye shall receive!
Egads! After my last post here many of you have been asking for me to post my sugar cookie icing recipe, to say I was shocked is an understatement! Who knew that sugar cookie icing recipes were such a hot commodity!! And let me just say I’m so sorry I never posted it with the cookie, I didn’t know, honest! Anyways this icing is sooo sooo good that it really does deserve it own post and taking the pretty pictures for this one was almost as fun and colorful as my fabric cabinet post 🙂 (Yay for me!) And let’s just say my hubby and the kids sure didn’t mind that I was making another batch of sugar cookies either, my little sugar martyrs…they’ll do anything for an iced sugar cookie (and so will I ahthankyouverymuch!)
So, this recipe is my go-to, my favorite, my best-est icing ev-ah recipe. It gives you that nice and shiny icing that hardens perfectly so that you can stack your cookies for all those cookie trays you are handing out this year…or really anytime of year! And unlike Royal Icing it doesn’t have egg whites or egg white powder (which just weirds me out a bit anyway) aaaand it doesn’t make your cookies rock hard and dentist-appointment-making-worthy.
Sugar Cookie Icing
Recipe Type: Dessert
Prep time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons milk
- 2 tsp corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla or almond!)
Instructions
- Add your powdered sugar to a medium sized bowl and to that bowl add your milk and your corn syrup.
- Mix well.
- Then add your extract and slowly add more milk and corn syrup until you get the consistency you prefer.
- More runny for flooding or more thick for well, a more thick icing!
First, place 1 cup of powdered sugar in a bowl and add 2 tsp of milk and corn syrup each…
You will get something that looks like this…basically it looks like a complete fail BUT it’s not!
It will be all lumpy and dry looking and that is okay, actually it’s just right!!
Let’s keep going, shall we?
Next, add in 1/2 teaspoon of the extract of your choice. I like to use almond and vanilla would be my runner-up choice. I love vanilla but there is something oh-so-yummy about a touch of almond in this icing!
If you choose to use vanilla let it be known that if you are looking for that perfectly pure white icing you will want to use CLEAR vanilla extract, most commonly found at Michael’s or some store that sells Wilton products (possibly even Joann Fabrics, anyone? Bueller?) Regular vanilla extract is brown in color so it will never give you that wedding cake white color. Now, if you are planning on coloring your icing red, green, blue, etc than go ahead and use your regular vanilla, you won’t be able to tell the difference! Also, almond extract is clear…just an FYI for y’all!
Okay, back to the show…
So, once you’ve added your extract you still will have a bit of lumpiness going on there so what you are going to do is add 1 tsp of milk and then 1 tsp of corn syrup at a time (mixing after each addition) until you get a nice and shiny icing. If you have some small lumps you can whisk it a bit but truth be told I never do, I just smash ’em up with the back of my spoon.
Now, depending on what kind of icing you are looking for you are more or less done. For my sugar cookies I like my icing to be a bit runny yet thick. Not runny enough where the icing is running off the edges of the cookies (watery) but runny enough where I can easily spread it with a spatula…capiche?
Just so you know I used 3 tsp of milk and 3 tsp of corn syrup to decorate these cookies. But again, this will totally depend on YOU and what you want your end product to be oh, aaand your climate. We are pretty dry and humidity-free here in the midwest right now!
And a quick side note about food coloring. You can use these liquid food colors, found at almost any store in the baking aisle, just fine with this recipe. Actually, these are what I usually have around anyways. This recipe is NOT finicky to the type of food coloring you use…YAY!
Or, if you prefer you can use these concentrated paste/gel colors found again at any Michael’s or usually any store that sells Wilton products. Oh! Hobby Lobby would be another one, boo-yah!
And, that’s it!
Just keep adding more food coloring until you have that most perfect pretty color you are looking for and start your cookie de-cor-a-ting!!
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-laaaaaaa!
On another side note, here’s a peek at the cutters I used to make my round sugar cookies from this post.
They are actually a biscuit cutter, for reals! They are smooth on one edge and rounded on the flip side.
This is the one I used for those Melted Snowman Cookies… a 3 7/16 inch circle…in case you really cared or just want to indulge my picture taking fun.
Mmmm…stacks and stacks of sugar cookies.
What’s that? You’d like to be iced!?!
Aww, I guess I should since you asked so nice and all.
And on yet another side note, since I mean really when can a post have too many side notes?
This is what the bottom of the sugar cookies should look like if you bake them juuuust for the most minimum of time…6-7 minutes. They will be soft yet firm, NOT crunchy! (For those of you that have asked anyways!) Do not, and I repeat, do not let them get golden brown!!!
Ahhh, all iced!
Just what the doctor ordered 😉
Pretty little pretties!
We all need a star to tree ratio like this, don’t you think?
And, you wanna know one of the best-est things about this recipe?
That shiny icing dries up nice but not hard and rock-like!
You can stack those babies as high as you’d like.
(If you’ve made it this far, I think a congratulations are in order. This was a long post fo’ sho but well worth it, right!!)
Happy Icing!!
Oh and if you haven’t entered the Weebles Wobble and HasbroToyShop.com $100 gift card giveaway enter here to do so now!!
Hi Maggie,
I LOVE your blog. I really wanted to tell you! You’re so funny and your pics are great, and you make your readers feel like they’re reading a post by their best friend. You are awesome. Keep up the awesomeness!
Becky J.
Thanks for shairing! I wish I could bake but i’m better with glitter and paper if ya know what i mean :/ Thank heaven for the Hubs tho he is the awesome baker in the family i will surely pass on this icing that seems fairly easy to make!
Thank you for that recipe. It must be the corn syrup that makes the frosting so nice, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever used it in frosting. Your cookies are sooooo pretty!
Thanks so much for posting the frosting recipe!! I can’t WAIT to make the snowmen sugar cookies with the “shiny” frosting!
Yay! I was just searching for a good sugar cookie icing recipe for my cookie decorating party on Sunday, you saved the day!
Thanks!
you are so funny! thanks for the recipe. your cookies look so fun. 🙂
Your cookie recipe looks great and am going to try it this weekend. I have a recipe website and would like to put this on it and will give you the credit with a link if I have your permission to do so.
So glad you printed that tutorial and recipe for the icing! I wanted to ask but didn’t coz you were so nice to print the awesome tutorial on how to make the cutesy melted snowman cookies in the first place! *pant pant* (I typed that all in one sentence!) I want to try these now, for sure! 🙂 -Karen
Thank you madam! You’re amazing!
Thank you so much!!
Nice! I make my icing the same except I have never tried it with corn syrup! Cannot wait to try it 🙂 Thanks for showing me how deliciously soft they will be when only cooked 6 or so minutes. I have small group this week and can’t wait to rock everyone’s faces off with these babies.. love ’em 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I think you are the reason I can’t loose wight after having my 3rd child! I mean that in the BEST of ways! I love your recipes! I was looking for a new cut-out sugar cookie recipe this year…thank you! The kids and I made these and they are amazing! And you’re right…you just can’t beat the almond extract in the frosting!
Thank you Maggie for your wonderfully LONG and informative post 🙂 I have always been afraid to decorate cookies but you made it seem so fun & easy, and it was! I made this icing yesterday and used it with your cookie recipe and now I’m hooked (and I think my co-workers are too)!
~LeeAnne
thnaks 😀
I was wondering how long this takes to dry?
I found your blog by Googling “Cookie Icing Recipe”, and I am SO happy I found this!! It worked great for the ninja bread cookies I made with my girls last night. THANK YOU!!
I found your blog by Googling “Cookie Icing Recipe”, and I am SO glad I did! Easy, tasty, and looks great! It was perfect for the jinja bread cookies I made with my girls. Thank you!
How long do these take to dry?
Can’t wait to try the icing recipe. I made cookies for Christmas and the royal icing was so hard. You are funny to — thanks for the smiles.
Just tried it and I’m so glad you said not to give up! It was an ooey gooey mess until I added the third tsp of milk and syrup! Then it was perfect!! The first Christmas that I’ll have with no cookies bleeding on each other! Woohoo!
just made this icing, turned out great! painted it on with a tiny paint brush! doing it for a cookie party! if you put it on thick it drys shinier!! thanks so much!!
How do u apply the icing? Spatula?
You can apply it any way you like, I personally just use a butter knife!
If your out of those ingredients and you have a tub of icing, you can melt it done really thin. Then you can dip the cookies face down into the icing and cover. Sit them out until they dry and they will harden and be stackable. It is not homemade but good if your without the other ingredients.
Can’t wait to try but do you think soy milk would work instead of regular? My daughter has a milk allergy and finding recipies is always trial and error jw thanks!!
Yes, soy milk would work. I have used it many times!! Have fun!
Love,
Maggie
Do you know how far in advance you can make the icing? I want to make it today for a party tomorrow but not sure how it will do in the fridge in an airtight container.
You can make it a few days before. You will want to bring it to room temp before using and you may need to add a bit more milk but otherwise it should be fine! Have fun!
Love,
Maggie
Can you tell me where you bought your cookie cutters?
I bought the biscuit cutters at an outlet mall years ago but you may be able to find them online somewhere. The cookie cutters were a gift from my mom, sorry but I don’t know where they came from!
Love,
Maggie
Where can I find the recipe for the sugar cookie??
Right here: https://smashedpeasandcarrots.com/christmas-traditions-melted-snowman-sugar-cookies/
can you freeze the cookies after they are frosted?
I’m not sure, ours never last that long!
Will this icing work good in pastry bags or squeeze tubes?
It works great in either!!
thank you for th recipe maggie. could u tell me, how long we can keep this cookie before the icing sugar gone bad? because it contains fresh milk
We’ve had them out for 2 days or so and they were fine but I don’t have any proof of holding out longer because our cookies never last more than that!!!
Since there is milk in the icing do these cookies have to be refrigerated?
We never have!
Wonder if water can be used instead of milk?
Can you tell me if I can make the icing in advance? Or will I need to make right before I use it.
You can make it in advance but you may need to add a but of liquid to it to bring it back to life!