Description
Craft delightful designs with this smooth sugar cookie icing for decorating. Easy to make and perfect for holiday cookies, it dries beautifully with a sweet finish.
Ingredients
Scale
- Base Ingredients:
- 4 cups (about 480g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 4–6 tablespoons milk or water
- Flavor & Texture Enhancers:
- 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- Color & Sparkle:
- Gel food coloring (various colors, optional)
Instructions
- Sift the Sugar:: Okay, first things first, grab your powdered sugar and a fine-mesh sieve. Pour that sugar through, giving it a little shake. You’ll see tiny lumps that you didn’t even know were there! This step is crucial for smooth sugar cookie icing. Honestly, I’ve skipped this step once or twice when I was in a hurry, and the tiny lumps clogged my piping bag, turning a fun decorating session into a frustrated mess. Don’t be like me; just sift it!
- Combine Wet Ingredients:: In a medium bowl, pour in your milk, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and if you’re using it, that tiny splash of almond extract. Give them a quick whisk together. You want them just combined, nothing fancy here. This mix is going to be the liquid base for our sugar cookie icing, so having it ready means less scrambling later. I always double-check I’m grabbing the vanilla, not the almond, after my snowman incident!
- Whisk It All Together:: Now, gradually add your sifted powdered sugar to the wet ingredients, whisking constantly. Start slow, adding about half at first, then the rest. You’re aiming for a thick, somewhat paste-like consistency to begin. This is where you really start to see the sugar cookie icing come to life! Keep whisking until it’s smooth, like a dream. It might seem too thick at first, but we’ll adjust.
- Adjust Consistency for Flooding:: This is the fun part where you get to play Goldilocks. Add more milk, just a tiny bit at a time (like, a quarter teaspoon!), until your sugar cookie icing reaches a ‘flooding’ consistency. When you lift your whisk, the icing should drizzle down and disappear back into the bowl within about 8-10 seconds. This consistency is perfect for filling in your cookie designs after you’ve outlined them.
- Adjust Consistency for Outlining:: To get that perfect outlining consistency, you’ll want some of the thicker icing you just made. If you want to make outlines, take a portion of your flood icing and add a little more sifted powdered sugar, a teaspoon at a time, until it’s thicker. It should hold its shape when piped but still flow smoothly. I usually aim for something like toothpaste. This outlining consistency is so important for crisp edges!
- Color and Decorate:: Divide your sugar cookie icing into separate bowls for different colors. Add a tiny drop of gel food coloring with a toothpick (trust me, a little goes a long way!), then stir until the color is even. Pop your colored icing into piping bags fitted with small round tips, and you’re ready to decorate! The final icing should be smooth, vibrant, and ready for all your creative cookie ideas. Enjoy the process; it’s so satisfying!