When you’re raising children with dietary restrictions, having a good royal icing recipe on hand to make cookies becomes key. We often see elaborately decorated cookies at the holidays, parties and classroom celebrations. Not wanting my children to be left out, it became important for me to learn how to make our own.

I remember finding some gluten free icing at the store, but the ingredients were a mile long with many words that I couldn’t pronounce, not to mention the icing was quite expensive. When I made my own recipe I was so happy. Not only did it taste great, but it dried faster than other icings (time saver!) and it only has three ingredients. Here’s the simple recipe along with some decorating tips.

How to Make Royal Icing for Cookies:

This recipe makes three cups of royal icing. It is gluten free, dairy free and nut free.

You will need:

• Large mixing bowl
• Stand mixer, or electric hand mixer
• Powdered sugar
• Gluten free meringue powder
• Warm water
• Food coloring (optional)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons gluten free meringue powder
• 8 tablespoons warm water
• Gel based food coloring

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix on low until ingredients are combined.
3. Turn the speed up to medium and mix for 6-9 minutes, until the icing is stiff.
4. Optional: Add a few drops of gel based food coloring until you reach the desired icing color. You can also separate it into three or four bowls and color each bowl differently.

Helpful Hints:

The perfect consistency should be thick, but pourable or it will be too hard to spread.

If the icing is too thick: add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time

If the icing is too thin or watery: add 1/4 cup for powdered sugar at a time.

If the icing gets too dry while decorating: add 1/2 teaspoon of water at a time and mix until you reach the desired consistency. Or, if you’re using a squeezy bottle, you can put it in a bowl of hot water and that will soften it.

Decorating Tips:

1. Always outline the cookie first, and then fill it in with icing.
2. If you’re doing multiple layers of icing, allow each layer to dry completely before icing on top for best results.
3. There are many different tools you can use to ice a cookie.
   1. You can fill a piping bag with icing and trim off the edge of the bag
   2. You can use a decorating tip (Wilton #5 is good for flooding cookies, #1 is good for small details)
   3. You can use an icing squeezy bottle. They can be found at craft stores easily and are not expensive. This is easier for kids than piping bags.
   4. You can use a new paint brush. Painting cookies are fun, and MUCH easier for toddlers than squeezing bottles or controlling piping bags.