Vanilla Almond Royal Icing

Mixing Up Royal Icing

• In your mixer bowl, add 1/3 C of meringue powder along with 1/3 C of water. You may need to add more. You will need to add enough water to be able to whisk it until frothy.


• Whisk the water and meringue powder until it froths up (approximately 30 seconds - 2 minutes depending on how fast you whisk). Once frothy, add the vanilla and almond emulsions and give it a quick whisk, just to mix them in.


• Add your bag of powdered sugar and put your bowl under the stand mixer and begin to mix slowly. You will mix slowly until most of the powdered sugar has been mixed into the liquid. If your icing looks super liquidy, you can add more powdered sugar as needed (1/4 C at a time until it runs like a thick honey.


• Once most of it is mixed into, turn your mixer up to medium/medium high. You want it to mix fast enough to whip up the meringue but not so much that it overmixes your icing. After about 3 minutes, stop the mixer and scrape down all the sides of the bowl. The icing will feel very thick and heavy and have a slightly translucent look to it. Be sure to scrape the sides well to make sure you are able to mix the icing appropriately.


• Then turn your mixer back on to medium/medium high for a few more minutes and you should notice your icing has turned from that translucent color to a bright white! It will look fluffy and light and should have stiff peaks. At this time, turn off your mixer and scoop some onto your spatula. You should notice quite a difference from the first time you scraped the bowl. Scrape down the sides again and if there are any streaks of that translucent icing, mix again for another 1-2 minutes. At this point, you can scrape down the beater and remove the bowl from the mixer.


• This is where you will need to find something to cover your icing while you mix up your colors.

Mixing Up Royal Icing with Natural Food Coloring Powders

• When mixing powders into icing, you will get little specs of powder that haven’t been fully incorporated. This is normal.


• One way to have fewer specs of color is to add the powder to your color mixing bowl first and then add a few drops of water and mix them together. Saturating the powder with water will help it absorb into the icing a bit better. The amount of powder needed to achieve certain colors will depend on the colors you are going for. I would start with 1/4 tsp of color per 1/4 C icing and then you can add more as needed.


• Once you add your icing, you can start mixing. The colors WILL saturate more as the icing sits so only mix your icing colors to a few shades lighter than you want and let the color develop. You do not have to leave them overnight. I will just mix all my colors up and by the time I am finished, and have my cookies prepared to ice, I will use them.


• You will most likely need to continue to mix the colors into the icing once bagged. The best way to do this is to massage your piping bags to try to mix them as best as you can. I found that the turmeric and butterfly pea flower saturated the most. Once you have finished mixing all your colors, you are ready to decorate!!

expiry
Royal icing lasts up to 4 weeks at room temp. You can also freeze it to use at a future date. Royal iced cookies last up to a week before they start to go stale. They will last longer if you heat seal them in cellophane bags or freeze them.

*Special Equipment Notes - You will need some sort of mixer to be able to properly whip the icing. I use a stand kitchen aid mixer. You will also need a small measuring cup (I use a 1 Cup), a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, and something to cover your bowl of icing with. I have a silicone bowl cover that works great! A towel or plastic wrap would be fine as well! You just don’t want your icing to dry out. And finally, you’ll need a whisk.

**Ingredients Notes: - Notes on ingredients and/or brands used below.
Meringue powder: I personally use Genie’s Dream but have also used Wilton with no issues.
Vanilla Flavoring: I use LorAnn’s Butter Vanilla emulsion. It is clear with great flavor.
Almond Flavoring: I use LorAnn’s Almond emulsion. It is clear with great flavor and is also nut free!
Corn Syrup (optional): Some people add corn syrup to their Royal icing because they think it produces a softer bite to the icing once dry and makes cookies shine more. I have used it in the past but no longer use it. I don’t think it’s necessary but you are free to experiment!

One Bowl Method - To save yourself from having to use a ton of mixing bowls for different colors, try using the one bowl method! I will plan out all the colors I will use for a set and then put them in order, starting with the lightest color and then mixing through the rainbow. For example, for this fall cookie bouquet, I started with Yellow (turmeric), then moved to orange (sweet paprika), then brown (cacao), pink (beetroot), dark pink/reddish (hibiscus), blue/purple (butterfly pea), and green (matcha). You want to scrape your bowl the best you can between colors, but you should not have to clean your bowl with water. Having a little residue from the previous color will be just fine as you mix your next color!

Make Color Swatches - When color matching, sometimes it’s hard to see the actual icing color once they’re in piping bags since they are not 100% clear. So I like to take swatches of icing and spread them on a piece of parchment paper. One, I can see their true color and know if I need to add more plain white icing (if it’s too dark), or more powder (if it’s too light.) And two, you will be able to see what the icing looks like once it dries. Your icing will probably look darker as it dries so try to remember that when mixing your colors!