Make delicious and gorgeous royal icings, frostings, and meringue-based recipes with LorAnn’s best-selling Meringue Powder! This powder is the perfect substitute for egg whites. For cookiers who make and sell professional royal icing cookies, they love that meringue powder produces stable icing that is easy to work with and hardens quickly on top of cookies without compromising delicious flavor. Meringue Powder is shelf-stable and lasts up to 2 years in your kitchen pantry, so when you have a large cookie order lined up, there is no need to run out to the store to buy a dozen eggs because you have meringue powder right at your fingertips.
What Is Royal Icing?
Royal Icing is a sweet, hard icing that is widely used in decorating sugar cookies with intricate designs. There are many royal icing recipes from scratch online, as well as the simplest recipe, that uses Meringue Powder. To make royal icing with meringue powder you just need the powder, water, and confectioner’s sugar (also known as powdered sugar). It’s easily used in piping and decorating cakes, cookies, gingerbread houses, and more. Royal icing is also used in piping flowers or making edible decorations for cakes and cupcakes.
Best Tips for Using Meringue Powder in Royal Icing
- Before making royal icing with meringue powder, wipe down all your tools with a dampened paper towel of alcohol or vinegar to remove any fat or oil residue. If there is any fat or oil residue present on your equipment, your meringue will not whip properly.
- Always sift your powdered sugar so you can avoid bumpy/lumpy frosting and help your cookies achieve that gorgeous, smooth finish you want in royal icing cookies.
- Use a paddle attachment when whipping up your royal icing to avoid unwanted air bubbles in your icing and create the fluffy texture you need for perfectly pipeable royal icing.
- Measure your dry ingredients by weight using a kitchen scale for accurate measurements.
- Flavor your royal icing to add an additional delicious spin to your royal icing cookies! Use any of LorAnn’s Bakery Emulsions that are water-based flavors to flavor your icing. Using oil-soluble flavors can break down icing and cause the cookie to not dry. For one batch of royal icing, use 1-2 teaspoons of emulsion flavoring (Further explanation on bakery emulsions below in FAQs).
FAQ’s On Meringue Powder and Royal Icing Cookies
Q: How can I make my royal icing cookies have a sheen or shine to them?
For decorating cookies, use 1-2 teaspoons of LorAnn Vegetable Glycerin to add shine to your royal icing while still maintaining its moisture.
Q: Can I flavor royal icing?
Absolutely! Just as stated above, for one batch of royal icing, use 1-2 teaspoons of LorAnn Bakery Emulsion of choice. Bakery emulsions are flavorings that have been suspended in a water-base, as opposed to an alcohol-base like typical baking extracts, making them less susceptible to flavor loss when exposed to heat (like an oven). These robust flavors are the preferred choice by professional bakers since they are stronger (there’s no need to double up!) and are not compromised by the taste of alcohol. Almost all LorAnn’s emulsions are gluten-free, nut-free, low-carb, and Kosher-certified.
Q: Can I color royal icing?
Royal Icing’s naturally bright white coloring makes it easy to color any shade of your liking. LorAnn’s professional liquid and gel food colors are more pigmented than typical food colorings you will find on the market, yielding bolder results while using fewer products. Most importantly, the colors will not compromise the flavor of your royal icing like many grocery-store food colorings will alter the taste or add a grainy texture. LorAnn’s liquid and gel food colors are available in both retail and food service sizes for the professional cookier who makes and sells a lot of royal icing cookies.
Q: Can I store royal icing if I do not use all of it?
Royal icing can be stored in an airtight container in your fridge for up to a week. For longer shelf-life royal icing can be frozen for up to 2 months in an airtight container or freezer-safe bags on a flat surface in your freezer. It can be thawed out in your refrigerator to bring it back to room temperature.
Simple Meringue Powder Recipe
Ingredients
¼ cup LorAnn Meringue Powder
½ cup cold water
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
Directions
- Beat meringue powder and cold water until peaks form – about 2 minutes.
- Add confectioner’s sugar one cup at a time until stiff peaks form and desired consistency is reached.
Recipe Pro Tips: For stiffer frosting add more confectioner’s sugar. For softer icing and a smooth shin on your cookies, add 3 drops of glycerin.
