Perfectly Glossy Icing for Sugar Cookies
Need the perfect glossy icing for sugar cookies? One that hardens perfectly, but is still sweet and delicious? We’ve got you covered!
Jump to RecipeGlossy Icing Perfection
There’s nothing quite like the perfect rolled sugar cookie! As much as I loved them as a child, we’d usually only bake them for special occasions, like Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter. Because few things are cuter than a little bunny or duck cookie with the perfect sprinkle of pink or yellow icing!
I wouldn’t care about the food coloring staining my fingers or powdered sugar sprayed all over my face because the end result was so worth it! The scent of vanilla permeating the kitchen was always preparing the way for my dream dessert.
As much as I love a good cookie with rich buttery frosting, sometimes we’re in the mood for something a little lighter. We want a recipe for an icing that lets the buttery cookie take center stage but perfectly complements our delicious treat.
While many love royal icing, this recipe is a little bit lighter and perhaps easier to work with. Plus, since the recipe incorporates light corn syrup as the base rather than egg whites, so you’re not at the mercy of the electric mixer.
The Perfect Glossy Icing
Ingredients
- 3 cups powdered sugar (AKA confectioners’ sugar) (sifted)
- 3-4 Tbsp milk
- 2 Tbsp light corn syrup
- food coloring (optional)
- sprinkles or candy of choice (optional)
Instructions
Glossy Icing
- Combine sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract (and/or almond extract) in a medium-sized bowl and stir until combined. Add in more milk If frosting is too thick, starting with a teaspoon at a time. You want the icing to be thick enough to put in your frosting bag, but thin enough to spread over cookies. If you accidentally add too much milk, add powdered sugar until desired texture is reached. Unlike baking where measurement precision matters, you can gradually add things in with this recipe.
- If you are coloring the icing, divide into bowls and dye. You can use gel food coloring or more traditional colors. Remember, a drop or two might be all you need!
- OPTION 1: Transfer icing to a piping bag with a piping tip (like Wilton 5), or place in a Ziploc bag and snip a small piece of the corner off (this strategy works well if you do not have an icing bag). It’s not as neat, but it gets the job done!
- OPTION 2: If you’re working with kids, give each one a plate to decorate and decorate with a knife or spreader.
- OPTION 3: Dip the cookies into the bowl of icing. It’s quick and easy if you have little hands that want to “help,” and they can focus on adding sprinkles, etc. instead of decorating them with a knife.
- Decorate cookies or pastry of choice with candy and sprinkles as desired while icing is still wet.
- Allow time for icing to dry before eating. This could be several hours, so be patient!
- Store finished cookies at room temperature in sealed container.
Nutrition
Glossy Icing Recipe Extra Notes
In some icing recipes, you can swap out the milk for cream. You could do that here, but you want the lighter texture of the milk for maximum spreadability.
This icing gets pretty hard once it’s dried, so you probably want to ice the cookies on top of parchment paper. That way, the cleanup up process will be much, much easier!
While this sugar cookie icing is ideal for sugar cookies, you might want to experiment with incorporating it into other baked treats.
If you want to sub out the vanilla extract with another flavor, go for it! Pour in some mint extract and drizzle over brownies for a chocolate peppermint patty type of flavor. Almond extract is also a nice and light alternative. I’ll often stir both vanilla extract and almond extract in the batter, though a little extract goes a long way!
Have you tried this icing? What did you think? Let us know below in the comments or talk about it with family and friends on FamilyApp!
