Icing For Biscuits Royal Icing

Bonus: I’m also sharing my fast biscuit icing method to cover the entire surface of a cookie quickly and easily, without piping!

Icing for biscuits

This is the icing recipe for the Christmas Cookies I just shared. The recipe got too lengthy so I decided to split it into two – and also, this is an all purpose icing recipe that is ideal to use for any cookies and biscuits, not just for the Christmas Cookies! This is an icing for biscuits that:

sets hard; doesn’t soften your cookie ie won’t affect the shelf life of the biscuits; has a light, glossy sheen that gives it an extra special look; has the perfect consistency to spread smoothly to cover the surface AND to pipe details; can be used to DIP biscuits in to cover surfaces quickly (my cheeky quick method -see below!); and can be made any colour you want.

Here’s what you need

Corn syrup is what gives this icing a lovely sheen. Corn syrup isn’t widely available in Australia (yet) BUT you can substitute with glucose syrup. This recipe works perfectly well without corn syrup too, but the finish will be matte instead; Egg whites – the secret ingredient that makes the icing set hard! KEY TIP is to MEASURE the egg whites rather than relying on just using “2 egg whites”. This is because the size of eggs differs every time but the amount of egg white used in the icing will materially affect the thickness of the icing – and the key to icing is getting the thickness perfect! See below info box for concerns about raw egg. Icing sugar / powdered sugar – fellow Aussies, be sure to use SOFT icing sugar, not pure icing sugar. Colouring – gel is better if you can get your hands on it because it has a more intense colour so you need less, but recipe works perfectly fine with liquid too (in fact, I use liquid in the video).

How to make icing for biscuits

The making part is a cinch (the icing part is the painful part!!): See below info box for concerns about raw egg. Well actually, the egg whites do not remain raw! The sugar in the icing essentially “cooks” the egg. The more appropriate terms is “curing” because the effect of the sugar on the egg is the same as using salt + sugar to cure things like salmon to make cured salmon (like this Beetroot Cured Salmon and Gravlax).

beat the icing sugar, egg whites and water until smooth and glossy; divide between bowls, then mix in colouring. Go by eye until you achieve the colour you want – different brands, gels vs liquid all require different amounts; make sure the icing is the right thickness – use the “figure 8” test ie draw the number “8” across the surface, it should hold for 2 seconds before it disappears. The icing needs to be thick enough so decorations you pipe hold their shape, but thin enough so you can spread the icing across the surface of the biscuit; transfer into piping bags OR ziplock bags. See below re: piping nozzle (I don’t use one!)

Icing with piping bag

Here’s how to ice with a piping bag. I do not use a nozzle because I don’t have a nozzle fine enough to give me the detail I want when icing Christmas Cookies. You literally want the nozzle to be 1 – 2 mm wide – well, “thin”, I should say! When the hole is that small, you have enough control to pipe it without a piping nozzle so just snipping the end of a piping bag or ziplock bag works a treat. ONE NOZZLE TIP: If you DO have a thin nozzle, but you only have one, then use the double bagging method to use the same nozzle for multiple icing colours:

place nozzle into a clean piping bag “Nozzle Piping Bag”; place the different coloured icing into separate piping bags WITHOUT a nozzle, snip end; place one colour into the Piping Nozzle Bag and pipe away (ie using a double bag); once done with that colour, remove the icing from the Piping Nozzle Bag; and remove and clean nozzle, then put it back in the Piping Nozzle Bag. Insert next colour and repeat.

Shortcut icing method

Here’s a quick way to frost the biscuits without fussing with piping bags!

Place skewer on edge of bowl; Dip surface of biscuit into frosting; Scrape off excess frosting along the skewer; and Voila! Frosting, done! Add some sprinkle, some silver balls while it’s wet so they stick.

The photos depicted in today’s recipe are a vanilla biscuit that I shared for Christmas – see below (aka Sugar Cookies!). That particular recipe is made for cut out cookies because it holds its shape when baked, rather than spreading or puffing up, and cut out cookies are usually the ones that are decorated with icing.

Note on royal icing batch size

This recipe for royal icing makes more than you need for one batch of the Sugar Cookies/Vanilla biscuits pictured in post. But you want to err on the side of caution if using multiple colours because you will lose some through handling, especially if using multiple colours. But the frosting can be used for any cookies at all, including gingerbread men and gingerbread house! I hope you enjoy – and have fun with this icing! Think of the possibilities! – Nagi x