I made a batch of meringue buttercream icing. I used butter instead of shortening. Does anyone know how long this is good for? I would be curious to know if there would be a difference between in the longevity if it was refrigerated versus leaving on the counter. And....I used water instead of milk if that makes a difference. TIA!

I don't know the answers to your question, but how did it turn out? Does it taste better than RI? Is it hardening on your cookies? What is the consistency like?

My best guess would be to keep it in the fridge and then before you use it take it out for a few hours and let it get room temperature. That's what I do with my regular BC.

I'm not sure of the answers. The use of milk/water in a meringue buttercream recipe has me curious as to which recipe you used though.

What is the recipe? I think perhaps you have the terminology mixed up a bit. Did you make buttercream with powdered sugar, butter, milk and then add some meringue powder to help it crust? That isn't what is classically refered to as a meringue buttercream. A meringue buttercream is made with granulated sugar and egg whites that are whipped into a meringue and then you add butter and flavoring. It doesn't crust at all and wouldn't be good for cookies (well I'm sure it'd taste good, but it wouldn't hold up well).

Depending on your recipe, a powdered sugar based icing made with real butter and milk should be able to stay on the counter at room temp for a while. A true meringue buttercream should be kept in the fridge if you are storing it more than a couple of days.

I don't know the answer to the OP, but SMBC does taste VERY GOOD on chocolate chip cookies. Not for pretty factor, but oh so belly friendly

Below is the recipe I used. I just used butter instead of the shortening. I love love this icing because we love buttercream.

Meringue Powder Buttercream
1/3 cup water
3 T. meringue powder
½ cup shortening
4 ½ cups powdered sugar (1 lb. 3 oz. If you have a scale)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (use clear vanilla if you want a pure white icing)
¼ tsp. almond extract

I haven't used that exact recipe, usually I use 1 cup of shortening (or 1/2 c. shortening, and 1/2c. butter) with only 1-2 T. meringue powder, and then do not add almond extract. However that recipe should be fine to set out. And the recipe I use holds up very well between cake layers. Hope that helps.

It is very stiff and I would think it would hold very well between layers of cake....I am not a cake decorator but have dabbled in the past. I have to thin this icing out to flood my cookies. Hope this helps!

That should be more than fine to leave out on the counter.