Its Cookie Season! ...a Tip On Royal Icing.
Decorating By melysa Updated 20 Oct 2007 , 9:12am by melysa
ok everyone, since its time to break out those cookie cutters for all sorts of cookies for the holidays...i thought i'd share this helpful tip on royal icing.
ESPECIALLY if you use meringue powder in your recipe, INSTEAD of adding water (and a little amount of extract) just use lemon juice in place of all other liquids, fresh or bottled. it really cuts that nasty aftertaste of the m.p. and the sweetness of the sugar. it makes for a very enjoyable flavor to the icing. i used to use mostly water and a little bit of flavoring(vanilla, almond , etc) but had this suggested to me last year. its a fantastic improvement on the taste of royal icing, PLUS it brightens the white.
enjoy.
Great tip!! I usually put vanilla or almond extract, but.....Now my imagination is running wild.... grand marnier, chambord, etc.....
Thx!!
Lisa
one time i used chambord (or it may have been raspberry extract) i cant remember cause i use chambord often too...anyway, it was really good, gave a nice raspberry pink tint and smelled delicious! i used it with chocolate fondant on sugar cookies. YUM!
Oh thank you for the great tip. I made NFSC w/Antonias RI for the first time last week and was wondering what to add to improve the flavor of the RI. I tried a little almond extract but it didn't quite do what I wanted it to. Can't wait to try this!
How about some tips on how to improve my decorating techniques so my cookies don't look like my three year old decorated them 
Chrisy
How about some tips on how to improve my decorating techniques so my cookies don't look like my three year old decorated them
Chrisy
LOL....are you thinning it for flooding after you've outlined the cookies with a stiffer icing?
what about orange extract? will it change the colour of the royal icing?
I use Antonias royal icing recipe and it calls for 3/4 cup of water, would you use that much lemon juice instead....? This may be a silly question, but how much of a lemony flavor does it give the icing? I would love to find something to cut the aftertaste and the sweetness a bit, but without too much added flavor. I hope that makes sense!
what about orange extract? will it change the colour of the royal icing?
orange extract is clear, so it shouldnt change the color. as far as brightness...i dont think so, but i dont think it will add color either.
i THINK the reason the lemon juice does it, is because it acts as an acidic "bleach". i dont know, maybe its all in my head! the person who suggested it to me last year mentioned that, and i thought i noticed a brighter difference too, but who knows? at least i can say for sure that it doesnt color the icing if you want it to stay white like pure vanilla would.
I use Antonias royal icing recipe and it calls for 3/4 cup of water, would you use that much lemon juice instead....? This may be a silly question, but how much of a lemony flavor does it give the icing? I would love to find something to cut the aftertaste and the sweetness a bit, but without too much added flavor. I hope that makes sense!
wow, is it a big batch of icing? i've never made here recipe. i substitute ALL the liquid, about 6 tb of lemon juice (nearly a half cup ) plus any flavorings it called for (an additional tb for the vanilla it called for).
honestly i dont know what else to do to cut the sweetness without adding the flavorings, other than perhaps a dash of salt, but that still wont do too much , in my opinion. you could try adding lemon juice to taste, then the remaining water, but honestly i think that using all lemon juice makes it really yummy. before i did it this way, i thought the stuff was disgusting- even with a little vanilla or almond.
another thought is to use clear vanilla (i dont like it much, but it wont change the color) and sub it for a portion of the water , using a dash of disolved salt too. with more vanilla and salt, its more versitile with flavors than lemon would be, say on a chocolate cookie.
but i DO LOVE the lemon! 
I use Antonias royal icing recipe and it calls for 3/4 cup of water, would you use that much lemon juice instead....?
I am interested to know this too...how much do you personally replace in your recipe. ie...your recipe calls for X amount of water and you replace with Y amount of Lemon extract.
Very interesting information.
I hjave replaced a portion of the water with cherry juice (like in the syrupy cherries put in drinks) and it did not work out well. The icing turned to powder after it dried and then was touched.
Thanks
Julia
what about orange extract? will it change the colour of the royal icing?
orange extract is clear, so it shouldnt change the color. as far as brightness...i dont think so, but i dont think it will add color either.
i THINK the reason the lemon juice does it, is because it acts as an acidic "bleach". i dont know, maybe its all in my head! the person who suggested it to me last year mentioned that, and i thought i noticed a brighter difference too, but who knows? at least i can say for sure that it doesnt color the icing if you want it to stay white like pure vanilla would.
thx 
I didn't add flavouring suggestions to my recipe because I buy a brand of meringue powder that has vanilla powder right in it. Not having used the Wilton brand before, I didn't realize that they ALL don't have flavouring built right in.
Use whatever flavour extract you'd like, but do be careful of using any oil-based extract. Oil and royal icing aren't best friends! It can cause problems in the consistency of your icing and/or the drying time.
I didn't add flavouring suggestions to my recipe because I buy a brand of meringue powder that has vanilla powder right in it. Not having used the Wilton brand before, I didn't realize that they ALL don't have flavouring built right in.
Use whatever flavour extract you'd like, but do be careful of using any oil-based extract. Oil and royal icing aren't best friends!
It can cause problems in the consistency of your icing and/or the drying time.
hi antonia,
i use the one that is from the bulk barn...is that ok?
helen, good point on the oil based flavorings!
julia, i use the wilton recipe. based on memory, i THINK it is 2 lbs sugar, 6 tb water (i use the lemon juice instead) 3 tb meringue powder and vanilla (which i omit or add more lemon juice). it makes 3 cups. i just completely substitute the liquids and it dries rock hard, no crumbling. perhaps your recipe crumbled if it was overbeaten or had oil residues on the bowl or mixer?
When I make Antonia's icing it's always too thick. I water it down but it never seems to come out nice and smooth like other decorated cookies I have seen on here using Antonia's recipe. I don't want to outline because sometimes you can see the outline on the cookie. But the surface my the icing comes out bumpy and then I shake the cookie back and forth and sometimes that will smooth out the icing. But I am really wondering what else I can do to make the icing come out smoothly and shiny. Any suggestions?
one time i used chambord (or it may have been raspberry extract) i cant remember cause i use chambord often too...anyway, it was really good, gave a nice raspberry pink tint and smelled delicious! i used it with chocolate fondant on sugar cookies. YUM!
Thanks for the idea! We have had a bottle of chambord for awhile, and haven't used much b/c we haven't found a lot of drinks to use it in that we like... But I never thought to use it when baking! Hmm... sounds like a good thing to test out this next week.
Yes Moonlightschild, their brand is fine! I use the one packaged in 1 kilo bags from McCall's Cake Supply. It's really strongly vanilla-scented.
Sunflowerfreak, are you piping it with a piping bag onto the cookie? Just add a few tablespoons more water to thin your icing down first...no biggie! 
The icing consistency is very much affected by weather throughout the year too. Sometimes, hot humid days don't require as much water to thin it...other times I need to add a few tablespoons to get it just right. You can also cover the thinned icing with a damp teatowel, walk away and come back a few hours later. The icing will be smoother, ever so slightly thinner and bubble-free!
Thanks for the tip Melysa!! I absolutely loathe the taste of RI, but nothing decorates like it!! You can do some amazing stuff, but I hate to eat it. Maybe this excellent tip will make it edible! (It's not that it's too sweet to me... it's the nasty MP taste!)
Antonia---
What brand of myringue powder do you use that has vanilla flavoring in it? I'm curious, your cookies are always so perfect.
It's the packaged brand from McCall's Cake Supply. Oops, it's a 1.5 kilogram bag...not a 1 kilo bag as I just mentioned in my previous post. You can get it in smaller sizes, but this is so economical and it lasts forever anyway:
https://www.mccalls-cakes.com/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Product_ID=5801&CATID=27
This is a great thread considering the time of year. Thanks for all the suggestions.
one time i used chambord (or it may have been raspberry extract) i cant remember cause i use chambord often too...anyway, it was really good, gave a nice raspberry pink tint and smelled delicious! i used it with chocolate fondant on sugar cookies. YUM!
Thanks for the idea! We have had a bottle of chambord for awhile, and haven't used much b/c we haven't found a lot of drinks to use it in that we like... But I never thought to use it when baking! Hmm... sounds like a good thing to test out this next week.
you can also use it in your bc, smbc or fruit fillings.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%