So I made wiltons royal icing recipe and thinned it down w/ water for my sugar cookies. But the icing tastes awful!!!! What can I add to it to make it tastes edible??? Also, for the future, is it better to use royal or a glaze? This is my first year making holiday cookies. Thanks!!

It's sugar and water, so no, it's not going to taste good. It's better once it's on the cookie but I always add LOTS of flavoring.

Try almond extract or Creme Bouquet (small amount). Agreed, it does not taste good on its own and you need to wait for it to harden on the cookie, soft RI... ick.

Hmmm, I disagree. I always taste my RI soft and it tastes good. I don't use the Wilton recipe and I also prefer pasteurized egg whites. I use the recipe Alton Brown has posted on food network website. I don't even taste the. Lemon juice.

But I have read that meringue powder RI and egg white RI taste different and I agree. That is why I switched to egg white RI.

We are decorating cookies today and I am using glaze. I like the taste of that way better than RI even if I am using egg whites. There is an after taste to RI that is not there with glaze recipe.

I agree. There is definately a diff in taste b/w glace and ri. I use glace to flood and ri for decorations (it's more reliable to stay where i pipe it as opposed to glace)

Are you flavoring it? I flavor mine up and everybody loves it.

I use this recipe: http://chiccookiekits.blogspot.com/2008/11/cookie-dough-and-frosting-recipes.html

4 tblsp meringue powder
1/2 cup water
7-8 cups confectioner's sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tblsp Crisco
2 Tblsp light corn syrup

Whip the meringue powder and water on high speed for a looooong time, several minutes, until it's fluffy and peaks form (use an electric hand beater or the wire whisk of your standing mixer). Gradually add the rest of the ingredients to desired consistency. Store at room temperature in a sealed container for up to a month.

It doesn't dry quite as hard as RI, but it's still stackable and shippable and tastes SO much better! I prefer it not being as hard for taste reasons, too.

I prefer the workability of RI over glace, but I hate the way my RI tastes. I know it's the Wilton merengue powder. You can smell the funny smell as soon as you open the can, and that is the weird taste the cookies leave in my mouth too. The last time I made it I used almond extract instead of vanilla and it was much better. You do need more extract than any recipe calls for in order to cover that weird taste. However, I didn't use it to flood the cookies...just for the fine detailed piping. So I can't say for sure that it's a solution to the 'ick' problem.

Well try this, use another brand of meringue powder -- Wilton's smells rancid brand new. Then when flavoring, use extracts (not oils or you'll break it down) and deduct that much water. For example if you use the 6 TBSP water, and you use 1 TBSP flavoring, only use 5 TBSP water. I do this all the time and it works just fine.

I like the CK stuff but I've used all kinds of brands and they're all pretty much the same.

I really like Antonia's recipe here on CC. I flavor mine with Wedding Bouquet, and it tastes divine. People rave about how good it is, and I love how it sets a little softer. No breaking your teeth on the icing! I also use just a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice. You never taste it and it somehow cuts the taste of the meringue powder.