How to Make Royal Icing

Take your cookies to the next level with my foolproof Royal Icing recipe. You only need three ingredients to make this icing and food coloring of your choice to create beautifully decorated cookies for any celebration or holiday. This recipe is perfect for outlining and flooding cookies and so easy too!!

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[itsmeevelyn]

the fact that you exist makes me happy

[jcm]

It is endearing the way you forgive your own mistakes, as in " That's OK. that's OK...". ( life lesson?)

[SarahBeth]

THANK YOU!!! I have been making sugar cookies with royal icing for years now and I never can get my base icing firm enough without adding extra powdered sugar (making it a little too sweet). Turns out, I'm not mixing it long enough. Also, I love how you leave in mistakes and show how to fix them. A small tip for you though, for the stocking, start with red next time. Then do the white with sanding sugar. That way there is no gap between the colors. Also, for the snowman's nose, you can just make a big orange circle and then use a toothpick to pull it out in the direction you want to make the point. :) Love your videos! You're fantastic!

[sandrapotter]

I would like to suggest a tip I learned from Alton Brown. When adding dry ingredients to a mixer of wet ingredients, use a cheap bendable paper plate. It's a lot less messy.
Thank you.

[izmatiz]

This guy is totally positive vibes and so relatable.

[bmachine]

I LOVE to cook, but I am the WORST at baking. I can deep fry anything, I can grill anything, but lordt if I try to bake anything-it’s a disaster.
I have tried multiple recipes of yours and they are always a success! Thank you for giving me the inspiration and education to ENJOY baking.

Your videos are the best! No unnecessary long intro that drags out causing lost interest. You show your silly mishaps that shine a light on the true mess of baking!
Thank you times 1 Millon!

[TGA_GAMIN]

HEY JON I OPENED UP A BAKERY BECAUSE OF YOU

[lindakemer]

The best part about royal icing is that you can swirl and blend colors like an artist. I always let people know I need to have at least 1 week to complete my creations. It is very labor intensive. I also use meringue powder, and can refrigerate the frosting to continue the next day. I’m not sure if you can do that with egg whites. Also I use a dehydrator to firm up the frosting on the cookie when I add layers. Great starter & Informative video, John! 🎄

[jackybluj]

I remember we had a cake decorating class when I was in girl scouts. That was about 50 years ago. We practiced on graham crackers. The icing was made of crisco, powdered sugar and food coloring. How I thought that was yummy I'll never know. I always thought that was Royal Icing. Thank you for showing how to do it right. 😋

[carrieharris]

John, I have been making sugar cookies with icing since I was seventeen and I am now 41. I used to make such runny icing or I would make vanilla buttercream which is too thick. Watching your royal icing tutorial is great and life changing. I got this Christmas already made up icing for cookies. It was too thick so watching your video I would add a little water and it made the perfect flooding consistency. Thank you John. You are an amazing man.

[angelinawilliams]

I hope this video sheds light on how difficult decorated cookies are. John is a master baker but certainly not a master cookie decorator, that says alot about how much you need to put into it to actually be good at it

[MsGinahidesout]

Outlining is the hardest part! I'm glad you didn't edit out your mistake, it makes me feel more normal. LOL

[overworkedcna]

I am a nightmare with baking. Like cooking, I'm a boss. Baking? You wanna have the fire extinguisher on standby. *THIS MADE IT SO EASY.* You literally saved my life. It looks like I ACTUALLY know what I'm doing! My husband thinks I'm a genius thanks to you (and yes, he steals some too!).

[huntercollins]

You're so much fun to watch! One thing: I'm a teacher. That's scraping the bowl down. Tamping is applying pressure and compacting something, which I believe is not what is wanted when mixing, particularly using egg whites.

[kathyfazzini]

I love how you do not edit mistakes and show us how to fix it. Love your humor as well. Merry Christmas from our house to yours. 🎄🎁❄☃️

[angeliquecooking]

This recipe saved my day. I made sugar cookies for an upcoming recipe video. I could not find the icing pouch I usually buy to frost my cookies at the store. I had to frost my cookies for the video. I looked for recipes online and this one seemed so perfect. I made it and VOILÀ! Perfectly frosted sugar cookies!!!! I will not buy icing pouches anymore. I just love everything you make. It is always so beautifully presented.

[hasnaineesarvary]

I loveee how he shows that he makes a few mistakes along the way!! Makes me so much more confident and i know it's okay to do a few things wrong. I Loveeee your videos and I've used so many of them so many times ❤️

[karineaguiar]

It worked so well, everything turned out perfectly. I loved the final result and I couldn't be happier with my decorated gingerbreads

[elenikoutloumpasis]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! Finally a recipe that works! I’ve tried everything in the past and can never get the right consistency until now! I’ve been using your recipe for 3 days now for all of my Christmas cookies and it’s PERFECT! My cookies look professional and beautiful. Merry Christmas!!!

[stephaniebm]

The background music at 10:24 is actually Brazil’s national anthem 😂 And I love how somehow it sounded very christmas-y and went with the video