This is a tutorial for how I apply my glaze icing to sugar cookies. Looking for the best Cutout Sugar Cookie Recipe? I’ve got you covered!
Sugar Cookie Glaze Icing
To make my special version of royal icing (glaze icing) these are the ingredients I use. (recipe below as well)
1 cup powder sugar (confectioners sugar)
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 drop lemon juice (can be fresh)
Why do I use Lemon Juice? The acidity helps create a better tasting glaze! You don’t actually taste the lemon AT ALL… it is purely used to counter all the sweet, sweet sugar!
This will outline and fill approximately one dozen cookies in one color.
And here are the supplies.
bowl
spoon
sifter
measuring cups
pastry bags
tips & coupler set
rubber band
You can find most of these at your grocery store, however, the coupler set and disposable pastry bags can be found at Michaels and Walmart.
Place one cup of powder sugar in sifter. Try not to skip this step! Lumps in icing are hard to fix.
Add one tablespoon milk, one tablespoon corn syrup, and one drop lemon juice.
Mix everything together. This looks pretty dry still, so I am going to add a little more milk, about a teaspoon at a time.
Much better. Still pretty thick but perfect for outlining.
Now, remember these guys? You want to take the large piece in the coupler set and insert it into the bag. Really get it as far into the tip of the bag as you can without stretching the bag.
Place bag into a tall glass.
Pour icing into the bag. When it is filled about half way just give your bag a twist, then put a rubber band on it so no icing can spill out the end.
Now put this bowl in the sink and rinse it out! Dried icing is a PAIN to clean up. 🙂
Next, we are going to cut off the tip of the bag. Just cut straight across.
Place your decorating tip on the bag, then place the ring of the coupler set on top of the decorating tip. Tightly screw it on and you are all set!
Before you start icing your cookie, just get a piece of wax paper or use a cookie sheet and practice using your icing bag. Practice making lines… dots… learning the texture and consistency of your icing and how it looks.
Then just start at any corner, apply light pressure to the bag, and begin slowly moving your tip down the side of your cookie.
(sorry about the poor quality of these shots… it was REALLY hard to take a picture while icing!)
It’s ok to have a little slack in your line… let the icing flow a bit!
Just make your way around the cookie. If you make a wobbly line or have a ‘break’ in the line just wipe off the cookies and start over. Easy!
Next, you are going to want to ‘spill’ or ‘flood’ your cookie. So I made another batch of icing, the same way as before, only this time I added more milk to get a runnier consistency.
Once combined, run your spoon along the bottom of the bowl. You will want to be able to see the bottom of the bowl for at least a few seconds. If ten seconds pass and you can still see the bottom of the bowl you will need to add a little more milk.
Now grab another bag. Since I am just using this icing to flood the cookies, I am not going to use a coupler or decorating tip.
Just fill up the bag, twist it, and wrap a rubber band around the top. Then cut off the tip.
When I flood I generally run a ribbon of icing around the edges then fill in the center a bit. If you flood your cookie completely, as in, have no dry space, there will be too much icing and it will overflow.
Now we will go back in and smooth everything out.
Just grab a toothpick and start moving the icing into the corners. Make sure you cover all the dry cookie!
There will most likely be bubbles. Pop those suckers!
Just use your toothpick. There! All gone.
And here is the ‘finished’ cookie. I have finished in quotations because now is when I normally start decorating!
Hope that answers any questions you may have about glaze icing!
I often quadruple this recipe and then divide up the mixture and add food color. When I am outlining and filling cookies I will make a lot of one color with the “thicker” version of the icing, then add more milk to thin the icing down for filling.
Glaze Icing
Ingredients
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1 drop lemon juice, fresh or bottled
Instructions
- Place one cup of confectioners' sugar in a sifter. Try not to skip this step! Lumps in icing are hard to fix.
- Add one tablespoon milk, one tablespoon corn syrup, and one drop lemon juice.
- Mix everything together. If it looks too dry, add more milk, ½ teaspoon at a time. Be sure to mix well after each addition as you don't need much.
Did you make this recipe?
Thank you for making my recipe! You took pictures, right? Well go ahead and post them on Instagram! Be sure to mention me @iambaker and use the hashtag #YouAreBaker.
Here are some examples of some decorated sugar cookies as well as some essential tips and tricks!
How To Package and Ship Cookies
Ugly Sweater Christmas Cookies
Rainbow Bus Cookies (VW Bus Cookies)
Can someone tell me if these can be put in the freezer and for how long? I am getting married in May and want to make personalized cookies for my guests but need to get a jump start! Thanks so much!
Hi, I want to ask.. Will the icing harden so that I can stack the cookies or pack them in plastic packaging? Thanks!
I noticed that the commenter correcting the terminology is from New Zealand. I have a feeling they just call it something different there. Here in the US, this really is a sifter. A sieve is much larger and usually has a different mesh design for draining liquid.
I used my fine mesh sieve to sift the powdered sugar. We bakers tend to just use a sieve. A sifter is a uni-tasker! LOL
Yes, here in USA we call them sifters….
Oh the shame Serena Acuzar,, inferiority complex much,,,
Hi! Thanks for sharing this recipe. It tastes great! But was just wondering why when I colored it that white spots showed up in the icing after it dried? I sifted the powdered sugar and I popped all of the air bubbles! Didn’t know if this has happened to anyone else or if there was a solution to it?
Last night I used your flood icing recipe to decorate cookies with the moms and daughters at my church. The icing flooded perfectly, everyone’s cookies looked great for first timers and it was a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing your fab icing recipe. And the icing sets up really well, too, BTW.
Love that!!!
as I come into this way after the fact I cannot help but wonder what would posess someone to just feel they have to criticize other people … just not very nice
and Serena ( noting you are from New Zealand) … I am from USA … and we call it a SIFTER …
Hope you have a wonderful day …. and that you don’t wake up every day with that attitude ????
and THANK YOU Amanda for sharing your wonderful recipes and tips
<3
Thank you for sharing I appreciate your time and effort I plan to use it and report back, thanks again.
Can decorated cookies be frozen with this icing? If yes, what’s the best way to freeze?
Thanks for a great recipe!
I’ve used glaze icing for years. One hint I would like to add is to add White coloring as part of your liquid measure. The white ensures a white color instead of an opaque white. It also gives your colored icing great clear definitive tones.