Has anyone made royal icing without meringue powder?

[mariadnoca]

I deeply dislike the taste of royal icing, but I’m contemplating needing to pipe for day of the dead cookies. So I think I’m going to try a recipe that uses actual egg whites instead of meringue because I’m guessing that’s the culprit of the taste problem. But maybe it’s any kind of egg flavor that I’m not liking. Who knows. Has anybody tried this?

 

[marilynfl]

I have...but first, you might try finding powdered sugar without cornstarch. It's possible that is contributing to your dislike of the flavor. There are a few organic ones out there...but even those seem to be replacing cornstarch with tapioca starch. If you have a Vitamix, you can make your own powdered sugar by zapping regular granulated sugar. The icing will still be overwhelmingly sweet (one of the reasons I no longer make cream cheese icing with that alone).

Newer eggs whites have less water so take that into consideration.

As far as flavoring, I prefer fresh lemon juice to cut the sweetness. It never seemed to impact the cookie flavor.
Sugar Baby icing used both vanilla and a bit of almond extract, which also seemed to mask the powdered sugar flavor.

Not sure of your egg source...lots of warnings re: raw eggs due to Salmonella. Those sites recommend using pasteurized egg whites, but I've never had luck with that for buttercream icing, so never used it for cookie icing.

 

[mariadnoca]

I have...but first, you might try finding powdered sugar without cornstarch. It's possible that is contributing to your dislike of the flavor. There are a few organic ones out there...but even those seem to be replacing cornstarch with tapioca starch. If you have a Vitamix, you can make your own powdered sugar by zapping regular granulated sugar. The icing will still be overwhelmingly sweet (one of the reasons I no longer make cream cheese icing with that alone).

Newer eggs whites have less water so take that into consideration.

As far as flavoring, I prefer fresh lemon juice to cut the sweetness. It never seemed to impact the cookie flavor.
Sugar Baby icing used both vanilla and a bit of almond extract, which also seemed to mask the powdered sugar flavor.

Not sure of your egg source...lots of warnings re: raw eggs due to Salmonella. Those sites recommend using pasteurized egg whites, but I've never had luck with that for buttercream icing, so never used it for cookie icing.

Hummm, I don’t think I’m bothered by the cornstarch because when I make my regular cookie icing, it’s powdered sugar and water and almond extract. I love the flavor of that. It just doesn’t set up where you can pipe it or dry hard quick, I could make powdered sugar in the Vitamix though, never thought about that. To me, the culprit seems to be the meringue powder because that’s the only ingredient that’s different. I already bought the carton of pasteurized egg whites to try.

 

[marilynfl]

Maria, read through Stella’s breakdown on Royal Icing. I find her details with every recipe I’ve made from her to be quite accurate.

Perfect Royal Icing Recipe

This easy royal icing recipe is perfect for decorating your sugar cookies. It dries glossy and firm, protecting your designs, whether for Christmas and the holidays or any other occasion, from smushing and smudging.

www.seriouseats.com

 

[mariadnoca]

Maria, read through Stella’s breakdown on Royal Icing. I find her details with every recipe I’ve made from her to be quite accurate.

Perfect Royal Icing Recipe

This easy royal icing recipe is perfect for decorating your sugar cookies. It dries glossy and firm, protecting your designs, whether for Christmas and the holidays or any other occasion, from smushing and smudging.

www.seriouseats.com

This sounds great! I had another recipe I was going to try, but this sounds better. Since the egg whites in the carton already come pasteurized it really doesn’t need to be cooked, but the method itself sounds to be a winning combination.

if I’m reading this right, do you think she means the thicker version is the right consistency to pipe decorations on the cookie and the thin version is the outline and flood? I have a terrible time getting the right consistency with the whole 15 seconds or whatever it is they’re saying and it just never seems to be right. Since the plan is to do the day of the dead skull cookies, we need to outline and flood a white base and then pipe the color decorations on top.

Do you think this timing would be correct?

 

[marilynfl]

Yes. Here is another article where she shows the outline and flooding....same bag of icing. Yet another article says the correct consistency ( a figure 8) should disappear in 8 seconds...too soon and you need to add a TBL of powdered sugar. Longer than 8 seconds and you need to add a touch more cream.

How to Make Christmas Cookies Look Like They Came From a Bakery, According to a Pastry Chef

Transform your holiday baking from basic to beautiful.

www.seriouseats.com

 

[lana-in-fl]

I do it often, but the stiff version for Christmas cakes. I have started using the container of pasteurized egg whites, and they work very well. I can't stand the taste of meringue powder.