Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

6 tbs warm water

3 tbs meringue powder (you can buy this at Michaels or Hobby Lobby. Walmart has it in the decorating section near the crafts)

1 tsp cream of tartar

4 cups (1 lbs) powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar)

1 tsp clear vanilla extract (regular will tint your frosting off white)

1 tsp almond extract

Directions:

in mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Using the paddle attachment, mix on low until it is frothy and thickened...about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.

Pour in all the icing sugar at once. (if you're not careful the powdered sugar will go EVERYWHERE when you turn on the mixer. I hold a damp towel around the mixer while doing this step)

Mix on low for a full 10 minutes. The icing will get thick and creamy.

Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying out while storing.

Separate and tint with coloring as desired.

Once colored, thin with small amounts of warm water (I use a spray bottle to ensure that I'm only adding a little water at a time) until you reach the desired consistency.

For flooding work on a cookie you want to be able to use a knife to slice a line through your frosting and have it close in 15 seconds. I find that somewhere between 15 and 20 seconds is ideal to insure that you can smoothly flood your cookie.