The Most Royal Of Icings Food

ROYAL ICING

Steps:

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar and salt. Whisk until stiff and glossy.
• To tint the frosting, divide into small bowls. Cover the ones you aren't using with plastic wrap; the frosting dries out very quickly. Use a rubber spatula to stir in desired food coloring. Though not necessary, it makes life easier if you make two versions of each color - one that is thick to pipe the outline on the cookie, and one that is thinned out slightly with a little water to flood the outline.
• Transfer frosting to piping bags fitted with very small round tips (sizes 1 to 2 work best). Pipe frosting onto cooled cookies and let set, at least 2 hours. Or use a pastry of paint brush to decorate cookies with the frosting.

ROYAL ICING

Steps:

• Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites till light and foamy, about 1 minute.
• Add powdered sugar, cream of tartar and salt to egg whites and continue to whisk, stopping to scrape down bowl as necessary, until extremely light and fluffy, almost like shaving cream.
• Thin icing with water by the tablespoonful until it has the viscosity of hot fudge. (This is the ideal texture for decorating.) Depending on your egg whites, this could be 3 to 4 tablespoons of water.
• If you'd like to tint the icing different colors, separate icing into small bowls. Add food coloring to each bowl using only a drop or two at a time, and stir thoroughly to combine, until desired color is achieved. Icing dries out fairly quickly, so keep covered until ready to use.

THE FLUFFIEST ROYAL ICING

Steps:

• Place meringue powder and water in the bowl of a standing mixer and swirl them together. Using the whisk attachment, mix on high for 3 minutes until the mixture is frothy. Scrape down the sides.
• Add confectioners' sugar and mix for 2 minutes, being careful to start slowly and then gradually increase speed to high so the sugar doesn't fly all over the kitchen, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Add vanilla or other flavoring (and gel food coloring if desired), and mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Transfer to an airtight container until ready to use. The icing will keep, refrigerated, for about 2 weeks.

PERFECT ROYAL ICING

Steps:

• Beat first three ingredients, then thin with a little water, if needed.
• Add almond, vanilla, and butter flavoring.
• Depending on how many colors you want, divide it between several bowls.
• To decorate on top of original layer of icing, thicken with powdered sugar until desired thickness.
• Decorating works best when used in the decorating bags with tips.
• Also, before spreading thin icing over cookies, try putting an outline of thick icing from a small decorating tip around the edge of the cookie.
• This way, the thin icing will not drip over the edge.

ROYAL ICING

Steps:

• Whisk together the water, meringue powder and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Place the bowl on the mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix in the confectioners' sugar little by little on the lowest speed possible. Mix on low speed until it is a thick consistency, about 10 minutes. Adjust the consistency as needed with water, adding a little at a time and mixing between additions.
• Using a rubber spatula, tint with food coloring as desired.