Royal Icing Gingerbread Frosting is the recipe you need for great holiday cookies and gingerbread houses
Royal Icing Gingerbread frosting is meant to dry solid quickly, and you shouldn’t need to worry about using a raw egg white. This Royal Icing Gingerbread Frosting recipe is specifically formulated for your gingerbread cookie & gingerbread house decorating and binding. It’s very simple and doesn’t require pasteurized egg whites or meringue powder. Sugar acts like a preservative, and because there’s so little moisture in this recipe, any bacteria will starve and die. I have never heard of anyone getting sick from traditional royal frosting. It’s been around for over 100 years!
How to make Royal Icing Gingerbread Frosting
There are only 4 ingredients needed- an egg white, vanilla extract powdered sugar and a little milk or half and half. Start by beating the egg white and vanilla until frothy, either with a stand mixer or a hand held mixer.
Add just a half a cup of powdered sugar and beat it in, scraping down the edges if needed.
Continue to slowly add the rest of your powdered sugar. If the mixture gets too try, add a tablespoon or two of milk or half and half (I prefer the half and half, I think it makes it taste better) until it mixes up smooth and stiff. It should form a ‘soft peak’ on the end of your beater, as shown in these pictures.
Now you are ready to load your Royal Icing Gingerbread Frosting into a piping bag. I LOVE my box of Wilton disposable piping bags. I can just throw them away when I’m done making cleanup a breeze!
I would recommend a very small round piping tip for cookies, and something a little larger if you’re putting together a gingerbread house. Good luck with your creations, and above all have fun! Please rate and review this recipe to help other readers. Thanks!
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Royal Icing Gingerbread Frosting
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 and 1/2 cups 1x
Description
This Royal Icing Gingerbread Frosting is specially formulated to dry quick and strongly affix your gingerbread house pieces together. Also will dry solid on gingerbread cookie cut-outs.
Ingredients
- One large egg-white
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1–2 tablespoons milk as needed
Instructions
- Beat together the egg white, vanilla and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Slowly beat in the remaining powdered sugar, adding a little milk if the frosting gets to dry and begins to clump. Frosting should be smooth and thick.
- Load frosting into piping bag with a small round tip. If you don’t intend to use immediately, cover the tip with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours, letting it sit on the counter for an hour to come to room temperature before using.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: dessert
- Cuisine: American
