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Sugar Cookie Icing

This sugar cookie icing dries hard and shiny and the colors stay bright. Choose as many different colorings as you desire to make beautiful decorations on your cookies. This recipe makes enough icing to decorate a dozen sugar cookies.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 12 people
Calories 1018.7 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Small Mixing Bowl For combining ingredients
  • 1 Whisk or Sturdy Spoon For stirring and beating the icing
  • 1 Set of Measuring Spoons and Cups For accurate ingredient measurement
  • 3 Small separate bowls For dividing and coloring the icing
  • 3 Squeeze bottles or pastry bags (Optional) For precise application and decorating

Ingredients
  

Main

  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 2 teaspoons milk or more if needed
  • 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon almond extract
  • assorted food coloring

Instructions
 

  • Gather all ingredients. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  • Stir together confectioners' sugar and milk in a small bowl until smooth. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  • Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  • Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dotdash Meredith Food Studios
  • Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush. Will Dickey / Food Styling: Margaret Dickey / Prop styling: Phoebe Hauser 

Notes

Achieving the perfect consistency is paramount: For outlining, aim for icing that flows slowly from a spoon but holds its shape. For flooding, it should be thinner, flowing smoothly but still viscous enough to stay within borders. Adjust with tiny amounts of milk (to thin) or confectioners' sugar (to thicken). For vibrant, streak-free colors, opt for gel food coloring, adding sparingly. For a richer flavor, consider substituting almond extract with a high-quality vanilla bean paste or a touch of lemon zest. Ensure cookies are completely cool before icing to prevent melting. Allow ample drying time, ideally overnight, for a hard, shiny finish that won't smudge.