Frosted cookies decorated with royal icing that taste as good as they look.
ABOUT FROSTED COOKIES
You’ve probably seen frosted cookies like these for sale in the shops, bakeries, etc. Buying professionally made cookies can get pretty pricey, so I want to share with you all here how you can get a start making them for yourself! These beautiful frosted cookies are great for decorating as a gift to friends and family. Plus, the decorating process makes for a fun activity to do with friends! My favorite thing about making frosted cookies is that you get to decorate them however you want. You can mix up any color of icing you want and make simple, cute designs or beautiful, complex designs. Royal icing can be quite hard to work with, but with enough practice, you can make anything you like! I hope you can find inspiration in your daily life and make frosted cookies that are almost too beautiful to eat. Almost.
COMPONENTS OF FROSTED COOKIES
- ☆ Sugar cookie: A simple cut-out sugar cookie is used as the base for these frosted cookies.
- ☆ Icing: These cookies are frosted using royal icing. You can color the icing however you want to make a variety of designs.
MATERIALS
- ☆ Rolling pin
- If you don’t have a rolling pin, any long cylindrical object you have works as well!
- ☆ Rolling guides
- This is optional, but it will help you keep the thickness of the dough even. If you don’t have any, just keep an eye out on the thickness. You can also use a ruler to check the thickness every now and then.
- ☆ Cookie cutter
- You can use cookie cutters of any shape! Depending on the design you want to make, you may need a variety of shapes. Additionally, you can use a knife or any other cutting tool to cut out any shape you want. When I made these, I drew a design out on paper, cut it out, then used that as a stencil for cutting out the cookies.
INGREDIENTS (+ SUBSTITUTIONS)
This is a basic list and explanation of the key ingredients. For full list and measurements, please scroll down to the recipe below!
COOKIE INGREDIENTS
- ☆ Unsalted butter
- ☆ Powdered sugar
- Powdered sugar blends easier with the butter, making the dough smoother and the resulting cookie more tender. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can substitute it for granulated sugar at a 1:1 ratio by weight.
- ☆ Egg yolks
- Egg yolks primarily provide fat, making the texture of the butter cookies moist and smooth while adding a rich flavor. Egg whites are omitted because having a higher liquid content in the dough will make the cookies more chewy.
- ☆ Vanilla
- I prefer vanilla, but you can use any flavoring extract you like!
- ☆ Cake flour
- We use cake flour for pastries to have a lighter, more delicate texture. If you don’t have any, you can use a mix of all-purpose flour and cornstarch. To substitute all-purpose flour and cornstarch for cake flour, about ⅛ of the required cake flour should be replaced with cornstarch and the remaining ⅞ should be replaced with all-purpose flour. In this case, about 262.5g all-purpose flour and about 37.5g cornstarch can be used in place of 300g cake flour.
ICING INGREDIENTS
- ☆ Powdered sugar
- Powdered sugar provides sweetness and structure to the royal icing. Additionally, the high sugar content acts as a preservative for the egg whites. For icing you need powdered sugar, so in this case, if you don’t have any, you can grind granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until very fine. Just make sure to weigh it after blending. You can store any leftovers.
- ☆ Egg whites
- I used raw egg whites that I separated earlier when using the yolks to make the cookie dough. Please try to use a pasteurized egg if you can so you don’t get sick! Additionally, if you are hesitant to use raw egg whites, use meringue powder! Meringue powder consists of dehydrated egg whites and stabilizer. Admittedly, I’ve never used meringue powder, so I can’t say whether or not it’s easy or difficult to work with. Therefore, if you choose to use meringue powder, please refer to the instructions on the packaging.
- ☆ Lemon juice
- The lemon juice whitens and stabilizes the icing while adding a light citrus flavor. There is a bit of a debate whether or not the acid in lemon juice kills the illness-causing bacterias that can be present in raw eggs. It’s pretty complicated, so for peace of mind, assume that the lemon juice does not kill bacteria and use a pasteurized egg.
- ☆ Vanilla
- I used vanilla to flavor the icing, but again, you can customize this to your taste! You can use any flavoring to flavor your icing or completely omit it if you like the fresh lemon taste for your cookies.
TIPS FOR MAKING FROSTED COOKIES
- ☆ I would really hate for anyone to get sick trying one of my recipes, so for the third time in this post I ask you to please use pasteurized eggs if you can’t verify the safety of your eggs. I want to make sure you stay safe!
- ☆ If the dough starts to warm up and becomes soft while you’re working with it, return it to the fridge to let it rest for a few minutes as needed. Also, cold cookie dough holds its shape better in the oven, which is why it’s important to freeze before baking.
- ☆ Depending on the size of your cookies, you may need more or less icing than I wrote in this recipe. I wrote how much was required for when I made it, so please just use this as a general reference and adjust accordingly.
- ☆ If you need inspiration, some of my favorite YouTubers, WHIP SUGAR and Manna-Tanuki, post gorgeous icing cookie designs!
ROYAL ICING TIPS
- ☆ When decorating the cookies, be mindful of the moisture of the icing. Cover any bowls of icing with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out while you prepare other colors or are decorating.
- ☆ It’s best to have thick piping consistency icing to pipe the borders of the frosted cookies and thin flood consistency icing to fill in any large areas. You can check the consistency by cutting a line into the frosting. If it takes more than 25 seconds to disappear, it’s piping consistency. Likewise if it takes less than 10 seconds to disappear, it’s flood consistency. If it’s somewhere in between, it’s medium consistency and can be used for both piping and filling. To thicken icing, you can let the icing dry out a bit or add more powdered sugar. To thin the icing, you can add water.
MORE COOKIE RECIPES! ♡
If you recreate this Frosted Cookies recipe, please let me know by tagging me or leaving a comment on Instagram @maruryouri or TikTok @atsuryouri. I’d love to see your creations and hear your feedback!
Frosted Cookies
Sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. Customize the colors of the icing to create any image you like. Sweet and slightly tart, these cookies make the perfect gift.
Ingredients
Cookies
- 150 g unsalted butter softened
- 120 g powdered sugar
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 300 g cake flour
Icing
- 300 g powdered sugar
- 60 g egg whites
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- A few drops of vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a bowl, beat the softened butter with a whisk or hand mixer. Sift in the powdered sugar and cream together until light in color.
- Add the egg yolks and beat together with the butter and sugar until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla and whisk together.
- Sift in the flour and fold it in, being careful to not overmix. Continue to incorporate the dough together by lightly kneading.
- Roll the cookie dough between two sheets of parchment paper to 5mm thickness and freeze for 10 minutes. Once the dough is firm, cut shapes with cookie cutters, a knife, or a pastry wheel. Freeze the cut-out cookie shapes for 10 minutes.
- Arrange the cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in an oven at 340°F/170°C for 12-15 minutes until the edges are lightly golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool completely on a cooling rack.
- While the cookies cool, prepare the icing. In a bowl, beat together the powdered sugar and egg whites. Once it’s about half incorporated, add the lemon juice and vanilla and continue to mix until smooth. The icing should be thick but still thin enough to flow freely.
- Prepare the colors for the icing and decorate as you like. To have colors next to each other flat, pipe wet icing on wet icing. To have some icing 3D, pipe wet icing on dry, hard icing. Be mindful to let the icing harden completely, and the frosted cookies are done! 完成です！