Royal Icing

If you want to decorate your cookies like a pro, the right icing is the key.  This icing goes on semi-liquid, and dries hard.  That way, you can stack them in a container without ruining all your hard work.

For this recipe, you will need to purchase meringue powder (this is what gives the icing that nice crust once dry).  I have not found this at my local Wal-Mart, but pretty much any craft store that has baking supplies would have it.

2 Tbl. meringue powder
1/4 C water (plus some for consistency)
4 C powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

First, whisk the meringue powder and water until there are no lumps, and it's foamy.  Add the sugar and vanilla.  You'll need to blend this for about 2 min., or until the color changes from a cream color to white.  At this point, the icing will be thick (you can use this to make gingerbread houses if you want).  Slowly add in water 1 Tbl. at a time, to thin it out a bit.  Not too thin, just until when you run a spoon over the surface, the icing goes back to how it was in about 15 seconds.
Now separate into bowls of however many colors you want to make.  Add your food coloring to the right shade first.  Then mix in a little more water, so it's about Elmer's glue consistency.
To ice, put the icing in little squeeze bottles, or zip lock bags with a small corner cut off.  Start by making an outline, and then filling in the rest, smoothing the liquid as you go.  (You'll find that it doesn't take much.)

Have fun, and enjoy!

(Recipe courtesy of followtheruels.com, and photo by Pirijo Silver.)