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Royal Icing for Sugar Cookies

If you're decorating cookies for children, pregnant women, or anyone with compromised immune systems, use meringue powder, found in the baking aisle of most markets, instead of raw egg whites.
  • Yield Makes 2 1/3 cups
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Ingredients

  • 1 box confectioners' sugar (1 pound)
  • 5 tablespoons meringue powder or 2 large egg whites

Directions

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and meringue powder. Mixing on low speed, add a scant 1/2 cup water. For a thinner consistency, usually used for flooding, add more water. A thicker consistency is generally used for outlining and adding details. Mix until icing holds a ribbonlike trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle.