I think I just found my go-to royal icing recipe. It is just sweet enough and my family enjoyed it. I have about a cup left over after icing 28 medium-sized cookies for St. Patty's Day. I used it with the Ideal Sugar Cookie recipe. Thank you, Martha and staff!

I noticed Danni B is now selling her royal icing. Makes me wonder, what is the shelf life of the frosting? I always make too much.

And when using egg whites, do not add the water. I add a couple of tsps. of lemon juice for thinner consistency.

In response to dancer65, when using egg whites, place all ingredients in bowl together and mix.

This is NOT an egg free frosting. This could cause a severe allergic reaction if you cannot eat eggs. Imagine some one telling a friend that the frosting is egg free when it is not. This needs to be renamed or removed.

If you are using the egg whites, do you beat the eggs whites first and then add the sugar or do you mix then together and beat themaat the same time? I am making the cookies now and need to know how to do the icing. Thanks

If using egg whites, please be aware of the risk of Salmonella. Raw egg products should never be given to babies, small children, the elderly, or anyone with a compromised immune system. Healthy adults who choose to consume raw eggs or raw eggs products should be made aware of the risk of food bourne illness.

Royal Icing Using Egg Whites: 2 large egg whites, 2 tsps. fresh lemon juice, and 3 cups confectioners (icing) sugar, sifted. Mix this altogether by hand and divide into small glass custard cups. I add a tiny bit of Wilton Icing Color gel to each cup for various gorgeous colors. My kids use water paintbrushes to ice the cookies!

going to try the egg white instead of meringue powder. recipe doesnt say anything about adding color to the piping icing. Divide up once mixed and add food coloring for piping in color? any experiences, thoughts on this appreciated.

if you're using egg whites, you don't need water at all for piping consistenecy, but you will need a small amount for flooding. If you use meringue powder, then use the water.

notice that the directions here don't mention the egg whites... these directions are for the meringue powder only.

I would suggest not using the water at all unless needed. I only needed about 1 T to make the icing. My kids also loved helping me. quick and easy

I used this receipe today and discovered that even a scant 1/2 cup of water is toooo much if you use egg whites. I ended up cutting in another 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar to make it stiff enough to do outlines.

how long can you keep this frosting?

it's not too late to slowly add up to 1/2 cup of water.

This is not an egg-free recipe and should not be labeled as one. Meringue powder has egg whites in it and if it where served to anyone with an egg allergy they could have a very serious adverse reaction. If you tell someone it's egg free than it should truly be egg free or you could kill them.

Walmart stores carry Meringue powder in the craft section, in the Wilton products section. Larger Penny's stores carry Wilton as well.

In the process of mixing and it's unclear.. too late NOW, but maybe not next time..

If you opt for egg whites instead of meringue powder do you still add the scant 1/2 cup of water???

Well I am mixing it now.. and it is too late to get feedback to help.. grrr

Do you add the scant 1/2 cup of water if you opted for egg whites over meringue powder??

http://crafts.kaboose.com/miniature-gingerbread-house.html

Has an egg-free royal icing. Hope that helps!

This is not really egg free, as meringue powder has dried egg whites in it. Is there any recipe that is really "egg free" for royal icing? My son has an egg allergy and I wanted to use royal icing to make him an egg free gingerbread house for the holidays.

This is not really egg free, as meringue powder has dried egg whites in it. Is there any recipe that is really "egg free" for royal icing? My son has an egg allergy and I wanted to use royal icing to make him an egg free gingerbread house for the holidays.

you can also purchase meringue powder at Walmart in the cake decorating section.

I got some at JoAnn Fabircs for about $5 for 4 oz.

It is also sold at Williams Sonoma

You can get meringue powder at Michael's crafts, Total Crafts and AC Moore. Look for it at those stores too.

Meringue powder is currently very difficult to find. Plan ahead and order it online. Otherwise, search for cake decorating supply stores in your area to find a retial outlet.

I didn't know about merigue powder before seeing this recipe. My iced Valentine's Day cookies turned out beautiful and for once made it through the mail looking as good as they did when I sent them.