Sugar Cookie Icing for Cut out Cookies that hardens and requires only 3 simple ingredients! We’ll show you how to ice your sugar cookies and provide tips to make it easier!
(Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan)
Sugar Cookie Icing is essential for all holidays that involve cut out cookies.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a professional baker. I do, however, love pretty baked goods. It must be the inner foodie in me; I simply cannot resist pretty food.
Can something as simple and easy as icing elevate an ordinary dessert into something professional looking just by the way it is decorated!? I think so, and I am always willing to look professional with minimal work. #LazyBaker
Steps to Create the Perfect Sugar Cookie Icing and Ice Those Cookies!
- All you need are three ingredients: Powdered Sugar, Water, and Vanilla Extract #Balller
- Use an icing bag with a very small tip
- Trace the edges of the cookie and WAIT FOR IT TO HARDEN! (See Tip Below to Understand Why)
- Allow 24 hours for sugar cookie icing to harden before storing
Sugar Cookie Icing Tip to make life that much easier.
- Trace the edges of the cookie with icing.
- Allow icing to set 10-15 minutes before filling in the center of the cookie with more icing. If you aren’t patient, the icing will pour off the edges and you’ll have slightly messy iced cookies!
Generally, growing up we would use our favorite vanilla buttercream frosting to ice our grandmother’s famous cut-out cookies. For any holiday other than Christmas, I like to use this super easy, delicious, and foolproof sugar cookie icing instead.
If you’re still looking for a fabulous, moist, and fluffy cut-out cookie recipe to brighten up the upcoming holiday, try this one out!
Finally, I have an amazing gluten free cut-out cookie recipe that is also vegan and dairy-free!
Whatever the occasion may be, it should involve cookies in adorable shapes with some delicious (and pretty) icing on top. Yes. Please.
Other Mistakes to Avoid when Icing with our Sugar Cookie Icing
- Use flat cookies – Cookies that have rounded edges or rounded tops. You want flat evenly surfaced cookies.
- Let Them Cool – This one is what gets me in trouble the most because I am impatient. Allow the cookies to fully cool. If you don’t the sugar cookie icing will not harden and will in fact go everywhere making it very difficult to properly decorate.
- To Thin Icing – You need the sugar cookie icing the perfect consistency. You want it thin enough you can easily squeeze out and decorate with but thick enough that when you do it mostly holds it shape.
- Let the Sugar Cookie Icing DRY – Another one that gets me often because I’m impatient. Let the cookies dry for at least 24 hours sitting out. They might look like they are dry after a few hours but you’ve got to wait. . . . I hate waiting but it is worth it.
Annie says
About how many 3 inch cookies will this ice?
Lindsay says
I’m not sure the exact amount. I do know I make about 3 dozen of my grandmothers cut out cookies and that is enough to ice them with a little bit leftover.
Farheen says
Can i store this icing in the fridge? And how to make it soft again to ice after it has been refrigerated
Lindsay says
I would not myself. It will harden and once it hardens it is very hard to decorate with.
Celeste Smith says
I made this recipe to ice some sugar cookies with my daughter, and it tasted gritty and chemically. Is that because I eat very little to no sugar, so I’m not used to the taste. I follow the recipe, but my daughter thought it tasted great.
Lindsay says
Chemically? Perhaps something to do with your vanilla extract. We use pure vanilla extract so you get that pure vanilla bean flavor but I can see using a lower quality extract that result might happen.
Margaret McLaughlin says
Is this recipe safe for children with peanut allergies?