This egg free royal icing recipe makes cookie embroidery a breeze.
From the first time I saw Cookie embroidery, cookie brush technique etc. floating around the blog-a-verse I’ve wanted to try it.
For this experiment I started by using my Perfect Sugar Cookie Mix-up and made Some Perfect Sugar Cookies. (Of course.) 🙂
I love watching the Cookie Embroidery videos . I admit that cookie painting seemed daunting. Then of course there is the problem of what usually graces the tops of these charming looking cookies; royal icing. Royal icing always leaves my tongue feeling dry.
A family reason for this recipe
But more importantly, I have a grandchild who is allergic to eggs. So no egg whites and no meringue powder could be used. I was very excited when I found the gelatin icing recipe, but it also called for meringue powder. Sigh.
I decided to play with it and just leave the meringue powder out. Yup. Sans the egg anything.
Guess what? It worked. Just fine. Then I used a vanilla buttercream frosting for the flowers. (Replace butter with shortening or margarine for dairy allergies.)
Tips for the making the egg free royal icing
Okay. Here’s a batch of the jello icing waiting to top my Valentine cookies. Not the most gorgeous picture ever, but kitchen-honest anyway. 🙂 Make it up in small batches and work with speed as the gelatin icing thickens quickly it will get harder to spread or ‘flood’ the cookies smoothly.
I outlined the cookies in a vanilla buttercream for contrast. You can make the jello icing a bit thicker and use it to pipe around the edges if you don’t want any contrast or piping line.
Cookie Embroidery
I used the 6 ounce Wilton plastic bottles to flood the icing onto the cookies. You can also try piping it from a bag or simply gently spooning it onto the cookie.
Then I allowed them to set up. I’ve seen it suggested to wait overnight, but I have never waited more than an hour.
The first time I started painting on a cookie I only waited 15 minutes and as you can see there as a little woopsy as my brush dug into the freshly set icing. Patience patience patience.
As you can see I used a #4 square-tipped (absolutely new and freshly washed) cheap inexpensive watercolor brush. (It now resides with my other frosting tools.) I watched the video and practiced on some baking parchment.
While applying the buttercream frosting as you are cookie painting, keep your brush clean using a damp paper towel so that frosting doesn’t clump up on your brush.
As I was doing the cookie embroidery I knew they were pretty, not perfect. I comforted myself that as long
as the instructional video wasn’t being played over the plate when they were presented as gifts that they were just dandy. 🙂
Egg Free Royal Icing – No Meringue allowed
Ingredients
- 2 T boiling water
- 1 1/2 T flavored gelatin Like Jello brand
- 1/2-3/4 cup powdered sugar
- pinch salt
- few drops of vanilla or flavoring
Instructions
- Pour 1/2 cup powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl.
- Measure gelatin powder and salt into a small heat proof bowl.
- Pour boiling water over gelatin powder mixture.
- Stir gently till dissolved.
- Pour gelatin over powdered sugar. Add flavoring and stir till smooth.
- To gain the desired consistency; stir in powdered sugar 1 T. at a time till desired consistency is reached.
The measurements MUST be off ! I followed exactly and when I blended 2 T of boiling water into 1 1/2 T gelatin I ended up with a gum ball!! I added much more water until It was a consistency that could be blended into powdered sugar and still ended up with unusable goo! Entire batch went into the trash! Very disappointed..
So sorry this didn’t work for you! It totally works for me. Did you use flavored gelatin like jello? As mentioned in the recipe that’s what you should use not unflavored gelatin.