Smooth Royal Icing for Cookies

This last week, my mom was in town for just a couple days. She is a super talented cook and an amazing cake decorator. She has a way of getting me into big baking projects. But, really we enjoy doing these things together. It's fun to be creative in the kitchen and try something new.

So, last minute, we decided to make a cake and some sugar cookies of my little nephews 1st birthday party.  I made a huge, triple batch of sugar cookies so I'd have lots for Valentine's Day.  There's still some in the freezer, but I'm not sure they'll make it till Friday. I made a tone of right angle triangles so that I could make my Geometric Heart edible and some fun X and O's.

For the last couple of parties that I've thrown, we've played with making a nice shiny, smooth royal icing for cookies. My mom has come up with a great recipe that hasn't failed us yet.  Remember, she made the gorgeous Fox cookies for Olivia's 2nd Birthday Party.

For these cookies, we kept the icing thick and I just dipped the tops of the cookies in the icing and then placed them on a cookie sheet to harden.  The icing flattens out so nicely and if you keep it thick enough, it doesn't run over the edges. For simple single color cookies, this is the way to go. No piping or flooding necessary.

Smooth Royal Icing
1/2 bag (1lb) icing sugar
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. corn syrup
1 tbsp. meringue powder
1/2 tsp. clear vanilla or almond
gel food coloring

Mix well. Then depending on the consistency add either a little milk or a little powdered sugar. You'll have to just test it on a cookie. If it runs over the edge of the cookie, it's too thin. If it doesn't lay flat and smooth add 1/2 a tsp. of milk at a time.

Let the iced cookies dry for at least 5 hours.  Once they are completely dry they can be stacked and stored in air tight containers.