I consider myself to be a pretty good artist. My education and former profession is in the design field and I’m pretty good at craft stuff. I also think I’m a decent cook, so I figured with those two things going for me, decorating fancy sugar cookies would be right up my alley. Imagine my surprise (not to mention shattered ego and broken self-confidence) when I attempted to play around with royal icing for the first time and my little masterpieces looked more like something in a 1st grader’s art pile. So I gave up on ever decorating fancy-schmancy cookies again.
That was until I met THIS style of icing. Now my confidence is back in tact because even my very first batch turned out beautifully! It’s super forgiving, easy to use, and it actually tastes good!
The benefit of using an icing like this is that it dries to a solid sheen, making the cookies stackable and packable- perfect for giving or displaying on a platter. With a soft, fluffy buttercream, there’s just no easy way to give them away so you have to eat them all yourself (which may be the plan, right??)
Ingredient Notes
- Simple Ingredients – All you need for this icing is powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and extract of your choice (I use almond, but vanilla is great, too.) And we all know that corn syrup is not the same thing as high-fructose corn syrup, right?? Like, we don’t have to have this conversation again? Okie-dokie then.
- Cookies – You’ll need cookies to decorate! I use The Best Sugar Cookies.
How to Decorate Using Glace Icing
Whisk up some powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and extract of your choice and you’ll have a nice glaze-y consistency. You’re going to use the same recipe for both glazing and piping. The way it is right now is the consistency you want for glazing. It’s smooth and thin and it easily runs off the whisk in a pretty thin drizzle.
Now, you have some options of where to go from here. You can simply spoon this icing onto your cookies and gently spread out with a spoon and be done! In fact, one of the easiest ways is to just quickly spread and let it go completely off the edges like this:
While the icing is wet, you can mix colors and create all kinds of fun things. Try glazing in one color and then adding other colors from a piping bag with a very small, plain opening, and drag the designs with a toothpick to create gorgeous works of art.
You honestly can’t make an ugly cookie here.
Another method is to pipe an edge around your cookie, and then wait for a few minutes for it to firm up. When you’re piping, you’ll want to add a bit more powdered sugar to thicken up the icing just a bit.
Once hardened a a little, go back in with your glaze and fill in the space. That outline will work as a dam and give you nice clean lines.
Wet-on-wet icing will marble and swirl together. I actually did this whole batch this way because I didn’t have time to let mine dry very much.
If you want to pipe designs on top of your cookies, you’ll want to wait until your first glazing layer is dry to the touch, which can take a couple of hours. You’ll want to leave them out un-covered to dry. You can see a great example of this method in this post, where I made darling little Owl Cookies.
I also used that method when making these Valentine Cookie Pops.
Either way, you’ll want to let these cookies dry all the way before stacking or handling too much.
They develop a sheen and are dry to the touch after a couple hours, but they’ll need to really dry for most of the day, or overnight to be completely dry.
Whenever I update ancient posts like this one, I always feel like I’m erasing a bit of history when I delete old, outdated photos, so I’m going to leave a few of the originals here- just because. 
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do these keep? The icing will last longer than the cookies. For most cookies, I would say they are best eaten within a couple of days. Store stacked in an airtight container.
Related Recipes
Did You Try This?
I’d love to hear from you! Snap a picture and tag me on Instagram, then come back and give this recipe a rating!
Glacé Icing
Ingredients
- 1 pound powdered sugar about 3 3/4 cups
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon extract I use almond because I use almond in my sugar cookies, but other flavors like vanilla, lemon, and peppermint are also delicious
Instructions
- With a whisk, combine sugar and milk until smooth (no lumps!) Then stir in corn syrup and extract.
- You will use this same recipe for both glazing and piping. Thickened, you can pipe outlines, and as you thin it, you can use it for "flooding" cookies. Make sure to let them dry overnight to fully harden for stacking.
Questions & Reviews
I LOVE your cookies and this icing recipe, and have found that with a little patience and a LOT of research, I have made some amazing sugar cookies.
For decorating, the most important lesson I have learnt is the “10 second rule,” whereby when you cut a knife through your bowl of icing, the cut mark disappears in 10 seconds. Any more, and the icing will run EVERYWHERE. Any less, and it will be really hard to spread.
I’ve kept this icing for quite a few days in piping bags, doing multi-staged decorating projects with no problems. It can run out the end of the bag though, so make sure you store the bag tip side up!
For some really good tutorials and inspiration on decorating with this sort of icing, check out http://www.cookiecrazie.com/ I found this website to be invaluable – this icing has some limitations compared to RI but it tastes so much more amazing and you CAN do some gorgeous things with it, if you feel so inspired.
I know your boys aren’t old enough yet, but soon enough…. I just wanted you to know that one batch does exactly 45 Eagle cookies – for a Court of Honor. With just enough left over for a few graham crackers, or Oreo’s, or fingers… which is what makes it the perfect amount! (Y’all were fab.u.lous in Harrisburg. Lucky me!)
Thanks for the great tutorial. I made the cookies and icing for Easter and they turned out great.
I just made these for my kindergartner’s class for Valentine’s Day and they are amazing! I quadrupled the recipe and used lemon, almond and vanilla extract. They are sooooo good! I made the larger heart pops and they worked, just like you said! I got the sticks from Walmart and bags from Hobby Lobby. I just wanted to come here and post a big THANK YOU for your wonderful recipes and tutorials. I was making these for the first time and did it all with no mishaps. They really are the best, and you are wonderful for sharing.
One thing I tried and liked, because I was working with so much dough, was to cut the shapes first while the dough was a little softer and easier to work with. Then I stacked them on top of each other on a cookie sheet I had set in my fridge so they could continue chilling while the others baked. They did not stick to each other and they were all nice and cold before they went into the oven.
Love this icing and thanks for the great tutorial. I use this icing for all my decorated cookies, and link here so others can too 🙂
I can’t find the Valentine pops anywhere…where are they? It’s saying “page not found”.
Here you go!
https://ourbestbites.com/2010/01/tutorial-valentine-sugar-cookie-pops/
Just curious about a couple things. Is it SAFE to have MILK in this icing recipe and NOT keep them refrigerated???? I’ve always wondered about that….. Doesn’t the milk go sour at some point and is this safe? I’ve made this recipe before, but wondered if anyone would ever get sick on them because of the milk! Second question… Do they really get HARD enough to ship? In the past when I’ve made these, even though it had been several hours, and even into the next day, stacking them would always crush my piping and so I switched to Royal Icing, which as we all know, doesn’t taste as yummy as the glace does…. I would much rather use this icing, but I’m afraid when I ship them to customers that they may arrive smooshed…. Are you sure 24 hours is enough? Sincerely, Michele D.
Michelle, many things will impact the drying time (humidity, temperature in the home, etc.) I suggest testing a cookie and adjusting your drying time accordingly. To get really *really* hard, you will want about 2 days. After 1 mine are usually just fine to stack on a plate. On the milk issue, *many* baked goods include dairy in the topping and/or filling and are stored at room temperature. Think about your standard buttercream; I’ve had cookies out for a week and they still taste great 🙂
My daughter can’t have milk products. Can you use only water or would almond milk be o.k.?
sure, I’m sure either would be fine. Enjoy!
Made these last night for Christmas using your sugar cookie recipe and they were PERFECTION! Thank you, they’re foolproof and got rave reviews from my guests!
I found your link on pinterest…thanks so much for the great cookie and icing recipe..Made them with my 10 year old son and had a blast. They taste amazing and the icing glaze worked great..ours were almost as pretty as yours!
Hey I am having a bit of an issues with the finish on my icing. It takes on a marbled or frosted look to it when it drys. I was wondering if you ever had that happen or happened to know what could cause that. Thank you so much!
Thanks for the great lesson. My cookies came out awesome! My only question is about the piping. When it dried, it got many air bubble pops. Any suggestions for next time? Thanks!
All I have to say is WOW!!!! Once I read you’re write up on this and your sugar cookie recipie I realized that I too am a sugar cookie snob and have never found a recipie I liked… I am happy to say I have now. It was perfect!! not to sweet and I love them thick and chewy which is exactly how they turned out. The dough was great, not dry and at the same time easy to roll…it didn’t stick to everything which makes things Soooo much easier. I then decorated with your glaze and they looked great. I did little bags up for my four year old’s preschool class each withal tree, stocking and star cookie inside.
I used this icing and it’s wonderful I stored it in the fridge until next use but when I went to use it again I found it to be runnier then prior to refrigerating..Should I have added more icing sugar to thicken it up again?
I’m a n00b sugar cookie decorator. I tried the glaze today thinking it would be as easy as it looks but the glaze ran all over the place 🙁 These cookies are suppose to be for my mom’s customers too. I can’t give them looking like this. I tried thickening it until it was to the point it was too hard to stir. I put that in a piping bag to make a barrier on the cookie so I could flood the middle. Still spreads and doesn’t allow stacking. I can’t have 30 cookies all over my counter for 24 hours or more 🙁 I guess this isn’t the topping for me? 🙁 They sure are pretty on your blog though.
Just wonderful!
Lovely site, and great tadvice on decorating cookies….I am 60 years old and a seasoned cook and baker, but your tips are wonderful….and as my dough is chilling away as I key this…I can’t wait to get started. Thanks so much….Happy Baking
This has got to be the best step by step instruction I have found. Can’t wait to try it!
Love your website. So many good recipes. I always had such a hard time icing cookies as i didn’t know i had to put a dam. You do the same to put the filling in a cake so i should have known but anyways i do now. thanks for sharing all your great pics and recipes again. I’ll be a regular on your blog. x
This is awesome! I`ve been trying to amp up my plain old cookies. >33> Sorry for asking this.
I wanted to make my boyfriend cookies for our 7 month anniversary and I want to use these tips~! x3
I haven’t tried this yet, but like some, I’m not too artsy. If all these great people can do it, well I guess I can.
Thanks people, for giving me the confidence by your comments.
I was so inspired by your glace icing and the designs on your cookies, I thought I had to try it out. Well, sort of.. 🙂 I’d made shortbread stars and thought to do a glace icing over the top. I used a different recipe (as I already had the ingredients for it), but your designs were what made me know I had to use a glace icing over the top. I settled for simply spreading the icing over the top of the stars and followed your tips on using a baby spoon and a toothpick for small spaces. Worked really well! I’ll have to try your glace icing recipe next time. I really love the white outlines and the colours on the inside. Creates lots of depth to the cookies. Thanks for your inspiring designs!
I thought I would put the frosted cookies in the freezer to help them set quicker. Learn from my mistake and DON’T DO IT! 🙂 Once they return to room temp the frosting just runs off the cookie.
Last time I made these, I did it the right way and waited patiently for them to set. They were adorable!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I’m pregnant and can’t eat raw egg whites, and all the royal icing recipes require it. I needed to bake some type of shower favors, and didn’t know what to do to decorate them until I saw your blog…. You’re a life saver!!!
When I was pregant with my third child I made sugar cookies and used the gingerbread man cutout, and made approximately 60 cookies(30)for each kid and painted pink and blue diapers on them then froze them till their little brother arrived so that they could take them to school to announce the arrival of their new baby to their classmates and my boys were happy to have pink ones to eat at home!
PS I also made some for my husband to take to work instead of the cigars that they used to.
Hey, I am making cookies with the glace icing on them and want to know when I should start icing them. I plan on giving them out Saturday. The cookies are already cooked and in the freezer. I saw one comment said they started to lose their shine so I want to know when I should start the process with piping and icing and putting them in cellophane bags. Thanks soo much!
You’ve probably already made these Candace, but if you’re going to package these, I try to make them one day ahead so they’re sure to be dry!
Love this icing! It is perfect for decorating those sugar cookies we cut out with decorative cookie cutters (like Easter eggs with the design in the cutter). I also just realized that I can use my edible markers on it! Perfect for when I am not up for the mess of frosting cookies with my 3 year old…I frost and the next day he colors!
Your cookies look fabulous!
I have read through quite a few blogs and posts and by far you have THE very BEST one on decorating these sugar cookies! I am saving this one for my girls and I to make!!~
Thank you so much for taking the time to post wonderful step by step instructions and pictures. I cannot wait to read through all of your other goodies!!~
Michele 😀
I finally got around to trying this icing and it is GREAT! Looks just like the photos and mine turned out beautifully. I used skim milk and it didn't change the recipe.
Also, another tip: if you make the icing ahead of time, seal the container(s) or the icing will dry out.
I have been using Toba's recipes and book for 4 years now…THE BEST cookie decorating book out there! It is no nonsense, good recipes and good ideas. I have found her other recipes online as well.