The Secret Ingredient That Will Take Eggless Royal Icing Up A Notch

Royal icing is a versatile accompaniment to all sorts of baked goods, including sugar, gingerbread, and even oatmeal varieties. Along with imbuing treats with just the right amount of sweetness, one of the great things about this icing is its pleasing texture. As royal icing dries, it develops a toothsome crispness that makes it as fun to eat as it is delicious. While many royal icing preparations call for the use of eggs in the mixture, Daily Meal recipe developer Deniz Vergara has come up with an alternate eggless version.

As explained by Vergara, "Removing the eggs simplifies this recipe, so you don't [need] any special equipment like a standing mixer or hand beaters to whip the egg whites." Vergara also cites the possible issues that can occur when including eggs in the recipe, stating that "many people have egg allergies, or are hesitant about consuming raw egg whites, so this eliminates those potential situations." Despite these benefits, the eggs in royal icing must be replaced with another ingredient to ensure the best outcome. In that case, Vergara has the perfect alternative: light corn syrup.

This simple yet delicious recipe calls for just a few ingredients, such as powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla, lemon, or almond extract (you're free to choose an extract flavor based on the type of cookie you're baking). In addition to these ingredients, you'll also need light corn syrup to ensure the hardened icing establishes the perfect texture and sheen.

Corn syrup is derived from refined corn starch, which is produced by softening corn kernels with a mix of water and sulfur dioxide, a common preserving agent for food. Once the kernel is appropriately soft, the germ is removed, pressed, and heated, which releases its inherent oils. While dark corn syrup uses molasses to achieve its bold, rich flavor, light corn syrup typically contains vanilla and salt. As a result, light corn syrup infuses recipes with a tempered sweetness that is much smoother and less smoky than dark corn syrups thanks to the addition of vanilla. Now that you have the perfect eggless recipe in your baking arsenal, the next step is to decorate your cookies.

In addition to developing an outstanding royal icing recipe that forgoes the use of eggs, Deniz Vergara also provides some tips on how to decorate your cookies with ease. Vergara recommends using a piping bag to apply the icing in a neat and efficient manner, with Wilton piping tips #2 or #5 being her preferred accessory. Both piping tips have round openings and are suited to finer details, such as beading and outlining.

Vergara recommends placing the tip into the pastry bag and cutting the bottom just enough for the tip to protrude. Next, she suggests putting the bag into a tall cup with the tip pointing downward as you fill it with royal icing. "This way, you can use both hands to hold the bowl and use a rubber spatula to scrape the icing out of the bowl and into the supported pastry bag," she explains. Vergara also urges bakers not to "fill the pastry bag more than halfway," as doing so may cause icing to pour out of the bag and onto your hand as you decorate your cookies. With these tips, you can create many beautiful cookie designs using this fabulous eggless royal icing recipe.