This simple sugar cookie icing mixes in minutes, pipes smoothly, and dries with a light, glossy sheen. It’s perfect for holiday decorating.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Sweet and smooth with a light vanilla flavor.
- Recommended Tools: A piping bag and a #2 cake decorating tip help to make neat outlines, but zip-top bags work in a pinch.
- Yield: This recipe makes enough to ice about 48 medium cookies, depending on your decorating style.
- Freezing: Decorated cookies freeze well once the icing has fully hardened.
Ingredient Notes
- Powdered Sugar: Also called icing sugar or confectioners’ sugar, creates a smooth, glossy finish; sift it for the best texture.
- Vanilla Extract: Clear vanilla extract keeps icing bright white; regular vanilla adds flavor but will tint the icing slightly. Swap it for almond or peppermint extract for a holiday flavor, or use lemon for a fresh twist.
- Light Corn Syrup: Adds shine and helps the icing harden while still having a soft bite.
- Milk: Use whole milk, non-dairy milk, or skim milk. If using non-dairy milk, like almond milk, the icing will not be bright white.
- Gel Food Coloring: Blends smoothly without thinning the icing; just remember, a little goes a long way.
How to Make Icing For Sugar Cookies
- Mix all ingredients until smooth (full recipe below).
- Adjust the thickness as needed and color with food coloring.
Add seasonal sprinkles or crushed candy canes to add some fun to your cookie decorating
To Ice Cookies:
I usually stick to one icing, but if you want, make one for outlining (thicker) and one for flooding (thinner) by adding milk little by little, and follow the steps below:
- Fill a piping bag with the thicker icing and outline each cookie.
- Once the cookie outlines have set for about 10 minutes, ‘flood’ the inner section of the cookies with thinner icing.
- Top with sprinkles, crushed candy canes, or a variety of fun toppings!
Storing Your Iced Cookies
Icing: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Rewhisk before using and adjust consistency with a drop of milk if needed.
Cookies: Decorated cookies should dry completely before storing between layers of parchment. Once set, they keep at room temperature for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Add them to a Christmas cookie platter along with soft sugar cookies, shortbread cookies, old-fashioned butter cookies, and gingerbread cookies!
More Delicious Holiday Baking
Did you love this Sugar Cookie Icing? Leave a rating and a comment below!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2½ cups powdered sugar
- 1½ tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract clear
- 2 tablespoons milk up to 3, as needed
- food coloring gel is best
Instructions
- With a hand mixer, beat powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon milk in a small bowl until smooth.
- Add milk a few drops at a time to reach desired consistency.
- Stir in food coloring to reach desired color. Decorate cookies and allow icing to set.
Notes
- thick icing (peanut butter consistency) used to outline the shape
- thinner icing to fill the inside (more like a gravy consistency)
- Use a piping bag with a #2 cake decorating tip and outline sugar cookies.
- Once the cookie outline has set for about 10 minutes, then you can ‘flood’ the inner section of the cookie with the same or another color.
- Top with sprinkles, crushed candy canes, or a variety of fun toppings!
- If you are new to piping with icing, practice your ‘drawing’ on a piece of parchment paper until you get the hang of it. Instant sugar art!
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Recipe slightly adapted from food.com
do these cookies have to be kept in the refrigerator because the icing is made with milk?
They do not need to be stored in the fridge.
no because I never could find the ingredient list or measurements
Hi Bexky, to see the full list of ingredients with amounts you need to scroll to the bottom to the recipe. You can also click “jump to recipe” at the top of each page. I hope this helps!
Hi,
I was wondering what kind of milk you used? I typically drink Almond Milk, so I wasn’t sure if this would throw off flavor/consistency.
Hi Lucy, I use whatever milk I have on hand which is often 2% milk. You can use almond milk but it will change the flavor of the icing. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
Can the icing sit for awhile before using it on the cookies?
Yes, you can. Just be sure to store it in an airtight container. Depending on how long you are storing it before using it, you may need to put it in the fridge. Just bring it out and let it return to room temperature before using as it will be quite thick straight from the fridge.
I made this recipe hoping to find an alternative to royal icing. It did NOT dry hard. It was firm enough to decorate on top of, but not to stack/store the cookies. It’s been 3 days and you can still leave a finger print/indentation in the frosting.
Hi Sue, I use this recipe often for my sugar cookies and while it does not get as hard as royal icing it does get hard enough to stack. To help it harden I would add closer to the 2 tablespoons of milk instead of 3. Hope that helps.
Tastes just like buttercream, is just as easy to make, but is much easier to pipe – and it gets hard enough for cookie decorations. Another keeper from Spend with Pennies ;-)
Holly, hopefully you can answer this questions – I am wondering if I could make a few colors, put them in decorating squeeze bottles and store them in the frig between baking sessions with grandson? It would be a really handy way to give him lots of colors to decorate with.
BTW I really enjoy your blog, real food at a reasonable price.
Hi Linda, I actually use decorating squeeze bottles too and often have left the icing in the bottle for a few days between icing sessions with no issue. I unscrew the top of my bottles and place plastic wrap over the opening, then screw the lid back on to keep them sealed and prevent drying out. If they do get too thick I add a little milk into the bottle and stir it up to thin it out again. Enjoy decorating with your grandson!
I can’t find light corn syrup. Can I use real maple syrup?
I haven’t tried this recipe with maple syrup but another reader did with good results, Judy. You can use dark corn syrup in this recipe too. It just gives the icing a slightly beige tint so it is not the best if making white icing, which I imagine would happen with maple syrup as well.
Wow ! Very easy, wonderful consistency, perfect for my sugar cookies and banana bread ! You rock !
Can you freeze just the icing without putting them on cookies.
Hi Jack, you can definitely freeze this recipe but you may struggle when icing the cookies with defrosted icing to get it nice and smooth. We prefer to ice the cookies first then freeze them for best results.
Great icing. Love the flavour and dries quickly. Thank you!
You’re welcome Gabriela!
Can I save some icing to decorate over 2-3 days? What would be the best method in doing this?
Hi Susan, I would store this icing in the refrigerator for up to several days. Make sure to let it come to room temperature again before using it to decorate your cookies.
Dear Holly!
I need to entertain some little ones making Easter cookies next week – can you please tell me approximately how long it takes for this icing to harden and wether or not you think edible ink food marking pens will work well on this icing?
Thanks so much!
Joanne
Hi Jo, it can take up to 24 hours for sugar cookie icing to harden enough. I haven’t tried the food pens on the icing, but think it would work if the icing is fully hardened. Have fun!!
My son is deathly allergic to tree nut products and all the paste did coloring days may be made on material that contained but products. . What you do?
You can use any type of food coloring you would like. More water-based ones may mean adding a bit less milk or more powdered sugar. Hope that helps Peggy.
I thought it was perfect icing for cookies. I am not sure what the comments that say it’s “chalky” are about because I didn’t detect that at all. I made this with Agave syrup (because the corn syrup was one shelf higher and I couldn’t reach it) and it worked perfectly.
I did see comments that this ruined an entire batch of cookies and one thing I was taught very early on when cooking anything, is to taste everything as you go so you can make changes to suit your taste… and so if you can’t make it work you aren’t wasting cookies/cakes or whatever else by incorporating it. Just a suggestion but great recipe:)
This icing turned out fabulous! I substituted maple syrup for corn syrup to make it healthier and everyone loved it!
Dries fast, what I was looking for. However would be much easier to frost with piping and squirt bottle like suggested in thinner consistency. I was in a rush bit know better next time. Goes well with sugar cookies, classic holiday cookie flavor. Can be very sticky when thick.
I left my cookies to dry overnight and the icing hardened perfectly! Stacked this morning and the icing didn’t transfer at all! Thank you! SWP Employee
My grandma always made this frosting that you had to boul. It only had confectionery sugar and milk. You had to frost cookies fast before it got hard. But I cant find it anywhere.
My mom did the same and if I recall it was called Seven Minute Frosting. If you do a search you’ll find many recipes. I remember it was pretty stiff on cakes but very good.
Do these have to be refrigerated since it has milk in the ingredients? Thank you!
These do not need to be refrigerated. Enjoy!
I love this sugar cookie icing! So good! Great with the sugar cookies.
Horrible frosting
I’m sorry to hear that Ethan! Is there something specific that we can help you troubleshoot?