Glaze Icing for Sugar Cookies (A.K.A the icing I use to decorate all of my sugar cookies!)

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What is Glaze?

If you’ve ever had any curiosity about cookie decorating (which im pretty sure you have if you’re here reading this!), you probably are thinking to yourself “What the heck is glaze icing? Don’t people decorate sugar cookies with royal icing???”

Well, I’m here to let you in on a secret: there’s another option!!!

Not only is there another option, this option can make cookies just as cute/amazing/beautiful as royal icing can AND it tastes better.

All of the customers that I had tell me that my sugar cookies were the BEST THEY’D EVER HAD and all the customers that told me that they don’t even like sugar cookies but they like mine are proof that glaze is superior to royal in terms of taste.

And here is proof that you can make amazing cookies using glaze (and just a touch of royal for those fine details!):

How do you make Glaze?

It’s easy-peasy!

You will need a couple kinda specialty ingredients though. The first is glucose. You could replace this with clear corn syrup but I find that corn syrup is usually runnier so if you go this route you may need to add more icing sugar. The second is a white gel food colouring. The glucose makes the icing shiny and gives it a soft bite. The white food colouring helps prevent colour bleeding when decorating cookies.

My favourite food colouring is Americolor. You can find their white gel colour here.

Glucose can be found at Michael’s or Wilton stores, or sometimes specialty food stores. It may be called glucose syrup.

Once you’ve got all your ingredients, all you have to do is add them to a mixer bowl and mix on low speed with a paddle attachment until your icing is smooth.

I like to add my icing sugar first, then water, glucose, and food colouring on top so then my icing sugar doesn’t poof out of the bowl when I start my mixer.

From there, you can either colour your whole batch in the mixer, or you can separate what you need of each colour into different bowls or containers and colour them by hand.

This icing can be stored in the fridge for several weeks in an airtight container. When you are ready to use it, bring it up to room temperature and give it a good stir!

Voila! You are ready to decorate some cookies. I will be posting some tutorials soon!

Don’t forget to check out my recipe for Sugar Cookies - you’re gonna need some cookies to decorate!

Here's the full recipe!

cookie decorating, icing, glaze
Yield: 24
Author: Rachelle Germain
Glaze Sugar Cookie Icing

Glaze Sugar Cookie Icing

A better tasting alternative to royal icing for decorating sugar cookies. This icing is simple to make and can be coloured any colour you choose. It dries hard, but not crunchy. 1 batch will be enough to decorate approximately 24 3"-4" sugar cookies.
Prep time: 5 MinTotal time: 5 Min

Ingredients

Glaze Sugar Cookie Icing
  • 454g (2 cups) Icing Sugar
  • 63g (1/4 cup) Glucose
  • 59g (1/4 cup) Water (room temperature)
  • 2g (1/3 tsp) White Gel Food Colouring

Instructions

  1. Weigh your icing sugar into the bowl of a mixer.
  2. Add your glucose, water, and white food colouring on top of your icing sugar.
  3. Beat on low speed using a paddle attachment until smooth. Scrape down the sides and beat again for a few seconds.
  4. Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. Bring up to room temperature & stir before using.
  5. Tip: To quickly bring up to room temperature, you can place yoursealed container of glaze in a bowl of warm water!

Notes

As with all of my recipes, I highly recommend using the weight measurements rather than volume measurements for accuracy! I provide volume measurements for those who don't own a kitchen scale, but I highly recommend that you invest in a kitchen scale. :)

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