Royal Icing

This icing dries to a hard finish and is nice for decorating sugar cookies. The lemon juice improves the taste of the icing without overpowering the flavor of the cookies. Because of samonella risk from raw eggs, use powdered egg whites

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons powdered egg whites ("Just Whites" work well)
• 4 cups or 1 pound box of confectioner's sugar
• 6 tablespoons lukewarm water
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions

1. Place the powdered egg whites and the confectioner's sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat with hand-held electric mixer on low until well-blended.
2. Gradually beat in water and lemon juice.
3. Continue beating until icing is very thick and glossy, about 8 - 10 minutes.
4. Using a pastry bag, pipe icing onto cooled cookies.
5. If icing is too firm and will not adhere to the cookies, add more water, a few drops at a time.

Variations

For orange flavored icing use 1/2 tsp. orange extract instead of lemon juice

Makes about 3 cups of icing

Ginny's Recipe