Do you ever go to the bakery and see those fancy cookies? or watch cookie decorating videos for hours online (no? just me?)? Most of the time, those cookies are frosted in a Royal Icing.

Royal icing is great for cookies and cake decorations. It dries hard thanks to the addition of egg whites in the mix. There's a few ways to make this frosting and you'll find hundreds of different recipes for it, some containing raw eggs, some using merengue powder, etc...

I am leery about using raw eggs in anything not being cooked, even if they are pasteurized eggs, so please please please, if you're going to use one using raw egg whites, cook them in a double boiler (stirring constantly so they don't harden into scrambled egg whites) until they are at least 145 degrees F. That should cook off any bacteria. (www.eggsafety.org has the optimum egg temps for killing off bacteria).

In my recipe, I am using powdered egg whites. I have always used and loved the Wilton brand. Some say it has an odd taste, but I really like it and have never found it to taste odd nor has anyone that's eaten the cookies I frost in it!

You're probably wondering why I call it 1:1:1 Royal Icing. It's because of the ration of merengue powder to confectioners sugar to water. That's right, there are only 3 ingredients in this recipe. THREE! So easy to make.

This recipe will NOT make a large batch of royal icing, but that's something I prefer and here's why. Royal icing hardens quickly. Really quickly. You can cover it with a wet towel, to keep it moist, but you should still work quickly. Any unused royal would need to be stored in an airtight container. Also, you can over-mix royal icing and when that happens, it doesn't harden correctly. It's fickle.

I never make more than 2 batches worth at a time and that's only if I am frosted a lot of cookies. And I ALWAYS hand mix it.

Here's what you will need for this recipe:

- 1 cup of confectioners sugar

- 1 tbsp Wilton merengue powder

- 1 tbsp cold water

Here's what you need to do:

1. In a bowl that is free of any sort of grease (for example, sometimes when you wash dishes, maybe you don't get all the butter out of the bowl, that will mess up your royal icing), add in the three ingredients.

2. Mix by hand with a spoon. This will produce a VERY thick frosting.

3. Add more water in very small quantities until you get your desired consistency

I like to use just the bag when I am outlining and flooding a cookie. It's less dishes to wash (my tips always seem to disappear or get lost too) and it does a good job.

Lately, my favorite pastry bags are by Fat Daddio. You can get them on Amazon. The Wilton bags are also good and you can find those at local craft stores like Michael's or Joann's.

The cookies above were outlined first in a medium consistency royal icing, and then I added another half tablespoon to the remaining royal icing and flooded the cookies. You'll notice that I went a little heavy handed on one of them :)

I find that icing cookies is very therapeutic especially when they are just for fun. Try it and see if you like it!

The Royal Icing should be completely hardened for bagging or packaging after about 12 hours, so I often decorate after dinner and then let set out over night. If you have layer upon layer of royal icing, then you'll want to wait even longer to package them up to 24 hours. The cookies should not dry out because the icing is holding in the freshness, if that makes sense.

Have fun and enjoy!