I consider myself to be a pretty good artist. My education and former profession is in the design field and I’m pretty good at craft stuff. I also think I’m a decent cook, so I figured with those two things going for me, decorating fancy sugar cookies would be right up my alley. Imagine my surprise (not to mention shattered ego and broken self-confidence) when I attempted to play around with royal icing for the first time and my little masterpieces looked more like something in a 1st grader’s art pile. So I gave up on ever decorating fancy-schmancy cookies again.
That was until I found Cookie Decorating with Glace Icing. Now my confidence is back in tact because even my very first batch turned out beautifully! It’s super forgiving, easy to use, and it actually tastes good! The benefit of using an icing like this is that it dries to a solid sheen, making the cookies stackable and packable- perfect for giving or displaying on a platter. With a soft, fluffy buttercream, there’s just no easy way to give them away so you have to eat them all yourself (which may be the plan, right??).
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Cookies – Make your own using this recipe: The Best Sugar Cookies or buy some plain sugar cookies from the bakery.
- Powdered sugar
- Milk – Any percentage will do. You can use dairy-free milk alternatives as well.
- Light corn syrup
- Extract of choice – I like using almond because it’s clear and I put almond extract in my cookies. Other flavors like vanilla, lemon, and peppermint are also delicious.
How to Decorate Cookies with Glace Icing
Step 1: Make your Glace Icing
- Whisk up some powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and extract of your choice and you’ll have a nice glaze-y consistency. You’re going to use the same recipe for both glazing and piping. The way it is right now is the consistency you want for glazing. It’s smooth and thin and it easily runs off the whisk in a pretty thin drizzle (see the picture above).
Step 2: Ice A Base
- Now, you have some options of where to go from here. You can simply spoon this icing onto your cookies and gently spread out with a spoon and be done! In fact, one of the easiest ways is to just quickly spread and let it go completely off the edges, or you can add a touch more powdered sugar to a portion of your icing and pipe a border. Once the border is set, you can flood the cookie with thinner icing. That outline will work as a dam and give you nice clean lines.
Step 3: Add Designs (Wet on Wet Technique)
- While the icing is wet, you can mix colors and create all kinds of fun things. Try glazing in one color and then adding other colors from a piping bag with a very small, plain opening, and drag the designs with a toothpick to create gorgeous works of art. You honestly can’t make an ugly cookie here. Wet-on-wet icing will marble and swirl together. I actually did this whole batch this way because I didn’t have time to let mine dry very much.
Step 4: Add Designs (Piped and Layered Technique)
- If you’d like to add some dimension, allow your base layer to set and harden completely. Then pipe on designs with additional icing. You can add a little extra powdered sugar if you’d like to help your designs hold their shape well, but you can also pipe shapes and flood with thinner icing if desired.
Storing and Other Tips
- Iced cookies will keep as long as your cookie recipe outlines (usually 3-4 days for freshly baked cookies, but they are best within the first couple of days).
- If you are waiting for your base layer to dry and need to keep your other icing from drying out, place it in a piping bag or press a piece of plastic to the surface of the icing in a bowl until ready to use.
- If you have leftover icing you’d like to store longer than a couple of hours, store in a piping bag with the end twisted or tied shut. Simply cut the tip off when you are ready to use.
Frequently Asked Questions
Glace icing is a simple, smooth icing made of powdered sugar, milk, and corn syrup that dries to a semi-hard finish similar to, but slightly softer than, royal icing. Unlike royal icing, it does not contain egg whites and is, in general, much easier to work with.
Not necessarily. Corn syrup gives the icing a nice, spreadable consistency, smooth finish and glossy sheen. There are glace recipes that skip it, so it can work. You’ll just have to adjust your liquid to get your desired consistency.
Yes, carefully. Glace icing dries semi-hard, not rock solid like royal icing. Allow iced cookies to dry at least 6-8 hours before stacking. For best results, place parchment paper or waxed paper between layers.
Yes, but only if they are fully dry first. Any extra moisture can potentially make the icing seep when thawed. After the cookies have dried for 6-8 hours and are hard to the touch, freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once frozen, transfer to a freezer safe container, with parchment paper to separate layers. Freeze for up to 2 months. To thaw, do not open the container (this prevents introducing moisture from the air which can cause condensation to build up on the cookies) and set at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
Glace Icing
Ingredients
- 1 pound powdered sugar about 3 3/4 cups
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons milk
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon extract I use almond because I use almond in my sugar cookies, but other flavors like vanilla, lemon, and peppermint are also delicious
Instructions
- With a whisk, combine sugar and milk until smooth (no lumps!) Then stir in corn syrup and extract.
- You will use this same recipe for both glazing and piping. Thickened, you can pipe outlines, and as you thin it, you can use it for “flooding” cookies. Make sure to let them dry overnight to fully harden for stacking.
Notes
- Iced cookies will keep as long as your cookie recipe outlines (usually 3-4 days for freshly baked cookies, but they are best within the first couple of days).
- If you are waiting for your base layer to dry and need to keep your other icing from drying out, place it in a piping bag or press a piece of plastic to the surface of the icing in a bowl until ready to use.
- If you have leftover icing you’d like to store longer than a couple of hours, store in a piping bag with the end twisted or tied shut. Simply cut the tip off when you are ready to use.
Questions & Reviews
Sara, Can you please advise how I glaze the cookies and leave that unglazed margin of cookie? That looks so polished. My first batch I did the all over drip method. Do I need a dam for the crisp margin? I don’t want to pipe. Thank you, jill
One method is to pipe a dam, but if you don’t want to do that, I just use a tiny spoon (baby spoons work great!) and start with a blob of icing in the center of the cookie and very carefully spread out, until you have a margin around the cookie. Just don’t get to close to the edge- especially if your cookies aren’t totally flat, and don’t add too icing. Try a couple and you’ll get the feel for it!
Thank you!
Hello!
I see many of us are discovering your yummy post still, so long after posting.
I am about to make a gazillion (not really, but MANY) mazarin (almond) tartlets for a ladies gathering at church. The dollop of almond filling in the short butter crust bakes up high a bit but settles down flat upon cooling. A thin powdered sugar, water or milk and almond flavored glaze tops each. I’m trying to think of why your wet-on-wet, dragging a toothpick through colored glaze accents might not work. It seems to me like the application and technique would be similar enough to achieve the same result. I’m hoping to make them extra special but there’s always the glaceed cherry half that lazy me could plop down in the middle… 😉
Have you ever attempted that technique on other applications?
Kindest regards and thank you for sharing!
I’m not sure- but you could use my recipe here and increase the amount of almond extract just a bit and see how it goes!
Hello! How much powdered sugar should be added to create the thicker icing for piping/creating edges? I don’t think an exact amount is suggested anywhere. I’m thinking of using the thickened formula to “draw” thin patterns on star and snowflake cookies!
I don’t have an exact amount- you kind of just have to eyeball it since it will change depending on your specific circumstance. Just add a little at a time!
Thank you so much for this post! Your glaze recipe saved my 8th grade graduation cookies for my son. I couldn’t get the Royal icing to flood, so I used your glaze method and then the Royal icing to write on the cookies. I will tag you in on my Instagram post. Everyone complemented on the cookies. I dried my cookies in a dehydrated too speed up the drying process????
The icing dried a little “duller” in color, but has a sheen It is not as vibrant as fresh glazed. Is this normal?
Even 12 years later, you’re still getting rave reviews!
I have always wanted to learn how to decorate beautiful cookies, but Royal Icing is just soooo icky tasting and chalky. I am a professional confectioner/baker, and no one in my very rural area makes anything like this, so I thought I could corner the market if I could find a recipe that I could work with and would not taste like Tums, I wish I could show you the pics. I am so impressed with how well they came out I want to hug you. I have a little experience decorating more simple cakes, so I have a grasp on how to do this already, but I never dreamed my first cookies would look as good or BETTER than the ones I drool over on etsy. The glaze had hardened up by the next morning, still had a nice sheen to it, and while I don’t eat sugar, I have had rave reviews from people who despise royal icing the way I do. THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
I know this is a super old post, and I love it, but I have a question. I’m wondering if you’ve tried freezing cookies AFTER they’ve been iced with this amazing stuff? I want to make them for our church Christmas dinner, but I won’t likely have time to ice them the day before. Any thoughts?
I never have, but if you have time to skim the comments on this post, others have. I believe it works just fine. You’d need to just freeze them in a single layer until completely frozen and then layer between sheets of parchment. Definitely let them come to room temp in a single layer as well. If you’re making a lot, I’d test first!
I’m so glad you left the old pictures on there because I came back to your site looking for this same recipe which I used YEARS ago but none of the pictures looked familiar until I saw the old ornaments. Thank you! 😀
I have been making this type of icing nag for quite some time and won’t change to the standard royal icing. The taste and hardness don’t compare with the softness of this icing. I do have a question about freezing the frosted cookies. I have 274 St. Patrick’s Day cookies to do and I would like to be able to freeze some of them while I finish the rest. Have you frozen these and what problems did you find when thawing them? Do they come out exactly like you frosted them, glossy and pretty or did they get blotchy? I only want to freeze them for maybe a week.
Thank you.
I tried this recipe today for the first time, it stiffened nicely but it was too thin to pipe any sort of design. Any suggestions of what I might have done wrong?
I set aside two bowls–one for piping and another for flooding (covering the surface of the cookie). Add a little more powdered sugar to the bowl you’re planning on piping with.