Super easy Vegan Cookie Icing. Made in minutes with just 4 ingredients. It's silky smooth and shiny, dries very quickly, is hard but not tooth-breakingly so, and has that nostalgic crunchy sweet icing flavour. Use it to flood or add detailed designs to any cookie recipe.
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FEATURED COMMENT
"Absolutely fantastic! Tastes great and makes a durable, professional finish. This is my go-to cookie icing from now on!"
- Rex ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ See more reviews →
This simple vegan cookie icing is the crowning glory of the Vegan Sugar Cookie recipe I just shared. It's an all-purpose icing recipe that is ideal to use for any cookies that need decorating, in any colour, and for any occasion!
It's perfect for decorating sugar cookies, Christmas cookies, and gingerbread people, and it's even strong enough to hold together a gingerbread house. It doesn't soften your cookies, so it won’t affect the shelf life, and it will make your cookies look like they came straight out of a bakery!
Mel x
Ingredients
Here is what you need at a glance, along with some important ingredient notes:
- Powdered sugar- This is for the sugar cookie icing. I love Wholesome Sweeteners brand BUT for this recipe, I don't use it. I find that it makes a very off-white dirty-looking white icing, so I use cheaper grocery store powdered sugar which is much whiter. That's ok here (in Canada) as it's vegan but if you are in the US you might need to use the Wholesome Sweeteners brand if you struggle to find another. If it is a little off-white you could use brilliant white gel food colouring to brighten it up.
- Brown rice syrup or light corn syrup - This gives the icing a better texture and some shine which is important when you want them to look pretty. It also gives the icing a better grip. I think agave syrup would also work well but I haven't personally tried it. Don't use maple syrup. It does not work in the same way.
- Vanilla - Or other flavouring (more on that below). I don't find the small amount used affects the colour of white icing much at all but omit it if you want it absolutely brilliant white.
- Food colouring - I recommend using gel food colouring because liquid food colouring will alter the consistency of the icing too much. Don't forget to check it's vegan. I used Satin Ice Food colour Gel which I purchased at Michaels. Amazon also sells it.
Flavouring Cookie Icing
If you would like to add flavourings to your cookie icing you can use:
- Extracts - You can add any extract to this cookie icing instead of or as well as vanilla. Just remember that if you use more than the amount of vanilla already in the recipe, it will affect the consistency of the icing, so subtract that quantity from the overall amount of water added to the icing to compensate. Note that the colour of the extract you use may affect the overall colour of your icing.
- Citrus - Use lemon, lime, or orange juice instead of water.
Colouring Vegan Sugar Cookie Icing
You can tint this vegan cookie icing whatever colour you want, although I do recommend using gel food colouring so it doesn't affect the texture of the icing too much. Also don't forget to check that it's vegan. If you need multiple different colours divide the icing between bowls then mix in the colouring.
Recipe
Easy Vegan Cookie Icing
Author:WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 grams) powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons brown rice syrup, corn syrup, or agave syrup
- a small pinch fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract , or other flavored extract
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water or dairy-free milk
- (OPTIONAL) a few drops gel food coloring
INSTRUCTIONS
- To a medium bowl add the powdered sugar, syrup, vanilla, and salt. Gradually add the water a little at a time. Be careful as you hardly need any water. Add it in very small amounts and mix really well between additions. It will go from looking like it's way too dry, to perfect in the blink of an eye. The icing needs to be thick enough so the decorations you pipe hold their shape. Use the whisk to squiggle icing across the surface of your icing. The squiggles should hold their shape for at least 3 seconds before disappearing. I usually end up using 2 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon of water.
- If using gel food coloring add it now. Use only 1 to 2 drops at first, stir it in then add a little more as needed. Bear in mind that the color will darken as it dries. Divide the icing between bowls if using multiple colors.
- This icing is best used soon after making. Decorate the cookies by piping the outline first then fill the inside. Piping an outline first keeps the icing from sliding off the cookies.
- Allow to dry completely before storing. It doesn't take too long to dry but I like to decorate them directly on a baking tray so that I can pop the entire thing in the fridge to speed up the setting.
NOTES
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Rex says
Absolutely fantastic! Tastes great and makes a durable, professional finish. This is my go-to cookie icing from now on!