This is my go to icing for sugar cookies.
Cookie Corn Syrup Glaze
Recipe by Sweet Hope Cookies
Ingredients:
1 pound box of powdered sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
a scant 1/4 cup water (scant means “just less than”)
2 teaspoons more or less of extract, flavoring, or emulsion depending on the flavor and your preference. I use ½ t vanilla extract and 1 ½ t almond extract.
Coloring gel. I primarily use Americolor.
Directions:
Pour the powdered sugar into your standing mixer bowl. Don’t bother to sift the sugar. If you don’t have a standing mixer use a big bowl and electric hand mixer. If you don’t have an electric hand mixer use a heavy wooden spoon and those lean muscled arms of yours.
Add corn syrup, flavorings, and water.
Using the beater blade attachment (not the whisk) mix the ingredients until smooth on the lowest setting for at least one minute. Add additional water a half to one teaspoon at a time until the glaze has reached the consistency you want.
The consistency of icing is often described as being a specific second count, meaning the number of seconds it takes from the time you run a knife through the top of the icing until the trail the knife made on the surface disappears. Because the color gel remains to be added which will thin the icing to varying degrees depending on how much color you add, I typically aim for a 15-18 second count as I would rather add a little more water to thin than add additional powdered sugar to thicken after the gel has been added.
Before dividing and coloring the icing I mix a couple drops of white gel into the entire batch. Just a little white gel rounds out any other color you’ll add later.
Now divide the icing into as many containers as you need colors and cover with air tight lids. Color one container of icing at a time, adding the coloring gel drop by drop. Keep in mind that the colors will darken slightly over the next 24 hours and when they dry on the cookies.
When you have the desired color, check your second count again. I go for a 15-18 count for writing and detailing and 10-12 for outlining and flooding.
You can use the glaze right away but I suggest waiting for at least an hour, allowing time for some of the air bubbles to come to the surface which can then be gently stirred down before pouring into piping bags or bottles. This waiting time will reduce the amount of bubbles that show up when flooding the cookies. I normally make my icing 1 day before using it which allows it to rest.
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