Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe for Decorating

Updated: October 13, 2026 / By: Cassie Johnston / This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy

4.5 from 861 votes
Total Time 2 hours 5 minutes
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This sugar cookie icing dries soft enough to bite but firm enough to stack. It's made from pantry staples in about 5 minutes. I've made it (literally!) hundreds of times, and it turns out perfect every single time.

Christmas tree sugar cookies are coated in shiny green sugar cookie icing

The short story: this sugar cookie icing is a simple glaze of powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup, and extract whisked until smooth. This one dries in 2 to 3 hours to a finish that's soft to bite but firm enough to stack. For a corn syrup-free version, swap in honey. It works, but the icing stays stickier, so those cookies won't stack as well.

featured review

Five yellow stars in a row

"This is absolutely the best sugar cookie icing recipe! I have used this recipe over and over to decorate cookies with fabulous results every time. Delicious and easy!"

- CAROLE -

This is the perfect icing recipe for decorating my cut out cookie recipe. It's creamy, sweet, and packed full of flavor, plus it ends up drying solid enough to pack the cookies in a tin but still soft enough to bite into. And it shines so bright and glossy in the light. It makes for some obnoxiously pretty cookies!

The best part of all? It takes just a couple minutes to whip up using ingredients you already probably have in your pantry. Let's make some frosting!

In this post:

Cookies shaped like evergreen trees sit next to a bowl of green frosting. One cookie has some green icing on it already.

Why You'll Love This Recipe

Cassie Johnston (a light skinned brunette woman with glasses and a red streak in her hair) smiles toward the camera with a wall of photo frames behind her

I think the icing can make or break a good cut-out sugar cookie. Too hard and it feels like you're going to break a tooth. Too runny and it's a mess to eat. This recipe is right in between- it's the magical unicorn of sugar cookie icings!

Here's why you'll love this recipe:

  • It comes together in minutes using ingredients you already have around. No fuss here! This icing comes together in a flash in a single bowl.
  • It's dries hard enough to stack but still soft enough to enjoy. It's the magical unicorn of sugar cookie icings! Soft enough to be tender when you bite into it, but solid enough to make these cookies stackable.
  • The flavor is up to you! For classic vanilla sugar cookies, stick to vanilla extract. But peppermint, coconut, and almond are all amazing options as well.
  • Super duper extra pretty. Want shiny, smooth, and absolutely perfect looking sugar cookies? This icing will give them to you every time.

Step-by-Step how to MAKE SUGAR COOKIE ICING

1

Combine ingredients in bowl

Mix together powdered sugar (aka confectioner's sugar), milk, corn syrup or honey, and the extract of your choice until smooth. I really like almond extract, but you can flavor it however you like! Start with two tablespoons of milk and add more until the icing is thick enough to stay on top of the cookie but thin enough to settle and dry with a smooth, bump-free top.

A tip on the corn syrup-free icing: I've made it with honey tons of times, and it's delicious and beautiful, but it stays stickier than the corn syrup version, so save it for cookies you won't be stacking.

2

Add in food coloring

If using food coloring, whisk it into the icing until well-distributed. I recommend using gel food coloring if available. It gives you the boldest colors and doesn't water down the icing. But, be warned, it does stain like the dickens! If kids are helping, liquid food coloring may be the safer bet. If you want more than one color, divide the batch into smaller bowls before you add any.

3

Decorate your sugar cookies

Squeeze, spread, or dip the icing onto your fully cooled rolled sugar cookies. Wait until they're completely cool, because warm cookies make the icing run everywhere.

When kids are helping, a squeeze bottle is the way to go. When it's just me, I usually spread it with a popsicle stick. You can also dip the cookies if you thin the icing a little, just do it over parchment paper because it gets messy. If you'd like to use sprinkles, add them before the icing dries.

4

Let the icing dry

The icing will harden to a soft but stackable glaze within 2 to 3 hours of sitting out at room temperature. Once it's set, stack the cookies between layers of parchment paper in an airtight container and keep them on the counter for up to a week. Skip the freezer once they're iced. I've tried it, and this icing cracks and loses its shine. It's still tasty, just not pretty.

SuGar Cookie Icing protips

  • Let the cookies cool completely before icing. If not, the icing will run everywhere. 
  • Thicker icing is easier to work with. Start with thicker icing at first, and then thin it out if needed.
  • Squeeze bottles are the easiest way to decorate with the whole family. Make a few bottles of a few different colors and go to town! This is how we do it at our annual Friendsmas celebration. It makes clean up super easy!
  • Go corn-syrup free! For sugar cookie icing without corn syrup, replace the corn syrup with honey. The decorated cookies will not be as stackable because the honey stays a bit stickier than the corn syrup version, but the iced cookies will be delicious and corn syrup-free!
  • Change the color: No matter if you're making Halloween sugar cookies, Easter sugar cookies, Valentine's Day sugar cookies, or Christmas sugar cookies, you can make the perfect icing!
  • Want decorating vibes without the cookies? Try my (non-edible) salt dough ornament recipe or homemade cinnamon ornaments.

WATCH Me Make Iced Sugar cookies

📖 Recipe

A Christmas tree sugar cookie decorated with green sugar cookie icing and sprinkles

Easy Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe

Easy sugar cookie icing for decorating, made with four pantry ingredients. It dries to a smooth finish that's soft to bite but firm enough to stack. There's a corn syrup-free option too, but it stays sticky, so those cookies won't stack.
(This is our favorite cut out cookie recipe!)
4.46 from 861 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Desserts
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Drying Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 72 cookies' worth
Calories: 14kcal
Author: Cassie Johnston

Ingredients

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2-4 tablespoons milk
  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey see notes
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla, almond, peppermint, or coconut extract
  • Food coloring

Instructions

  • Mix the icing. Whisk together the powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of milk, corn syrup or honey, and extract until smooth. Add more milk until the icing reaches the consistency you want. For piping and spreading, you want it thicker. For dipping, make it a little thinner.
  • Color the icing. If using food coloring, whisk it in until well distributed. For more than one color, divide the icing into smaller bowls first.
  • Decorate the cookies. Pipe, spread, or dip the icing onto completely cooled cookies. If you'd like sprinkles, add them before the icing dries.
  • Let the icing dry. Let the cookies sit at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours, until the icing is set.

Video

Notes

  • Using corn syrup in the cookie icing recipe will result in an icing that dries soft, but stackable. Using honey will result in a softer icing that should not be stacked because it stays sticky.
  • Let the cookies cool completely before icing, or the icing will run.
  • For dipping, make the icing thinner. For piping, thicker, since it loosens as it warms in your hand. For a squeeze bottle, just thin enough to flow through the tip without running freely. For spreading, quite thick.
  • Gel food coloring gives bolder color and doesn't thin out the icing.
  • The icing hardens in about 2 to 3 hours at room temperature.
  • This icing doesn't keep well, since it's made to harden. Mix it when you're ready to decorate or keep it in an airtight container.
  • Store iced cookies between layers of parchment paper in an airtight container on the counter for up to a week.
  • Don't freeze the iced cookies. The icing cracks and loses its shine.
  • Non-dairy milk works just fine in this recipe.
  • Looking for a sugar cookie recipe to use this icing on? This cut-out cookie recipe is our go-to, fan-favorite recipe.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 14kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 0.01g | Fat: 0.01g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.003g | Cholesterol: 0.1mg | Sodium: 0.4mg | Potassium: 1mg | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Calcium: 1mg | Iron: 0.002mg
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Frequently Asked Questions about FROSTING SUGAR COOKIES

Our cut out sugar cookie recipe has tons of 5-star reviews for a reason! The cookies keep their shape in the oven and have a delicious rich, buttery flavor. It's a keeper!

There are really three kinds of sugar cookie icing you'll see out there in the baking world. All three have their benefits:

  • Royal icing: This is the hard icing that you see people using to make intricate decorations on cookies (or gingerbread houses). While this icing makes for beautiful cookies, I honestly find the flavor to be...not great. So I tend to not use royal icing for my Christmas cookies (or cookies for any occasion, really).
  • Buttercream frosting: You'll see this kind of fluffy, thick, buttery frosting more frequently on soft-baked Lofthouse style sugar cookies. It's delicious on these cookies, but it does tend to be tricky to stack on a cookie tray or pack in a gift tin.
  • Powdered sugar glaze: The sugar cookie icing we're showing here and the one I use most frequently is a simple powdered sugar glaze. The resulting iced sugar cookies dry solid enough to stack on a cookie tray, but soft enough to bite into without chipping a tooth (I'm looking at you, royal icing). It's easy to color, easy to flavor, and easy to work with.  This sugar cookie icing will harden in 2-3 hours at room temperature (or even faster if you chill the cookies). 

The right consistency is the icing that is easy to work with for you, depending on your icing method. It might take a bit of trial and error, but once you get the exact right tablespoons of milk, you'll always know it for future cookie batches. You can always add more milk to make it thinner or more powdered sugar to thicken it back up.

Here are some tips depending on your icing method:

  • If you are dipping the cookies: You'll want a thinner icing that easily coats the cookies.
  • If you're piping the icing on: Piping bags tend to warm up in your hand pretty quickly, so we recommend erring on the side of thicker icing-knowing it'll thin out as it warms.
  • If you're using a squeeze bottle (our favorite way to decorate cookies with kids!): Go for a frosting that is just thin enough to easily go through the nozzle without free-flowing.
  • If you are spreading the icing on the cookies: You'll want a pretty thick icing for spreading.

I normally make my frosting thick enough that it will stay on top of the cookie, but still thin enough that it will self-settle and dry with a smooth, bump-free top. It's really the fool-proof way to frost cookies.

You can make this same sugar cookie icing with honey, but it does not dry to the same soft-but-stackable texture-it stays pretty soft.

Once the frosting has hardened, I stack them between layers of parchment paper in a glass food storage, airtight container and leave them on the counter for up to a week. 

I've tried it before, and while the taste is fine, this particular icing recipe tends to crack and lose its luster in the freezer. Our sugar cookie icing recipe is so easy to mix up, it will take you no time to frost the cookies once they are out of the freezer!

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Cassie Johnston

Cassie is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist (AFPA, 2017) and Certified Health Coach (AFPA, 2017), cookbook author, and all-around food lover. She grew up cooking dinner with her parents every evening, and her passion for home cooking has been strong ever since. Cassie is the author of two published cookbooks—Cooking with Greek Yogurt (W.W. Norton, 2013) and Chia, Quinoa, Kale, Oh My! (W.W. Norton, 2014) and dozens of recipes published in major magazines and newspapers. Cassie has been sharing her award-winning recipes on Wholefully since 2010. She loves dark chocolate, homegrown tomatoes, motorsports, and anything that sparkles. She lives in Indiana with her family on a small homestead.

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246 Comments

  1. HI! I was looking for the perfect sugar cookie cut out recipe to make on Christmas Eve and voila! Yours turned up!!
    But I really only need a small batch. . . do you think it would work to cut the recipe in half?

    Reply

  3. I'm pretty new at this baking thing (second year of doing the Christmas cookies) and came across your recipe. When I made the batter it reminded me of a bread batter but tried using it anyway. My wife got home shortly after I started and suggested I add more flour. I ended up putting 2 more cups in in order to get the right consistency (according to my wife). Do you have any idea what I could've done wrong to require so much more flour?

    Reply

  7. I LOVE how even the borders look after they are baked.... its always been an issue with our recipe. Im going to try yours so mine look good like that!

    Reply

  9. I don't normally like making cut-outs but your cookies look so perfect, I think I need to give your recipe a try

    Reply

  14. Hi! I am looking for a good cutout cookie recipe and live at 7000 ft, would you make any high altitude adjustment for these? Or should they be good as is? Thanks!

    Reply

  16. Hi Cassie, have you tried adding fresh vanilla bean? I know this would change the appearance a bit, but I wonder if the extra vanilla flavor would be worth it.

    Reply

  17. Made a batch of these yesterday with my almost-3 year old! We colored some red, some green and left the rest as is. The cut-out part is going to take awhile - but halfway finished and we've got probably 6 dozen already? We love this cookie! Will continue making it. It is just soft enough and not terribly sweet. Icing party with friends this weekend and sharing with friends!.

    Reply

  18. How does the frosting stand up in the fridge? I wont have time to frost the cookies after I make them and would like to make thefrosting ahead of time or should I just wait? thank you and LOVE this recipe. Never have made your icing tho.

    Reply

  19. Hi Cassie!

    I made these divine cookies exactly as the recipe called for it, except I used Nutella instead of the frosting (I get chocolate cravings). Will certainly make this for family during the holidays!!

    🙂

    Reply

  20. Oh, By the way... With 3 sticks of butter, have you ever had a problem with greasy baked cookies. What difference would 1/2 shortening/butter make in the final product? or would that make a greasy cookie?

    Reply