Easy Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe

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

4.46 from 861 votes

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!)

Prep Time5

Drying Time2

Total Time2 5

Course: Desserts

Cuisine: American

Servings: 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.

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