Sugar Icing for Gingerbread Cookies
You can also make the icing colorful to create even more varied and beautiful cookies. To do this, divide the icing into separate bowls, add food coloring to each one, mix well, and transfer it into piping bags.
The tradition of decorating baked goods with sugar icing dates back to medieval Europe, when sugar was an expensive luxury and a symbol of status. A forerunner of modern royal icing was already used in the 17th century to decorate cakes and cookies at royal courts. Today, this technique is an essential part of the culture of decorating gingerbread cookies and gingerbread houses around the world.
Updated : 09 December, 2025
Easy
About 10 min.
Ingredients
40 grams
Egg whites
200 grams
Powdered sugar
0.5 teaspoon
Lemon juice
Table
Table of volume measurements:
- teaspoon - 5 ml
- dessert spoon - 10 ml
- tablespoon - 20 ml
- glass - 200 ml
Preparation
Step 1
First, bake the gingerbread cookies themselves. I baked both the traditional classic cookie shape and many others, for example trees, people, and houses. Now prepare all the ingredients for making the sugar icing. Carefully separate the egg white from the yolk.
Step 2
Pour the egg white into a bowl convenient for whipping and add the powdered sugar. Be sure to sift the powdered sugar so that sugar crystals do not get into the icing and later interfere with decorating by clogging the cut corner of the piping bag. Since egg whites can vary slightly in size, you may need a little more or a little less powdered sugar.
Step 3
Mix the powdered sugar with the egg white using a mixer or a blender with a whisk attachment on low speed for about 2 minutes. The icing will gradually begin to whiten. Then add a little lemon juice, which will make the icing glossy and give it a slight sheen in the light. After adding the juice, beat the sugar-and-egg-white mixture again for about 3 minutes. The mixture should become thick, smooth, and white.
Step 4
The icing is ready. Sugar icing dries quickly, so it should be covered with a lid, or better yet, with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface. Next, prepare a piping bag. Take the bag and cut off a very small corner. This is done so that air can escape and the icing can move deeper into the bag when filling it, and so that it is easy to tie. You should also trim the wide part of the bag so that it becomes smaller.
Step 5
Now carefully transfer the sugar icing into the piping bag and seal it tightly with tape.
Step 6
You can start decorating the cookies. Classic gingerbread cookie decoration includes outlines, flooding, and drawing thin lines. Use different icing consistencies for different tasks. For assembling a gingerbread house, use the thickest consistency. For decorating cakes and cupcakes, a thinner icing is suitable for writing and simple designs on holiday baking.
Step 7
Cover the finished plain egg-white icing tightly with plastic wrap directly on the surface so that a crust does not form. Store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. In a piping bag, the icing can stay at room temperature for a day if the decorating work is still continuing. Store the finished decorated cookies in a dry place in a single layer for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy your meal!
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