Royal Icing

A wonderful icing for gingerbread cookies or cutout cookies. Left to dry overnight it will completely harden. Perfect as the "glue" for a gingerbread house or to attach decorations and sprinkles to cookies. I would NOT attempt this if my mixer was broken.

1/4 cup of pasteurized egg white (buy in the carton in the egg section at the grocery store)

1 pound powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice

1 Tablespoon of vanilla

water, if necessary

food coloring (paste type), if desired

Mix the powdered sugar into the egg white, vanilla and lemon juice about a cup at a time. Once somewhat combined, turn mixer to a high setting (using whisk attachment) and beat until stiff peaks stage.

Once you reach this stage you can use in a few different ways:

1. Spread the thick mixture directly onto cookies.

2. Use as "glue" in cookie house construction)

3. Scoop out approximately a third of this recipe into a smaller bowl. Combine with about a tablespoon of water and food coloring of your choice. Spoon into a sandwich size zip-top bag. Cut a VERY small hole in one corner, and use to squeeze onto cookies. (Do the same thing omitting the color to decorate with white)