Egg White Royal Icing Recipe & Egg Safety

The other day I was making cookies and I ran out of icing. I was almost finished with the set of cookies I was working on but I had a small problem. I didn’t have any meringue powder. Since I live in the middle of the woods, I didn’t want to stop what I was doing and spend half the day going to the store. I decided to make my egg white royal icing recipe. I don’t use it often because to me royal icing made from meringue powder is a little safer and easier to make.

The reason meringue powder is safer to use is that there is a slight risk of getting salmonella or another food-borne illness from eating raw eggs. As kids, we would fight over who got to lick the spoon when my mom or grandma would make a cake, icing or other desserts that contained raw eggs. In all my years, I have never got sick from them and I don’t know of anyone else who has become sick from eating this icing or licking the spoon of some amazing cake batter.

I am not making light of food poisoning because I had it after eating a slice of cheesecake from a very popular food chain that specialized in, well, cheesecake. It is the sickest I have ever been in my life. I honestly thought I was going to die. I don’t ever want anyone else to feel like that so, I want to make sure you understand that raw egg whites can be a bit tricky before you use my or any other egg white royal icing recipe.

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Supplies for Egg White Royal Icing:

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Egg White Royal Icing Recipe

Make royal icing with egg whites for decorating cookies and gingerbread houses.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of confectioner’s sugar (that is about 750 grams but you may need more depending on how thick you want your icing)
• 4 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar- this is used to stabilize the egg whites)
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract or the flavor of your choice

Directions:

1. Place the confectioner’s sugar and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer.
2. Separate the eggs.
3. Add the egg whites to the sugar, vanilla and Cream of TarTar. Mix on low-medium speed until the icing is smooth.
4. Use immediately or store in an airtight container in the fridge. It is good for up to one week if kept in the fridge.

Egg White Royal Icing Video:

There are a few tips that you should know about using raw egg whites that can help keep your food safe.

• When you make this egg whites royal icing recipe, you should use pasteurized eggs.
• The salmonella tends to be found in the yolk of the egg, according to researchers. But it’s possible for it to be in raw egg whites.
• If you don’t want to take a chance on eating raw eggs there are a few other choices you can use. Egg substitutes are pasteurized, which means they’re quickly heated at a certain temperature to destroy any salmonella.
• Don’t store the eggs in the door of the fridge. When the door is open it lets in heat. Eggs need to say cold so place them on a shelf and not in the door.

Now you should be “egg-cited” to be informed on the safety of consuming raw egg whites.

I used my big girl mixer in my recipe videos but I  want you to know you don’t have to have this type of mixer to make royal icing. I made it with a hand mixer for years before investing in a KitchenAid. As a matter of fact, I made a video showing how to make it with a hand mixer. It is easy and I promise the icing will taste the same no matter what mixer you use.

Egg White Royal Icing:

Last but not least, in the video, I made the icing a little on the thin side. To make a thicker consistency, add more powdered sugar and mix it until the icing is smooth. I have a video coming up soon on how to do that. If you are looking for a Royal Icing Recipe that uses meringue powder, click here or here.

I hope you enjoy this Egg White Royal Icing Recipe and who knows, it may save you one morning at 3 am when there is no meringue powder in the house and you need to mix up a batch of royal icing to finish those amazing Christmas cookies you are making. I know it saved me the other day.

Bear hugs,

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