Royal icing for gingerbread: whip over steam, then stack the cookies once dry

Tip: tap a step to mark it as done.

1. Sift the sugar

   5 min

   Sift the powdered sugar through a fine-mesh sieve, as lumps could clog the opening of the piping bag.

2. Whip over steam

   10 min

   Place the egg white, 100 g of the sugar, and the lemon juice in a metal or glass bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water without letting the bottom touch the water. Beat with a handheld mixer for about 5 minutes, until the mixture thickens and a thermometer reads 71 °C (160 °F).

3. Thicken and beat

   5 min

   Remove the bowl from the heat, add the remaining sugar a spoonful at a time, and beat for another 5 minutes, until the icing has cooled and is thick, white, and glossy. A peak on the beaters should stand upright.

4. Adjust the consistency

   5 min

   For outlines, dots, and decorative patterns, keep the icing thick enough to hold a peak. To fill in areas, transfer some icing to another bowl and thin it with water, a drop at a time, until a trail left by a spoon disappears in about 10 seconds. Cover any icing you are not using with a damp towel, or the surface will dry out quickly.

5. Decorate the gingerbread cookies

   30 min

   Fill a piping bag or parchment paper cone with icing and snip an opening about 1 mm wide. Decorate completely cooled cookies. For a snowflake, pipe three lines crossing at the center and add dots at the ends; for a heart, pipe an outline and fill it with dots or a lattice pattern; for a tree, pipe a zigzag from top to bottom. Fill larger areas with the thinner icing and use a toothpick to spread it into the corners.

6. Let dry

   12 hr

   Leave the decorated cookies in a single layer at room temperature for 12 hours, until the icing hardens. Only then stack them in a storage container. Keep leftover icing covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Tip: Without a thermometer, whip over steam for at least 5 minutes, until the mixture is noticeably hot and thick. Practice piping on parchment paper first, and start by snipping a smaller opening in the bag.

This recipe was translated from the Slovak original: Poleva na medovníky z bielkov: šľaháte ju nad parou a po zaschnutí ich uložíte aj na seba