This cookie glaze is the perfect way to ice a cookie without having to make royal icing. I’m not a huge fan of royal icing. I just don’t think it tastes super great and I don’t like how hard it gets.
Don’t get me wrong, in certain situations, it works really well, but if you prefer something that doesn’t get as hard and tastes great, then this cookie glaze is the way to go plus I’m giving you three options to choose from.
If you haven’t checked out my post ‘Easy Pound Cake Cookies‘, head on over there and grab that recipe. These cookie glazes are perfect on those cookies and they’re just about the easiest cookie you’ll ever make.
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In that post, I included the vanilla cookie glaze, but I’ve included it here as well as two other options…lemon and chocolate.
The best part about the cookie glaze is that it firms up, so you can even stack your cookies, but not have a huge mess on your hands with icing going everywhere. Plus you’re not having to make royal icing and the glazes don’t get as rock hard. You get the taste of buttercream, but no mess.
The secret ingredient is corn syrup. If you don’t have any, I promise it’s worth it to get some. Your glaze won’t firm up as nicely if that’s not added to it. Trust me, you’ll be glad you got it.
Ok, let’s get to the recipes. And there’s also a video below to show how to make them and add them to your cookies.
Recipe
Cookie Glaze 3 Ways
Ingredients
Vanilla Bean Cookie Glaze
- 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar
- 3 tablespoon milk or cream (can use an extra tablespoon if needed)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
Lemon Cookie Glaze
- 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk or cream
- juice of 1 large lemon
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
Chocolate Cookie Glaze
- 2 ½ cups confectioners sugar
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 4 tablespoon milk or cream (can use an extra tablespoon if needed)
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
Instructions
To Make the Cookie Glazes:
- For each recipe, add all of the ingredients and mix well. It will be thick at first, but keep mixing until well combined before adding any additional milk as that could make it too thin. If once mixed, it’s still very thick, add in another teaspoon to tablespoon of milk. You want the glaze a thicker consistency though, so that it doesn’t run off of the cookies.Add glaze to the cookies, once they’re completely cooled.
Video
Notes
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So, which flavor is your favorite? It’s hard for me to decide, but if I’m forced to…I think I’d go with vanilla. I’m just crazy for anything vanilla.
Trisha
yikes! love vanilla & almond together, but luv luv Lemon! I think i’m going to have to try making two separate batches of this icing, so as to enjoy Both! 🙂 any way to add some sour cream/yogurt to the batter? I can’t seem to find the Better Crocker pound cake mix this last while.
thanks Kara Jane for including some recipes that start with a box mix, I’ve tried a couple and they were great! 🙂
Kara Jane
Hey Trisha! You’re so welcome! I hope you try the glazes…it’s hard to choose which to make! As far as the pound cake mix goes, they can be hard to find sometimes, but you could probably just substitute a butter cake mix and get something close.
Dee
Could you pipe these glazes ? Thanks 😊
Kara Jane
Hi Dee, not really….it’s just too thin of a consistency. You could possibly just add a lot more confectioners sugar to the recipe to thicken it to a piping consistency and experiment with it, but it won’t harden as hard as royal icing would though.
Dee
Oh, I see! I personally don’t like the hardness /taste of royal icing but thought I’d just try and pipe this one 🙂 I’m excited to try it anyway ! Thanks for the tips!
Kara Jane
Let me know how it works out! The corn syrup really helps to give a bit of a crust to it so it doesn’t just smear onto the next cookie, but I love how it doesn’t get too hard.
Char Luzum
This is a wonderfully thick & creamy glaze that stays on top of the cookies & doesn’t slide off! Who knew the secret ingredient was corn syrup? I used the vanilla version on some baked apple fritters recently & they were a big hit with my family! Thank you so much, Kara Jane! Char from Colorado
Kara
Hey Char! I’m so glad you liked the glaze. That corn syrup is a game-changer, right?! I love the idea of using this on apple fritters too…now I’m really craving them. Thanks so much for the great review! P.S. I went to Colorado for the first time this summer and I LOVED it there!