This Sugar Cookie Icing is buttery sweet and made in minutes. It’s the ideal texture for pouring in swirling designs over your soft sugar cookies or cut-out sugar cookies and hardens just enough to make them stackable for party platters and edible gift giving.
With a melted butter base, this sugar cookie icing (a riff on this recipe from Tieghan of Half Baked Harvest) has a decadently rich flavor that you can’t achieve with the sugar and water glazes that often adorn sugar cookies. It’s so easy to make – just 4 ingredients and there is no need for a mixer. Just combine the icing ingredients in a small saucepan and whisk until silky smooth (Watch the recipe video below to see what I mean!).
It’s easy to customize this icing to the consistency you prefer; if it’s too thick, add a little water; too thin, add more confectioners sugar.
What’s the difference between icing and frosting?
First of all, both are delicious on sugar cookies. Frosting tends to be thick, fluffy and less sweet than icing. It also stays soft and doesn’t stack well so it’s not ideal for party platters (unless you can place them in a single layer) or for edible gift giving. Icing is sweeter than frosting, glossy instead of fluffy and is typically pourable and hardens enough to allow for stacking.
Many icings are too sweet for my taste, but it’s the amount of sugar that determines how much the icing will harden. This sugar cookie icing recipe leans more toward buttery and hardens just enough to make your cookies stackable, but you’ll want to be gentle with them too.
How to Make Sugar Cookie Icing
Step 1: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining icing ingredients (confectioners sugar, water and vanilla) and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
Step 2: Transfer slightly cooled frosting to small pitcher for drizzling over sugar cookies. Allow frosting to cool and harden on cookies before serving.
Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe Video
Sugar Cookie Icing
A sweet and buttery rich sugar cookie icing that's easy to make and hardens so that cookies are stackable!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter 1 cube, ideally 85% fat European style butter
- 2 cups confectioners sugar 240g
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
Instructions
-
Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When butter has melted, whisk in remaining ingredients until shiny and smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
-
Check consistency of icing: it should be thin enough to be pourable, but not so thin that it runs off the sides of the sugar cookie. If too thick, whisk in more water a few drops at a time. If too thin, whisk in more sugar until the icing reaches your desired consistency.
-
Transfer icing to small pitcher and swirl artfully over cooled sugar cookies. Let icing cool and harden. Serve.
Recipe Notes
- This recipe makes enough for icing about 25 3"-round sugar cookies
I rarely ice my sugar cookies because usually the icing has no flavor. THANK YOU for this! I see a lot of deliciously frosted sugar cookies in my future and I can taste that buttery icing already 🙂
woohoo! Thanks, Kelsie!! 🙂
I like how simple this recipe is, with simple ingredients! I plan to make a batch of plain sugar cookies this year and let the boys go crazy decorating them. This icing recipe is perfect!
How fun! I hope they love it, Katherine!! xo
Perfect icing for you perfect soft sugar cookie – keeping this one handy for the holiday season!
aww…thanks, Kevin!
Hi Marissa! I love all kinds of cookies, but I rarely pass up a frosted/iced sugar cookie! With only one “wing” there won’t be much baking going on here for the Holidays 🙁 but I’ll try to do a couple of things.
Hi Dorothy! I’ve been thinking about you and your one wing!! So rough to have an arm injury during the holidays when all you want to do it bake!! Love to you my friend!
I absolutely love sugar cookies, and it’s always good to have a go-to icing recipe. Thanks for sharing this one! I’m definitely going to hang on to it. 🙂
My pleasure! So easy and SO good!! 🙂
Great idea for a post Marissa! This will definitely come in handy this holiday season. It sounds delicious!
Thanks so much, Mary Ann!