12/17/2025
I know that royal icing can be super intimidating. It makes for beautiful decorated cookies and makes packaging much easier. But let's be honest, it's not the best icing you ever had. It can dry crunchy, be insanely time consuming, and can actually be pretty costly.
These cookies are decorated with American buttercream. Anyone can make it and it's much simpler to use! I used a piping bag and an offset spatula for smoothing. I highly suggest using piping bags. You can get more exact and precise and i think it takes less time than smoothing on with a knife! I've tried using ziplock bags and it's ended up in a huge mess. You can find piping bags in the baking/cake section!
I let mine sit out on a baking sheet and allow the frosting to develop a crust.
Another fun way to do it is to frost with buttercream and then dip in sanding sugar. The fat from the butter softens the sugar too so you dont feel like your mouth is full of sand!
