Quick and easy sugar cookie frosting recipe, homemade with simple ingredients. Soft, creamy, fluffy, perfect for cookie decorating and holds its shape. Packed with vanilla and almond flavors.
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It's time to add another recipe to this Frosting and Fillings category. It tastes delicious on top of my Small Batch of Sugar Cookies, Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies, Easy Chocolate Sugar Cookies (Cut Out), and Easy Cut Out Sugar Cookies (With Cake Mix). It can be colored and used for piping fun designs during Christmas, Halloween, Valentine's, and other events.
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Key ingredients
- Butter- Used as a base for all buttercream frostings.
- Shortening- Helps make it more stabilized.
- Powdered sugar- Brings in that sweetness we all love.
- Vanilla extract- Adds a warm taste and fragrance.
- Almond extract- Brings in a new flavor many frostings miss.
- Heavy cream- Makes it so smooth and creamy.
Variations
- Color it- Pink or blue for a gender reveal party, match a birthday theme, or have fun during your favorite holidays.
- Add chocolate- Mix in some chocolate chips or you can also mix in some cocoa powder.
- Try crushed Oreos- This will create a cookies and cream flavor.
- Add sprinkles- This will make a colorful Funfetti Frosting, which is great for kids birthday parties.
- Cream cheese option- Mix in ¼ cup- ⅓ cup cream cheese to add a little tanginess. You may have to add a little more powdered sugar to thicken it again though. You can also use this Cream Cheese Frosting instead.
- Use other zests or extracts- Such as lemon zest, lime zest, orange zest or peppermint extract, mint, caramel extract, coconut, pumpkin pie spice e.t.c.
- Pipe cool designs- Use decorating tips, attached to a piping bag to make fun design such as stars, flowers, stripes, and more. Learn more about How to Pipe Cake Borders and How to Decorate Cupcakes.
- Make into a cookies sandwich- By filling this icing between 2 cookies. Use my Best Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. You can even use them in Chocolate Whoopie Pies (With Cake Mix Box).
- Pair with fruit- Use it as a dip for fresh berries, add in some freeze dried fruit pieces, or even top fruit-based cookies with it, such as Orange Cookies or Lemon Cookies and Red Velvet Cookies (With Cake Mix).
How to make easy sugar cookie frosting recipe from scratch?
- Cream butter and shortening- Until mixture is smooth.
- Add powdered sugar, extract and heavy cream- And mix until icing is smooth and creamy.
- Spread on cookies- In a circular pattern using a spatula, then top with sprinkles.
- Optional step: Chill icing in the fridge overnight to allow the flavors to deepen.
Tips and techniques
- Make it thicker- By mixing in more powdered sugar.
- Make it thinner- By mixing in more heavy cream or milk a little at a time. If you add too much it will be runny.
- All ingredients should be at room temperature- Because they blend together smoothly and evenly.
- Use unsalted butter- Because this prevents the icing from becoming too salty. A salty frosting is not that tasty.
- Sift the powdered sugar- Because this removes any lumps and clumps to yield the smoothest results.
- Heavy cream substitute- Use whole milk, 2% milk, or even evaporated milk. Heavy cream is ideal because it has a higher fat content.
- Watch the quantity of almond extract- Because it has a very strong flavor and aroma. A little amount goes a long way, so don't add too much.
- Use clear extracts- Because this prevents the icing from becoming discolored and "off-white."
- Chill overnight- This is an optional step but if you let the icing sit in the fridge overnight, it will allow the extract flavors to deepen and develop further.
- Make a bigger batch- By doubling or even tripling all the ingredients.
- Use gel colors rather than liquid food coloring- Because they are more concentrated and a little goes a long way. Also, they are thicker, ensuring that it won't alter the frosting consistency.
Recipe FAQs
It depends on the ingredients used. The two most popular ones are Royal Icing and Glace Icing. They are made without butter but instead require powdered sugar, milk, corn syrup and sometimes egg whites or meringue powder. Those ingredients are mixed together to create a thick syrup that's used for outlining and flooding cookies. They air dry and become hard and can also be easily stacked plus they are perfect for shipping cookies. They are also ideal for intricate cookie decorating and piping work. It's also typically used in Gingerbread Cookies and even assembling a Homemade Gingerbread House. If you use cake icing for cookies they will taste good but can't to be stacked.
The bigger the cookie, the more icing you will need. The quantity also depends on whether you are spreading a thin buttercream layer with a spatula or if you are piping a thick design on top of the cookie. A 3 inch cookie will need about 1 tablespoon frosting.
Yes and no. You can use only butter, but I prefer using half of each because it makes the icing more stable and less likely to melt quickly in warmer temperatures. However, you cannot only use shortening, because it does not add the flavor and richness of butter.
Storage
- Make ahead- This can be made in bulk and saved for a future date. Put in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week or the freezer for up to 1 month.
- Room temperature- Don't let sit out for more than 1 hour bercause it has heavy cream in it that can go bad if left out for too long.
- Refrigerate- Store in a sealed container for up to 1 week.
- Freeze- Store in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the fridge then mix to fluff up.
More frosting recipes
- Lemon Frosting (Buttercream)
- Maraschino Cherry Frosting (Pink)
- Orange Frosting (Buttercream Icing)
- Marshmallow Frosting (With Fluff)
- Blackberry Buttercream Frosting
Recipe
Easy Sugar Cookie Frosting
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Ingredients
- ½ cup Butter Unsalted, Room temperature
- ½ cup Shortening
- 4 cups Powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla extract Use clear extract for pure white frosting
- ¼ teaspoon Almond extract
- 4-5 tablespoon Heavy cream
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and shortening until smooth.
- Add half the powdered sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract, 3 tablespoon heavy cream and mix until smooth.
- Add the remainder of the powdered sugar and a little more heavy cream (as needed) and mix until soft and fluffy. Go easy on the heavy cream. A little amount goes a long way. If you add too much, the icing will be very runny.
- Spread this icing on top of your sugar cookies with a spatula in a circular pattern and toss some sprinkles. Enjoy!
- Optional: Cover and chill icing in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to use it, let it sit on the counter for 20-30 minutes to soften. This extra time in the fridge allows the extract flavors to really deepen and develop. I always do this and highly recommend it. But, please note that the frosting still tastes great, when used immediately too. I am just fussy!
Notes
- Read all my tips above.
- Leftovers can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week. It can also be frozen in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Thaw overnight in the fridge and whip to make fluffy again.
Nutrition
An automated tool is used to calculate the nutritional information. As such, I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information provided for any recipe on this site.
Practically Healthy
This was an awesome recipe. I used coconut oil in place of shortening. This was perfect for our Christmas cutouts.
Melissa S
This is the BEST sugar cookie frosting ever!! I did use all butter, so good!!
Angela Tatone
This recipe is the best recipe ever I've found for sugar cookie icing. I've been using it at Christmas time since the year you posted it! So easy to work with, holds well, tastes incredible. THANK YOU!!! I have this recipe printed out and saved in my NEVER LOSE file in case the Internet ever fails me. Happy Holidays!
Abeer Rizvi
That makes me beyond happy! Thank you so much!