Did you know that you could make true royal icing without eggs? No? Me neither. I knew about glaze icing which uses confectioner’s sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice and some liquid (milk or water). It is similar to royal icing but doesn’t give the control or decorating options that royal icing gives a baker.
I wanted to try to make a vegan royal icing that would taste as good as my regular recipe and was easy to control.. A friend recommended that I join a Facebook group devoted solely to aquafaba. She is vegan and said that aquafaba is a common substitute for eggs in vegan recipes. The word aquafaba is the common name for the cooking liquid of beans and other legumes like chickpeas.
I didn’t have to do much experimenting. I did a lot of reading but in the end I decided to try my regular recipe but substitute the aquafaba for the pasteurized egg whites in my recipe.
These cookies were all decorated totally with vegan royal icing. Even if you don’t follow a vegan lifestyle you should give this a try. All you have to do is keep a can of chickpeas in your pantry and if you are ever out of eggs or meringue powder you will have an excellent, inexpensive substitute.
On a side note, if you want a really yummy, healthy snack roast the chickpeas that you now have left over.
To make roasted chickpeas rinse and drain the chickpeas. Spread the chickpeas on a clean towel to dry. When dry, mix them with about a tablespoon of olive oil and any of your favorite seasonings. My grandson used Old Bay. I used just salt but the sky is the limit and only limited by your taste buds and imagination. Spread them on a foil or parchment lined sheet pan. Roast for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees. We like them really crunchy so I roast them a little longer but you should experiment to see how you like them best. This is a picture of them after they came out of the oven. You won’t be sorry you tried them!
I hope you will let me know if you try it and if you liked it.
Ingredients
- 4 cups confectioner’s sugar
- 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 can of chickpeas, drained. Save the liquid (save the chickpeas)
- 1/2 cup aquafaba (measured from the drained chickpea liquid)
- 2 T corn syrup
- 1 T water (if necessary)
- 1 tsp. White gel food coloring (optional)
Instructions
- Mix confectioner’s sugar and cream of tarter in your mixer bowl. With mixer on low speed, add the aquafaba, water and the corn syrup. When it has all come together as a big lump in the bottom of your bowl, turn the speed up to high and beat for about 2 minutes. If it’s too thick, add some water. I like my icing super thick so you have the option to thin to your desired consistency for everything from flooding to roses. You will notice your icing will get whiter and glossy. That’s when it’s done. I always add white food coloring to my base icing at this point. Mix until combined. I have noticed that I no longer have discoloration on my cookies since I started adding white gel color but it's totally optional.
What is Aquafaba?
Aquafaba is the liquid from a can of beans. In this case I used chickpea juice.
Thank you!! I have a couple customers who are allergic to eggs and some that are vegan!! I am excited to try this!
Best!
Lindy
Lindy’s Traveling Treats
Let me know how you like it!!
Hi thank you so much for your icing recipe. I will be trying it as soon as I can.
Please can you let me know if you have tried baking cookies with aquafaba?
I bake 100’s of cookies and at the moment there is a huge shortage of eggs in
South Africa so would really like to try a cookie recipe with aquafaba.
My recipe has one egg in it.
I have never tried baking with aquafaba before so am a little ‘scared”
to try 🙂
Many thanks
Jill
Hi Jill,
I have not tried aquafaba in cookies yet but I did find a recipe I want to try. Here’s the link to that recipe. I don’t know anything about it but it looks pretty good. https://www.gretchensbakery.com/vegan-halloween-sugar-cookies/
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me 🙂
I will be trying out the cookie recipe 🙂
regards
Jill
Hi Jill, if you think of it would you mind coming back and letting me know how it is, please? Thanks!!
Only with pleasure 🙂
Kind regards
Jill
Thanks Julie!
Hi Jill,
I wanted to let you know that I tried that cookie recipe. It’s really quite good. I’m in the process of doing a blog post on it but I wanted to let you know I tried it.
Yay!:) Thank you soo much! I have not had a chance to try it yet but am going to have to soon as there are now no eggs in our stores!!!
I hope you like it. Like anything food related, everyone has a different idea of what is yummy. Let me know what you think!
I certainly will 🙂
Thank you 🙂
Could i use brown rice syrup instead of corn syrup?
I’m not sure. The corn syrup just makes it so the icing isn’t as hard to the bite so you could leave it out. Another option is to take a small amount of icing out of the bowl and mix in a teaspoon of brown rice syrup. Smear some on a plate or a graham cracker and leave it to dry. If it tastes fine and dries the way you like it then you are good to go 🙂 . If you try it please let me know how it worked out for you.
Does the corn syrup give the cookies any shine or are they more of a matte finish?
The cookies have a little sheen to them which I attribute to the corn syrup. The corn syrup also helps the icing have a softer bite so it’s not rock hard.
Do u add the aquafaba as is. Ie not whisked first.
Yes, I added it as is. I didn’t whip it first. I hope this helps.
Hi there! I just came across this recipe and the aquafaba sugar cookie one. I was wondering how long this vegan “royal icing” lasts?
It lasts for a long time but I freeze mine if I’m going to keep it any longer than a few days.
I’m thinking of using this as icing on Christmas cake. As the cake usually lasts a week or two before it is finished further to Heather’s question, I’m concerned what will happen to the icing. Will it still be edible or go ‘bad’?
It won’t go bad but will be quite firm. You could make this buttercream recipe (it will taste a lot better on a cake, I think) http://sugarcoatednanagrams.com/category/sugar-cookie/ All you have to do is use Earth Balance in place of the butter and then aquafaba for the egg whites. It works well and will also last for weeks! I use this recipe on cookies and it’s really good.
Just made this and isn’t crusting over.my aquafibs didn’t seem very thick when I poured it out of the can.
Is it possible to save this icing by adding more powdered sugar?
I’m not sure why they aren’t crusting. My aquafaba isn’t very thick either. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.