Identical to traditional vanilla buttercream frosting you’re keen on on muffins and cupcakes, this 5-ingredient cookie adorning buttercream is deliciously creamy and candy. It’s good for cookie adorning learners, and soft-sets after a couple of hours. You may pipe designs onto cut-out cookies, like sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, or just unfold it on and high with sprinkles! See video tutorial within the recipe for inspiration.
Whereas royal icing is my first selection in terms of adorning sugar cookies, I do know it’s not everybody’s favourite cookie icing to work with. Which is why I developed this simple cookie icing, a beautiful glaze-like various. However typically you simply don’t wish to mess with both!
It’s good to have choices.
In order for you a creamy buttercream frosting, that holds its piped form and will be tinted any coloration you want, then this cookie adorning buttercream is for you. And it tastes SO scrumptious on high of a cookie!
This Cookie Adorning Buttercream:
- Is fast and simple to make
- May be tinted any coloration with gel meals coloring (right here is my favourite model)
- Is nice and creamy and flavored with actual vanilla
- May be piped into designs with totally different piping suggestions or just unfold onto cookies
- Is fantastic on high of so many sorts/flavors of cookies
- Smooth-sets after a couple of hours
The cookies you see listed below are my traditional sugar cookies. They’ve an irresistible buttery vanilla taste and smooth, thick facilities. Plus, they maintain their form when baking and have a flat floor that’s good for adorning.
However be happy to make use of this cookie adorning buttercream on one other taste of cut-out cookies, like:
Or just unfold it on high of one other type of cookie, like we do on these smooth and cakey sugar cookies.
Seize These 5 Substances:
- Butter: You may’t make buttercream with out butter! Although salted is okay, I like to recommend utilizing unsalted butter so you’ll be able to management the added salt. Whichever you employ, ensure you are utilizing correct room-temperature butter.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: Sweetens vanilla buttercream and provides stability and pipe-ability to the frosting.
- Heavy Cream: Just a little cream smooths out the frosting. Although entire milk or half-and-half are completely acceptable, use heavy cream for max richness. I exploit much less in at the moment’s buttercream than in my common vanilla buttercream, to maintain it thicker.
- Vanilla Extract: As a result of that is the principle taste within the frosting, I strongly advocate utilizing high-quality pure vanilla extract (not imitation vanilla). You might additionally use selfmade vanilla extract.
- Salt: Only a pinch, to stability the candy.
The right way to Make It
American-style buttercream is fast and simple.
Be sure your butter is softened to room temperature earlier than starting. Use a hand or stand mixer to beat it till easy and creamy. Beat within the remaining components, style, after which add salt. At this level, you’ll be able to add extra confectioners’ sugar to thicken, or a splash of heavy cream to skinny out. That’s it!
I’ve the complete written-out, printable recipe under.
The right way to Rid Buttercream of Air Bubbles
Over-whipping buttercream creates air bubbles. The style isn’t any totally different, however the buttercream is now not easy and velvet-y. Right here’s easy methods to eliminate air bubbles in your frosting:
Flip off the mixer and seize a picket or metallic spoon or silicone spatula and start stirring the buttercream by hand. Mash the frosting up in opposition to the perimeters of the bowl to “pop” the bubbles. Do that till many of the air bubbles deflate, about 1–2 minutes. This trick requires a whole lot of arm muscle!
Tint the Frosting and Fill Piping Luggage
You may maintain the buttercream white or tint it with gel meals coloring. To paint it, divide it into small bowls. Add gel meals coloring to every bowl and blend effectively. For lighter tints, I like to recommend utilizing the tip of a toothpick so as to add coloration, fairly than squeezing an entire drop into the bowl of frosting.
Seize a piping bag for every coloration of icing. Match every with a coupler and piping tip. Once I’m utilizing a number of colours with the identical piping tip, I all the time use couplers.
What are couplers? Couplers are 2-piece gadgets that connect to small piping suggestions, and maintain them OUTSIDE of the piping bag. This makes it simple to swap piping suggestions among the many totally different coloured baggage of icing.
Fill the piping bag: Spoon the buttercream into the piping bag, ensuring to go away a couple of inches of area on the high of the bag. A tall cup makes this simpler! Place the piping bag inside, with the tip close to the underside of the cup, and fold the tip of the bag over the perimeters of the cup, then fill with frosting. You may see me doing this within the video under.
Whereas not completely essential, I exploit these clips to safe the tip of the piping bag, so the frosting doesn’t leak out the tip of the bag.
Piping Ideas I Use to Beautify Cookies With Buttercream
This cookie adorning buttercream holds form superbly and works for intricate designs. To embellish the sugar cookies you see pictured at the moment, crew members Allison and Stephanie and I used piping suggestions from this precise Wilton 55-Piece Piping Ideas Set.
Once more, you will get all of the following tips in a helpful Piping Ideas Set, which additionally contains the piping suggestions I exploit to embellish cookies with royal icing.
You may pipe zig-zags, swirls, traces, or no matter your coronary heart needs! See video tutorial under for inspiration. We used white balls from these sprinkles for tree “ornaments” and coarse sugar on the “snow.”
If you wish to skip piping baggage and suggestions, use a knife or icing spatula to frost the cookies.
It doesn’t totally crust, but it surely does “smooth set,” which suggests it units sufficient to be dry on high. You’ll nonetheless must be a bit cautious stacking the adorned cookies. To make a crusting buttercream, exchange half of the butter (1/2 cup) with shortening.
Sure, completely! Scale back the vanilla extract to simply 1/2 teaspoon, after which you should use one other extract akin to peppermint, coconut, lemon, maple, or almond. I might begin with only one/2 teaspoon of any of those, style, after which beat in additional if desired.
Relying how a lot frosting you placed on every cookie, this buttercream is sufficient for a minimum of 24 to 30 cookies.
Sure, you should use this buttercream to embellish a gingerbread home. See my gingerbread home recipe. The recipe under doesn’t crust as a lot because the buttercream recipe I embody within the gingerbread home recipe, as that one accommodates shortening (which aids in crusting). As we speak’s buttercream just isn’t splendid as a “glue” for the gingerbread home items. For that, you’ll want royal icing.
Extra Adorning Tutorials
Need to learn to enhance cupcakes? Watch my easy methods to use piping suggestions video to study 5 fundamental however lovely methods to pipe frosting onto cupcakes.
Need to give royal icing a strive subsequent? Right here’s my easy methods to enhance sugar cookies with royal icing video.
And these are my high really useful cookie adorning provides.
Cookie Adorning Buttercream
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Whole Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 2.5 cups (a minimum of 24-30 cookies)
Class: Dessert
Technique: Mixing
Delicacies: American
Description
Identical to traditional vanilla buttercream frosting you’re keen on on muffins and cupcakes, this 5-ingredient cookie adorning buttercream is deliciously creamy and candy. It’s good for cookie adorning learners, and soft-sets on the cookies after a couple of hours. You may pipe designs onto cut-out cookies, like sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, or just unfold it on with a knife and high with sprinkles! See video tutorial within the recipe for inspiration.
Directions
- Have your cookies baked and cooled fully. You may use this recipe, or your favourite recipe for cookies.
- Make the buttercream: With a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium pace till creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Beat on low pace for 30 seconds, then improve to medium-high pace and beat for two full minutes. Style. Add a pinch of salt if frosting is simply too candy. I all the time add 1/8 teaspoon. To thicken the buttercream, beat in additional confectioners’ sugar. To skinny out the buttercream, beat in additional heavy cream.
- Shade the icing: For those who’d prefer to tint the icing, divide it into separate bowls for every coloration, or tint the complete batch one coloration. Just a little gel meals coloring goes a great distance, so use a toothpick to dot the gel into the icing. Stir it in, after which add extra to deepen the colour if desired.
- Use piping suggestions or knife/icing spatula: You need to use a knife or icing spatula to frost the cookies. Or, if utilizing piping suggestions, match a piping/pastry bag with a piping tip (and use a coupler for those who plan to change frosting colours and/or piping suggestions). Spoon the buttercream into the bag, ensuring to go away a couple of inches of area on the high of the bag. Twist the tip of the bag or use a clip to seal it shut. You may pipe zig-zags, swirls, traces, dots, or no matter your coronary heart needs! See video tutorial under for some inspiration.
- If in case you have leftover buttercream, cowl it tightly and retailer within the fridge for as much as 1 week.
Notes
- Make Forward and Freezing Directions: Freeze in an hermetic container for as much as 3 months. Thaw within the fridge in a single day, then beat the frosting on medium pace for a couple of seconds so it’s creamy once more. After thawing or refrigerating, beating in a splash of heavy cream or milk will assist skinny the frosting out once more, if wanted.
- Particular Instruments (affiliate hyperlinks): Electrical Mixer (Handheld or Stand Mixer) | Silicone Spatula | Gel Meals Coloring | Disposable or Reusable Piping Luggage | Couplers | Wilton 55-Piece Piping Ideas Set | Bag Clips | Small Icing Spatula | White Sprinkles | Coarse Sugar Sprinkles
- Amount: Relying how a lot frosting you placed on every cookie, this buttercream is sufficient for a minimum of 24 to 30 cookies.
- Confectioners’ Sugar: In case your confectioners’ sugar is especially lumpy, I like to recommend sifting it earlier than measuring and utilizing.
- Heavy Cream: You need to use half-and-half or entire milk as an alternative if wanted. The decrease the fats, the much less creamy your buttercream shall be. Whichever you employ, be sure that it’s at room temperature. In any other case your frosting may separate or seem grainy.
- Does This Buttercream Crust? It doesn’t totally crust, but it surely does “smooth set,” which suggests it units sufficient to be dry on high. You’ll nonetheless must be a bit cautious stacking the adorned cookies. To make a crusting buttercream, exchange half of the butter (1/2 cup/8 Tbsp/113g) with shortening.
- Can I Taste the Buttercream with Different Extracts? Sure, completely! Scale back the vanilla extract to simply 1/2 teaspoon, after which you should use one other extract akin to peppermint, coconut, lemon, maple, or almond. I might begin with only one/2 teaspoon of any of those, style, after which beat in additional if desired.