How-to Dry Royal Icing in The Oven

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What is Royal Icing?

Royal icing is sweet and dries hard. The sweetness comes from using powdered sugar (confections sugar) while the egg white component helps icing dry.

Because royal icing dries hard, cookie decorators use it to pipe designs on sugar cookies. Each cookie maker has their own recipe and you’ll come across a variety of recipes ranging in ingredients. Some recipes use fresh egg whites, some use meringue powder. Some recipes flavor their icing with extracts, some add cornstarch, etc.

I’ve tried every type of recipe with varying ingredients and found my favorite is simple – a two ingredient royal icing recipe using powdered sugar and fresh egg whites. Fresh egg whites taste better (in my opinion) and no extracts are needed when you pair it with my buttery sugar cookie recipe.

However, for the purpose of this post, I tried drying cookies in the oven using fresh egg whites and meringue powder which got me the same drying results.

How Long Does Royal Icing Take To Dry?

In my experience, it takes about 8-10 hours for royal icing on sugar cookies to dry completely. It’s also important to note that humidity can make the drying times longer. In the summertime, that humid weather prolongs drying times and in the freezing Midwest winters, cookies dry much quicker.

Whenever I need sugar cookies, I make them at least 24 hours in advance so I don’t have to worry.

Benefits Of Drying Sugar Cookies in the Oven

• The longer it takes to dry royal icing, the more dull it becomes so drying in the oven speeds up the process = shinier icing
• Speeds up decorating times
• Creates a smooth and glossy surface
• Keeps royal icing “puffy”
• Helps prevent bleeding of colors because the base layer is dried

How To Dry Royal Icing Cookies in the Oven

Putting cookies with royal icing in the oven allows the heat to gently speed up the drying time. You don’t want to crank up the heat or you’ll get a mess of runny icing.

1. Turn on the oven to the lowest possible temperature (my oven goes to 170°F)
2. Place the iced cookies on a baking tray
3. Place the tray on the middle rack and leave the oven door open just a crack
4. Dry cookies for the appropriate time (the surface should be not be wet)
5. Continue to add any decorating details and let the cookies dry overnight

Note that different sized cookies need different drying times. Mini cookies (2-inch and less) can be in the oven for about 5-8 minutes. Medium sized (3-4inch) can be in the oven for about 8-14 minutes. Larger cookies can be in the oven about 15-20 minutes. The actual time is going to depend on your kitchen conditions such as the humidity, icing consistency, and your oven. Be careful if your oven has hotspots.

Oven Drying Tips

Typically, it’s easier to dry just the base layer (flooded layer) of icing. Drying small details and stiff consistency icing is trickier so keep an eye out as they dry much faster since the icing is not runny.

I don’t use a convection setting for drying cookies in the oven because it gets about 25° warmer which is much harder to control. Although, there are some ovens that have the ability to lower the convection temperature.

Using a Dehydrator

One great thing about drying iced cookies in a dehydrator are the lower temperatures. If you want to dry cookies using a dehydrator, set it at 95-105°F. Different sized cookies need their own drying time just like in the oven. Use the times listed above for the oven and add more minutes as needed. Because the dehydrator temperature is much lower, they probably need more drying time.

Always start on the side of caution and add more time as needed. If the icing is smooth to the touch and not sticky or running, they should be ready!

Another tip – the dehydrator is a bit more forgiving because of the low temperatures. If you forget they’re in there, they’ll most likely be okay but I don’t recommend leaving them overnight or longer than an hour.

Oven Drying Mistakes

It’s a good idea to set a timer for drying royal icing because it’s easy to forget they’re in there! Cookies left too long in the oven can crack, over expand, run off, get butter bleeding, and even brown.

This is why it’s important to adjust times for different sizes so the royal icing doesn’t crack!