I want to make royal icing (or icing that dries hard)...

[lucysmam]

The BBC Good Food Royal Icing recipe says I need liquid glycerine, which I don't have. Do I absolutely, definitely, need it??

It's only to attempt some edible "eyeballs" for packed lunch baking with dd2, nothing fancy.

You need to make it with icing sugar and whisked egg whites, not water.

I've never used glycerine, I think that's just for shine. I might be wrong.

I mix icing sugar with egg white and that dries hard and works for decorating.

I don't know what's on royal icing, but adding a small amount of water to icing sugar and nothing else will mean it hardens once set. It's a surprising small amount needed.

Glycerine actually keeps it softer for longer: if you want it to dry hard quickly, just use egg whites and icing sugar.

Aah, thank you. We'll have a go shortly now I know that!

I never use glycerine when I make royal icing.

Yes the glycerine stops it from setting rock hard, so not essential.

Glycerine for the top and sides of the cake - makes it softer and easier to eat and cut. Just icing sugar and egg white for piping.

I pop a bit of lemon or cream of tartare in to stabilise the egg whites, but it isn't necessary. I've never used glycerin!

We now have hundreds of edible eyeballs much better than buying packets & never having them in the house when we want them!

I didn't realise they take quite a while to dry out though so we're decorating our baking tomorrow instead.