Corn Syrup-Free Glaze?

Why not just take the corn syrup out and add more liquid to achieve the consistency that you want. Classic confectioners' icing is just confectioners' sugar and liquid, i.e., milk, water, and/or juice. It might not dry with the same sheen as it does when corn syrup is added, but it handles and dries about the same way.

Okay, I will try that.  I thought that the dried icing would be too crunchy, but it's worth a try.  Thanks!

Well, it will be crunchier. What about adding glucose?

Have you explored other ingredients like (edible) glycerin? I wish I could remember the name, but there was a great book on baking with sugar alternatives (like agave syrup) that came out recently. Good luck!

I did buy some glucose, but I never really found a recipe that told me how much to add.  With a 2 year-old, I don't have a lot of time for experimenting, so I don't just tinker in the kitchen, I need recipes where I'm told exactly what to do, LOL

I just remembered, the book is called Real Sweet by Shauna Sever, and this is the link to the blog Sweetapolita where I saw it.   http://sweetapolita.com/page/2/
I can't promise it has an answer, but it may be a good place to start.

If you only use a couple of tablespoons of corn syrup in your icing, I'd start with a 1:1 direct substitution and see what happens.

Or was it glycerin I bought?  I can't find it right now.  My normal recipe is 1 lb powdered sugar, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup corn syrup.

Would a simple syrup work?

I was going to say food grade glycerin, as well. I use it in my icing to try to keep it from becoming too hard and crunchy while still allowing it to harden over enough to stack and ship.

 

Growing up, we always used only confectioner's sugar, milk and food coloring on our decorated cookies. They dried--but never too hard--however, we never piped cookies back then (just spatula'd the icing on and use sprinkles for decoration.) I don't know if you could get a good consistency for piping. But they were our favorite cookies as children.

You know, those were my favorite cookies too :-)  Would they have to be refrigerated if they had milk in them? (I would have to use a non-dairy milk).

We never refrigerated them but did keep them in a cool, dry, place. I think that the sugar--a natural preservative--kept them viable (at least until we gobbled them down...they never lasted too long, though.)

Thanks, I think I will try that next time, maybe with glycerin added.

Let us know how it works out. Good luck!