Need a simple and versatile frosting for cookies, cakes and more? Check out this easy almond buttercream frosting for decorating cookies!
If you did not gather from our Soft Sugar Cookies for Decorating blog post, that we aren’t fans of crunchy royal icing cookies around here, this post will probably drive that home! I love a good buttercream frosting, even a whipped frosting, but that royal icing crunchy stuff…I will pass! I truly do admire the talent that goes into creating beautiful cookies with a royal icing or even a perfectly decorated cake with a smooth and sleek layer of fondant. Here again…at Farmhouse 181 taste and functionality wins out over beauty about 90% of the time!
This buttercream recipe is derived from my grandma’s recipe that she handed down to me, with a few adjustments. My grandmother, Sharon, and her friend decorated cakes together back in the day and my sister, Beth does that still with her side gig, Bethany Cakes! That creative decorating gene just skipped me. What didn’t skip me is my love for a good tasting dessert!
My grandma was from the Crisco generation which was the staple fat in her decorators’ icing recipe. Oh Crisco…what a topic! While I do think that Crisco or shortening has its place in certain applications, that and generic vegetable oil are not something that I really want to be feeding my family all of the time. I generally always substitute butter in for shortening at a 1 for one ratio.
I truly do believe that a natural product like butter is better for you and something that I use all of the time at Farmhouse 181. Truth be told, I don’t even have shortening on hand in my pantry and would have to specially go buy it at the grocery store for any recipe calling for it. The butter swap in tends to work out just fine in my experience, and that is the case for this almond buttercream frosting for decorating cookies. See the Our Philosophies page for more on how we view food and healthy eating as a whole around here…we are far from food snobs!
If you are not a baking pro or decorating pro, this recipe is going to suite your needs just fine and give you the desired results you want. Having fun decorating some seasonal sugar cookies with your kids or making a simple, but special, treat with a sweet buttercream icing is achievable with this buttercream frosting for decorating cookies!
See full recipe card for our Almond Buttercream Frosting for Decorating Cookies at the bottom of the page with detailed ingredients list and full step-by-step instructions. Print to save in your cookbook binder or bookmark this page!
Why I love this Almond Buttercream Frosting for Decorating Cookies
- It’s made with simple and basic ingredients you probably already have in your pantry
- It is spreadable, but also stiff enough to pipe onto your cookies using a piping bag and piping tip
- This frosting is a perfect compliment to our Soft Sugar Cookies for Decorating
- If you have a stand mixer, this buttercream is really no fail
- Decorating sugar cookies is something that I don’t do often, and this recipe really has no tricks for making it turn out good every time…meaning, nothing special to remember!
Ingredients Needed for Almond Buttercream Frosting for Decorating Cookies
- Powdered Sugar
- Unsalted Butter, softened
- Salt
- Milk or Water
- Vanilla Extract
- Almond Extract
- Food Coloring, optional
Substitutions and Variations
You will want your butter to be softened, but definitely not where it’s almost melting.
A “true” American buttercream typically uses heavy whipping cream or milk. I almost never use heavy cream in this buttercream frosting for decorating cookies since I am also using butter. I really have no reasoning…I just don’t. And for this round, I actually just used water.
Many recipes call for clear vanilla extract to keep your frosting very purely white. I don’t have clear vanilla and am not going to buy it for this one recipe. Your typical dark colored vanilla works just fine here, but choose what you prefer. I use my homemade vanilla extract in this recipe and all of my other recipes.
Almond extract might not be something you have on hand, but for baking, I would invest in a tiny bottle. It keeps forever and I really do love the flavor it adds to this buttercream frosting as well as the soft sugar cookies. Wanna know a secret? When I made the frosting this time, I used my almond tequila that I got from Mexico on our last trip. WHAT…you gave this to your kids?! Yes, dear. You do know that all of these extracts are made with alcohol…right?
Use your food coloring of choice. Liquid like I used, or gel food coloring work just fine for a buttercream frosting with some added pizzazz!
Equipment Needed
You will need an electric mixer for this recipe. I prefer to use my stand mixer with either the paddle attachment or whisk attachment, but a hand mixer will work just fine as well.
I used some piping bags and decorating tips when I frosted my delicious, soft cookies. Usually, I just stick to a round tip and a star tip…nothing too exciting. My skills are very limited! But if you don’t have any specialized decorating bags or tips, you can still make and decorate with this buttercream frosting for cookies. Use a plastic sandwich bag and cut the corner of it for a makeshift piping bag!
Instructions for this Almond Buttercream Frosting for Cookies
To get started on this easy recipe, the first step is to put your softened (cool to room temperature) butter into your mixer and mix on a medium speed until the butter is creamy.
Add in your extracts, salt and powdered sugar. This recipe is in lbs, so I did use my small digital kitchen scale. 1lb is equivelant to about 3.5-4 cups of powdered sugar.
Start mixing your mixture on a low speed. When you think you are past the risk of making it snow from your mixer add a little of your milk or water and turn up the speed to medium. Keep adding a little at a time until it appears to be the right consistency. Whip your buttercream frosting mixture on medium to high speed until it is fully combined and creamy. Probably about 4-5 minutes.
Take a minute to taste and admire that sweet homemade frosting you just threw together! That’s really it…you have a tasty, usable buttercream frosting for cookies to decorate with!
Adding Color to Your Buttercream Frosting
Now I decorated my Valentines Soft Sugar Cookies for decorating VERY simply. Remember, I told you I was not a decorator and in this case, done was better than perfect. I used two colors only…white and pink! I spooned out about half of my icing from the mixing bowl and set it aside as my white icing, leaving the other half in my mixing bowl to make into pink.
For the pink, I added a few drops of red liquid food coloring. I flipped on the mixer to medium speed until the color was evenly distributed and added another drop or two of coloring while mixing to get the color I wanted.
If you plan to make several colors, remove the previously colored icing completely from your mixing bowl with a silicone spatula. Add in more crisp white icing to your mixing bowl and different colored food coloring drops. Repeat the steps until you have made all of your desired colors.
How to Easily Add Frosting to Your Piping Bag
This works whether you are using actual piping bags, or just a makeshift sandwich bag. Prepare your piping tip in the bottom of the piping bag per its instructions.
Roll out a sheet of plastic wrap onto your countertop. Plop your colored icing onto the plastic wrap in the middle. Fold the plastic wrap on the top and bottom over your icing to make a nice little closed tube. Spin the ends of your plastic wrap tube to make what looks like a frosting sausage…I know, kind of gross, but you probably get the picture! If not, watch this short tutorial on filling your frosting into a piping bag the easy way! You don’t have to be fancy with multiple colors, but you get the gist.
Now cut off one end of the twisted end and put that end straight down to the end of your piping bag. This gets the frosting in there without making a nasty mess of your piping bag. Now you are ready to decorate your already baked, cutout cookies!
Frosting Your Cookies
Y’all…I am not going to be giving you a tutorial on how to decorate your cookies. Have you seen my work?! But I will link to this video a Beginners Guide to Buttercream Piping which will get you started and going!
Don’t want a tutorial and just want to try it out yourself…now that’s my kind of human! Trial by error is sometimes the best way to learn and most fun process! Just get to decorating by yourself, with a friend, or kiddos. There’s really no way to mess up this super sweet treat. And remember, we don’t do perfect here at Farmhouse 181. It’s about the process, learning something new, and in this case, enjoying the making of a sweet treat!
Once you have frosted with your almond buttercream for decorating cookies, you will want your cookies to sit out for several hours for your frosting to harden, or form a slight crust over them. This will keep your iced cookies from completely smearing when moving around. You will want to store them in an airtight container in a single layer to preserve your decorating on the top of the cookie. But if you aren’t too worried about a little smooshed icing, stack away.
Now the best part…let your family and friends enjoy those cookies you put so much thought and effort into!
Other Farmhouse 181 Recommendations
If you enjoyed the imperfect way that we made this Almond Buttercream Frosting for Decorating Cookies and the Soft Sugar Cookies for Decorating Recipe, you might also love some of these Farmhouse 181 simple and classic dessert recipes!
- Famous Quaker Oats Oatmeal Cookie Recipe, Let’s Make It!
- Best Blueberry Muffins with Crumb Topping, No Bakery Necessary!
- Soft and Fluffy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (Coming Soon!!!)
Easy Almond Buttercream for Decorating Cookies
Equipment
- Electric Mixer
Ingredients
- 1 lb Powdered Sugar equivalent to about 3.5-4 cups, not sifted
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter, softened
- 1/8 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Almond Extract
- ¼ cup Milk or Water ⅕ to ¼ cup
Instructions
- Mix your softened butter in your stand mixer or with electric mixer until creamy.
- Add in all remaining ingredients except for the water and mix on low until somewhat combined.
- Turn mixer up to medium speed and pour in your water a little at a time until your icing reaches your desired consistency.
- Mix on high speed for another 3-5 minutes until ingredients are fully combined.
- Taste and enjoy!
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