Thick Cookie Frosting (Vanilla or Fruit-Flavored)
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This thick frosting for cookies is made for when you want something easy to spread and tidy to stack. It sets with a light crust while staying soft underneath, making it ideal for sugar cookies and cut-outs. The base frosting is a classic vanilla made with butter and cream cheese, with an option to naturally flavor it using freeze-dried fruit powder for a colorful and fruity twist.
Cookies Don’t Always Need Royal icing
I love a classic sugar cookie decorated with royal icing, but hear me out. Sometimes you want something … a little more. Creamy vanilla buttercream seems like the next logical step, until you try to stack or ship those cookies and realize they’re now glued together.
I ran into this while developing my chocolate cut-out sugar cookies. They needed frosting, but powdered sugar icing wasn’t quite right. The solution turned out to be simple: increase the ratio of powdered sugar to butter (and cream cheese in this recipe) just enough to create a frosting that sets with a light crust.
Now, we can stack.
Here’s what you can expect with this creamy cookie frosting:
- Spreads easy and firms up on the outside while staying soft underneath.
- Great for cookies, but not so soft that you want to frost a cake with it (stick with cream cheese buttercream for that).
- Freeze-dried fruit powder is easy to mix in for natural flavor and color (no gel food coloring here).
- It’s not as sweet as royal icing because it isn’t relying on powdered sugar alone for volume.
This is the cookie frosting I like to use when I want something a little unexpected for holiday or special-occasion cookies. It’s easily doubled for larger batches and always turns out to be a delightful surprise!
How To Make Cookie Frosting
Add the room temperature butter and cream cheese to a mixing bowl. Use a mixer to beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
Add the powdered sugar to the creamed mix in increments. After adding the powdered sugar, mix until the frosting is creamy.
Tip! For super smooth frosting, sift the powdered sugar through a fine mesh strainer set over the bowl. This will remove lumps and make the powdered sugar airy.
Making Cookie Frosting Fruit Flavored
What I love about this frosting for cookies is that you can easily replace some of the powdered sugar with fruit powder. For this recipe, I chose freeze-dried raspberries that get blended to a powder. But really, any fruit powder will work.
Use a blender to blitz the freeze-dried fruit into a powder. Sift the fruit powder over the frosting mix to remove seeds.
After mixing well, the fruit-flavored frosting is ready to be used. Raspberry cookie frosting is perfect on cocoa sugar cookies.
Getting the Texture Right
The frosting should be thick enough to hold soft swirls in the bowl. If it feels too soft, a tablespoon or two of powdered sugar will tighten it up without making it overly sweet.
When using freeze-dried fruit powder, you can adjust the amount to taste — just keep in mind it’s freeze-dried, so it will soak up moisture like a sponge. This is why some of the powdered sugar is removed when making the fruit-flavored version; too much of either can make the frosting dry.
Once spread on cookies, the frosting will firm up on the outside within about 20–30 minutes while staying soft underneath.
Did you make it? Let’s Hear About It!
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If you made this cookie frosting — vanilla or fruit-flavored — I’d love to hear how it turned out for you in the comments below. Reviews help other bakers know what to expect, especially when it comes to texture and stacking.
Thick Frosting For Cookies
by Erin Cernich
Equipment
- Blender (optional)
Ingredients
- 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tablespoons freeze dried raspberries, ground to powder (optional; see Instructions)
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, add the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Use a hand mixer and beat on medium-high until smooth.2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 teaspoon vanilla
- For flavored frosting – In a small blender or food processor, grind 1/3 cup freeze-dried raspberries into a fine powder. Measure out 3 tablespoons of the raspberry powder and replace 3 tablespoons of the powdered sugar with it. Adding both will result in a frosting that’s too dry.
- Sprinkle the salt over the creamed mixture. In increments, sift the powdered sugar through a fine mesh strainer (and fruit powder, if using) set over the top of the bowl. Beat on medium until smooth and fluffy. Note – Sifting the powdered sugar will make the frosting smooth, and siftting the fruit powder will remove the seeds.¼ teaspoon salt
- The frosting is ready to use immediately, or it can be covered and stored in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. It will harden slightly when refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature when ready to use, and give it another mix to make it fluffy.
Notes
- Serving Size – This is a small batch frosting recipe that is easily doubled.
- Yield – The recipe will yield approximately 1 1/2 cups of frosting. Enough to frost a small batch of 12 cookies.
- Freeze-Dried Fruit – Any freeze-dried fruit or fruit powder will work. Reduce the amount of powdered sugar by the amount of fruit powder. Otherwise, the frosting may get dry and crumbly.
- Frosting Consistency – This frosting is thicker than traditional buttercream. I recommend keeping its use to cookies (vs. cakes or cupcakes) for that reason.
- Room Temperature Stable – The frosting will be fine at room temperature for up 8 hours. Beyond that, I recommend refrigerating it because of the cream cheese.
Nutrition Estimates
TRY THESE SMALL BATCH RECIPES NEXT!
About the Author …
Hi, I’m Erin! With years of experience baking for two in my own small household, I know about the love for desserts without the leftovers. I’ve tested, written, and photographed every one of the 300+ recipes on my website. And even had some of my desserts featured on Taste of Home, The Spruce Eats, ELLE, Parade, and more! From traditional to gluten free desserts for two, I have the recipe for you.
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